Three-Cornered Halo Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘fiume’ with ‘fiuto’?”
    â€œWas it I who wrote down the measurements all wrong?”
    â€œWas it I who tore up the paper and decided to ‘remember’?”
    â€œWas it I who created the smugglers’ rule, ‘Nothing written down’?”
    â€œWas it I——? But what use to accuse one another, Guido? A catastrophe has happened: it will not mend it to decide who was at fault.”
    â€œQuite right. Stop quarrelling,” said Miss Cockrill, just as though she were Cousin Hat and back among the nieces, “and tell me what is the matter.”
    The matter was, of course, that El Gerente and Tomaso had gone into business together; and had come unstuck. “The cigarette-cases, Senorita. Tomaso did well with them last year, the year before. The emblem of El Margherita on the lid, this was an attraction.…”
    â€œNo emblem,” said Tomaso sulkily. “A flower. A pretty design, that was all.”
    â€œVery well, very well—a pretty design. Tomaso is a pagan, Senorita, an agnostic, the name of Mother Church is to him as the red cloak of the matador to the bull. At any rate—they sold. They sold for five gold pesselire apiece. This was good?”
    â€œVery good,” said Miss Cockrill, sourly. She herself had paid six pesselire in Tomaso’s shop.
    â€œA profit of three pesselire,” said Tomaso happily, unaware of this check.
    â€œBut Senorita, this is expensive, not so many can buy. Therefore, I say to Tomaso, or Tomaso to me, ‘Let us have these boxes made cheaply in Tangiers.’ In Naples, Senorita, there is a certain type of glass that will do very well for cut crystal, in Catalonia they make solid pearls from old fish-skins, charmingly iridescent; here in San Juan, Tomaso himself turns out a metal that you could not tell from gold. And in Tangiers there are cheap factories, there is a certain el Hamid, who can turn out such things to a miracle, a hundred at a time.…”
    â€œI see,” said Miss Cockrill, remembering back to the legend, ‘Mad in San Juan,’ engraved on the box.
    â€œAnd all this is very good business, Senorita. For this glass must be carried to Tangiers from Naples, these pearls from Barcelona, from San Juan itself, this gold.” The Gerente bent his large brown face to peer into hers. “You see?”
    â€œOh, certainly,” said Miss Cockrill. “You have ships.”
    â€œA fleet of ships, Senorita—a smuggling fleet.”
    â€œI see,” said Cousin Hat again.
    â€œAnd so, Senorita—a ‘Senor Guido’ of San Juan places an order with el Hamid in Tangiers for the boxes, specifying this glass, these pearls, that gold. And—Tomaso must produce the gold: and to el Hamid his price is high, my boats must carry the goods: and to el Hamid my price is high. So our profit, Senorita, is doubly great.” He eyed her with a knowing but quizzical air.
    â€œExcept that, unless he is a fool,” said Cousin Hat, “el Hamid will raise the price of the boxes to cover the high cost of the transport and the gold.”
    Tomaso and El Gerente shook their heads in wonder. You couldn’t put anything across the Senorita, that was clear. However, they themselves had not been at a loss. “True, Senorita, when the estimate came from el Hamid, it was very high. So Tomaso and I devised a plan. The price was accepted, the gold was sent, the glass and the pearls delivered, we took our money—for in the smuggling world, Senorita, one pays in cash. In Tangiers the boxes are made, are packed, el Hamid is ready for shipping. But—where are the ships? Here at home, ‘Senor Guido’ grows impatient, he sends messages to Tangiers demanding delivery; but in Tangiers they are now having trouble with the Capitano of the smuggling fleet. My Capitano ‘smells danger,’ he hints at treachery, he will not sail. No other Capitano will