brief reply.

"'Thou art a sensible fellow,' continued Petard, who was evidently
pleased with the stranger, 'and shalt be humored.'

"A rude couch was spread by the robbers amidst their stacks of arms,
and throwing himself upon the skins thus prepared for him, the
stranger slept for hours, until the bright sun was high in the
heavens on the following morning, when, after another abundant meal,
he seemed like a new creature; he stood erect, and his fine dark eye
shone with the fire of resolution and of strength. His story was
soon told; he had outraged the laws, was seized and condemned to
punishment, had effected his escape and fled to the mountains, and
wandered about until half-starved, and nearly dead with fatigue, he
had thus been found.

"'Your story is plausible, but what shall we do with you? You know
the secret of our paths through the mountain, and it is not safe to
let thee go abroad to reveal them,' said the bandit chief.

"'Make me one of you, then,' said the stranger.

"'We make but few members,' replied Petard. 'It is not our way; and
men must possess peculiar qualities to obtain a place with us, and a
share of our prize-earnings.'

"Probably courage, strength and a ready hand are worth something
among you,' said the stranger.

"'Yes, but we all possess these,' replied Petard.