"A dead body!" exclaimed the robber amazed. "Yes, yes," answered Baba Mustapha; "I see you want to know more, but you shall not." The robber felt sure that he was on the right track. He put a piece of gold into Baba Mustapha's hand, and said to him,-- "I do not want to learn your secret, though you could safely trust me with it. The only thing I ask of you is to show me the house where you stitched up the dead body." "I could not do that," replied Baba Mustapha, "if I would. I was taken to a certain place, whence I was led blindfold to the house, and afterwards brought back again in the same manner." "Well," replied the robber, "you may remember a little of the way that you were led blindfold. Come, let me blind your eyes at the same place. We will walk together, and perhaps you may recall the way. Here is another piece of gold for you." This was enough to bring Baba Mustapha to his feet. They soon reached the place where Morgiana had bandaged his eyes, and here he was blindfolded again. Baba Mustapha and the robber walked on till they came to Cassim's house, where Ali Baba now lived. Here the old man stopped, and when the thief pulled off the band, and found that his guide could not tell him whose house it was, he let him go. But before he started back for the forest himself, well pleased with what he had learned, he marked the door with a piece of chalk which he had ready in his hand. Soon after this Morgiana came out upon some errand, and when she returned she saw the mark the robber had made, and stopped to look at it. "What can this mean?" she said to herself. "Somebody intends my master harm, and in any case it is best to guard against the worst." Then she fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side in the same manner, saying nothing to her master or mistress. When the robber rejoined his troop in the forest, and told of his good fortune in meeting the one man that could have helped him, they were all delighted. "Comrades," said the captain, "we have no time to lose. Let us set off at once, well armed and disguised, enter the town by twos, and join at the great square. Meanwhile our comrade who has brought us the good news and I will go and find out the house, and decide what had best be done." Two by two they entered the town. Last of all went the captain and the spy. When they came to the first of the houses which Morgiana had marked, the spy pointed it out. But the captain noticed that the next door was chalked in the same manner, and asked his guide which house it was, that or the first. The guide knew not what answer to make, and was still more puzzled when he and the captain saw five or six houses marked after this same fashion. He assured the captain, with an oath, that he had marked but one, and could not tell who had chalked the rest, nor could he say at which house the cobbler had stopped.