se he was calm, quiet, and slow in his
movements; and for this reason people commonly called him "goodman
Fario." But his skin--the color of gingerbread--and his softness of
manner only hid from stupid eyes, and disclosed to observing ones, the
half-Moorish nature of a peasant of Granada, which nothing had as yet
roused from its phlegmatic indolence.

"Are you sure," Max said to him, after listening to his grievance,
"that you brought your cart to this place? for, thank God, there are no
thieves in Issoudun."

"I left it just there--"

"If the horse was harnessed to it, hasn't he drawn it somewhere."

"Here's the horse," said Fario, pointing to the animal, which stood
harnessed thirty feet away.

Max went gravely up to the place where the horse stood, because from
there the bottom of the tower at the top of the embankment could be
seen,--the crowd being at the foot of the mound. Everybody followed Max,
and that was what the scoundrel wanted.

"Has anybody thoughtlessly put a cart in his pocket?" cried Francois.

"Turn out your pockets, all of you!" said Baruch.

Shouts of laughter resounded on all sides. Fario swore. Oaths, with a
Spaniard, denote the highest pitch of anger.

"Was your cart light?" asked Max.

"Light!" cried Fario. "If those who laugh at me had it on their feet,
their corns would never hurt them again."

"Well, it must be devilishly light," answered Max, "for look there!"
pointing to the foot of the tower; "it has flown up the embankment."

At these words all eyes were lifted to the spot, and for a moment there
was a perfect uproar in the market-place. Each man pointed at the barrow
bewitched, and all their tongues wagged.

"The devil makes common cause with the inn-keepers," said Goddet to the
astonished Spaniard. "He means to teach you not to leave your cart about
in the streets, but to put it in the tavern stables."

At this speech the crowd hooted, for Fario was thought to be a miser.

"Come, my good fellow," said Max, "don't lose heart. We'll go up to the
tower and see how your barrow got there. Thunder and cannon! we'll lend
you a hand! Come along, Baruch."

"As for you," he whispered to Francois, "get the people to stand back,
and make sure there is nobody at the foot of the embankment when you see
us at the top."

Fario, Max, Baruch, and three other knights climbed to the foot of the
tower. During the rather perilous ascent Max and Fario noticed that no
damage to the embankm