236 ALI BABA AND

finding no light, and hearing no noise, or any one
stirring in the house, gave the appointed signal,
by throwing little stones, several of which hit the
jars, as he doubted not by the sound they gave.
He then listened, but not hearing or perceiving
anything whereby he could judge that his com-
panions stirred, he began to grow very uneasy,
threw stones again a second and also a third time,
and could not comprehend the reason that none
of them should answer his signal. Much alarmed,
he went softly down into the yard, and going to
the first jar, whilst asking the robber, whom he
thought alive, if he was in readiness, smelt the
hot boiled oil, which sent forth a steam out of the
jar. Hence he suspected that his plot to murder
Ali Baba and plunder his house was discovered.
Examining all the jars one after another, he found
that all his gang were dead; and by the oil he
missed out of the last jar guessed the means and
manner of their death. Enraged to despair at
having failed in his design, he forced the lock
of a door that led from the yard to the garden,
and climbing over the walls, made his escape.
When Morgiana heard no noise, and found,
after waiting some time, that the captain did not
return, she concluded that he had chosen rather
to make his escape by the garden than the street-