THE FORTY THIEVES 207

luckily as he was coming out: but his body
being removed, and with it some of our money,
plainly shows that he had an accomplice; and
as it is likely that there were but two who had
discovered our secret, and one has been caught,
we must look narrowly after the other. What
say you, my lads?”

All the robbers thought the captain’s proposal
so advisable that they unanimously approved of
it, and agreed that they must lay all other enter-
prises aside, to follow this closely, and not give
it up till they had succeeded.

“T expected no less,” said the captain, “from
your fidelity to our cause; but, first of all, one
of you who is bold, artful, and enterprising,
must go into the town, disguised as a traveller
and a stranger, to try if he can hear any talk
of the strange death of the man whom we have
killed, as he deserved, and endeavour to find
out who he was, and where he lived. This is
a matter of the first importance for us to ascer-
tain, that we may do nothing which we may have
reason to repent of, by discovering ourselves in
a country where we have lived so long unknown,
and where we have so much reason to continue;
but to warn him who shall take upon himself this
‘ commission, and to prevent our being deceived