I will quit Spain
as soon as possible, and betake me to Lucerne, though it is a hard
thing to leave the schatz behind me in the land of the Gallegans."
Thereupon I presented him with a few dollars.
"A strange man is this Benedict," said Antonio to me next morning,
as, accompanied by a guide, we sallied forth from Oviedo; "a
strange man, mon maitre, is this same Benedict. A strange life has
he led, and a strange death he will die, - it is written on his
countenance. That he will leave Spain I do not believe, or if he
leave it, it will be only to return, for he is bewitched about this
treasure. Last night he sent for a sorciere, whom he consulted in
my presence; and she told him that he was doomed to possess it, but
that first of all he must cross water. She cautioned him likewise
against an enemy, which he supposes must be the canon of Saint
James. I have often heard people speak of the avidity of the Swiss
for money, and here is a proof of it. I would not undergo what
Benedict has suffered in these last journeys of his, to possess all
the treasures in Spain."
CHAPTER XXXIV
Departure from Oviedo - Villa Viciosa - The Young Man of the Inn -
Antonio's Tale - The General and his Family - Woful Tidings - To-
morrow we Die - San Vincente - Santander - An Harangue - Flinter the
Irishman.
