They surrounded the old man and were about to attack him, when the first man who had already profited by the old man's charity warned them off.
"There is no need for violence here," said he, hurriedly, and speaking in their native language; "he will give us up all he has got without so much as dirtying a knife over him."
The old man laughed.
A dry, cynical laugh it was too, and almost calculated to make one believe that he had understood what they said.
"Who are these people?" he asked of the first beggar.
"Poor men worthy of your pious charity, like myself," was the reply.
"Then they shall have it," replied the old man; "more than they expect."
He looked around him rather anxiously, as if expecting some more people to arrive.
Now that glance was observed by more than one of the men, and it was no very difficult matter to excite suspicion in their minds.
"He expects someone," said the foremost man of the party; "he is a spy."