noise in the town, he asked his host, by way of discourse, what news there were in the city, Upon which the innkeeper told him a great many things, which did not concern him in the least. He judged by this, that the reason why Ali Baba kept this affair so secret was for fear people should know where the treasure lay, and the means of coming at it; and because he knew his life would be sought upon account of it. And this urged him the more to neglect nothing to rid himself of so dangerous a person.
The next thing that the captain had to do was to provide himself with a horse, to convey a great many sorts of rich stuffs and fine linen to his lodging, which he did by, a great many journeys to the forest, but with all the necessary precautions imaginable to conceal the place whence he brought them. In order to dispose of the merchandizes, when he had amassed them together, he took a furnished shop, which happened to be opposite to that which was Cassim’s, which Ali Baba’s son had not long occupied.
He took upon him the name of Cogia Houssain, and as a new comer, was, according to custom, extremely civil and complaisant to all the merchants his neighbours. And as Ali Baba’s son was young and handsome, and a man of good sense, and
