“There is no one here with horse or bicycle. I have, by the blessing of God, a small ass; but God has afflicted him with worms, doubtless lest I should become proud.”
“Are there many negroes in Los Jardinillos?”
“There are fifty, señor, and no whites. Doubtless you know him who has taken your bicycle.”
“I do not,” Sard said: “I am following so that I may know him.”
Enobbio did not answer this. Sard noticed that the husband and wife looked at each other, with a look as though the bottom had fallen out of their comprehension.
“Assuredly,” Enobbio said at last.
“Assuredly,” Camilla answered. They looked at each other again. As in a Latin exercise, Sard was conscious of a good many words “understood.”
“Assuredly,” Enobbio said at last, in a different tone, “the señor will carry weapons?”
“I am a sailor,” Sard answered. “A sailor has always ten weapons and a knife.”
He saw in a flash that he had no chance of retaking the bicycle that night by himself.