possible, he hoisted himself up to the crest of
the cliff.

The soldiers engrossed with their game, and the dwarf, though but a
spectator, having also become interested in it--none of the three either
saw or heard him. And the last he heard of them as he stole silently
away was the corporal delightedly calling out--

"_Sota en la puerta, mozo_! The dagger's mine, darling Perico!"

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.

A SERIES OF SURPRISES.

The _cochero_ had but a confused idea of what he was carrying away with
him. By the feel, watches, with chains and bracelets; besides some
smaller articles wrapped in bits of paper. The uncertainty of his
getting safe up the cliff hindered him from giving them even the most
cursory examination, nor did he think of doing this till at sufficient
distance from the card-playing party to feel sure he was beyond danger
of pursuit. Then the temptation to have a look at the things, which had
so strangely and unexpectedly come into his possession, became
irresistible; and sitting down upon a ledge of rock, he drew them out
into the light of the moon. Two watches were there, both gold, and one
with a jewelled case.

"_Carrai_!" he exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon the latter, and became
fixed in a stare of blank amazement, "can it be! It is--the Condesa's
watch--the very one she would have given me! But how came the hunchback
to have it? Surely he must have stolen it. The other, too, with all
these things!"

He looked at the second watch, but as it had never been in his hands
before, he was unable to identify it. Still, it resembled one he had
seen his mistress wearing, and most likely was the same.

The bracelets, chains, necklets, and brooches would be theirs, too; as
also the rings and other bijouterie, which the dwarf had found time to
do up in paper.

"Stolen them?" continued the _cochero_ interrogatively, as he ran his
eyes over the varied assortment.

"How could he? The watches he might, but the other things? Why bless
me, here are two pairs of ear-rings--and these grand pendants--I'm sure
I saw them in the ears of the Condesa this very day. He couldn't have
taken them without her knowing it. _Santo Dios_! How ever has he come
by them?"

As he thus questioned and reflected, a feeling of apprehension began to
creep over him. A little before leaving the house to go after his
horses he had observed his young mistress and the Condesa going into the
ornamental grounds. A