In a small town a man stole some money from a house. The police began to look for the thief. Soon they found him and brought him to the police station.

There was a new policeman at the police station and they wanted to give him some work.

«Take this thief to the city,» said one of the policemen. «You must go there by train.»

The policeman and the thief went to the station. On their way to the station they came to the shop where bread was sold.

«We have no food and we must eat something in the train,» said the thief. «It’s a long way to the city and it’ll take us a long time to get there. I’ll go into the shop and buy some bread. Then you and I can eat in the train. Wait for me here.»

The policeman was glad to have some food in the train. «Be quick,» he said to the thief, «we don’t have much time.»

The thief went into the shop and the policeman waited in the street for a long time. At last he went into the shop.

«Where is the man who came in here to buy some bread?» asked the policeman

«Oh, he went out the back door,» said the owner of the shop.

The policeman ran out but he could not see the thief. So he went to the police station and told the others about it. They were very angry with him. All the police of the town began to look for the thief again and soon they found him. They brought him back to the police station and called the same policeman.

«Now,» said one of them, «take him to the city and do not lose him again.»

The policeman and the thief went to the station and came up to the same shop.

«Wait here,» said the thief. «I want to go into the shop and buy some bread there.»

«Oh, no,» said the policeman, «you did that once and ran away. Now I’ll go into the shop and you’ll wait for me here.