Volume I Part 73 (2/2)
”You do not? Very well, to-morrow the knife will be in my possession, but when it is once in ain A spirit which is under ht, and the same spirit will tell me where the treasure is buried:”
”Let the spirit tell you that, and I shall be convinced”
”Give me a pen, ink and paper”
I asked a question from my oracle, and the answer I had was that the treasure was to be found not far from the Rubicon
”That is,” I said, ”a torrent which was once a river:”
They consulted a dictionary, and found that the Rubicon flowed through Cesena They were a reasoning, I left them
I had taken a fancy, not to purloin five hundred sequins froo and unearth the amount at their expense in the house of another fool, and to laugh at theician With that idea, when I left the house of the ridiculous antiquarian, I proceeded to the public library, where, with the assistance of a dictionary, I wrote the following specimen of facetious erudition:
”The treasure is buried in the earth at a depth of seventeen and a half fathoms, and has been there for six centuries Its value amounts to two millions of sequins, enclosed in a casket, the same which was taken by Godfrey de Bouillon from Mathilda, Countess of Tuscany, in the year 1081, when he endeavoured to assist Henry IV, against that princess He buried the box himself in the very spot where it now is, before he went to lay siege to Jerusale been inforetting possession of it hi out his intentions After the death of the Countess Mathilda, in the year 1116, the genius presiding over all hidden treasures appointed seven spirits to guard the box During a night with a full ician can raise the treasure to the surface of the earth by placing hi called maximus:”
I expected to see the father and son, and they caave them what I had composed at the library, namely, the history of the treasure taken from the Countess Mathilda
I told them that I had made up my mind to recover the treasure, and I promised them the fourth part of it, provided they would purchase the sheath; I concluded by threatening again to possess myself of their knife
”I cannot decide,” said the coe my word to shew it to you to-hly pleased with each other
In order to manufacture a sheath, such as the wonderful knife required, it was necessary to combine the most whimsical idea with the oddest shape I recollected very well the for in ant but well adapted to the purpose I had in view, I spied in the yard of the hotel an old piece of leather, the reentleman's boot; it was exactly what I wanted
I took that old sole, boiled it, and made in it a slit in which I was certain that the knife would go easily Then I pared it carefully on all sides to prevent the possibility of its for found out; I rubbed it with pumice stone, sand, and ochre, and finally I succeeded in i to my production such a queer, old-fashi+oned shape that I could not help laughing in looking at my work
When I presented it to the comood ether, and after dinner it was decided that his son should accompany me, and introduce me to the master of the house in which the treasure was buried, that I was to receive a letter of exchange for one thousand Rona, which would be made payable to my name only after I should have found the treasure, and that the knife with the sheath would be delivered into reat operation; until then the son was to retain possession of it
Those conditions having been agreed upon, weupon all parties, and our departure was fixed for the day after the morrow
As we left Mantua, the father pronounced a fervent blessing over his son's head, and toldme the diplo hie
After bidding adieu to Marina, as then the acknowledged mistress of Count Arcorati, and to Baletti whoain in Venice before the end of the year, I went to sup with , travelled through Ferrara and Bologna, and reached Cesena, where we put up at the posting-house We got up early the next day and walked quietly to the house of George Franzia, a wealthy peasant, ner of the treasure It was only a quarter of a reeably surprised by our arrival He e me with his family he went out with my companion to talk business
Observant as usual, I passed the fahter The youngest girl was ugly, and the son looked a regular fool The mother seemed to be the real master of the household, and there were three or four servants going about the prehter was called Genevieve, or Javotte, a very coht her eighteen; but she answered, in a tone half serious, half vexed, that I was very much mistaken, for she had only just colad it is so, my pretty child”