When we reached the room the Sultan was occupying, we found His Sheriffian Majesty regarding with some indignation, the remains of the Draft Treaty that had been brought back to him by the messengers the Sultan had sent to me.

His Majesty was very angry, and had given orders for the immediate execution of Herr VON POPOFF and myself, when my talented assistant gently placed his hand upon the head of the swarthy and irate Sovereign, and by a clever pass produced an egg.  This amused and amazed the Sultan immensely, and his Sheriffian Majesty desired that the feat should be repeated.  This request received immediate practical acquiescence as the wonderworker deliberately extracted eggs from the Sultan’s arms, legs, and whiskers.  Having obtained some dozen eggs by this means, Herr VON POPOFF borrowed a turban from the Prime Minister, and breaking the eggs into his improvised saucepan, mixed the mess into a compact mass with the assistance of a scimitar kindly lent for the occasion by the Commander-in-Chief.

“High cock-alorum jig, jig, jig!” exclaimed the Wizard, and in a trice, the eggs had disappeared, and in their place appeared a pound-cake.  I have the honour to report that the cake was then cut into small portions and passed round for consumption.  His Sheriffian Majesty was good enough to partake of the rather stale comestible.  The remainder of the cake was devoured by the suite.

By this time the Sultan was in great good humour, when unfortunately his eyes fell upon the remains of the destroyed Draft Treaty which were still lying unheeded on the palace floor.  Seeing them his Sheriffian Majesty rolled his eyes savagely, and sent for the Lord High Executioner.

It was at this crisis that Herr VON POPOFF showed great presence of mind and absolute coolness.  Without a moment’s hesitation he requested that the fragments of paper might be given to him.  Taking them in his right hand, he placed them in the turban he had previously used for manufacturing his pound-cake, and once more repeated his magic formula.

To the general surprise (and I must not omit my own individuality from the universal astonishment) he produced a new Treaty, which I then had the honour of handing to the Sultan for signature.

The Treaty (which was subsequently discovered to contain several important concessions to the country I have the honour to represent) was then signed, and the prestidigitateur and I retired loaded with honours.

I have, in conclusion, to beg permission to wear the Sheriffian Order of the Diamond-eyed Pig of the Second Class.  The Sun-Star of the Emerald Life-sized White Elephant of the Double First-Class has already been accepted by Herr VON POPOFF, as that gentleman, being a foreign subject, has no need to desire official authorisation to use his recently-acquired and extremely bulky decoration.

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[Illustration:  “GROUSE DRIVING.”