WITH BRIGANDS 201

The hut was ransacked; the flour, two bottles of spirits,
and a skin of wine seized, and the meat cut up and roasted
over the fire. After the meal was eaten the captain called
upon Charlie to tell his story more fully, and this he did
with the aid of the man who spoke Swedish; starting, how-
ever, only at the point when he was attacked in the street,
as he felt it better to remain silent as to his connection
with the Swedish army.

“But what was the cause of Ben Soloman’s hostility to
you?”

“There are some in Warsaw who are of opinion that
Augustus of Saxony has done much harm to Poland in
engaging without cause in the war against Charles of
Sweden, and who think that it would be well that he
should be dethroned, and some other prince made king in
his place. To this party many of the traders belong, and
the Jew had reason to think that I was acquainted with
the design, and could give the names of those concerned
in it, There was really no plot against Augustus, but it
was only intended that a popular demonstration against
his rule should be made. But Soloman wanted me to give
evidence that there was a conspiracy against the king’s
life, so that he might gain great credit by exposing it,
and might at the same time rid himself of many of his
rivals in the trade.”

“He was an artful fox,” the leader of the brigands said
when this had been translated to him. “But where is the
Jew he put over you?”

Three or four of the men sprang to their feet and ran
out, but the Jew was nowhere to be seen. The captain
was furious, and abused his men right and left, while his
anger was in no way mitigated when one of them told
him that if he had wanted the Jew kept, he should have
given one of them orders to look after him. This was so
evident that the chief was silenced for a moment.