“How! what!” exclaimed all the robbers at once; “darest thou trifle with us, that thou tellest such improbable lies?”

“What I tell you,” said Gurth, “is as true as the moon is in heaven. You will find the just sum in a silken purse within the leathern pouch, and separate from the rest of the gold.”

“Bethink thee, man,” said the Captain, “thou speakest of a Jew⁠—of an Israelite ⁠—as unapt to restore gold, as the dry sand of his deserts to return the cup of water which the pilgrim spills upon them.”

“There is no more mercy in them,” said another of the banditti, “than in an unbribed sheriffs officer.”

“It is, however, as I say,” said Gurth.