“Allegiance?” blandly suggested Lance.
“Our allegiance—yes, that word will do; it explains my meaning, though it is not the word I intended to use,” answered Ralli. “We have thrown off our allegiance. We are tired of him—this man Johnson—and we will have no more of him; he will never return here; and now I am capitan. You understand!”
Lance nodded.
“Good. The next thing I was about to explain is, that his friends are our enemies; you and your people especially. Is that plain?”
“Perfectly,” answered Lance, still outwardly calm and unconcerned as ever, though inwardly much perturbed. “And I presume you intend us to accept these remarks of yours in the light of a threat of some kind?”
Ralli looked hard at his interrogator before replying. He could not in the least understand this man who received with such perfect sang-froid the intelligence that he and his friends were to be regarded and treated as the enemies of a company of ruthless outlaws such as he must know Ralli and his associates to be.
“Yes,” he said at last, slowly and almost doubtingly, “you may take what I say as a threat. I mean to pay to you and your friends all the great debt of vengeance which that other friend of yours, Johnson, has allowed to accumulate against him. I will be doubly avenged; I will be avenged upon him, and upon you as well.”
Lance laughed gaily as he lightly knocked off with his little finger the ash from his cigar-end. This was a serious, a direful business; but he had no intention to let the Greek see that his words had any alarming or disturbing effect upon him, so he said with a smile—
“Excuse me for laughing at you, but, under the circumstances I really could not help it. Your ignorance of the true state of affairs strikes me as so positively ludicrous. You forget, my good sir, that I am behind the scenes—in your secret, you know,” he added, seeing a look of bewilderment at the other expression. “Why, man, you and all your people are absolutely at our mercy. You look surprised, but I assure you such is the fact. I really do not know whether I ought to explain myself to you; I scarcely think you deserve it after your recent threats—no; I will keep my own counsel; you shall remain in your ignorance.”
And he turned to walk away.