"Oh, but I've left that behind at the hotel," I replied.
"In that case," said Shin Shira regretfully, "there's nothing else to be done, I suppose."
So we thankfully accepted the aeronauts' kind invitation, and were soon floating comfortably towards Baghdad.
I must confess that it was far more pleasant than the outward journey had been.
Before we got to Baghdad, though, Shin Shira had the misfortune to disappear, much to the horror of the aeronauts, who thought he had fallen out of the basket, and who would scarcely credit my explanation when I told them of Shin Shira's peculiar misfortune in this respect.
He left the two bags of precious stones behind him, and they stood beside mine at the bottom of the basket.
For a few minutes the balloon, being freed from Shin Shira's weight, rapidly ascended, but presently there was a terrible escape of gas and we began to descend again at a great rate.
"Throw out the ballast!" cried one of the aeronauts, and the other, seeing the four bags of what he thought were worthless stones, in his haste and eagerness thrust them overboard.
I was too alarmed at the moment to notice what he was doing, and it was only when matters had been put right, by stopping the escape of gas, that I realised what had happened.
It was useless, however, to cry over spilt milk, and all my thought now was to get back to the hotel in safety.