Talbot Mundy

“ No fire-gift tonight! Better run, Jimgrim! Run for Jerusalem while there is time! I would be sorry to see you with your throat cut!”
Grim was listening and signed to Ali Baba to be still. It was difficult to pick out words from the babel of noise down-street, for the uproar came from a thousand throats; but it was clear they were shouting for de Crespigny, and that was a good sign as far as it went. If they had intended murder they would have rushed the building, instead of calling for the governor to come and talk to them. ”

“ No sign of attack on Jerusalem from this place yet. Sikhs welcome when available.
“Good!” said Grim. “He likes telegrams. Man fired at on the way?”
“Says not.”
“That proves nothing,” put in Cameron. “I’ve been five-and-twenty years here, and know their ways. They’re flocking into the city. So the fields are deserted. The Turks understood how to deal with them. The Turks, in a crisis like this, would have hanged out of hand any man found in the streets who did not belong to the city. I’ve seen them strung up in front of the jail in a row like haddock drying in the sun. ”

“ But Ali Baba and the six who went to offer their strong service to the doctor had to cool their heels. He was at the Governorate to breakfast, and had brought the nurse with him—a big, raw-boned Scots virgin from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where they call fish “fush” and the girl who cannot do the work of two southron men is not thought much of. I think she could have licked that Egyptian single-handed. She and Cohen were already in an argument about religion, and just as we came in she was telling him he would better mend his doctrine while there was time. ”

“ He pulled Cohen forward by the arm and the poor chap’s face changed color under the tan.
“Why me? Say, I’m not afraid of Hell! You quit your kiddin’! I’ve had about enough of this practical jokin’! That tank in the dark was my positively last performance!”
“Listen, old man—we’ve nobody but you,” said Grim. “You’ve got to carry the big end. All we can do is support you and watch points. You know perfectly well it would be no use trying to argue with the Jews of this place; we’ve got to show them. ”

“ Grim answered. “There’s a row of old cells below-ground. Some of you men go down and clean out one of them thoroughly. I’ll have him put down there after the doctor’s through with him; then, if all’s well and you all play the game straight, he shall be taken to Jerusalem.”
All except six of them and Ali Baba trooped down-stairs with the easy familiarity of old frequenters of the place. ”

“ If you prove to them you can handle fire without getting burned and I prove to them that they’ll all be dead before night unless they sit into the game, we can make at least some of them play. It’s the only chance. ”

“ They don’t die so quickly but they’ve time to suffer the agony of the damned. I’d recommend ye to be very careful. And mind ye, I’m not asking what ye’re up to. It’s none o’ my business.”
It was a long job squeezing out the juice of onions and mixing up the different ingredients, but Grim and I lent a hand and Cohen watched like a victim getting ready for the stake. ”

“ The man who smiled at that crowd would probably have paid for the indiscretion with his life.
As he reached the gate they thrust the Rabbi forward to confront him; but if the Jew deduced from that that he was going to get first word in he was wildly wide of the mark. ”

“ It’s a simple matter to treat a man’s skin so that he can sit on hot coals, or walk on them, or take them in his hands. Ye may even put them in your mouth; but there’s the danger. That’s very dangerous. Ye can treat the inside of a man’s mouth so that flame won’t hurt it ”