The Lion of Petra

rains Live in

h. The two little devils stole my cigarettes, and deviled me unmercifully about my disguise, making improper joke

ved Grim as a pair of hounds work for a man out hunting rabbits, for they could penetrate places and be welcome where a grown man would be killed-a

awful stuff men sell for candy in the El-Kalil bazaars. Evidently some woman had been

el

for breath and then the other, but on the whole i

house, and she asked us questions about Jimgrim, and we told lies, and she asked us what we were doing in El-Kalil, an

ve; but we swore by the beard of the Prophet, so she said what were we going

d inshallah he will take us with him, and she said why did we want to go to Petra, and we said because our mot

t's what she got out of you. No

l us for slaves or have us turned into eunuchs, and we said (gasp) that we are msakin* and not afraid of Ali Higg and he may as well ha

will take us to Petra, and we said because he had pro

woman is she

lly like two waterbags one

is her

f Ismail ben Rafik

. Yes.

(gasp) there is a lady in the city who can be of service to him in a certain matter and he should come ba

"Not half bad. Just for

king like another person altogether, although, if anything, bigger than before. He had got out of uniform and was dressed in a medley of Indian and Arab costu

eth in an enormous grin. "Only," he added, "since it will be I

oposed to teach me what the labels on the little bottles stood for. Even he laughed after a min

in salts-always episin. Then, if we are long in one place, so that a sick man comes a second time, swearing grievousl

teach me how a ha

gges

eads books. He sits this way until the boils break out, and then that way until the skin chafes. Then presently he lies across the saddle on his

uct the hakim, then

n, being woman, and they are all alike, will take note of the hakim and pretend to little sickness for the sake of making talk. Whereas the men, being, as it were, the gu

you define

erhaps some such physic for quarrelsomeness as croton oil administered in their f

en. Never mind whether he said it or not, sahib, for she will not know the truth of it, never having

not to flirt with t

cts, of which the Persians chose to adopt the Shia faith, which is not in favor with the Sunni, who are most numerous and most fanatic. The less

pposed to be a

was born somewhere south of a certain line. When it has been established that you are no Persian, but an Indian, it must be remembered that there are only two kinds

as a man prone to fight readily and well. And knowing that no Pathan would demean himself by being servant to a man of no account, they will more readily respect you, although you are neither Sikh nor yet Pathan but are supposed to be a Punjabi Mussulman.

ing and a memory for everything that he had ever observed. The Sikh despises the religion of Islam quite as fervently as the follower of the Prophet scorns Sikhism; yet he seemed

cused of not observing this or that, or of acting with impropriety, confound the Bedouin always by sneering at their ignorance, saying that where you come from men know

two infants looking much more pleased. You can't mistake the adventurous air of an eight-year-old with mo

old Rafiki, the wool-

omers, keeps the curfew law, and runs a three-wife establishment, I believe, in

en thousand piastres

oney!" laughed

ese kids to bring me to the house, and the old boy met me i

. He'd no idea, of course, that the lady Ayisha is to travel with me. His little scheme is to provide her with

hing better than to carry off the lady. He wants he

d that relations in that case might be kind o' strained. So he proposed next that I should meet up with Ali

quarrel wi

y down to Egypt; and I suspect she did not travel by train because she's been bought by some be

hieves somewhere down Beersheba way. He agreed with the pasha on the point of taste and carried off the gir

irl illegally he'd surely have complained to you about the rape in the

th of Ali Higg; and seeing it's about as easy to get money out of that gentleman as cream cheese out of the moon, he's willing to part

u tonight he'll try to corrupt old Ali Ba

e of his sons dares do a thing without the old man's approval. I feel fairly sure of the gang. Point is, do

that would dare. Plenty

not find it out until too late, but I suspect his wives get all the gossip that's going. Then

ssan and th

r-and-twenty armed men, and tough in the bargain. Is there any outlyi

es-the third, I think-is the daughter of Abbas Mahommed of th

's his

mp. Abbas Mahommed sells him camel wool and hides, and goes in debt in advance regularly. Thi

ny men

n out fift

uppose you go and see him, 'Crep, or send for him, and ask him straight out to provide camels for the lady Ayisha. He'll send his own men along with them, of course, and give them p

now where

e they start ahead of us. Soon as we overtake them I'll dismiss Rafiki's men, who'll be nothing but his spies, swap the princess an

gny did not know about getting what he wanted done in quick time. Within half an hour seven pretty good camels were sauntering southward out of Hebron, with a couple of phlegmatic Arab policemen perched on the two leaders, and the noses of the others tied to the empt

are getting the crime of Palestine running in grooves, as it were, so's to regulate it first and then

chant's private plans for vengeance

he slain man-whether it's Ali Higg or one of his retainers doesn't matter-take up arms; and all the relatives of Woolly-wits do ditto. F

the chance to loot our caravan and bag the lady, we'll be lucky if one or two of our men d

utfit have tried to waylay his wife; so he takes the warpath. And instead of that making a three

. The administration might have to spend twenty or thirty thousand pounds and jail a l

Ali Higg, I su

to cross our border and steal women, but, on the other hand, he's made

rocal; if he can catch us on his side there's no law to prevent his doing

Even so, the calmness with which Grim considered leaving law and all the means of its enforcement be

eing made to kneel outside the window. For Ali Baba had become convinced at last that Grim really intended to start that night, and, making

he's got himself elected somehow. We've no veto. I don't hold with murder; it sets a bad example and turns loose a horde of individual trouble-makers who were under something like control before. It might be

ome idea to go o

s your

look a bit l

t you a plan-nothing y

Chercher

's a woma

tent, and he keeps 'em encouraged with French and English books b

've heard some of them

o a drummer in the shredded-codfish business, divorced-on what grounds I don't know-divorced him, though, I believe came out here as war worker-teacher in refu

and has more brains in her little finger than most men keep under

he League of Nations

ose their

amount to a row of shucks I wouldn't give ten piastres for that g

with a white woman. Why didn

ose your bearings. I'll introduce you to the lady if we ever reach Petra right