Peregil sat regarding the scroll for some time in moody silence.
At length rallying his ideas: "Who knows," thought he, "but this
writing may be of some importance, as the Moor seems to have guarded
it with such care?" Picking it up therefore, he put it in his bosom,
and the next morning, as he was crying water through the streets, he
stopped at the shop of a Moor, a native of Tangiers, who sold trinkets
and perfumery in the Zacatin, and asked him to explain the contents.
The Moor read the scroll attentively, then stroked his beard and
smiled. "This manuscript," said he, "is a form of incantation for
the recovery of hidden treasure, that is under the power of
enchantment. It is said to have such virtue, that the strongest
bolts and bars, nay the adamantine rock itself, will yield before it!"
"Bah!" cried the little Gallego, "what is all that to me? I am no
enchanter, and know nothing of buried treasure." So saying, he
shouldered his water-jar, left the scroll in the hands of the Moor,
and trudged forward on his daily rounds.
That evening, however, as he rested himself about twilight at the
well of the Alhambra, he found a number of gossips assembled at the
place, and their conversation, as is not unusual at that shadowy hour,
turned upon old tales and traditions of a supernatural nature. Being
all poor as rats, they dwelt with peculiar fondness upon the popular
theme of enchanted riches left by the Moors in various parts of the
Alhambra.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290