"I am rotten with money, I tell you," he repeated as though uttering a complaint. "I have more than I need…. I can do foolish things with it if I wish to."
Then for the first time he looked his mate square in the face.
"As for you," he continued, "I have thought what you must do…. Here, take this!"
He gave him a sealed envelope and the pilot mechanically tried to open it.
"No, don't open it at present. You will find out what it contains when you are in Spain. Within it is enclosed the future of your own folks."
Toni looked with astonished eyes at the light scrap of paper which he held between his fingers.
"I know you," continued Ferragut. "You are going to protest at the quantity. What to me is insignificant, to you will appear excessive…. Do not open the envelope until you are in our country. In it you will find the name of the bank to which you must go. I wish you to be the richest man in your village that your sons may remember Captain Ferragut when he is dead."
The mate made a gesture of protest before this possible death, and at the same time rubbed his eyes as though he felt in them an intolerable itching.
Ulysses continued his instructions. He had rashly sold the home of his ancestors there in the Marina, the vineyards,—all his legacy from the Triton, when he had acquired the Mare Nostrum. It was his wish that Toni should redeem the property, installing himself in the ancient domicile of the Ferraguts.
He had money to spare for that and much more.