until the door was opened for the other to depart.

The Caliph, who had at first been somewhat puzzled by the strangely
conducted traffic which he here observed, had guessed before long that
the actual business of this disreputable old merchant was that of
purchasing from the thieves, which always infest a large town, whatever
plunder they might have to dispose of.

There was no haggling as to price. The terms on which the transaction
was based were evidently very simple. The thief displayed his wares;
the old man paid him what he chose, and clearly the thief, whose market
for his ill-gotten goods was likely to be very limited, was satisfied
to accept what the buyer chose to award.

The Caliph was not ill-pleased to have discovered the nefarious trade
which was being here carried on, and determined to have the house
closely watched in future, in the hope of thus noting and securing a
great number of the most expert and artful thieves in Bagdad.

As he moved out of the obscurity of the doorway revolving these things
in his mind, a ragged and decrepit beggar, who had just dragged himself
with slow and weary steps to this spot, begged an alms in the
professional whine common to his class. The Caliph gave him a small
piece of silver, and then watched him as he crossed the road and
entered a dilapidated and wretched hovel, which stood close by the
outer wall of the house of the dealer in stolen goods.

The inside of the hovel consisted of one small room, containing no
furniture of any kind but a litter of rags in one corner, which
evidently served the old beggar as a bed.

The old man, when he had entered and lighted his lamp, pushed some of
these rags aside with trembling hands, and raising a piece of the dirty
and half-rotten flooring, he produced a stout and rather heavy hag.
Out of this he took in succession several smaller hags, each evidently
full of money; and having pleased himself with handling and gloating
over his treasure, he added the coin which the Caliph had just given
him, together with several others, the produce of that day's exertion,
to the contents of one of the bags, and then carefully replaced the
whole in its hiding-place, and covering the board again with the rags,
lay down to sleep.

Three hours had now elapsed since the Caliph had anointed his eyes with
the magical ointment, and the increased power of vision it conferred
upon him began rapidly to vanish. Therefore he turned to go back t