Outside it was cold and the setting sun lit up the Dolomite peaks above the little town so that they flamed against the delicate blue of the sky. 'What was he doing for you in Greece?' I asked as we walked over to the bus stop.
But he held up his hand. 'I have said enough,' he answered. 'You are observant, Mr Blair. But do not be too observant. This is not England. The Austrian frontier is only a few miles away. Beyond lies Germany. Behind us is France. You were here in Italy before — but with your Army. You were part of a great organisation. But you are a civilian now and this is a strange, sick Europe. Things happen. Authority is a poor, bewildered official when things are out of control. Beyond all this luxury and all these men and women here who have grown fat on war, there is a vast human jungle. In that jungle, there is fear and starvation. It is the survival of the fittest. I tell you about Mayne because I would not like you to step outside this nice civilised Cortina and find yourself in that jungle.' He smiled at me as though he had passed some quite innocent remark. 'Tell Aldo for me, please, that I shall not be in to dinner.'
'But I thought you were coming back with me on the bus?' I said.
'No. I said that because I wished to talk to you alone. Remember your English saying — it takes all men to make a world. Remember also, please, that the world is not a good world just now. Good-night, Mr Blair.'
I watched his thick-set, powerful figure thrust its way through the crowded pavement till it was lost to view. Then I got on to the waiting bus with only my somewhat startled thoughts for company.
Joe Wesson was the only person in the rifugio when I returned. He looked at me sourly. 'I'd like to know what the hell you're playing at, Neil!' he grunted as he handed me a drink.
'Because I went to an auction this morning instead of getting on with the script?' I asked.
'Because, as far as I can see,' he replied, 'you haven't done a damn stroke of work since you arrived here. What's the matter? Won't your mind settle down to it?'
'I'll catch up after dinner,' I said. 'I've got the first part all worked out.'
'Good!' he said. 'I was beginning to get worried. Know what it's like. Seen other fellows in the same fix. It's not like camera work. It's got to be in your mind first.' For a man in such a hard business as films, he had an extraordinarily kind nature. 'How did the auction go?'