The boy gave a giant-tab to the goblin and motioned him to swallow it. Unhesitatingly Fitz obeyed; and almost immediately he grew and swelled to gigantic size. With gestures and cries of amazement the Arabs drew back. Several of them touched their foreheads and muttered strange words; others prostrated themselves and hid their faces upon their extended arms. But the fierce old sheik gave no sign of wonder or fear. Instead, he said firmly, boldly:
“Devils can work magic upon devils; but devils cannot work magic upon Allah’s elect. I’ll put you to the test; and if you fail,—as you will!—you die. Give me and my children of your magic medicine.”
At a word from their sheik, the Arabs formed a line. Then the fierce old warrior of the desert said:
“My children, these devils cannot injure you with their magic medicine. If they succeed in making giants of us, we shall then be able to overcome all our enemies; if they fail, we shall be as we are—and the devils shall die.” Then to Bob: “Give us of your devil drugs.”
The boy stepped forward and dropped a gob-tab into the outstretched palm of each warrior. The sheik gave a signal; and twenty red mouths flew open and twenty gob-tabs disappeared. At the same moment Bob took a giant-tab. And a few minutes later two giants stood triumphantly grinning down upon twenty bearded and turbaned pygmies!
“Now, sheik,” Bob roared briskly and cheerily, “no doubt you’re convinced that we’re what we claim to be—great magicians. But we don’t mean to work you any injury, now that we’re big and you’re small; although you meant to put us to death, just because you were big and we were small. You’ll come back to your natural size all right, in a few days. And we’re not going to rob you; just going to borrow two of your camels.”
The sheik had stood silently staring at his diminutive warriors and inspecting his own shrunken limbs. But now he piped shrilly:
“Allah is great! Allah is great! But what use can you have for our camels? You are so huge that they cannot bear you!”
“Say!” Bob muttered in consternation. “Fitz, that’s a fact. What are we to do? I meant to take two of the camels to carry us and our balloon out of reach of the power of the magnetic mountain. What are we to do?”
