"He was chained to the side of the cave, tightly bound and gagged."
anxious, the maker of ghosts stole back into the darkness, and passed the remaining long hours of the night without a wink of sleep.
As soon as it began to grow light, he again crept towards the cave; but when he got within ear-shot he heard the sound of voices, and had only time to conceal himself behind a stone before the robbers came out, and, mounting their mules, rode away down the gorge. He anxiously counted them one, two, three, four, five and then he knew that his friend had been left alone. But had they killed him?
When he had watched them well out of sight, he ran as fast as he could to the cave. What was his joy to see his friend alive! He was chained to the side of the cave, tightly bound and gagged.
It took such a long time to set him free that they did not consider it safe to think of immediate flight, lest the robbers should return soon and give chase, when they would be sure to be overtaken and recaptured.
After a few minutes' anxious consultation they hit on a plan which promised better, particularly as there would be no moon that night, and they set to work upon it as fast as they could.
Gathering a quantity of firewood they piled it in a great heap, and to make it blaze up quickly, they emptied over it a barrel of oil which they had found in the cave. Next they dragged some branches, and placed them in a half-circle round the brushwood, and upon them seated a goodly company of ghosts taken from their trade samples. There was a skeleton, two black men, four hideous monkeys, a witch on a broomstick, and Father Time with his scythe. On the trees behind, they arranged a background of their weirdest shadows.
When everything was ready it was quite dark, and soon the sound of hoofs was heard in the distance. At the right moment the two friends applied a light to the brushwood, and, just as the robbers turned the
