o the Aegean. Ferdy of Bulgaria
would take his depreciated goods to the other market, and not waste a
day thinking about it. You'd have Rumania coming in on the Allies'
side. Things would look pretty black for that control of the Near East
on which Germany has banked her winnings. Kaiser says that's got to be
prevented at all costs, but how is it going to be done?'

Blenkiron's face had become very solemn again. 'It won't be done
unless Germany's got a trump card to play. Her game's mighty near
bust, but it's still got a chance. And that chance is a woman and an
old man. I reckon our landlady has a bigger brain than Enver and
Liman. She's the real boss of the show. When I came here, I reported
to her, and presently you've got to do the same. I am curious as to
how she'll strike you, for I'm free to admit that she impressed me
considerable.'

'It looks as if our job were a long way from the end,' I said.

'It's scarcely begun,' said Blenkiron.

That talk did a lot to cheer my spirits, for I realized that it was the
biggest of big game we were hunting this time. I'm an economical soul,
and if I'm going to be hanged I want a good stake for my neck.

Then began some varied experiences. I used to wake up in the morning,
wondering where I should be at night, and yet quite pleased at the
uncertainty. Greenmantle became a sort of myth with me. Somehow I
couldn't fix any idea in my head of what he was like. The nearest I
got was a picture of an old man in a turban coming out of a bottle in a
cloud of smoke, which I remembered from a child's edition of the
_Arabian Nights_. But if he was dim, the lady was dimmer. Sometimes I
thought of her as a fat old German crone, sometimes as a harsh-featured
woman like a schoolmistress with thin lips and eyeglasses. But I had
to fit the East into the picture, so I made her young and gave her a
touch of the languid houri in a veil. I was always wanting to pump
Blenkiron on the subject, but he shut up like a rat-trap. He was
looking for bad trouble in that direction, and was disinclined to speak
about it beforehand.

We led a peaceful existence. Our servants were two of Sandy's lot, for
Blenkiron had very rightly cleared out the Turkish caretakers, and they
worked like beavers under Peter's eye, till I reflected I had never
been so well looked after in my life. I walked about the city with
Blenkiron, keeping my eyes open, and speaking very civil. The third
night we