“Have you no commission with which to honor me, noble captain?” he asked in gently reproachful tones. “Have you forgot how often you were wont to employ me in those sweet days when your eyes were black?”

“By no means, Master Paradise,” I said courteously. “I desire your company and that of the gentleman from Lima. You will go with me to bring up the rest of my party. The three gentlemen of the broken head, the bushy ruff, which I protest is vastly becoming, and the wounded shoulder will escort us.”

“The rest of your party?” said Paradise softly.

“Ay,” I answered nonchalantly. “They are down the beach and around the point warming themselves by a fire which this piled-up sand