agonized Insect; "it is taken from a person who has had small-pox and yellow-fever and toothache and mumps—all at the same time. Do not, I bet you, risk your valuable life by wearing that cloth!" 

 "Bah!" said the Shiek, scornfully; "I have had all those diseases and many more. I am immune. But now," he continued, "allow me to bid you good-bye. I am sorry to be obliged to kill you, but such is our custom." 

 This was bad news for the Woggle-Bug; but he did not despair. 

 "Are you not afraid to kill me?" he asked, as if surprised. 

 "Why should I be afraid?" demanded the Shiek. 

 "Because it is well-known that to kill a woggle-bug brings bad luck to one." 

 The Shiek hesitated, for he was very superstitious. 

 "Are you a woggle-bug?" he asked. 

 "I am," replied the Insect, proudly. "And I may as well tell you that the last person who killed one of my race had three unlucky days. The first his suspenders broke (the Arab shuddered), the second day he smashed a looking-glass (the Arab moaned), and the third day he was chewed up by a crocodile." 

 Now the greatest aversion Arabs have is to be chewed by a crocodile, because these people usually roam over the sands of the desert, where to meet an amphibian is simply horrible; so at the Woggle-Bug's speech they set up a howl of fear, and the Shiek shouted: 

 "Unbind him! Let not a hair of his head be injured!" 

 At once the knots in the ropes were untied, and the Woggle-Bug was free. All the Arabs united to show him deference and every respectful attention, and since his own hat had been destroyed they wound about his head a picturesque turban of an exquisite soiled white color, having stripes of red and yellow in it. 

 Then the Woggle-Bug was escorted to the tents, where he suddenly remembered his precious plaids, and asked that the cloth he restored to him. 

 Thereupon the Shiek got up and made a long speech, in which he described his grief at being obliged to refuse the request. 

 At the end of that time one of the women came op to them with a lovely waistcoat which she had manufactured out of the Wagnerian plaids; and when the Shiek saw it he immediately ordered all 

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