of some rank,[298] he told me, that in
the Isle of Malta, two knights having hired a slave, who boasted that
he possessed the secret of evoking demons, and forcing them to
discover the most hidden secrets, they led him into an old castle,
where it was thought that treasures were concealed. The slave
performed his evocations, and at last the demon opened a rock whence
issued a coffer. The slave would have taken hold of it, but the coffer
went back into the rock. This occurred more than once; and the slave,
after vain efforts, came and told the knights what had happened to
him; but he was so much exhausted that he had need of some
restorative; they gave him refreshment, and when he had returned they
after a while heard a noise. They went into the cave with a light, to
see what had happened, and they found the slave lying dead, and all
his flesh full of cuts as of a penknife, in form of a cross; he was so
covered with them that there was not room to place a finger where he
was not thus marked. The knights carried him to the shore, and threw
him into the sea with a great stone hung round his neck. We could name
these persons and note the dates, were it necessary.

The same person related to us, at that same time, that about ninety
years before, an old woman of Malta was warned by a genius that there
was a great deal of treasure in her cellar, belonging to a knight of
high consideration, and desired her to give him information of it; she
went to his abode, but could not obtain an audience. The following
night the same genius returned, and gave her the same command; and as
she refused to obey, he abused her, and again sent her on the same
errand. The next day she returned to seek this lord, and told the
domestics that she would not go away until she had spoken to the
master. She related what had happened to her; and the knight resolved
to go to her dwelling, accompanied by people with the proper
instruments for digging; they dug, and very shortly there sprung up
such a quantity of water from the spot where they inserted their
pickaxes that they were obliged to give up the undertaking.

The knight confessed to the Inquisitor what he had done, and received
absolution for it; but he was obliged to inscribe the fact we have
recounted in the Registers of the Inquisition.

About sixty years after, the canons of the Cathedral of Malta, wishing
for a wider space before their church, bought some houses which it was
necessary to pul