said the Sikh. "We make terms.
If the person to be poisoned is an enemy of ours, well and good;
you shall have it and we shall be gainers. But Allah forbid that
we should hasten the death of a friend! Is it for Jael Higg?"

"No, for I see that to poison her would be to incur the enmity of
Jimgrim. Already he takes counsel with her; did he and she not
lay their heads together in your presence after morning prayers?"

"For whom, then? For Jimgrim?"

"God forbid! Shall I woo a dead man? Nay! You say you will give
me the poison if I tell? You swear it? Then it is for the Lion of
Petra. Thus I shall win the love of Jimgrim. And Jael, being
without a man, will run away to Egypt, where her money is."

_"Bismillah!"_ swore the Sikh. "I see no reason why I should not
get an angry husband out of the way so simply! But remember,
Ayisha, you must slay me in turn if you hope to have Jimgrim for
husband. By my beard and the Prophet's feet* it is I who will
have you to wife, if I have to burn kingdoms first!"

----------
* A scandalous piece of blasphemy
----------

"Give me the poison first, and we shall see," she laughed.

"Very well; leave us for a while, Ayisha. I will persuade this
master of mine, who has a vein of caution, since he lacks the
zeal of love. I will bring you the stuff when he and I have
talked it over."

"Strong, strong stuff," she insisted. "Stuff that would eat iron.
Ali Higg's belly is tough."

"It shall come out through his flesh like flame," the Sikh promised.

As soon as she had gone, and he had watched her out of earshot,
he turned to me with a gruff laugh.

"Now, sahib, make her up a potion of some harmless powder for me
to carry to her tent while you go and tell our Jimgrim what has
passed. Give her physic that will purge the Lion of Petra without
doing worse than make his belly burn. Stay; give croton in a
bottle; that is best."

CHAPTER XI

"That We Make a Profit from this Venture!"

Late that afternoon, before they loaded up the camels, there was
another conference between Grim, Jael Higg, Narayan Singh, our
prisoner Yussuf, and myself. The ancient hills of Edom were not
far away, and we were near enough to Petra to feel nervous. Jael
made a pretty good pretense of meeting Grim half-way, and I think
she had made up her mind to let him dig his own pit and tumble
into it.

Yussuf was aware by that time, if not of Grim's identity, at any
rate of the fact that he was a