Mr. O'Hagan remembered how, when suffering from lumbago himself, the friction with turpentine had left his back sore and smarting for days.
"Sit down, Pardo," he said. "I've something to say to you."
The man sat down awkwardly on his chair, smiling amiably.
"You remember the night of the attempted robbery," Mr. O'Hagan went on. "No doubt my shots disturbed you."
"Not at all, señor. I slept the sleep of the just."
"How often do you correspond with the Prefect?"
The sudden question obviously took Pardo aback. He looked uncomfortable, but recovered himself in a moment, and said with a feeble smile:
"A humble clerk and book-keeper does not correspond with so important a person as his excellency, señor."
"Nevertheless, you sent a letter to his excellency a few days ago. He visited me two days after, and left a party of his gendarmes in the town when he returned to San Juan. I have reason to suspect that they were concerned in the attempt to rob me. How did they know that at that precise moment I had a large sum of money in my safe?"
"These are very strange questions, señor," said Pardo. His manner was quiet and restrained, but Mr. O'Hagan, intently watching him, noticed a look of fear in his eyes.