“Bob, I tell you they’re not pills; they’re food tablets.”
“They’re pills all the same, Fitz; and I won’t take ’em when I can get anything else. And I think I’ll find some fruit when we reach an oasis.”
The goblin said no more; but silently opened the hand-satchel, and took out and swallowed a number of the tiny tablets and pellets, smacking his lips in a manner that made his companion turn up his nose in disgust.
The sun was slowly sinking in the west. Bob had the binocular to his eyes and was sweeping the southern horizon. Suddenly he cried:
“Look! Look, Fitz! We’re coming to a great city!”
The goblin smiled pityingly, wagging his head and rolling his eyes.
“Don’t you see it?” the boy asked eagerly.
The goblin nodded, still smiling. Bob leveled his glass upon the distant city and continued to observe it. It was a most beautiful sight, that city. It stood upon the bank of a blue lake; and its white walls, its domes and spires, glistened in the rays of the declining sun. But gradually it began to fade away; and little by little it disappeared from view.
“Why—why,” the boy cried, “what’s become of it, Fitz? I can’t see it any more. What’s become of it?”
“Don’t you know?” the goblin snickered.