world and settle the account
there. I told him what was perfectly true, that I would rather
lose my hand than kill him, so he added that if I hurt him more
than was reasonable four camels should be told off afterward to
hurt me.

Seeing he was to be sole judge of what was reasonable pain, and
having no means of guessing whether Grim was still alive and able
to protect me, I decided to give him a hypodermic, and put a shot
into his arm that would have quieted a _must_ elephant. Maybe I
rather overdid that, but as I have no medical diploma nobody can
call me to account.

And the operation was successful, if unpleasant. I used one of
the presentation razors.

Then Grim came striding up the mountain-ledge, with Ali Baba and
all the rest of the gang at his tail, but no sign anywhere of
Jael Higg. He stood and boomed out a sonorous Arab blessing; and
if ever a man felt and looked like a trapped wild beast it was
that Lord of the Limits of the Desert and Lion of Petra, Ali Higg.

However, Narayan Singh and I had played our part and got him weak
enough; he could not even jump to grab his rifle. The rest was
clearly up to Grim, who looked in no hurry at all.

He stood in the cave entrance with the light behind him, turning
slightly sidewise to let Ali Higg see him in profile. The Lion's
jaw dropped. Grim's very head-dress was striped like Ali Higg's.
His cloak was the same color. He had been dressed rather
differently when I last saw him, so he must have been doing some
pretty careful spy-work.

Of course, a close examination showed a dozen differences between
the two men, but in his weak state following that drastic physic
and the operation Ali Higg believed for a moment that he saw his
own ghost! One or two of the women checked a scream, which helped
matters, and the others shrank into a corner, staring with wild
eyes. One woman laughed, but not from amusement.

_"Salamun alaik,_ O Ali Higg!" said Grim after a full minute's silence.

_"Wa alaik issalam!_ Who are you, in the name of Allah?"

Instead of answering Grim strode in, and Ali Baba lined up his
sons across the cave-mouth. Unless Grim had left undone some
precaution in the camp below it looked as if we had the Lion
caged to rights, and you could tell by the look in Ali Baba's
usually mild old eyes that there would have been short shrift for
somebody if his advice were taken. For a moment I caught sight of
Ayisha peering timidly between the end man and the w