"I suppose, after your great loss, you will go back to America, or perhaps Japan, and settle down?"
He shook his head.
"You know," I continued, "that if you cared for it, there is a highly-paid and important position open to you with the Air Police? Nothing would give me greater pleasure, as you know, than to have you as a colleague."
"I thank you, Sir John, but I have other work to do. I am a rich man, but that only interests me, inasmuch as it is a means to an end. When that end is reached ..."
He made a curious gesture with his arm, which I did not understand.
"May I ask what your work is?"
He looked at me with surprise.
"Vargus is still alive," he said simply.
"He will be caught soon. The police of the world are looking for him, if he is alive."
"I think it will be a long pursuit, Sir John. He has got off with the treasure, and I know one or two things about him which are not generally known. I do not think that Mr. Vargus will fall into the hands of the police."