"Very good, but you had a reason for bringing us here."
"Certainly I had one, Excellency, and the reason is as follows: this grotto communicates with the hacienda, by a very long subterraneous passage; this passage has several issues into the country, and two into the hacienda itself; of the latter two, one is known to myself alone, and the other I stopped up this very day; but fearing less don Melchior might have discovered this grotto during his rides, I determined to visit it tonight, and solidly wall it up inside, so as to prevent a surprise in this way."
"Famously reasoned, Ño Leo Carral; there is no want of stones, so we will set to work as soon as you like."
"One moment, Excellency, let us make certain first that other persons have not got here before us."
"Hum! That appears to me rather difficult."
"You think so," he said, with a slight tinge of irony in his voice.
He took the torch which he had placed on an angle and stooped down to the ground, but almost immediately rose again, uttering a cry of fury.
"What is it?" the two young men exclaimed anxiously.
"Look," he said, pointing to the ground.
The count looked.