“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.

There was nothing to do but to join the other robbers, and tell them to go back to the cave.  Here they were told why they had all returned, and the guide was declared by all to be worthy of death.  Indeed, he condemned himself, owning that he ought to have been more careful, and prepared to receive the stroke which was to cut off his head.

The safety of the troop still demanded that the second comer to the cave should be found, and another of the gang offered to try it, with the same penalty if he should fail.  Like the other robber, he found out Baba Mustapha, and, through him, the house, which he marked, in a place remote from sight, with red chalk.

But nothing could escape Morgiana’s eyes, and when she went out, not long after, and saw the red chalk, she argued with herself as before, and marked the other houses near by in the same place and manner.

The robber, when he told his comrades what he had done, prided himself on his carefulness, and the captain and all the troop thought they must succeed this time.  Again they entered the town by twos; but when the robber and his captain came to the street, they found the same trouble.  The captain was enraged, and the robber as much confused as the former guide had been.  Thus the captain and his troop went back again to the cave, and the robber who had failed willingly gave himself up to death.

IV

The captain could not afford to lose any more of his brave fellows, and decided to take upon himself the task in which two had failed.  Like the others, he went to Baba Mustapha, and was shown the house.  Unlike them he put no mark on it, but studied it carefully and passed it so often that he could not possibly mistake it.

When he returned to the troop, who were waiting for him in the cave, he said,—­

“Now, comrades, nothing can prevent our full revenge, as I am certain of the house.  As I returned I thought of a way to do our work, but if any one thinks of a better, let him speak.”