Part 34 (1/2)

”Don't you be too sure of that!” said Horace. ”You see all those wires stretched on poles down there? Those are the pathways of certain Jinn known as electric currents, and the Lord Mayor could send a message along them which would be at Baghdad before you had flown farther than Folkestone. And I may mention that Arabia is now more or less under British jurisdiction.”

He was bluffing, of course, for he knew perfectly well that, even if any extradition treaty could be put in force, the arrest of a Jinnee would be no easy matter.

”Thou art of opinion, then, that I should be no safer in mine own country?” inquired Fakrash.

”I swear by the name of the Lord Mayor (to whom be all reverence!)” said Horace, ”that there is no land you could fly to where you would be any safer than you are here.”

”If I were but sealed up in my bottle once more,” said the Jinnee, ”would not even the Lord Mayor have respect unto the seal of Suleyman, and forbear to disturb me?”

”Why, of course he would!” cried Horace, hardly daring to believe his ears. ”That's really a brilliant idea of yours, my dear Mr. Fakrash.”

”And in the bottle I should not be compelled to work,” continued the Jinnee. ”For labour of all kinds hath ever been abhorrent unto me.”

”I can quite understand that,” said Horace, sympathetically. ”Just imagine your having to drag an excursion train to the seaside on a Bank Holiday, or being condemned to print off a cheap comic paper, or even the _War Cry_, when you might be leading a snug and idle existence in your bottle. If I were you, I should go and get inside it at once.

Suppose we go back to Vincent Square and find it?”

”I shall return to the bottle, since in that alone there is safety,”

said the Jinnee. ”But I shall return alone.”

”Alone!” cried Horace. ”You're not going to leave me stuck up here all by myself?”

”By no means,” said the Jinnee. ”Have I not said that I am about to cast thee to perdition? Too long have I delayed in the accomplishment of this duty.”

Once more Horace gave himself up for lost; which was doubly bitter, just when he had begun to consider that the danger was past. But even then, he was determined to fight to the last.

”One moment,” he said. ”Of course, if you've set your heart on pitching me over, you must. Only--I may be quite mistaken--but I don't quite see how you are going to manage the rest of your programme without me, that's all.”

”O deficient in intelligence!” cried the Jinnee. ”What a.s.sistance canst thou render me?”

”Well,” said Horace, ”of course, you can get into the bottle alone--that's simple enough. But the difficulty I see is this: Are you quite sure you can put the cap on yourself--from the _inside_, you know?” If he can, he thought, ”I'm done for!”

”That,” began the Jinnee, with his usual confidence ”will be the easiest of--nay,” he corrected himself, ”there be things that not even the Jinn themselves can accomplish, and one of them is to seal a vessel while remaining in it. I am indebted to thee for reminding me thereof.”

”Not at all,” said Ventimore. ”I shall be delighted to come and seal you up comfortably myself.”

”Again thou speakest folly,” exclaimed the Jinnee. ”How canst thou seal me up after I have dashed thee into a thousand pieces?”

”That,” said Horace, with all the urbanity he could command, ”is precisely the difficulty I was trying to convey.”

”There will be no difficulty, for as soon as I am in the bottle I shall summon certain inferior Efreets, and they will replace the seal.”

”When you are once in the bottle,” said Horace, at a venture, ”you probably won't be in a position to summon anybody.”

”_Before_ I get into the bottle, then!” said the Jinnee, impatiently.

”Thou dost but juggle with words!”

”But about those Efreets,” persisted Horace. ”You know what Efreets _are_! How can you be sure that, when they've got you in the bottle, they won't hand you over to the Lord Mayor? I shouldn't trust them myself--but, of course, you know best!”

”Whom shall I trust, then?” said Fakrash, frowning.