Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/146

130 is nearly evening, and we shall do well to find some place in which to spend the night."

Chasid listened with favor to his servant's suggestion, and perceiving in the valley beneath them a ruin which seemed to promise shelter, they flew toward it. The building in which they proposed to pass the night had apparently been formerly a castle. Some handsome pillars still stood amongst the heaps of ruins, and several rooms, which yet remained in fair preservation, gave evidence of former splendor. Chasid and his companion wandered along the passages seeking a dry spot, when suddenly Mansor stood still.

"My lord and master," he whispered, "if it were not absurd for a Grand Vizier, and still more for a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, I should feel quite nervous, for someone, or something close by me, has sighed and moaned quite audibly."

The Caliph stood still and distinctly heard a low weeping sound, which seemed to proceed from a human being rather than from any animal. Full of curiosity, he was about to rush toward the spot from which the sounds