"Would you know his face?"
"I think I would."
"Good! Above everything else we wish to learn what has become of the Americansky and the fiddler and when they are to arrive. Also, they are two more Franks at the hotel, a man named King and his daughter. They, I think, are Amerikansky like Nash. We do not understand how they come to be in this business. If they are really in it, perhaps it would be worth while to kidnap the girl. We might hold her to blackmail her friends."
"But what do they seek that you also seek?" asked Nikka.
"If you breathe it to a soul, I will cut out your heart with my own knife, I, Beran Tokalji," replied the Gypsy chief by way of preface. "They have the secret to a treasure."
"What?" exclaimed Nikka with great pretense of astonishment. "Here in Stamboul?"
"Close by, my lad, close by. They know its location, but if we are smart we should be able to take it from them as soon as they reveal their knowledge. It is for us to find out their secret or wring it from them, by torture, if necessary."
"This is a job worth doing," cried Nikka, jumping up. "Jakka and I will be diligent. We will start now to trail the Franks."
But Tokalji barred the door to him.
"Not so fast, not so fast," he answered with his gargoyle laughter. "The job has waited for you some time. It can wait a few hours longer. I prefer to keep you under my wing for the night, until we become better acquainted. You look like the right sort of fellow, Giorgi, and your friend is not so poor a man for a Frank; but after all, as I said to you, you came in to me from the street this afternoon, and all I know about you is that you are a good thief.