'You speak Italian, don't you?' he asked.
'Enough to get around,' I replied.
'Good!' He smiled. 'Since you class yourself among the adventurers, you might find this quite amusing. On the other hand, it may be a complete wash-out. In which case you will have to be content with three months' holiday in the Dolomites. It's just a hunch I have about something. I can't follow it up myself. I'm finishing off my next film. What I need is somebody I can trust to hold a watching brief for me and keep me informed — somebody with a sense of responsibility and plenty of initiative. You're just the man.'
'Thanks for the build-up,' I said. I was becoming excited despite my previous disappointment. Engles' excitement was always infectious.
He laughed. 'That's not a build-up. You just happen to possess those qualities. You can also write, and that gives me a pretext for sending you out. Now — do you want the job?'
'Well, what is the job?' I asked him.
'For God's sake, Neil!' he cried. 'Do you want it or don't you?'
'Of course I do,' I replied. 'I need a job badly. But naturally I want to know what the job is. How else can I tell whether I can do it?'
'You should know me better,' he said in a quieter tone. 'I wouldn't be offering you the job if I didn't think you could do it. Now, are you going to take it or not?'
'I'd like to,' I said.