ace in my caravan--provided you have
camels, provisions, and a litter," he added; for the surest way
to increase her already alert suspicion would have been to offer
to provide everything. [* O lady Ayisha.]

"Let me see the letter!"

Grim produced one instantly--an envelop with a big red seal on
it. It was marked across the top in large letters "On His
Majesty's Service," but addressed in Arabic to somebody, and as
she could not read she was satisfied.

"Ali Higg will hold you answerable for my safety if he has to
destroy armies to reach you!" she said simply.

_"Ya sit Ayisha,"_ Grim answered solemnly, "may Allah turn my
face cold if Sheikh Ali Higg shall have fault to find with me in
this matter!"

"How many is in your caravan?" she asked. "Twenty armed men."

She nodded. "I will pay for my place in the caravan, according to
the custom--the half now and the other half on arrival."

Without gesture, without moving a muscle of his face, Grim
turned down that proposal desert-fashion, that is emphatically,
with a reservation.

_"Ya sit Ayisha,_ may Allah do so to me, and more, if I will
accept a price for this. Between Ali Higg and me let this
thing be."

_"Taib,"_ she answered. "My men shall look for camels. I will go
with you tonight."

She went away then, leaving a smile behind her that would have
coaxed the Sphinx, and rode down-street toward the ancient city
on a big gray donkey guarded by two Bedouins armed with swords
and spears.

"Did I do all right?" asked de Crespigny.

"Fine!" Grim answered. "You'll be ruling England one of these
days, 'Crep. Good job I had that letter to show her, though,
wasn't it?"

CHAPTER III

"Ali Higg's Brains Live in a Black Tent!"

I hate to have to admit that there was any virtue in Suliman, or
anything other than vice in his new chum Abdullah. The two little
devils stole my cigarettes, and deviled me unmercifully about my
disguise, making improper jokes, at which Ali Baba and his sons
laughed uproariously, and which they recalled at intervals for
days afterwards.

But almost immediately after the "lady Ayisha" had left the
governorate I was forced to admit that the brats were useful. In
their own way they served Grim as a pair of hounds work for a man
out hunting rabbits, for they could penetrate places and be
welcome where a grown man would be killed--at the very least--for
intruding or attempting to intrude. Harems, for instance. And
they could be