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“Let him come in,” answered Uncle Hormiga, rising to his feet, greatly disturbed, for the thought had presented itself to his mind at the head shepherd’s first words, that all this was closely connected with the celebrated treasure, the hope of discovering which, by his own unaided exertions, he had abandoned, a week before, after he had removed, without result, several of the heaviest of the foundation stones.

XIII.

Here, then, we have, face to face and alone, Uncle Juan Gomez and the stranger.

“What is your name?” the former asked the latter, with all the imperiousness warranted by his exalted office, and without inviting him to be seated.

“My name is Jaime Olot,” responded the mysterious stranger.

“You do not speak like a native of this country. Are you English?”

“I am a Catalan.”

“Ah, a Catalan! That may be. And what brings you to these parts? And, above all, what the devil were you doing yesterday measuring my tower?”

“I will tell you. I am a miner by profession, and I have come to this country, which is famous for its copper and silver mines, in search of work. Yesterday afternoon, passing by the Moor’s Tower, I saw that a wall was being built with the stones that had been taken from it, and that it would be necessary to tear down a great deal more of the building in order to finish the wall. There is no one who can equal me in pulling down buildings, whether by the use of tools or with hands only, for I have the strength of an ox, and the idea occurred to me that I might be able to make a contract with the owner of the tower to pull it down and dig up the foundation stones.”

Uncle Hormiga, with a wink of his little gray eyes, responded, dwelling upon every word:

“Well, that arrangement does not suit me.”

“I would do the work for very little–almost nothing.”

“Now it would suit me less than before.”

The so-called Jaime Olot was puzzled not a little by the mysterious answers of Uncle Juan Gomez, and he tried to get some clue to their meaning from the expression of his face; but as he was unsuccessful in his efforts to read the fox-like countenance of his honor, he added, with feigned naturalness:

“It would not displease me, either, to repair a part of the old building and to live there, cultivating the ground that you had intended for a cattle-yard. I will buy from you, then, the Moor’s Tower with the ground around it.”

“I do not wish to sell it,” responded Uncle Hormiga.

“But I will pay you double what it is worth!” said the self-styled Catalan emphatically.

“It would suit me now less than ever to sell it,” replied the Andalusian, with so crafty and insulting a look that his interlocutor took a step backward, suddenly becoming conscious that he was treading on false ground.

He reflected for a moment, therefore, and then raising his head with a determined air, and clasping his hands behind his back, he said, with a cynical laugh:

“So, then, you know that there is a TREASURE on that ground!”

Uncle Juan Gomez leaned over in his seat, and scanning the Catalan from head to foot, exclaimed with a comical air:

“What vexes me is that you, too, should know it!”

“And it would vex you much more if I should tell you that I am the only person who knows it with certainty.”

“That is to say, that you know the precise spot in which the treasure is buried?”

“I know the precise spot, and it would not take me twenty-four hours to disinter all the wealth that lies hidden there.”

“According to that you have in your possession a certain document–“

“Yes; I have a document of the time of the Moors, half a yard square, in which all the necessary directions to find the treasure are given.”

“And tell me–this document–“

“I do not carry it about with me, nor is there any reason why I should do so, since I know it word for word by heart, both in Spanish and in Arabic. Oh, I am not such a fool as ever to deliver myself up, bag and baggage, to the enemy! So that before coming to this country I concealed the document–where no one but myself will ever be able to find it.”