There were a hundred or more shearers engaged in shearing sheep in his pens when the foreman's watch was stolen from a vest left hanging on the limb of a tree. Receiving his complaint, Leonis had all the men lined up and demanded that the thief forthwith bring the stolen watch to him. There was no response. "Very well," said Leonis, "I will now proceed to discover the thief and recover the watch." He went from man to man holding his ear down near the mouth of each as he passed along the line. But no man spoke. This done he called for a burro . Then he led the ass along the line of men, demanding that each whisper his innocence or confess his guilt into the donkey's ear. After the passage of the line and the whispering in the donkey's tall listener, Leonis led the animal aside and pretended to commune with it for a long while. Then Leonis returned to the uneasy sheep shearers and said: "Yes, one of you confessed to the burro and now I know the thief. But the principal object is to recover the watch. I will not expose the thief if he will return the stolen article. I now hang the vest back on the tree and to-morrow morning I expect to find the watch reposing in the pocket. If not I shall hang the thief on this same tree until dead." The gang was dismissed to supper.
The next morning the watch was in the vest pocket.