Some of the lines--a few--ended at the Islands of the Columbretes, sixty miles off Valencia.
"Your secret storehouse, I believe, senor," he remarked pleasantly.
"A cruiser of our Government examined these islands most carefully a fortnight ago upon representations from the Allies, and found nothing of any kind to excite interest," replied Jose Medina.
"The cruiser was looking for submarine bases, I understand, not tobacco," Martin Hillyard observed.

"And since it was not the cruiser's commission to look for tobacco, why should it discover it ?" Jose Medina shrugged his shoulders.

Jose Medina's purse was very long and reached very high.

It would be quite impolitic for that cruiser to discover Jose Medina's tobacco stores, as Medina himself and Martin Hillyard, and the captain of the cruiser, all very well knew.
Martin Hillyard continued to draw fine straight lines westwards from the northern coast of Mallorca to the mainland of Spain, some touching the shore to the north of Barcelona, some striking it as far south as Almeria and Garrucha.

When he had finished his map-making he handed the result to Jose Medina.
"See, senor! Your feluccas cut across all the trade-routes through the Mediterranean.