t down';
and he rocked again with laughter.

But no whistle came, and soon the legs ceased to shake and to kick, for
the Black Gallows Bird was dead, as the Shifty Lad intended he should
be.

Then he went home to the Black Rogue's wife, and told her that her
husband was dead, and that he was ready to marry her if she liked. But
the woman had been fond of the Black Rogue, thief though he was, and she
shrank from the Shifty Lad in horror, and set the people after him, and
he had to fly to another part of the country where none knew of his
doings.

* * * * *

Perhaps if the Shifty Lad's mother knew anything of all this, she may
have thought that by this time her son might be tired of stealing, and
ready to try some honest trade. But in reality he loved the tricks and
danger, and life would have seemed very dull without them. So he went on
just as before, and made friends whom he taught to be as wicked as
himself, till they took to robbing the king's storehouses, and by the
advice of the Wise Man the king sent out soldiers to catch the band of
thieves.

For a long while they tried in vain to lay hands on them. The Shifty Lad
was too clever for them all, and if they laid traps he laid better ones.
At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in
a barn and killed them, and persuaded the villagers that if _they_ did
not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be
killed themselves. Thus it happened that when the sun rose not a single
soldier was alive in the village.

Of course this news soon reached the king's ears, and he was very angry,
and summoned the Wise Man to take counsel with him. And this was the
counsel of the Wise Man--that he should invite all the people in the
countryside to a ball, and among them the bold and impudent thief would
be sure to come, and would be sure to ask the king's daughter to dance
with him.

'Your counsel is good,' said the king, who made his feast and prepared
for his ball; and all the people of the countryside were present, and
the Shifty Lad came with them.

When everyone had eaten and drunk as much as they wanted they went into
the ballroom. There was a great throng, and while they were pressing
through the doorway the Wise Man, who had a bottle of black ointment
hidden in his robes, placed a tiny dot on the cheek of the Shifty Lad
near his ear. The Shifty Lad felt nothing, but as he approached the
king'