The Lion of Petra

The Lion of Petra, by Talbot
Mundy

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Title: The Lion of Petra
Author: Talbot Mundy
Release Date: September 17, 2006 [EBook #19307]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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OF PETRA ***

Produced by Mark R. Jaqua

THE LION OF PETRA
by Talbot Mundy

CONTENTS
I. "Allah Makes All Things Easy!" II. "Trust in God, But Tie Your
Camel!" III. "Ali Higg's Brains Live in a Black Tent!" IV. "Go and Ask
the Kites, Then, At Dat Ras!" V. "Let That Mother of Snakes Beware!"
VI. "Him and Me--Same Father!" VII. "You Got Cold Feet?" VIII. "He
Cools His Wrath in the Moonlight, Communing with Allah!" IX. "I
Think We've Got the Lion of Petra on the Hip!" X. "There's No Room
for Two of You!" XI. "That We Make a Profit from This Venture?" XII.
"Yet I Forgot to Speak of the Twenty Aeroplanes!" XIII. "There is a
Trick to Ruling!"
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CHAPTER I
"Allah Makes All Things Easy!"

This isn't an animal story. No lions live at Petra nowadays, at any rate,
no four-legged ones; none could have survived competition with the
biped. Unquestionably there were tamer, gentler, less assertive lions
there once, real yellow cats with no worse inconveniences for the
casual stranger than teeth, claws, and appetites.
The Assyrian kings used to come and hunt near Petra, and brag about it
afterward; after you have well discounted the lies they made their
sculptors tell on huge stone monoliths when they got back home, they
remain a pretty peppery line of potentates. But for imagination,
self-esteem, ambition, gall, and picturesque depravity they were
children--mere chickens--compared to the modern gentleman whom
Grim and I met up with A.D. 1920.
You can't begin at the beginning of a tale like this, because its roots
reach too far back into ancient history. If, on the other hand, you elect
to start at the end and work backward the predicament confronts you
that there wasn't any end, nor any in sight.

As long as the Lion of Petra has a desert all about him and a choice of
caves, a camel within reach, and enough health to keep him feeling
normal--never mind whose camel it is, nor what power claims to
control the desert--there will be trouble for somebody and sport for
him.
So, since it can have no end and no beginning, you might define this as
an episode--a mere interval between pipes, as it were, in the amusing
career of Ali Higg ben Jhebel ben Hashim, self-styled Lion of Petra,
Lord of the Wells, Chief of the Chiefs of the Desert, and Beloved of the
Prophet of Al-Islam; not forgetting, though, that his career was even
supposed to amuse his victims or competitors. The fun is his, the fury
other people's.
The beginning as concerns me was when I moved into quarters in
Grim's mess in Jerusalem. As a civilian and a foreigner I could not have
done that, of course, if it had been a real mess; but Grim, who gets fun
out of side-stepping all regulations, had established a sort of
semi-military boarding-house for junior officers who were tired of tents,
and he was too high up in the Intelligence Department for anybody less
than the administrator to interfere with him openly.
He did exactly as he pleased in that and a great many other matters--did
things that no British-born officer would have dared do (because they
are all crazy about precedent) but what they were all very glad to have
Grim do, because he was a bally American, don't you know, and it was
dashed convenient and all that. And Grim was a mighty good fellow,
even if he did like syrup on his sausages.
The main point was that Grim was efficient. He delivered the goods.
He was perfectly willing to quit at any time if they did not like his
methods; and they did not want him to quit, because there is nothing on
earth more convenient for men in charge of public affairs than to have a
good man on their string who can be trusted to break all rules and use
horse-sense on suitable occasion.
I had been in the mess about two days, I think, doing nothing except
read Grim's books and learn Arabic, when I noticed signs of impending

activity. Camel saddles began to be brought out from somewhere
behind the scenes, carefully examined, and