am sparkling on the rocks a thousand feet below.

"You wished to see me, senor," and Hillyard turned with curiosity.

Twelve years had passed since he had seen Jose Medina, but he had
changed less than Hillyard expected. Martin remembered him as small and
slight, with a sharp mobile face and a remarkable activity which was the
very badge of the man; and these characteristics he retained. He was
still like quick-silver. But he was fast losing his hair, and he wore
pince-nez. The dress of the peasant and the cautious manner of the
peasant, both were gone. In his grey lounge suit he had the look of a
quick-witted clerk.

"You wished to see me, senor," he repeated, and he laid the card upon
the table.

"For a moment. I shall hope not to detain you long."

"My time and my house are yours."

Jose Medina had clearly become a _caballero_ since those early days of
adventure. Hillyard noted the point for his own guidance, thanking his
stars meanwhile that the gift of the house was a meaningless politeness.

"I arrived at Palma this morning, in a yacht," said Hillyard.

Jose Medina was prepared for the information. He bowed. There had been
neither smile nor, indeed, any expression whatever upon his face since
he had entered the room.

"I have heard of the yacht," he said. "It is a fine ship."

"Yes."

Jose Medina looked at Hillyard.

"It flies the English flag."

Hillyard bowed.

"As do your feluccas, senor, I believe."

A mere twitch of the lips showed that Medina appreciated the point.

"But I," continued Hillyard, "am an Englishman, while you, senor----"

Jose Medina was not, if he could help it, to be forced to cry "a hit"
again.

"Whereas I, senor, am a neutral," he answered. The twitch of the lips
became a smile. He invited Hillyard to a chair, he drew up another
himself, and the two men sat down over against one another in the middle
of that bare and formal room.

That one word neutral, so delicately emphasised, warned Hillyard that
Jose Medina was quite alive to the reason of his visit. He could, of
course, have blurted it out at once. He could have said in so many
words, "Your tobacco factories are on French soil, and your two hundred
feluccas are nominally owned in Gibraltar. Between French and English we
shall close you down unless you help." But he knew very well that he
would have got no more than fair words if he had. It is not thus that
delicate questions are approached in Spain. Even the bla