door.
'You mind your own business, Reuben,' he said paternally.
He had turned round with the movement so that his back was towards Christine, and as he spoke his left eyelid drooped in a broad wink.
'And I'll have your gun-in case you're still feeling nasty,' he added.
He took the weapon out of Graner's pocket and transferred it to his own, and as he did so he glared at him warningly and winked again. Graner stared back at him without a change in the venomous glitter of his eyes, but the Saint took no notice. He locked the door and took out the key and gave it to Christine.
'Listen,' he said. 'You've got nothing to worry about. This punk won't lay a hand on you again while I'm around. We'll peel him off the door and let you out any time you want to go. But I wish you'd stop and talk for a few minutes more. I'm just working round to a proposition that might interest you.' She hesitated. The Saint's back was towards Graner now, and he gave Christine the same encouraging wink and pushed her gently towards the bed.
'Sit down and have a drink,' he said. 'You look as if you needed one. And just let me talk for three minutes. You can still scream your head off if anyone tries to stop you going out after that.'
'You can't say anything that I want to listen to.'
'Don't be too sure, darling. I have beautiful ideas sometimes.'
He left her and went across the room to rummage in one of his suitcases. It yielded a bottle of whiskey -and something which no one else saw him pick up.
'It's like this,' said the Saint, as he poured out three glasses. 'You say you've lost your lottery ticket. Well, things like that do happen. People lose jewelry, and so forth. They don't often lose two million bucks' worth at one go, but that doesn't alter the general principle. When they lose something and they want it back, they mostly offer a reward.'
'They don't offer a reward to the thieves who stole it.'
'Even that has been known to happen.'
The Saint squirted soda into the glasses and picked up two of them. He carried one of them over to Graner, and as he gave it to him he winked again. He handed the other to Christine. Then he went back to the table and picked up his own.
'In any case,' he resumed, 'the question doesn't arise. I didn't steal your ticket-if I'd got it, I shouldn't be messing around here. Surely you're not going to say that if I got it back for you I shouldn't be entitled to a commission?'
She took another drink from her glass, watching him rather perplexedly.
'Now if you've been listening to my recent chat with Reuben,' Simon went on, 'you'll have gathered that he hasn't been playing ball with me. So if he's ready to double-cross me, I'm quite ready to do some double-crossing on my own. From what I've made out, there are Reuben and three other guys up at the house waiting for a split in this ticket. Then there are a couple more in Madrid who'll probably expect to be cut in. And at least a couple of minor thugs who may be worth one share between them. So the best I can hope for is to come in for an eighth, even if they don't try to gyp me out of that. And you don't get anything.'
He moved a little towards her. She drank again, and leaned her head back against the end of the bed. Once or twice her eyes closed, and she seemed to make an effort to open them.
'You're a nice kid, Christine, and I wouldn't mind doing something for you-if it doesn't cost me anything. From what I hear, there are only three other people in your outfit: Joris and his two pals. Well, if you cut me in there, including yourself, I'd be due for a fifth, which looks a whole lot better to me. If that looks like a proposition to you, you just say the word and I'll wring this bum Graner's neck. . . .'
The girl's head slid suddenly sideways, and Simon Caught the glass from her hand before it fell.
He put it on the table and eased her gently down until she was lying on the bed. She lay there limp and relaxed, breathing evenly and peacefully, with her eyes closed, as if she were in a natural sleep. Simon studied her for a few moments; and then he turned round to Graner with a flash of triumph in his eyes.
'What you've been needing in your outfit all along, Reuben,' he said kindly, 'is a little less melodrama and a lot more of my brains.'
V How Reuben Graner Took Back His Gun, and a Taxi Driver Was Unconvinced REUBEN GRANER stepped delicately up to the bed and gazed down at the girl for a while without expression, tapping his mouth with the chased gold knob of his cane.
Presently he looked at the Saint.
'Yes, that was good,' he said complacently. 'Otherwise we might have had some trouble.'
He reached over for the telephone.
'What d'you think you're doing now?' asked the Saint.
'Sending for the others to come down and fetch her.'
Simon stretched out a long arm and put his finger on the hook.
'Ixnay,' he said succinctly. 'D'you still want to turn the hotel upside down, or are you just daft?'
'There will be no excitement,' said Graner, 'When I sent Palermo and Aliston down this morning, they had two large trunks to carry the luggage they expected to bring back. They can bring one of the trunks down again. You have told the hotel you are leaving, and one extra trunk will not disturb them unduly.'
So that was how it had been done, Simon reflected. He had been wondering about that point-it was hardly conceivable that two unconscious men could have been dragged out of the Hotel Orotava into the main square of
