"What a number of things you carry around with you!" said Bouchardy. "Have a smoke?" and he handed him an amber mouth-piece holding a cigarette, which, being lighted, began to lengthen out and curl and twist into the semblance of a long and writhing snake.
"Bismillah!" grunted Ben Mesrour.
"What a man you are! Your breath changes a cigarette into a snake. But if you can't smoke, have something else. Try this sherbet," said Bouchardy, bringing out a long goblet of silver gilt. The magician raised the goblet to his lips, when there was a sudden whir, and a bright blue flame leaped up into his face.
"Mashallah!" he cried, dropping the goblet, which instantly exploded with a loud report.
"All our little attempts at hospitality seem to fail," said Bouchardy, with mock chagrin. "Have something to eat. Try this peach."
"No," said Ben Mesrour, waving a remonstrance; "it is time to make a mule of you. The five-franc pieces have been deposited with the Commandant. Let us begin. Stand upon this hassock, if you please, and I will turn you into a mule."
"The first thing I shall do when I become a mule will be to kick you good," said Bouchardy.
"We'll see about that," said the magician, and starting at Bouchardy's ankles, he began to knead his legs, and proceeded over his entire body, kneading, patting, and thumping him, all the while crooning a low chant in Arabic. Having finished Bouchardy, he left him standing on the hassock, and turned to Ducardanoy and repeated the process. An attendant then handed him a chafing-dish in which a few coals were burning, and withdrawing to the middle of the room, he threw a powder upon the coals. A great opaque white cloud, stifling and acrid, arose and filled the room, and from the midst of the cloud came the voice of Ali Ben Mesrour, shouting: "Accursed, the Shiekh of the Mountain of Singing Sands is avenged. I have made beasts of you."
In a moment the cloud drifted away, and the magician and his attendant had vanished.
"Made beasts of us?" said Bouchardy. "Well, he didn't make a mule of me. Look at that," and he held up the emerald from Ben Mesrour's turban and the gold chain from his neck. "When I saw that spiteful old fellow trying to turn me into a beast, and evidently thinking he was doing it, I decided to punish him by taking his jewelry."