without being suspected. The captain and the robber who had visited the town in the morning as spy, came in last. He led the captain into the street where he had marked Ali Baba’s residence; and when they came to the first of the houses which Morgiana had marked, he pointed it out. But the captain observed that the next door was chalked in the same manner, and in the same place; and showing it to his guide, asked him which house it was, that, or the first. The guide was so confounded that he knew not what answer to make; and was still more puzzled, when he and the captain saw five or six houses similarly marked. He assured the captain, with an oath, that he had marked but one, and could not tell who had chalked the rest, so that he could not distinguish the house at which the cobbler had stopped.
The captain, finding that their plan had failed, went directly to the place of rendezvous, and told his troop that they had lost their labor, and must return to their cave. He himself set the example, and they all returned as they had come.
When the troop was all got together, the captain told them the reason of their returning; whereupon the conductor was declared by all worthy of death. He agreed, acknowledging that he ought to have taken better precaution, and willingly received the stroke from him who was appointed to cut off his head.
But as the safety of the troop required the discovery of the second intruder into the cave, another of the gang pre-
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