The only difference which exists between devils and brigands, is that devils are less black than one expects, and brigands more squalid than one supposes. The eight scoundrels who surrounded us were so foul, that I would have preferred to give them my money with pinchers. One could imagine that their bonnets might once have been red; but lye itself could never have found the original shade of their coats. All the rocks of the kingdom had contributed to the color of their percale skirts, and their vests bore a specimen of the different soils upon which they had reposed. Their hands, their faces, and even their mustaches were of a reddish gray like the dirt which they had on their clothes. Every animal colors itself like the house or land it inhabits: the foxes of Greenland are like the snow; lions, the color of the desert; partridges, like the ground; the Greek brigands, the color of the paths. The chief of the little band who had taken us prisoners, was not distinguished by outward sign. Possibly his face, his hands, his clothes, were richer in dirt than those of his comrades. He bent over us from his great height, and examined us so closely, that I almost felt the touch of his gray mustache. You would have thought him a tiger who smelled his prey before devouring it. When his curiosity was satisfied, he said to Dimitri: "Empty thy pockets!" Dimitri did not make him repeat it the second time. He threw down, at his feet, a knife, a bag of tobacco, and three Mexican piastres, which made a sum of sixteen francs. "Is that all?" demanded the brigand. "Yes, brother." "Thou art the servant?" "Yes, brother." "Take one piastre. Thou must not return to the city without money." Dimitri began to haggle. "Thou mightest leave me two. I have two horses below; they are hired from the stable; I will have to pay for the day." "Thou canst explain to Zimmerman that we have taken thy money." "And if he insists on being paid even then?" "Tell him that he is only too happy in seeing his horses again." "He knows very well that you would not take the horses. What would you do with them in the mountains?" "Enough! Tell me who is this tall, thin man behind thee?" I answered for myself: "An honest German whose spoils will not enrich you." "Thou speakest Greek; well. Empty thy pockets!" I placed on the ground twenty francs, my tobacco, my pipe and my handkerchief. "What is that?" "A handkerchief." "What for?" "To wipe my nose." "Why didst thou tell me that thou wert poor? Only lords wipe their noses with handkerchiefs. Take off the box which thou carriest on thy back. That is well! Now open it."