222 ALI BABA AND

by him till he stopped, partly leading, and partly
guided by him. “I think,” said Baba Mustapha,
“IT went no further,” 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, per-
suaded 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 what-
ever 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.