“I say!” protested Matthews. “Whiskey and soda at five o’clock in the morning, in the middle of July——”
“1914, if you must be so precise!” added Magin jovially. “But why not?” he demanded. “Aren’t you an Englishman? You mustn’t shake the pious belief in which I was brought up, that you are all weaned with Scotch! Say when. It isn’t every day that I have the pleasure of so fortunate an encounter.” And, rising, he lifted his glass, bowed, and said: “Here’s to a bit of a lark, Mr. Matthews!”
The younger man rose to it. But inwardly he began to feel a little irked.
“By the way,” he asked, nibbling at a biscuit, “can you tell me anything about the Ab-i-Diz? I dare say you must know something about it—since your men look as if they came from up that way. Is there a decent channel as far as Dizful?”
“Ah!” uttered Magin slowly. “Are you thinking of going up there?” He considered the question, and his guest, with a flicker in his lighted eyes. “Well, decent is a relative word, you know. However, wonders can be accomplished with a stout rope and a gang of natives, even beyond Dizful. But here you see me and my ark still whole—after a night journey, too. The worst thing is the sun. You see I am more careful of my skin than you. As for the shoals, the rapids, the sharks, the lions, the nomads who pop at you from the bank, et cetera—you are an Englishman! Do you take an interest in antiques?” he broke off abruptly.
“Yes—though interest is a relative word too, I expect.”
“Quite so!” agreed the Brazilian. “I have rather a mania for that sort of thing, myself. Wait. Let me show you.” And he went into the inner cabin. When he came back he held up an alabaster cup. “A Greek kylix!” he cried. “Pure Greek! What an outline, eh? This is what keeps me from putting on my slippers! I have no doubt Alexander left it behind him. Perhaps Hephaistion drank out of it, or Nearchus, to celebrate his return from India. And some rascally Persian stole it out of a tent!”
Matthews, taking the cup, saw the flicker brighten in the Brazilian’s eyes.
“Nice little pattern of grape leaves, that,” he said. “And think of picking it up out here!”
“Oh you can always pick things up, if you know where to look,” said Magin. “Dieulafoy and the rest of them didn’t take everything. How could they? The people who have come and gone through this country of Elam! Why just over there, at Bund-i-Kir, Antigonus fought Eumenes and the Silver Shields for the spoils of Susa—and won them! I have discovered——But come in here.” And he pushed wider open the door of the inner cabin.