"Well, perhaps not," he said indulgently. "No doubt the natural attractions of Maldivia brought you here. You did me some service in the war. I am not ungrateful. I appoint you my private secretary."
"Your Excellency!" I cried.
He shook hands with me and added carelessly:
"There is no salary attached to the post, but there are opportunities."
And there were. That is why I now live in a neat little villa at Sorrento.
Ballester turned to Harry Vandeleur and took him by the arm. He looked from one to the other of us.
"Ever since the day when I walked over a high pass of the Cordilleras with nothing but the clothes I stood up in, and an unknown Englishman gave me the railway fare to this city, I have made what return I could to your nation. You, too, have served me, Señor Vandeleur. I pay some small portion of my debt. Money! I have none to give you"; and he uttered the words without a blush, although the half a million pounds sterling received as war indemnity had already been paid into his private account.
"Nor would you take it if I had," Juan resumed. "But I will give you something of equal value."
He led Vandeleur to the window, and waving his hand impressively over the city, he said:
"I will give you the monopoly of green paint in the city of Santa Paula."