Talbot Mundy

“ I’m a human. He’s from Arabia, you’re from the Balkans, I’m from the U.S We’re all three foreigners, aren’t we?”
“Yes, But he and I are foreigners who will drive the British out——”
“And let French or Italians in.”
“Ali Higg is a fighter, I tell you! He’s an Arab, and he knows how to control Arabs just as the Prophet Mohammed did. He has only begun in a small way, but——”
“But he’ll wind up like a small-town sport in the lock-up, the way he’s going,” said Grim. “Now, see here, Jael; I’m just as set on doing my bit in the world as Ali Higg is. ”

“ But men have their rights, as Grim is always the first to admit.
Ali Baba came and joined us on the cliff-top, and Narayan Singh was not long following suit. The Sikh said nothing, but Ali Baba was conscious of the weight that years should give to his opinion, as well as justly proud of his night’s work, and not at all disposed to sit in silence.
“Now the right course Jimgrim, is to make a great circuit and carry these two women back across the British border,” he began at once. ”

“ If any is to take that letter, let me do it. I am old, and they hesitate to kill an old man. I am wise in the desert ways, no trash. And if they do kill me, then it is only an old man’s body bloating in the sun. ”

“ You’ve got to! There’s no law this side of the border, Jael, that can make me hand you over to authority. There’s no mandate out here yet. There never will be one if I can prevent it.
“I’m here to keep a foreign army from trespassing across the Jordan, it being my crazy notion that Arabs can evolve their own government, if let. You’ve got to help me keep that foreign army out, or take the consequences.”
She laughed at last. It was rather a hard laugh without much mirth in it.
“Your words are a liar’s, but your voice rings true,” she said. “I think you’re only another of these diplomatists.” ”

“ I am an old man, who know all about these matters.”
“What do you think, Narayan Singh?” Grim asked.
“Sahib, what are we but a flying column? Swiftness and surprize are our two advantages. We should be like a javelin thrown from ambush that seeks out the enemy’s heart. If we fail we are but a lost javelin—an officer, a sepoy, a civilian and a handful of thieves—there are plenty more! If we succeed, there is a deed done well and cheaply! I never hunted lions ”

“ But suppose you tell him to——”
“I won't, Jael.”
“Now don’t you be a fool, James Grim! You can’t deceive me into thinking you’re above such things. That haughty attitude is British, not American; you’ve been defiled by contact with them. Come out in the open like an unhypocritical American. Talk business.
“I’ve tried to make a man of Ali Higg, but he’s only an animal after all. The best I can ever do with him will be failure compared to what I could make of you, James Grim. You look enough like him to make it possible to substitute you with care. ”

“ He shook his head and smiled back at her.
“You’ve your work cut out to keep Ali Higg off the rocks, Jael.”
“There’s no room for two of you,” she answered darkly.
“I guess not.”
She looked hard at me, and back from me to Grim. I don’t know yet whether she was setting a trap for us or really in earnest about what she said next. Grim thinks she was drawing a bow at a venture.
“Is this the hakim? One of the two respectable persons you have with you? Hm! Respectability is a mask—often a safe mask, often an offensive one, always a lie. All really dangerous criminals are respectable people. ”

“ OF COURSE, no committee in the world ever yet did more than cloud an issue with argument. It takes one man to lead the way through any set of circumstances, and the only wise course for a committee is to make that man’s decision unanimous and. ”

“ Have we not good bait with us?”
There followed a hot argument between Arab and Sikh, each accusing the other of ulterior motives as well as ignorance and cowardice; in fact, they acted like any other committee, growing less and less parliamentary as their views diverged. Ali Baba seemed to consider it relevant to call Narayan Singh a drunkard, and the Sikh considered it his duty in the circumstances to refer to Ali Baba’s jail record. In the midst of all that effort to solve the problem at Petra Grim asked me to go and invite Jael Higg to join us. ”

“ Thus every one will be satisfied except the Lion, who will be too poor for a long time afterward to have much authority in these parts. Moreover, it will be told for a joke against him, and he will lose in prestige. ”

“ But let you and me understand each other first, Jael. I can be a mean man when I must, but I’ll always take a heap of trouble to find a white man’s way of accomplishing the same purpose. I can act mean toward you—sheer plug-ugly if you force my hand—but I’d sooner not ”