"’Thou art a merry sinner,’ said the Duke, and even my mother laughed, and we boys. The gay noise came back dismally, thus bottled up in the narrow vault. But when we began to reflect, we knew that we were buried alive. Our thief had no end of schemes. We would bore through the door with an auger, and then bore into the barrel and let the wine run out. ’But we have no auger,’ said the Duke, ’and the door is covered with sheet-iron.’ ’No matter, he would think; if he walked, he could think better,’ and so he moved to and fro awhile in search of wisdom. "By this time, because our young stomachs began to cry out, we lit a candle, and my mother gave us all our portions, while I sat on the ladder top so as to hear if any one came. For a little while we were strangely cheerful, and this I saw happen whenever we lit up our vault. The baby smiled, and we moved about and made believe it was a small matter, after all. As for our thief, he was a treasure of queer stories, and you could not help but laugh, even if you were desolate the minute after. "Our thief had made ready his lantern, and, as I said, began to prowl about into corners, and at last stumbled over our Duke’s legs. "’_Diable!_’ cried the Duke. ’Put out your light; we have few enough candles; and keep quiet, too. You are as uneasy as a cat of the streets.’ "’And I am but a street cat, Monsieur, and have wisdom enough to know that the lazy eat no mice.’ "’I don’t see how your stumbling about this cellar will help us or you.’ "’Who knows, Monsieur? When you are in a scrape it is never well to keep quiet. I have been in many, and worse than this—perils by sea and land, and rope—I always get out, but—Ah me, to forget them is not easy.’ "’Rope!’ said the Duke. ’Indeed—’ "’Yes; they hang a fellow for so little, nowadays. You will permit, Duke, that I change the conversation; I avoid it usually. Indeed, I am careful not to tie my cravat too tight; it gives one a turn sometimes—a sort of prophetic hint.’ "’You are a droll devil,’ laughed the Duke, ’and not bad company—where you can’t run away with a purse. Do as you like.’ "’Thanks, Monsieur,’ said the thief, and with no more words resumed a careful search, as it seemed to me, after nothing. Indeed, we young fellows laughed as he looked under and back of the casks. ’It is good to laugh,’ he said, as we followed him about; ’but in my business, when there is no profit to be had, it is well to cultivate one’s powers of observation.’ After a while we tired of following him, and sat down; but he continued his search among the cobwebs—of which, trust me, there were enough even in those days. "At last I saw him mount on top of some empty barrels at the far end of the cave. Unable to see behind them, he lowered his lantern between the casks and the wall of the cellar, and looked. Of a sudden he scrambled down and cried, waving his lantern: ’A thief for luck! A thief for luck!’