He would begin, for example, on a very
high note, shouting:
"Look here! A real! Only one real! Ladies' and gents' hosiery at a
real a pair! Look-a-here now! A real a pair!" Then, lowering his
register, he would continue, gravely: "A nice Bayonne waistcoat. A
splendid bargain!" And as a finale, he would add in a basso profundo:
"Only twenty pesetas!"
Uncle Perquique knew the Society of the Three, and he would favour El
Bizco and Vidal with his advice.
Safer and more profitable than dealing with the stolen-goods
purchasers of the second-hand shop was the plan followed by Dolores la
Escandalosa, who sold the ribbons and the lace that she pilfered to
itinerant hawkers who paid very well. But the members of the Society
of the Three were eager to get their dividends quickly.
The sale completed, the three would repair to a tavern at the end of
Embajadores avenue, corner of Las Delicias, which they called the
Handkerchief Corner.
The associates were especially careful not to rob twice in the same
place and never to appear together in those vicinities where
unfavourable surveillance was suspected.
Some days, which did not come often, when theft brought no plunder,
the three companions were compelled to work in the Campillo del Mundo
Nuevo, scattering heaps of wood and gathering it together with rakes
after it had been properly aired and dried.
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