The money--silver, copper, and notes of small denominations--was in a dirty leather bag.
With the palms of his hands Asabri answered that he would not. Inwardly, it was as if he had been made of smiles; but he showed them a stern countenance when he said:
"One thing! Before I touch this money, is there blood on it?"
"High hands only," said the sullen brigand; but the youngest protested.
"Indeed, yes," he said, "there is blood upon it. Look, see, and behold!"
He bared a breast on which the skin was fine and satiny like a woman's, and they saw in the firelight the cicatrice of a newly healed wound.
"A few drops of mine," he said proudly. "May they bring the money luck."
"One thing more," said Asabri; "I have said that I will mend your fortunes. What sum apiece would make you comfortable for the rest of your days and teach you to see the evil in your present manner of life?"
"If the money were to be doubled," said the sullen brigand, "then each of us could have what he most desires."
"For me," said the sullen brigand, "there is a certain piece of land upon which are grapes, figs, and olives."
The second brigand said: "I am a waterman by birth and by longing. If I could purchase a certain barge upon which I have long had an eye, I should do well and honestly in the world, and happily."
"And you? What do you want?" Asabri smiled paternally in the face of the youngest brigand.
This one showed his beautiful teeth a moment, and drew the rags together over his scarred breast.
"I am nineteen years of age," he said, and his eyes glistened. "There is a girl, sir, in my village. Her eyes are like velvet; her skin is smooth as custard. She is very beautiful. If I could go to her father with a certain sum of money, he would not ask where I had gotten it--that is why I have robbed on the highway. He would merely stretch forth his hands and roll his fat eyes heavenward, and say: 'Bless you, my children.'"
"It is wonderful," said the youngest brigand, "how she loves me. And when I told her that I was going upon the road to earn the moneys necessary for our happiness, she said that she would climb down from her window at night and come with me. But," he concluded unctuously, "I pointed out to her that from sin springs nothing but unhappiness."