"Yes. We mean business, I assure you. This is no common matter. Von
Kerber is an Austrian, and my client is an Italian. Perhaps you know
how they hate each other as nations, and these two have a private
quarrel as well."

"What does your employer want to find out?" asked Dick.

"Well, as a start, he wants to know why von Kerber is shipping a crew
for a yacht called the _Aphrodite_."

"Then he has learned something already?"

"Oh, that was too easy. Any one can pump a half-drunken sailor."

The private inquiry agent spoke confidentially. He fancied he had
secured the sort of aide he needed, a spy of superior intelligence.

"Suppose I give you that first item of news, what is the figure?"

"Say a fiver."

"But I am almost willing to pay that much for the pleasure of spreading
your nose over your face."

There was a sudden gap between the two. Perhaps the stranger felt that
the rawness of the atmosphere demanded brisk movement.

"Oh, is that it?" snarled he.