“No, sirree. I stayed in the Apolo patio with that flower-girl that La Rabanitos hated so much. Do you remember?”
“I sure do.”
“There was an interesting girl for you. Well, I was staying there when once I saw a fat guy in a white waistcoat chatting with some skirts. There were many people about; I side up to him, get a hold of his watch chain, tug at it gently till I pull the watch out of his pocket, then turn the ring so as to loosen it. As the chain was rather heavy there was the danger that, on separating it from the watch I’d hit the gentleman in the belly and so let him see that he’d been picked; but at this very moment there was some applause, people began to shove into the theatre; so I loosened the chain and made my escape. I was making off opposite San José for the Calle de las Torres, when I felt a hand clutch mine. Boy, didn’t I break into a sweat ...! ‘Let me go!’ I said.—‘Shut up, or I’ll call a cop!’ says the other guy. (And I shut up.) ‘I saw you lift that duffer’s watch,’ he says. ‘I?’—‘Yes, you. You’ve got the watch in your trousers pocket. So don’t be foolish and come on have a drink on me in the Brígido tavern.’—‘Come on,’ says I to myself. ‘This is a clever guy who must be in the game.’ We went into the tavern and there the fellow spoke straight from the shoulder. ‘See here,’ he says to me. ‘You want to get on at any cost, don’t you? But you hate the Abanico, and I can easily understand that, for you’re no idiot. Very well, then; how do you expect to get on? What weapons have you for the struggle in life? You’re nothing but a fledgling; you don’t know people; you don’t the world. You come to my house tomorrow; I’ll take you to a shop where they sell ready made clothes, you’ll buy a suit, a hat, and a trunk, and I’ll recommend you to a good boarding-house. I’ll see to it that you make plenty of money, for you can just bet the softest snap in the world is getting the dough where there’s plenty of it. Now hand over that watch. They’d fool you.’”
“And did you hand it over to him?”
“Yes. Next day....”
“You must have been left empty-handed....”
“The next day I was already making money.”
“And who’s this man?”
“Marcos Calatrava.”
“Old Cripple? The soldier’s friend?”