"I am quite willing."
"And as all trouble deserves payment, I will give you half an ounce in advance."
"Half an ounce?" he exclaimed, with a radiant look.
"And as you are in want of money, I will advance you twenty days' pay."
"Ten ounces! You will give me ten ounces, Excellency! To me! Oh! It is impossible!"
"It is so possible that here they are," he continued, taking them from his pocket, and placing them in Jesús' hand.
The bandit clutched them with a movement of feverish joy.
"Oh!" he exclaimed; "Don Melchior and his friend had better look out."
"Be adroit, for they are clever."
"I know them; but they have to do with a cleverer fellow: trust to me for that."