"What kind of a place is this?" exclaimed the Stranger, in great surprise.
"Don't you know?" cried the Pupil, his eyes fairly sparkling with delight. "It is a robber's den! Isn't it a great thing to find a place like this?"
"A robber's den!" exclaimed the Stranger in alarm; "let us get out of it as quickly as we can, or the robbers will return, and we shall be cut to pieces."
"I don't believe they are coming back very soon," said the Pupil, "and we ought to stop and take a look at some of these things."
"Fly, you foolish youth!" cried the Stranger; "you do not know what danger you are in." And, so saying, he turned to hasten away from the place.
But he was too late. At that moment the robber captain and his band entered the cave. When these men perceived the Stranger and the Hermit's Pupil, they drew their swords and were about to rush upon them, when the Pupil sprang forward and, throwing up his long arms, exclaimed:
"Stop! it is a mistake!"
At these words, the robber captain lowered his sword, and motioned to his men to halt. "A mistake!" he said; "what do you mean by that?"
"I mean," said the Pupil, "that I was out looking for curiosities, and wandered into this place by accident. We haven't taken a thing. You may count your goods, and you will find nothing missing. We have not even opened a box, although I very much wanted to see what was in some of them."
"Are his statements correct?" said the Captain, turning to the Stranger.