THE FORTY THIEVES 187

his opinion; for they were a troop of banditti,
who, without doing any harm to the neighbour-
hood, robbed at a distance, and made that place
their rendezvous. But what confirmed him in his
opinion was, that every man unbridled his horse,
tied him to some shrub, and hung about his neck
a bag of corn which they brought behind them;
then each of them took his saddle wallet, which
seemed to Ali Baba to be full of gold and silver
from its weight. One, who was the most person-
able amongst them, and whom he took to be
their captain, came, with his wallet on his back,
under the tree in which Ali Baba was concealed,
and making his way through some shrubs, pro-
nounced these words so distinctly, “ Open, Sesame,”
that Ali Baba heard him. As soon as the captain
of the robbers had uttered these words, a door
opened in the rock; and after he had made all
his troop enter before him, he followed them,
when the door shut again of itself.

The robbers stayed some time within the rock,
and Ali Baba, who feared that some one, or all
of them together, might come out and catch
him if he should endeavour to make his escape,
was obliged to sit patiently in the tree. He
was nevertheless tempted to get down, mount
one of their horses and lead another, driving’