Page:Christopher Wren--the wages of virtue.djvu/321

Rh individual. The attention of the worthy Israelite was here directed to the incontrovertible fact that he was dealing, not with the Rothschild brothers, but with four Legionaries of modest ambition and slender purse. To which, M. Mendoza replied that he who supped with the Devil required not only a long, but a golden spoon. In the end, it was agreed that, for the sum of three hundred francs, four complete outfits should be provided.

The next thing was the production and exhibition of the promised disguises. Would M. Mendoza display them forthwith, that they might be selected by the time that the other clients arrived?

"Si, si," said M. Mendoza. "Ciertamente. Con placer." It was no desire of M. Mendoza that any client should be expected comprar a ciegas—to buy a pig in a poke. No, de ningun modo.…

Shuffling into an inner room, the old gentleman returned, a few minutes later, laden with a huge bundle of second-hand clothing.

"Will you travel as a party—say two tourists and their servants? Or as a party of bourgeoisie interested in the wine trade? Or—say worthy artisans or working men returning to Marseilles? … What do you say to some walnut-juice and haiks—wild men from the Tanezrafet? One of you a Negro, perhaps (pebbles in the nostrils), carrying an angareb and a bundle. I could let you have some hashish.… I could also arrange for camels—it's eighty miles to Oran, you know.… Say, three francs a day, per camel, and bakshish for the men.… Not meharis of course, but you'll be relying more on disguise than speed, for your escape.…"