"Is the plumber your brother?"
"My cousin. I also spoke to Juan Antonio. He made that telephone call."
"Are you very hungry?" Hall asked. "I want to buy you half a steer."
"I could eat half a steer, compañero. And I know where to get it, too." He drove to an old garden restaurant near the beach. "Here they serve the best meat in San Hermano. And at low prices, too."
Pepe did ample justice to a tremendous steak. He washed it down with a quart of beer, chiding Hall for confining his luncheon to a simple roast-beef sandwich. "Such food is all right for little children, Señor Hall. But you are a man."
"Call me Mateo."
"You should eat like a man, Compañero Mateo."
"I don't feel like eating."
"Then go to a good doctor. Or take that red-headed woman into your bed for a night. You'd eat in the morning, chico!"
Hall laughed. "I'd rather see a doctor," he said.