I gathered them up and followed him between the counters and across to the inner room. Zov, holding the door for us, shut it and went to a chair at the end of Stritar’s desk and sat. Stritar waved us to chairs without getting up. He hadn’t got a haircut. His underhung jaw didn’t seem quite as impressive as it had the day before, but I had seen a lot of underhung rocks in the meantime. After giving Wolfe a sharp glance, he concentrated on me as I went to the chair, and after I sat he looked me up and down. Not knowing what our line was going to be, or his either, I neither grinned nor glowered at him but merely looked self-reliant.
He turned to Wolfe. “It’s too bad your son doesn’t speak our language. I’d like to talk with him.”
Wolfe nodded. “I was wrong not to teach him. I would be glad to interpret for you.”
“That’s not the same. Comrade Zov has told me what happened today. You and your son have acted boldly and bravely. It is appreciated by me and will be appreciated by my superiors. You can add to that appreciation by giving me a full account of your movements since you left here yesterday.”
Wolfe raised his brows. “I’m surprised that you ask. You said everything would get to you.”
“Perhaps it has. I would like to hear it from you.”
“You may. We went first to the house where I visited my friend Grudo Balar many years ago. A stranger was there who had never heard of him. We went next to an address that someone in Albania had given me. I had been told that a man named Danilo Vukcic could give me much information if he would, particularly about the Spirit of the Black Mountain.”
“Who in Albania told you about him?”
Wolfe shook his head. “I told you yesterday that I will not cause trouble for anyone who has helped us. We found Danilo Vukcic at that address, and he did indeed have information. It seemed to me that he was overready to impart it to strangers, but later, thinking it over, I realized that it was only such matters as were probably common knowledge — or merely current rumors. I was quite candid with him. You may remember I told you that we had cached a considerable sum in American dollars somewhere in the mountains, and I told him about it too. I now think that was a mistake. I now think it was my telling him about that cache that caused him to offer to take us to a place in the mountains where we could meet one of the leaders of the Spirit of the Black Mountain. Anyway, we accepted the offer, and he took us. After a difficult journey we arrived—”
“One moment. Did you see Jubé Bilic anywhere? The boy who brought you here yesterday?”