He clasped their hands in a grip that belied his terse, uncompromising manner at the telephone; his eyes were not those of the domineering individual whom conjecture had appraised so vividly a short time before.
"Glad to see you, gentlemen," he said.

He was a head taller than either, coatless and hatless, a lean but brawny figure in white crash trousers.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, displaying hard, sinewy forearms, browned by the sun and wind.

"It's very good of you to come down.

I'm sure we won't have to call out the British or American gunboats to preserve order in our midst.

I know something a great deal better than gunboats.