He determined,
therefore, to pack up his remaining wealth, beat a secret retreat in
the night, and make off to another part of the kingdom.
Full of his project, he bought a stout mule for the purpose, and
tethered it in a gloomy vault underneath the Tower of the Seven
Floors- the very place whence the Belludo, or goblin horse, is said to
issue forth at midnight, and scour the streets of Granada, pursued
by a pack of hell-hounds. Lope Sanchez had little faith in the
story, but availed himself of the dread occasioned by it, knowing that
no one would be likely to pry into the subterranean stable of the
phantom steed. He sent off his family in the course of the day with
orders to wait for him at a distant village of the Vega. As the
night advanced, he conveyed his treasure to the vault under the tower,
and having loaded his mule, he led it forth, and cautiously
descended the dusky avenue.
Honest Lope had taken his measures with the utmost secrecy,
imparting them to no one but the faithful wife of his bosom. By some
miraculous revelation, however, they became known to Fray Simon. The
zealous friar beheld these infidel treasures on the point of
slipping for ever out of his grasp, and determined to have one more
dash at them for the benefit of the church and San Francisco.
Accordingly, when the bells had rung for animas, and all the
Alhambra was quiet, he stole out of his convent, and descending
through the Gate of Justice, concealed himself among the thickets of
roses and laurels that border the great avenue.
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