"Thanks; and you ask me--" "I have told you already--a mere trifle." "Still----" "We shall come to an agreement; besides, I am too much of the gentleman to treat you as a greenhorn. Still, to keep things straight, just sign this simple agreement." "Pardon me; but I cannot read. I can sign nothing; besides, you can easily understand that I am not at all desirous to give you my soul." "Come, Excellency," said Mephistopheles, "you can hardly suppose that I have any intention of taking you in?" "What? "Hang it all! Your soul has been mine for a long time, and I do not require your authorization to take it." "Nonsense," said the worthy pirate, who was quite rebuffed, "do you think our Lord will not look twice before condemning a man of my sort?" "Not the least in the world," the demon continued good-humouredly; "so reassure yourself. It is not that I intend to ask of you." "Speak, then; and, on the word of a gentleman adventurer, I will grant it." "Done!" said Satan, graciously stretching out his hand. "Done!" the pirate replied. "Come, that is settled. Well, you will surrender to me the first living creature you address in the morning when you wake. You see that I am not exigent, for I might have charged you much more dearly." Don Stephen made a face, for the first person he was in the habit of addressing in the morning was his daughter. "Do you hesitate?" the demon asked in a sub-acid voice. The pirate sighed. The conditions seemed hard, still he must accept them. "No, I don't," he said; "it is a bargain." "Very good; now leave me to my work." "As you please," the pirate answered, and prepared to go down; but, suddenly reflecting, he added, "Tell me, can you not do me a service?" "With pleasure." "During our conversation night has fallen; it is as black as in your domains, and I am frightfully afraid of breaking my neck in going down to the plain." "Do you wish to rest?" "Yes; the day has been fatiguing, and I am desirous of sleep." "All right; nothing is easier." "Then, I shall have my castle tomorrow?" "At sunrise I promised it." "Thanks; and now, if you will help me----" "Certainly; hold on." And the demon, seizing the tail of the horse on which the pirate was mounted, whirled the animal round his head, and then hurled it into space. The pirate, slightly stunned by the rapidity of his flight, fell without the slightest injury at the entrance of his tent; he immediately dismounted, and prepared for bed.