old
gipsy in deep Romany, to which he listened with respect, and answered in
a milder tone, shaking his head meanwhile.

"I have indeed heard such sayings from my mother," he said, "and I
gather your meaning; but we _Gitanos_ of the North have mingled too much
with the outlander and the foreigner to have preserved the ancient
purity of speech. But in craft and deed I wot well we are to the full as
good Roms as ever."

By this time it was clear to the Sergeant that the old man was jealous
of his leadership; and as he himself was by no means desirous of taking
part in a midnight raid against a plague-stricken town, he proceeded to
make it clear that, being on his way to his own country of Andalucia and
had been led aside by the gipsy cryptograms he had observed by the
wayside and the casual greeting of the crook-backed imp of the village.

Upon this the old man sat down beside Sergeant Cardono, or, as his new
friends knew him to be, Jose Maria the brigand. He did not talk about
the intended attack as the Sergeant hoped he would. Being impressed by
the greatness of his guest, he entered into a minute catalogue of the
captures he had made, the men he had slain as recorded on the butt of
his gun or the haft of his knife, and the cargoes he had successfully
"run" across the mountains or beached on the desolate sands of
Catalunia.

"I am no inlander," he said, "I am of the sea-coast of Tarragona. I have
never been south of Tortosa in my life; but there does not live a man
who has conducted more good cigars and brandy to their destination than
old Pepe of the Eleven Wounds!"

The sergeant with grave courtesy reached him a well-rolled cigarette.

"I have heard of your fame, brother," he said; "even at Ronda and on the
Madrid-Seville road your deeds are not unknown. But what of this venture
to-night? Have you enough men, think you, to overpower the town watchmen
and the palace-guards?"

The old gipsy tossed his bony hands into the air with a gesture of
incomparable contempt.

"The palace guards are fled back to Madrid," he cried, "and as to the
town watch they are either drunk or in their dotage!"

Meantime the main body of the gipsies waited patiently in the
background, and every few minutes their numbers were augmented by the
arrival of others over the various passes of the mountains. These took
their places without salutation, like men expected, and fell promptly to
listening to the conversation of the two great me