“You may well suppose, _Señor_, that I understood nothing of their discourse, for it was all in that strange unchristian tongue in which the giant answered me when I spoke to him; the sound of it is still ringing in my ears. It was nothing like other languages. Not like Bascuen, {67} not like the language in which your worship speaks to my namesake _Signor_ Antonio here. _Valgame Dios_! I can compare it to nothing but the sound a person makes when he rinses his mouth with water. There is one word which I think I still remember, for it was continually proceeding from the giant’s lips, but his master never used it. “But the strangest part of the story is yet to be told. The supper was ended, and the night was rather advanced; the rain still beat against the windows, even as it does at this moment. Suddenly the _jorobado_ pulled out his watch. _Valgame Dios_! such a watch! I will tell you one thing, _Señor_, that I could purchase all the Asturias, and Muros besides, with the brilliants which shone about the sides of that same watch; the room wanted no lamp, I trow, so great was the splendour which they cast. So the _jorobado_ looked at his watch, and then said to me, ‘I shall go to rest.’ He then took the lamp, and went through the gallery to his room, followed by his big servant. Well, _Señor_, I cleared away the things, and then waited below for the servant, for whom I had prepared a comfortable bed, close by my own. _Señor_, I waited patiently for an hour, till at last my patience was exhausted, and I ascended to the supper apartment, and passed through the gallery till I came to the door of the strange guest. _Señor_, what do you think I saw at the door?” “How should I know?” I replied. “His riding-boots, perhaps.” “No, _Señor_, I did not see his riding-boots; but, stretched on the floor with his head against the door, so that it was impossible to open it without disturbing him, lay the big servant fast asleep, his immense legs reaching nearly the whole length of the gallery. I crossed myself, as well I might, for the wind was howling even as it is now, and the rain was rushing down into the gallery in torrents; yet there lay the big servant fast asleep, without any covering, without any pillow, not even a log, stretched out before his master’s door. “_Señor_, I got little rest that night, for I said to myself, I have evil wizards in my house, folks who are not human. Once or twice I went up and peeped into the gallery, but there still lay the big servant fast asleep; so I crossed myself, and returned to my bed again.” “Well,” said I, “and what occurred next day?”