“It is an honor to have been of some service, but it looks as if you were as rash in other matters as you are at cards,” the Spaniard answered. “These dark calles are unsafe for foreigners.”
“So it seems, but I’m afraid it will be a long time before I’m worth robbing,” Jake replied, and then remembered with embarrassment that the other was one of the party whose winnings he had not yet paid.
Don Sebastian smiled, but said suavely: “For all that, you should not take an unnecessary risk. You have been attacked once already, I think?”
“Yes, but it was my partner who got hurt.”
“That is one of the ironies of luck. Señor Brandon is sober and cautious, but he gets injured when he comes to protect you, who are rash.”
“He’s what you say, but I didn’t know you had met him,” Jake replied.
“I have heard of him; you foreigners are talked about in the cafés. They talk much in Santa Brigida; many have nothing else to do. But have you and Señor Brandon only been molested once?”
Jake hesitated for a moment. He liked the man and on the whole thought he could be trusted, while he imagined that he was not prompted by idle curiosity but knew something. Besides, Jake was often impulsive and ready, as he said, to back his judgment.
“We were only once actually attacked, but something rather curious happened not long ago.”
“Ah!” said Don Sebastian, “this is interesting, and as I know something of the intrigues that go on in the city it might be to your advantage to tell me about it. There is a quiet wine-shop not far off.”