counsel for a moment with Cortadillo, and receiving his assent, drew
forth the purse of the Sacristan, saying:--

"Let all questions cease, gentlemen: here is the purse, from which
nothing is missing that the Alguazil has described, since my comrade
Cortadillo prigged it this very day, with a pocket-handkerchief into the
bargain, which he borrowed from the same owner." Thereupon Cortadillo
produced the handkerchief before the assembled company.

Seeing this, Monipodio exclaimed "Cortadillo the Good! for by that title
and surname shall you henceforward be distinguished. Keep the
handkerchief, and I take it upon myself to pay you duly for this
service; as to the purse, the Alguazil must carry it away just as it is,
for it belongs to a Sacristan who happens to be his relation, and we
must make good in his case the proverb, which says, 'To him who gives
thee the entire bird, thou canst well afford a drumstick of the same.'
This good Alguazil can save us from more mischief in one day than we can
do him good in a hundred."

All the brotherhood with one voice approved the spirit and gentlemanly
proceeding of the two new comers, as well as the judgment and decision
of their superior, who went out to restore the purse to the Alguazil.
As to Cortadillo, he was confirmed in his title of the _Good_, much as
if the matter had concerned a Don Alonzo Perez de Guzman, surnamed the
Good, who from the walls of Tarifa threw down to his enemy the dagger
that was to destroy the life of his only son.[24]

[24] Our readers will perceive that this relates to the atrocity
committed by the Infant Don Juan of Castille, who, while in revolt
against his brother, Sancho IV., appeared before the city of Tarifa with