The two men went back through the house into a veranda above the steep fall of garden and cliff, where there were chairs in which a man could sit at his ease.
Jose Medina fetched out a box of cigars.
"You can trust these.

They are good." "Who should know if you do not ?" answered Hillyard as he took one; and again Jose Medina patted him on the shoulder, but this time with a gurgle of delight.
"_El pequeno_ Martin," he said, and he clapped his hands.

From some recess of the house his wife appeared with a bottle of champagne and two glasses on a tray.
"Now we will talk," said Jose Medina, "or rather I will talk and you shall listen." Hillyard nodded his head, as he raised the glass to his lips.
"I have learnt in the last years that it is better to listen than to talk," said he.

"_Salut!_".