"Off you go, and mind you are back in double quick time!"
Before dark the masons had arrived, and the caldron too. Gregorics took the two men into his room, and carefully shut the door.
"Can you keep silence?" he asked.
The masons looked at each other surprised, and the elder one answered.
"Why, of course we can keep silence, that is the first thing a man does on his arrival in this world."
"Yes, until he has learnt to talk," answered Gregorics.
"And even afterward you can make the trial if it is worth your while," said the younger man slyly.
"It will be worth your while, for you shall have fifty florins each if you will make a hole in a wall large enough to put this caldron in, and then close it again so that no one can see where it was put."
"Is that all?"
"That is all. But besides that you will receive fifty florins each from the owner of this house every year, as long as you keep silence."