“At last they arrived at a place where men were digging.  There had been discovered a number of small busts and statues, bronzes, and curiosities of all kinds, which, as soon as they were dug up, were carried into a neighbouring house, and had his attention speedily attracted by a little statue of a satyr about six inches high.  ‘Oh!’ cried he, ’I shall buy this figure.’

“‘The king of Naples does not wish to sell it,’ replied the lazzarone.

“‘I will give its weight in sovereigns—­double its weight even.’

“‘I tell you it is not to be sold,’ persisted the lazzarone; ‘but,’ added he, changing his tone, ’I have already given your excellence two pieces of advice which you liked, I will now give you a third:  Do not buy the statue—­steal it.’

“’Oh—­oh! that will be very original, and we have a blind invalid too.  Capital!’

“’Yes, but the invalid has a dog, who has two good eyes and sixteen good teeth, and who will fly at you if you so much as touch any thing with your little finger.’

“‘I’ll buy the dog, and hang him.’

“’Do better still; take a lame invalid.  Then, as you have seen nearly every thing here, put the figure in your pocket and run away.  He may call out as much as he likes, he will not be able to run after you.’

“‘Ooh!’ cried the Englishman, in convulsions of delight, ’here are three piasters for you.  Fetch me a lame invalid.’

“And in order not to excite the suspicions of the blind man and his dog, he left the house, and pretended to be examining a fountain made of shell-work, while the lazzarone went for a third guide.  In a quarter of an hour he returned, accompanied by an invalid with two wooden legs.  They gave the blind man three carlini, two for him and one for his dog, and sent him away.

“The theatre and the temple of Isis were all that now remained to be seen.  After visiting them, the Englishman, in the most careless tone he could assume, said he should like to return to the house in which were deposited the produce of the researches then making.  The invalid, without the slightest suspicion, conducted them thither, and they entered the apartment in which the curiosities were arranged on shelves nailed against the wall.

“While the Englishman lounged about, pretending to be examining every thing with the greatest interest, the lazzarone busied himself in fastening a stout string across the doorway, at the height of a couple of feet from the ground.  When he had done this, he made a sign to the Englishman, who seized the little statue that he coveted from under the very nose of the astounded invalid, put it into his pocket, and, jumping over the string, ran off as hard as he could, accompanied by the lazzarone.  Darting through the Stabian gate, they found themselves on the Salerno road—­an empty hackney-coach was passing, the Englishman jumped in, and had soon rejoined his carriage, which was waiting for him in Via dei Sepolchri.  Two hours after he had left Pompeii he was at Torre del Greco, and in another hour at Naples.