py, who slept so soundly by the mosque door,
might wake up and be annoyed with himself. When men of that type
get annoyed they generally like to work it off on somebody.

Rather, than admit that he had let me get away from him he might
prefer to track me through the streets and use his knife on me in
some dark corner. After that he could claim credit with
Noureddin Ali by swearing he had reason to suspect me of
something or other. The suggestion did not seem any more unreal
to me than the moonlit panorama of the Haram-es-Sheriff, or the
Sikh who had stepped out of nowhere-at-all to "Imshi" me away.

On the other hand, I had no fancy for the hotel steps. To sit
and fall asleep there would be to place myself at the mercy of
the other two spies, who might come and search me; and I was
conscious of certain papers in an inner pocket, and of underclothes
made in America, that might have given the game away.

Besides, I was no longer any too sure of Suliman. The boy was so
sleepy that his wits were hardly in working order; if those two
spies by the hotel were to question him he might betray the two
of us by some clumsy answer. If there was to be trouble that
night I preferred to have it at the hands of Sikhs, who are
seldom very drastic unless you show violence. I might be
arrested if I walked the streets, but that would be sheer profit
as compared to half-a-yard of cold knife in the broad of my back.

"Take me to the house where you talked with your mother," I said
to Suliman.

So we turned to the left and set off together in that direction,
watched with something more than mild suspicion by the Sikh, and,
if Suliman's sensations were anything like mine, feeling about as
cheerless, homeless and aware of impending evil as the dogs that
slunk away into the night. I took advantage of the first deep
shadow I could find to walk in, less minded to explore than to
avoid pursuit.

Chapter Eighteen

"But we're ready for them."

Without in the least suspecting it I had gone straight into a
blind trap, into which, it was true, I could not be followed by
Noureddin Ali's spy, but out of which there was no escape without
being recognized. The moment I stepped into the deep shadow I
heard an unmistakable massed movement behind me. Sure that I
could not be seen, I faced about. A platoon of Sikhs had
appeared from somewhere, and were standing at ease already,
across the end of the street I had entered, with th