Page 396 of 626

So he hired some villains to murder him; and having shown them

where to lie in ambush, he went to his brother, and said, 'Dear

brother, I have found a hidden treasure; let us go and dig it up,

and share it between us.' The other had no suspicions of his

roguery: so they went out together, and as they were travelling

along, the murderers rushed out upon him, bound him, and were

going to hang him on a tree.

But whilst they were getting all ready, they heard the trampling

of a horse at a distance, which so frightened them that they

pushed their prisoner neck and shoulders together into a sack,

and swung him up by a cord to the tree, where they left him

dangling, and ran away. Meantime he worked and worked away, till

he made a hole large enough to put out his head.