Jumping from roof to roof to follow Fred, I was suddenly brought up short by a figure in shadow that gesticulated wildly without speaking.  It was below me, in a narrow, shallow runway between two houses, and I had been so impressed by my interview with Maga that assassination was the first thought ready to mind.  I sprang aside and tried to check myself, missed footing, and fell into the very runway I had tried to avoid.

A friend unmistakable, Anna—­Gloria’s self-constituted maid—­ran out of the darkest shadow and kept me from scrambling to my feet.

“Wait!” she whispered.  “Don’t be seen talking to me.  Listen!”

My ankle pained considerably and I was out of breath.  I was willing enough to lie there.

“Maga has made a plot to betray Zeitoon!  She has been talking with that Turkish colonel who was captured.  I don’t know what the plot is, but I listened through a chink in the wall of the prison, and I heard him promise that she should have Will Yerkes!”

“What else did you hear?”

“Nothing else.  There was wind whistling, and the straw made a noise.”

At that moment Fred chose to turn his head to see whether I was following.  Not seeing me, he came back over the roofs, shouting to know what had happened.  I got to my feet but, although he hardly looks the part, he is as active as a boy, and he had scrambled to a higher roof that commanded a view of my runway before my twisted ankle would permit me to escape.

“So that’s it, eh?  A woman!”

“Keep an eye on Miss Gloria!” I whispered to Anna, and she ducked and ran.

If I had had presence of mind I would have accepted the insinuation, and turned the joke on Fred. Instead, I denied it hotly like a fool, and nothing could have fed the fires of his spirit of raillery more surely.

“I’ve unearthed a plot,” I began, limping along beside him.

“No, sir!  It was I who unearthed the two of you!”

“See here, Fred—­”

“Look?  I’d be ashamed!  No, no—­I wasn’t looking!”

“Fred, I’m serious!”

“Entanglements with women are always serious!”

“I tell you, that girl Maga—­”

“Two of ’em, eh?  Worser and worser!  You’ll have Will jealous into the bargain!”

“Have it your own way, then!” I said, savage with pain (and the reasons he did not hesitate to assign to my strained ankle were simply scandalous).  “I’ll wait until I find a man with honest ears.”

“Try Kagig!” he advised me dryly.

And Kagig I did try.  We came on him at our end of the bridge that overhung the Jihun River.  Our party were waiting on the far side, and Fred hurried over to join them.  Kagig was listening to the reports of a dozen men, and while I waited to get his ear I could see Fred telling his great joke to the party.  It was easy to see that Gloria Vanderman did not enjoy the joke; nor did I blame her.  I did not blame her for sending word there and then to Anna that her services would not be required any more.