The Lion of Petra | Page 6

have won it!" answered
Ali Baba.
"There's going to be no loot!" said Grim.
"Allah!"
"Would you rather have me send back to Jerusalem for regular police?"
"Nay, Jimgrim! That would be the end of you, for those police would
bungle everything. You need clever fellows with you if you go to sup
with Ali Higg."
"Well? Are you coming?"
"Taib. We are ready. But--"
"On my terms!"
"But the pay is nothing!"
"So is my pay nothing! This man"--he pointed to me--"gets no pay at
all. Narayan Singh, the Sikh, gets less pay than a policeman."

"Then what is the profit?"
"For you? The honor of keeping your word. The privilege of making
fair return for past immunity. Why aren't you and all your sons in jail
this minute? Why did I invite you to come with me on this occasion?
Because a man looks for friends where he has given favors! But if you
consider you owe the administration nothing for forgiving all past
offenses, very well; I'll look for friends elsewhere."
"As for the administration, Jimgrim, may Allah turn its face cold! But
you are another matter. We will come with you."
"On my terms?"
"Taib."
You would have thought that settled it, especially as Ali Baba had
already stated that he and his gang were prepared for the journey. But
the East, that is swift to wrath, is very slow over a bargain, and it is a
point of doctrine besides, all the way from Gibraltar to Japan, to keep
an American waiting if you hope to get the better of him. Ali Baba
settled down for a nice long talk; and you would have thought, to judge
by Grim's expression, that he could ask for nothing better.
The old rogue wanted to know among other things who would have the
task of cleaning rifles on the journey. It seemed that he was long on
sanctity, and not allowed by his religion to touch grease in any shape or
form. Grim satisfied him on that point. Narayan Singh should clean the
rifles.
But that started him off on a new trail. He tried to see how much more
he could impose on the Sikh, and suggested such matters as pitching
tents, cooking, gathering firewood, cleaning pots and pans, leading the
pack-camels, and a host of other necessary evils.
"I shall issue all needful orders to each man," Grim told him bluntly at
last.

"And what is to be done to Ali Higg?"
"That remains to be seen."
"He is a devil with a cold face."
"So I'm told."
"He has more than a hundred armed men."
"I heard twice that number."
"And we shall be twenty?"
"Twenty."
"Oh, well, Allah makes all things easy!"
But that was not the last word. There was still a custom of the country
to be met and overcome.
"Are the camels watered?" Grim asked.
"Surely."
"Packs all ready?"
"All tied up-everything."
"You're all ready to start, then?"
"Inshallah bukra." * [* Tomorrow, if God is willing.]
"Tomorrow won't help me," said Grim. "We start tonight, at sundown.
I'll go with you and look the camels over now."
"But, Jimgrim, that is impossible. My son Mahommed's second wife is
sick--"

"Leave him behind, then, to look after her."
"He will not consent to be left! Two of the camels are not paid for. The
man comes in the morning for his money."
"Leave the money here for him with Captain de Crespigny. We start
tonight."
"But what if the camels are not satisfactory?"
"I shall see about other ones at once in that case. There'll be time if we
look them over now. We start tonight."
"I was thinking about some mules to carry an extra load or two."
"No. Don't want mules. Too hot for them. Besides, there's no time for
changing the loads over. We start tonight."
"Tomorrow will be a better moon, Jimgrim."
"We want a full moon when we get to Petra. We start tonight. Come
along; show me the camels."
"It is hot now. There is a bad stink in the stables. Better see them when
it gets cooler."
"I'm going now. Are you coming with me?"
"Taib. I will show them to you. They are good ones. They will make
you proud. Better give them another night's rest, though, Jimgrim."
"Come along. Let's look at them."
"One has a little girth-gall that--"
"Ali Baba, you old rogue, we start tonight!" said Grim.
CHAPTER II

"Trust in God, But Tie Your Camel!"

Do you believe in portents? I do. Whenever in the East the first two
statements that a man has made in my presence, and that I have a
chance to test, prove accurate, I go ahead and bet on all the rest. I don't
mean by that