at last he pulled out his purse, and put them in. “I cannot assure you,” said he to the robber, “that I can remember the way exactly; but since you desire, I will try what I can do.” At these words Baba Mustapha rose up, to the great joy of the robber, and without shutting his shop, where he had nothing valuable to lose, he led the robber to the place where Morgiana had bound his eyes. “It was here,” said Baba Mustapha, “I was blindfolded; and I turned as you see me.” The robber, who had his handkerchief ready, tied it over his eyes, walked by him till he stopped, partly leading, and partly guided by him. “I think,” said Baba Mustapha, “I went no farther,” and he had now stopped directly at Cassim’s house, where Ali Baba then lived. The thief, before he pulled off the band, marked the door with a piece of chalk, which he had ready in his hand; and then asked him if he knew whose house that was; to which Baba Mustapha replied, that as he did not live in that neighbourhood he could not tell. The robber, finding he could discover no more from Baba Mustapha, thanked him for the trouble he had taken, and left him to go back to his stall, while he returned to the forest, persuaded that he should be very well received. A little after the robber and Baba Mustapha had parted, Morgiana went out of Ali Baba’s house upon some errand, and upon her return, seeing the mark the robber had made, stopped to observe it. “What can be the meaning of this mark?” said she to herself. “Somebody intends my master no good: however, with whatever intention it was done, it is advisable to guard against the worst.” Accordingly, she fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side in the same manner, without saying a word to her master or mistress.
In the meantime the thief rejoined his troop in the forest, and recounted to them his success. All the robbers listened to
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