But Levion was blind and deaf. Enok seemed to be making towards just that corner of the rock where Levion stood.
"Keep off!" cries Levion. "I've torn off one of your ears already--do you want me to take the other?"
"Get away with you, d'you hear?" says Enok, coming closer.
Levion was choking and swallowing with anger. He cried out loud, "Remember that day in the fjord, when I caught you pulling up my lines? I twisted one ear off then...."
And that was why Enok went about with a kerchief round his head; he had but one ear. And both he and Levion had very good reasons for keeping quiet about the matter.
"You're no better than a murderer, to speak of," said Enok.
The priest's boat was heard rushing in to land, and from the other side came the roar of the fire, ever nearer. Enok writhed, and tried again to make Levion retreat; he drew his knife--that excellent knife for cutting things.
Levion rolled his eyes and screamed out, "As sure as you dare come waving knives at me, there's folk at hand already, and here they come!"
Enok put up his knife again. "What d'you want standing there anyway?" he said. "Get away with you!"
"What are you doing here yourself, anyway?"
"What's that to you? I've an errand here; some things I've hidden here. And there's the fire all close up."
But Levion stayed defiantly, and would not move an inch. Here was the priest coming up, and he, no doubt, could hear the two in dispute--but what did Levion care for him now?
The boat lay to, and those on board rushed up with axe and pick. The priest gave a brief greeting and a hasty word. "These midsummer bonfires are dangerous, Enok; the sparks fly about all over the place. Where had we better begin?"
Enok was at a loss for the moment; the priest had put him out, and drew him away now, so that he could not deal with Levion further.
"Which way's the wind?" asked the priest. "Come and show us where to start digging."
But Enok was desperately ill at ease; he looked round anxiously for Levion, and answered at random.
"Do not give way so," said the priest. "Pull yourself together, and be a man. We must get the fire under." And he took Enok by the arm.
Some of the men had already moved forward towards the fire, and were digging across its path. Levion was still in his old place, breathing hard; he kicked at a flat stone that lay in under the rock. "He won't have hidden anything here," thought Levion to himself. "It was just a lie." But he looked down again, and, kicking away some of the earth, he came upon a kerchief. One of Enok's kerchiefs it was--a quondam bandage for the earache. Levion picked it up; there was something wrapped in it. He unfastened it, and there was money--paper money--notes, and many of them. Furthermore, there was a document, a big white sheet. Levion was full of curiosity. He thought at once, "Stolen money!" And he unfolded the document and began to spell it through.