"Moderate your astonishment, and do not
excite the curiosity of your neighbors; for it is of great importance
to keep this affair secret. Look into all the other jars."
Ali Baba examined all the other jars, one after another; and when he
came to that which had the oil in it, found it prodigiously sunk, and
stood for some time motionless, sometimes looking at the jars and
sometimes at Morgiana, without saying a word, so great was his
surprise.
At last, when he had recovered himself, he said, "And what is become
of the merchant?"
"Merchant!" answered she; "he is as much one as I am. I will tell you
who he is, and what is become of him; but you had better hear the
story in your own chamber; for it is time for your health that you had
your broth after your bathing."
Morgiana then told him all she had done, from the first observing the
mark upon the house, to the destruction of the robbers, and the flight
of their captain.
On hearing of these brave deeds from the lips of Morgiana, Ali Baba
said to her--"God, by your means, has delivered me from the snares of
these robbers laid for my destruction. I owe, therefore, my life to
you; and, for the first token of my acknowledgment, I give you your
liberty from this moment, till I can complete your recompense as I
intend."
Ali Baba's garden was very long, and shaded at the farther end by a
great number of large trees. Near these he and the slave Abdalla dug a
trench, long and wide enough to hold the bodies of the robbers; and as
the earth was light, they were not long in doing it.
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