th together till they
chattered inside her mouth; and then she got out the flask which
contained nothing but brandy, and her hands trembled so that she shook
the bottle about, and when she drank it made a great gulp in her throat.

'What is that you have in your flask, old woman?' asked one of the
stable boys.

'Oh, it's only a little drop of brandy, your honour,' she said.

'Brandy! What! Let me have a drop! Let me have a drop!' screamed all the
twelve at once.

'Oh, but what I have is so little,' whimpered the old woman. 'It will
not even wet your mouths.'

But they were determined to have it, and there was nothing to be done
but give it; so she took out the flask with the sleeping drink and put
it to the lips of the first of them; and now she shook no more, but
guided the flask so that each of them got just as much as he ought, and
the twelfth had not done drinking before the first was already sitting
snoring. Then the Master Thief flung off his beggar's rags, and took one
stable boy after the other and gently set him astride on the partitions
which divided the stalls, and then he called his eleven men who were
waiting outside, and they rode off with the Governor's horses.

In the morning when the Governor came to look after his stable boys they
were just beginning to come to again. They were driving their spurs into
the partition till the splinters flew about, and some of the boys fell
off, and some still hung on and sat looking like fools. 'Ah, well,' said
the Governor, 'it is easy to see who has been here; but what a worthless
set of fellows you must be to sit here and let the Master Thief steal
the horses from under you!' And they all got a beating for not having
kept watch better.

Later in the day the Master Thief came and related what he had done,
and wanted to have the Governor's daughter as had been promised. But the
Governor gave him a hundred dollars, and said that he must do something
that was better still.

'Do you think you can steal my horse from under me when I am out riding
on it?' said he.

'Well, it might be done,' said the Master Thief, 'if I were absolutely
certain that I should get your daughter.'

So the Governor said that he would see what he could do, and then he
said that on a certain day he would ride out to a great common where
they drilled the soldiers.

So the Master Thief immediately got hold of an old worn-out mare,
and set himself to work to make a collar for it of green