are not all necessary to
you," said he, as he viewed the fifth apartment.

"No," returned Dakianos, "I might possibly do without some of these;
but I have too great obligations to you, to expose you, by giving them
to you: how could you convey them away? What a trouble it would be to
you to dispose of them!"

"That will be my business," replied the old man.

"No, no," added Dakianos, "I love you too well to consent to it;
besides, it would be the means to have me discovered; you would be
arrested, and you could not prevent yourself from accusing me. Let us
see the others."

They opened the fourth apartment. "This horse-furniture is absolutely
unsuitable to you; your age is an obstacle to the use of it."

He made use of the same difficulty to refuse him the cuirasses and the
armour which filled the third. When he had locked that up with the
same care as the rest, they found themselves in that which contained
the sabres; and the old man said to him, "These arms are easy to
carry, I will go and offer them to the Kings of the Indies; I will
sell them separately, and you will run no risk."

"You are right," returned Dakianos, "I may give you some of these."

As he said these words he examined them, both the weight of the gold
and the value of the diamonds. At length he drew one of them out of
the scabbard; then he compared all the riches of which he might be the
sole possessor, with the head of one man; and, unable to conceive how
he could have hesitated so long, "I distrust thee!" said he, springing
upon the old man.

The old man embraced his knees. "Be moved," said he to him, "with my
old age! The treasures no longer make any impression upon me, and I
pretend not to them."

"Truly I believe not," resumed Dakianos: "they are mine, the tablet of
gold gives them to me."

The old man recalled his promises to his memory. "But I will cancel
them," pursued he: "in return for the obligation you have to me I only
demand my life."

"I have offended thee too far," replied Dakianos: "thy life would be
my death, it would give me too much inquietude."

Then at one blow striking off the head of the old man, "Now," cried
he, "my secret is my own!"

The first care of Dakianos was immediately to make a grave and to
inter this unfortunate victim of his avarice. He feared not remorse,
though he dreaded a witness; his heart was wholly occupied with the
treasure that he possessed, and his mind with the methods of
preserving it