oisy mourners, and the unusual hour of
night, were plausibly accounted for by the dreaded disease that
Grim had invented for the occasion. My golf-suit was the only
false note, but I kept in shadow as much as I could, with the
unseemly burden between me and the ramparts.

It was a long time before we had the town wall at our backs. A
funeral, in the circumstances, might justifiably be rapid; but
we could hardly run and keep up the pretense. But at last we
passed over the shoulder of a hill into shadow on the farther
side, and there was no more need of play-acting.

"Yalla bilagel!" [Run like the devil.] Grim ordered then, and we
obeyed him like sprinters attempting to lower a record.

Twelve men running through the night can make a lot of noise,
especially when they carry a heavy man between them. Our men
were all from Hebron. Hebron prides itself on training the
artfullest thieves in Asia. They boast of being able to steal
the bed from under a sleeper without waking him. But even the
stealthiest animals go crashing away from danger, and, now that
the worst of the danger lay behind, more or less panic seized all
of us.

Mahommed ben Hamza refused to follow the regular track, for fear
of ambush or a chance encounter in the dark. Grim let him have
his way. They dragged the wretched Abdul Ali like a sack of corn
by a winding detour, and wherever the narrow path turned sharply
to avoid great rocks they skidded him at the turn until he yelled
for mercy. Grim pulled off the sack at last, untied his arms and
legs, and let him walk; but whenever he lagged they frog-marched
him again.

At last we reached a brook where we all waded to get rid of the
filth and smell from that infernal moat, and Abdul Ali seized
that opportunity to play his last cards. Considering Ben Hamza's
reputation, the obvious type of his nine ruffians, the darkness
and rough handling, it said a lot for Grim's authority that Abdul
Ali still had that wallet-full of money in his possession.
Sitting on a stone in the moonlight, he pulled it out. His nerve
was a politician's, cynical, simple. Its simplicity almost took
your breath away.

"How many men from Hebron?" he demanded.

"Ten. Well and good. I have here ten thousand piastres--one
thousand for each of you, or divide it how you like. That is
the price I will pay you to let me go. What can these other
two do to you? Take the money and run. Leave me to settle with
these others