carried smoothly forward by the rapid river.  On I went as it seemed to me for many nights and days.  Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow escape of being crushed against the rocky roof, and after that I took the precaution of lying flat upon my precious bales.  Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive, the inevitable moment came when, after swallowing my last morsel of food, I began to wonder if I must after all die of hunger.  Then, worn out with anxiety and fatigue, I fell into a deep sleep, and when I again opened my eyes I was once more in the light of day; a beautiful country lay before me, and my raft, which was tied to the river bank, was surrounded by friendly looking black men.  I rose and saluted them, and they spoke to me in return, but I could not understand a word of their language.  Feeling perfectly bewildered by my sudden return to life and light, I murmured to myself in Arabic, “Close thine eyes, and while thou sleepest Heaven will change thy fortune from evil to good.”

One of the natives, who understood this tongue, then came forward saying:—­

“My brother, be not surprised to see us; this is our land, and as we came to get water from the river we noticed your raft floating down it, and one of us swam out and brought you to the shore.  We have waited for your awakening; tell us now whence you come and where you were going by that dangerous way?”

I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them, but that I was starving, and would fain eat something first.  I was soon supplied with all I needed, and having satisfied my hunger I told them faithfully all that had befallen me.  They were lost in wonder at my tale when it was interpreted to them, and said that adventures so surprising must be related to their King only by the man to whom they had happened.  So, procuring a horse, they mounted me upon it, and we set out, followed by several strong men carrying my raft just as it was upon their shoulders.  In this order we marched into the city of Serendib, where the natives presented me to their King, whom I saluted in the Indian fashion, prostrating myself at his feet and kissing the ground; but the monarch bade me rise and sit beside him, asking first what was my name.

“I am Sindbad,” I replied, “whom men call ‘the Sailor,’ for I have voyaged much upon many seas.”

“And how came you here?” asked the King.

I told my story, concealing nothing, and his surprise and delight were so great that he ordered my adventures to be written in letters of gold and laid up in the archives of his kingdom.

Presently my raft was brought in and the bales opened in his presence, and the king declared that in all his treasury there were no such rubies and emeralds as those which lay in great heaps before him.  Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I myself and all that I had were at his disposal, but he answered me smiling:—­