"Very simply. You see that gallery, do you not?"
"Yes."
"It terminates with a sort of outlook about a yard square, covered with shrubs, and impossible to detect at the very entrance of the path by which it is alone possible to enter the wood; now, by a singular effect of acoustics, which I shall not at all attempt to explain, all sounds, of whatever nature they may be, even the slightest, which are produced near that outlook are immediately repeated here, with such distinctness, that it is most easy to recognize their nature."
"Oh! In that case I am no longer alarmed."
"Moreover, when the persons we expect have arrived, we will stop up this hole, which will be useless to us, and leave by the gallery that opens there in front of you."
While giving these explanations to his friend, the adventurer had doffed a portion of his garments.
"What are you doing?" Dominique asked.
"I am disguising myself, in order to go and find out how matters stand in Puebla. The inhabitants of that town are very religious; monasteries are numerous there, and hence I am going to put on a Camaldoli dress, by favour of which I can attend to my business without fear of attracting attention."
The vaquero had sat down on the furs, and was reflecting with his back against the wall.
"What is the matter, Dominique? You appear to me preoccupied and sad?" don Jaime asked him a moment after.