s the stranger had come from the northern shores of the
Mediterranean, and that I might ask him--"

He paused again, and gave a glance at the captain.

"Ask him what? Speak out, man?"

"Ask him if he brings any tidings of Europe," Hakkabut blurted out at
last.

Servadac shrugged his shoulders in contempt and turned away. Here was
a man who had been resident three months in Gallia, a living witness
of all the abnormal phenomena that had occurred, and yet refusing to
believe that his hope of making good bargains with European traders was
at an end. Surely nothing, thought the captain, will convince the old
rascal now; and he moved off in disgust. The orderly, however, who
had listened with much amusement, was by no means disinclined for the
conversation to be continued. "Are you satisfied, old Ezekiel?" he
asked.

"Isn't it so? Am I not right? Didn't a stranger arrive here last night?"
inquired the Jew.

"Yes, quite true."

"Where from?"

"From the Balearic Isles."

"The Balearic Isles?" echoed Isaac.

"Yes."

"Fine quarters for trade! Hardly twenty leagues from Spain! He must have
brought news from Europe!"

"Well, old Manasseh, what if he has?"

"I should like to see him."

"Can't be."

The Jew sidled close up to Ben Zoof, and laying his hand on his arm,
said in a low and insinuating tone, "I am poor, you know; but I would
give you a few reals if you would let me talk to this stranger."

But as if he thought he was making too liberal an offer, he added, "Only
it must be at once."

"He is too tired; he is worn out; he is fast asleep," answered Ben Zoof.

"But I would pay you to wake him."

The captain had overheard the tenor of the conversation, and interposed
sternly, "Hakkabut! if you make the least attempt to disturb our
visitor, I shall have you turned outside that door immediately."

"No offense, my lord, I hope," stammered out the Jew. "I only meant--"

"Silence!" shouted Servadac. The old man hung his head, abashed.

"I will tell you what," said Servadac after a brief interval; "I will
give you leave to hear what this stranger has to tell as soon as he is
able to tell us anything; at present we have not heard a word from his
lips."

The Jew looked perplexed.

"Yes," said Servadac; "when we hear his story, you shall hear it too."

"And I hope it will be to your liking, old Ezekiel!" added Ben Zoof in a
voice of irony.

They had none of them long to wait, for within a few minutes