"No, suh. Too young for that. He was foaled on April sixth in sixty-two. That's why they called him Shiloh."
There was a moment of silence, broken by a hail from the door.
"You there—Rennie!"
Drew saw the involuntary spasm of Don Cazar's lips, the shadow of an expression which might mean he anticipated a distasteful scene to come. But the quirk disappeared as he turned to face the man in the blue uniform.[pg 043]
"Captain Bayliss." It was acknowledgment rather than a greeting, delivered in a cool tone.
"I want to see you, Rennie!" The officer stamped forward a step or so, to stand in the full light of the first lantern. He was of medium height, and his blue blouse had been cut by a good tailor, though now it was worn. He was a good-looking man, though jowly about the mouth, above which a closely cropped mustache bristled. His color was high under a pink skin which in this hot country must burn painfully. And there was the permanent stamp of uncertain temper in the lines about his prominent eyes.
4
"So, you see me, Bayliss," Don Cazar returned evenly. "There is some trouble?"