“Never happened to come across him before, did you?”
Martin stiffened ever so slightly. “No, sir, never set eyes on him. The East is a big bit of country, and there’s room for all kinds there.”
“You know some foreign lingos?”
“Yes, sir, a trader needs them if he’s going to do any business.”
“Have you tried your friend in that respect?”
“I tackled him just now with Hindustani, but that beat him.”
“It would beat me, too. Does he know any Malay?” Derrick smiled a little. “Not that I know any myself.”
“Only a word or two, sir.”
“Curious that two traders like you, both of whom have lived in the Orient, should have to fall back on English to converse.”
Martin’s eyes were unfathomable, and Derrick searched his mind for the next move. The man had twice been proved a liar, but the object of his lies was as remote as ever. Then suddenly came the thought of Perkins, babbling what was probably Malay in her dream-haunted sleep.