We shall live well -- we shall live very well.

Even as the men watched, they could see the colour returning to the swarthy cheeks, the indignant bristling of the heavy, dark moustache, the darkening anger in the eyes. Suddenly the man reached up, tore Mallory's hand away from his arm. "Who are you?" He spoke in English, clear, precise, with hardly a trace of accent. "Sorry, but the less you know the better." Mallory smiled, deliberately to rob the words of offence. "I mean that for your own sake. How are you feeling now?" Tenderly the little man massaged his midriff, flexed his leg with a grimace of pain. "You hit me very hard." "I had to." Mallory reached behind him and picked up the cudgel the man had been carrying. "You tried to hit me with this. What did you expect me to dotake my hat off so you could have a better swipe at me?" "You are very amusing." Again he bent his leg, experimentally, looked up at Mallory in hostile suspicion. "My knee hurts me," he said accusingly. "First things first. Why the club?" "I meant to knock you down and have a look at you," he explained impatiently. "It was the only safe way. You might have been one of the W.G.B.. . . Why is my knee?" "You had an awkward fall," Mallory said shamelessly. "What are you doing here?" "Who are you?" the little man countered. Miller coughed, looked ostentatiously at his watch. "This is all very entertainin', boss" "True for you, Dusty. We haven't all night." Quickly Mallory reached behind him, picked up the man's rucksack, tossed it across to Miller. "See what's in there, will you?" Strangely, the little man made no move to protest. "Food?" Miller said reverently. "Wonderful, wonderful food. Cooked meat, bread, cheeseand wine." Reluctantly Miller closed the bag and looked curiously at their prisoner. "Helluva funny time for a picnic." "So! An American, a Yankee." The little man smiled to himself. "Better and better!" - "What do you mean?" Miller asked suspiciously. "See for yourself," the man said pleasantly. He nodded casually to the far corner of the room. "Look there." Mallory spun round, realised in a moment that he had been tricked, jerked back again. Carefully he leaned forward and video still digital camera touched Miller's arm. "Don't look round too quickly, Dusty. And don't touch your gun. It seems our friend was not alone." Mallory tightened his lips, mentally cursed himself for his obtuseness. VoicesDusty had said there had been voices. Must be even more tired than he had thought. . . . A tall, lean man blocked the entrance to the doorway. His face was shadowed under an enveloping snow-hood, but there was no mistaking the gun in his hand. A short Lee Enfleld rifle, Mallory noted dispassionately. "Do not shoot!" The little man spoke rapidly in Greek. "I am almost sure that they are those whom we seek, Panayis." Panayis! Mallory felt the wave of relief wash over him. That was one of the names Eugene Viachos had given him,. back in Alexandria. "The tables turned, are they not?" The little man smiled at Mallory, the tired eyes crinkling, the heavy black moustache lifting engagingly at one corner. "I ask you again, who are you?" - "S.O.E.," Mallory answered unhesitatingly. The man nodded in satisfaction. "Captain Jensen sent you?" Mallory sank back on the bunk and sighed in long relief. "We are among friends, Dusty." He looked at the little man before him. "You must be Loukithe first plane tree in the square in Margaritha?" The little man beamed. He bowed, stretched out his hand. "Louki. At your service, sir." "And this, of course, is Panayis?" The tall man in the doorway, dark, saturnine, unsmiling, inclined his head briefly but said nothing. "You have us right!" The little man was beaming with delight. "Louki and Panayis. They know about us in Alexandria and Cairo, then?" he asked proudly. "Of course!" Mallory smothered a smile. "They spoke highly of you. You have been of great help to the Allies before." "And we will again," Louki said briskly. "Come, we are wasting time. The Germans are on the hills. What help can we give you?" "Food, Louki. We need foodwe need it badly." "We have it!" Proudly, Louki gestured at the rucksacks. "We were on our way up with it." "You were on your way. . . ." Mallory was astonished. "How did you know where we wereor even that we were on the island?" Louki