"You are quite sure, of course, that they _are_ officers of a transport?" said the elder, observing with attention.
"Quite, my commandant. From the _Tanganyika_, arrived to-day. The little one I know well. The other I observed upon the forecastle as she anchored."
"But what are they doing in company with _him_?"
"I imagine, my commandant, that they do a little business in hashish. But in any case it is not what you imagine. The English do not spy."
"Impossible, my commandant. You do not know them. I do. As you are aware, I was in the Crédit Lyonnais in Lombard Street. If Mr. Dainopoulos attempted to enlist their services they would batter his head in with his own _narghileh_. They have no compunction about robbing their government by peculation, but treachery is not their _métier_. And our friend knows it quite well."
"Business," observed Mr. Dainopoulos suddenly, "is very bad."
Mr. Bates seemed very amused at this and leaned over the dirty marble-topped table.
"Count us both in, my friend here and me, for the same as last time. How about it, eh?"
"Oh!" Mr. Dainopoulos pulled his extended frame up and put his elbows on the table, his eyes blinking quickly. "Oh, that's all right. Yes, certainly. But I mean to say business is very bad. You would not believe me, Mister, but the chances that are going, and all for a little management, are lost! Incredible! Only this week"--here he lowered his voice so that Mr. Spokesly, who was listening with undivided attention, scarcely gathered the words--"only this week, I could have made--ah, much money--if I had with me an Englishman who knows the business. Ten thousand drachma, easy as that!" Mr. Dainopoulos snapped his fingers without a sound and looked depressed.
Mr. Bates did not look depressed. His smile evaporated and he looked down his nose into his moustache with an expression of ruffled propriety.
"I must say----" he began, and added, after a pause, "'Course we hadn't arrived, but I should 'ave thought, seein' we was due here, you might have counted on me."
Mr. Dainopoulos regarded Mr. Bates as though he were sizing him up for the first time and found him to amount to an almost negligible quantity. And then he shook his head.
"No," he murmured in a muffled tone. "That's not what I meant. What I wanted--too late now, of course--was a Kapitan."