"A smoke, then?"
A smiling negative.
"Beware of the Greek bearing gifts," laughed Ryanne. "All right. You won't mind if I have a beer to the success of the venture?"
"No, effendi."
Ryanne drank the lukewarm beverage, while Mahomed toyed with his turquoise ring, that sacred badge of an honorable pilgrimage to Holy Mecca.
"The young lady, effendi; she was very pretty. Your sister?" casually inquired Mahomed.
"Oh, no. She is a young lady I met at the hotel the other day."
The liar! thought the Moslem, as he recalled the light in Ryanne's eyes and the tenderness of his smiles. Apparently, however, Mahomed lost interest directly. "At nine o'clock to-night, then, this collector will arrive to become my guest?"
"By hook or crook," was the answer. "I'll have him here. Cash upon delivery, as they say."
"Cash upon delivery," Mahomed repeated, the phrase being familiar to his tongue.