Affair in Araby

a bad brea

eel in the crook of his own forefinger the hidden hair-trigger of events. I don't think Jeremy was awake when I first entered the room, although it su

of his clothes off and even by candle-light you could see the shape of the knife concealed under his shirt. H

e couldn't see to sleep without a light in the room. I tinkled a tumbler against a whisky bottle, and Jeremy instantly

; whereat Jeremy quoted the Koran about the fate of drunkards and, getting o

he assured him. "I usually shoot or stab,

e hidden knife and it hurt him between two ribs, where a poorly conditioned man

seesaw snoring resumed. I took the opportunity to empty half the contents of a whisky bottle into the spittoon,

nd relit the pipe, all was quiet for half an hour, when Yussuf Dakmar

l keep over to my side. There is plenty

clothes as Grim pinched Jeremy awake agai

ver sleep 'slong as venomous reptiles waiting!

theosophy that the snakes I saw were mere delusions because Allah never made them; and I tried to look utterly drunk, stari

" Jeremy advised me, fe

e middle of

kes in on purpose. Why's he sober when I'm drunk? I won't sleep in bed with so

on the small doped bott

preternaturally wise, h

on it with his back tow

ld a

ll. When it's gone he'll sleep on the floor and we'll get some peace. It's a good chance for us to drink whisky without committing sin! We needn't take much-just one drink each, and then he'll swallow the rest l

uld take the doped stuff-a perfectly un-Christian proceeding, I admit. Christians are scarce when you get right down to cases. Most of us in extre

ossed off the contents in imitation of Jeremy's free and easy air; and the drug acted as s

y on the floor opening and shutting his mouth, and I think he believed he was shouting for help; but after a

uf Dakmar, keeping some more of the doped whisky ready in case he should look like recovering too soon. I even searched him, finding nothing worthy of note, except that he had remarkably l

door with my fingernails. Pausing outside to listen, we heard the closet door being opened stealthily from the fa

ed consciousness, he'd have invented a pack of lies to tell his friends, and they'd have been no wiser than before. Now they'll know he never scratched it. They'll deduce, unless they're lunatics, that so

have an audience for his tricks,"

e border. Say, suppose we all three bear this in mind: No play to the gallery! That's where secret service differs from other business. Applause means failure. The better the work you do, the less you can afford to adm

wn smoke, eh?"

yourself; you have to let the game amuse you, without turning one trick for the sake of an extra smile; most of the humor comes in anyhow, from knowing more than the other fellow thinks

how it's done and the other half all grins. I did tricks for a Scotchman once, who got so angry I thought he'd hit me; he said, what I did was impossible, so I did it again and he still said it was impossible, and he ended by calling me a '

utter that's a sure sign it's dangerous. For God's sake, as long as you stay in

yler Grim, and though I've turned it over in my mind a great deal since, I can't discover a