The horsemen who were all well mounted and well-armed,
came to the foot of this rock and there dismounted.
Ali Baba counted forty of them and by their looks and equipment,
never doubted they were thieves,
and he was not mistaken;
for they were a troop of banditti who without doing any harm in the neighbourhood,
robbed at a distant and made that place their rendezvous.
Each man tied his horse to a brush,
and hung about his neck a bag of corn which he had carried behind the saddle.
The each of them took off his portmanteau which seemed to be very heavy as if it were full of silver of gold.
One, who seemed to be their captain, approached the face of the rock and said in a loud voice;
“Open, Sesame” As soon as he had uttered these words,
a door opened; and after he had made all his troop go in before him,
he followed them and the door shut again of itself.
The robbers stayed sometime within the rock and Ali Baba,
who feared that one of them might come out and catch him if he should endeavour to make his escape,
was obliged to sit patiently in the tree.