"And you? What do you understand?"
"Well, old magician, I don't understand anything; but then I don't read books."
"But I do."
"More fool you!" answered the captain. "It's bad enough to have vermin in the head. But to get thoughts into the bargain. How will you ever be able to live, you old toad?"
"Well, I have not got much longer to live," said Tiapa quietly.
One day the schoolmaster inquired where he had learned to read, and Tiapa answered shortly—
"In prison."
"Have you been there?"
"Yes, I have."
"For what?"