Then seating themselves upon the grass, they divided the spoil,
determining to content themselves for the present with this mere
skimming of the jars, but to return on some future night and drain
them to the bottom. To make sure of each other's good faith, also,
they divided the talismans between them, one retaining the scroll
and the other the taper; this done, they set off with light hearts and
well-lined pockets for Granada.
As they wended their way down the hill, the shrewd Moor whispered
a word of counsel in the ear of the simple little water-carrier.
"Friend Peregil," said he, "all this affair must be kept a
profound secret until we have secured the treasure, and conveyed it
out of harm's way. If a whisper of it gets to the ear of the
alcalde, we are undone!"
"Certainly," replied the Gallego, "nothing can be more true."
"Friend Peregil," said the Moor, "you are a discreet man, and I make
no doubt can keep a secret: but you have a wife."
"She shall not know a word of it," replied the little water-carrier,
sturdily.
"Enough," said the Moor, "I depend upon thy discretion and thy
promise."
Never was promise more positive and sincere; but, alas! what man can
keep a secret from his wife? Certainly not such a one as Peregil the
water-carrier, who was one of the most loving and tractable of
husbands. On his return home, he found his wife moping in a corner.
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