But let us now leave Ali Baba and Morgiana, and return to the forty thieves. When they came back to their cave, they found the body of Cassim gone, and with it much of their treasure. "We are discovered," said the Captain, “and we shall be lost if we are not very careful. All that we can at present tell is that the man whom we killed in the cave knew the secret of opening the door. But he was not the only one; another must have found it out, too. Having slain one, we must not let the other escape. Well, the first thing to be done is that one of you should go to the city in the dress of a traveler and try to learn who the man we killed was.” The thief who agreed to carry out this plan, having disguised himself so that no one could have told who he was, set off at night and entered the city just at dawn.

Very soon after this, Morgiana happened to go out, and she saw the mark which the thief had made on the door of Ali Baba’s house. “What can this mark mean?” thought she. “Has anyone a spite against my master, or has it been done only for fun? In any case, it will be well to guard against the worst that may happen.” She therefore took some chalk, and as several of the doors, both above and below her master’s, were alike, she marked them in the same manner, and then went in without saying anything of what she had done either to her master or mistress.

The thief in the meantime arrived at the forest and related the success of his journey. They all listened to him with great delight, and the Captain, after praising him, said, “Comrades, we have no time to lose; let us arm ourselves and depart. When we have entered the city, which we had best do separately, let us all meet in the great square, and I will go and find out the house with the chalk mark.”