“There is no lack of food still in town, according to my belief. Don Roque, my friend, will you not go and find something to eat, let it cost what it may?”
“Yesterday I paid five duros for a hen in the market,” said one of the old servants of the house.
“But today there are none,” said Don Roque. “I was there only a moment ago.”
“Friends, look about and find something. I need nothing for myself.”
He was saying this when we heard the agreeable cackle of a fowl. We all looked joyfully towards the entrance of the street, and we saw Candiola, who carried in his left hand the chicken we know of, caressing its black plumage with his right. Before they asked him for it, he approached Montoria slowly, and said—
“A doubloon for the chicken.”
“What a starved thing it is!”