Our protesting camels (they always protest at downhill work) stumbled into the fiumara at a point where a peculiar, flat-topped island split the course in two and storm-water had hollowed out a deep, curving cliff in the near bank. It was a fine place to camp in, for there were three deep holes in the bed of the fiumara with two or three feet of dirty water in the bottom of them; and in a land where no Bedouin will lead you to water at any price, stuff of the color of soup and the flavor of stale cabbage is a great discovery. Besides, the camels like it better than the sort that bubbles from a clear spring, and after all, the animal that carries you in the teeth of the simuum* deserves to be considered first.
(* Hot wind)
The tents were pitched in a jiffy, for everybody craved sleep, and there seemed to be a pretty general impression that whoever would hurry first into the land of dreams would be considered unfit for grand duty when Grim should get around to making his selections. But I glanced at Narayan Singh, and Narayan Singh smiled at me; we both knew Grim by that time. He doesn’t find soft billets for his friends when the watch needs keeping, any more than the wise banker pledges questionable credits.
So the mess of dates and rice was hardly eaten before the tents resounded with snores, those who were not yet really asleep pretending to be with all the more fervor. But as the moon rose over the rim of the hills of Edom, Grim called a conference of Jael Higg, Narayan Singh, himself, and me, up on the flat-topped island, from which we had a fair view in the mellow moonlight of most of the country round about for a radius of nearly a mile. The desert reflected so much of the moon’s rays that at a hundred yards you could actually distinguish the tufts of hair and markings on a scavenging hyena. But down in the hollow where the tents were, all was dark.
We sat facing, in a square, on prayer mats. Jael Higg at first could hardly keep awake; but hers was the kind of intellect that drives its owner weasel-fashion, and it did not take a dozen words to make her forget sleep.
“Now, Jael,” Grim began, and I have heard a doctor lecturing in just the same tone of voice a patient who can pull through if he will hear and use horse-sense, “we’re within five miles of the place where we’re to pick up Ali Higg’s hundred and forty men. Twenty miles farther to the south of that is the Avenger at Abu Lissan with eight hundred. If it comes to a fight you can guess as well as anyone what our chance is worth. Something less than ten cents, eh?”
She nodded, every faculty alert. I rather liked her just then, for she was brave, whatever conventions she had broken. I know how necessary some conventions are, but Lord! I do admire courage in man or woman; and I never worry much about another fellow’s morals, having all my work cut out to manage my own. I have met many a worse and more merciless woman than Jael Higg in what is called civilized society.
“You understand, don’t you?” Grim went on. “I’m not interested in destroying you and Ali Higg. If the Arabs hereabouts would like you two for rulers, that’s their affair. I’ll not prevent. I’m hired by the British to help keep the peace. They couldn’t hire me for any other purpose. I want to see Arabia rule itself. That’s my particular bug. It’s too late to argue whether I’m right or wrong. We’re facing facts. I’m hell-bent on just that. And the Arabs haven’t a chance unless they quit cutting up—not one chance in a hundred million. I happen to know that the British don’t want to come over here and govern this country, for one reason because they can’t afford it; but you all are busy fixing it so they’ll have to come, because they can afford still less to have a constant state of war along their border. D’you get me?”
She nodded again—hard-eyed. She understood him perfectly. What most altruists don’t understand is that the people they would benefit rather resent it than otherwise, and after profiting as much as possible intend to ditch them at the first chance. But Grim knew all about that.
“I don’t pretend to know what’s going on in your mind,” Grim continued. “But supposing I were you, and you were I, it may be I might feel revengeful. I might think in that case outside interference of any sort was impertinence to be punished without gloves. But, you see, you’re a foreigner, too, Jael; you’re from the Balkans, with a New York education; and Ali Higg’s from the South of Arabia, which is a mighty long way off, so he’s as good as a foreigner, in the bargain. So I guess, as far as impertinence goes, the lot of us are in one boat. Let’s call that account balanced, and draw a line under it.
“Then there’s the personal side of it, and that’s not so easy to argue about. I never met anyone of spirit who enjoyed to take a defeat sitting. You’ve got spirit, and so has that husband of yours, and I can figure how you both feel. I’m sure sorry to hurt anybody’s feelings. I know, when any of these brass hats in Jerusalem puts one over on me, I feel mad all through. There’ve been occasions when I’ve watched my chance and got even, with a shade the advantage by way of compound interest. That’s human. And I’m pretty sure you’d like to knock the props from under me. Well, you’re going to get the chance tomorrow morning.”
Her thin lips quivered into a smile. It was frank, too; there was nothing furtive about it. You couldn’t rightly call her treacherous, because she didn’t pretend to be other than an enemy, seeking her own advantage in every circumstance. But she was longer-sighted than the Lion of Petra and, having lived in America, understood something of the theory, at any rate, of giving the under-dog a chance. She knew enough to know Grim wasn’t setting traps for her.
“D’you mean to expect me to kiss and be friends?” she answered. “Bah! I gave you that chance once. I offered to put you into Ali Higg’s shoes, and you refused it. Now you think my position is beginning to be stronger than it was, with a hundred and forty men almost within reach, and you plan to make terms. Thanks! I think I realize the strength of my position, too.”
“I guess I’ll have to disillusion you,” said Grim. “You think your men will have captured Yussuf and that the order on the bank for fifty thousand pounds will be safely torn up or burned tomorrow morning. You’ll have to guess again. I don’t care how much money you gave my man Ali Baba; it wasn’t enough. He had orders from me to accept any bribe you might give him, and to destroy in the desert whatever secret message you might send to Ibrahim ben Ah. So, you see, the men in the oasis weren’t on the lookout for Yussuf after all, and it’s a safe bet that he got through. So we’re just where we left off, aren’t we? If you should turn on me—as you might, and scupper my outfit—as is just possible, you’d lose that fifty thousand, Jael, to say nothing of being bombed out of Petra by aeroplanes. Now—are we quite clear on that point?”
“Well? What then?” she answered in a dry voice. Grim had played the hand well. He had finessed the trick. She hadn’t a trump left; or so she seemed to admit.
“Why—hadn’t you better sit into the game and help me euchre this Avenger person, than spoil the game for everyone, yourself included? I’m going to put you in charge of the hundred and forty men tomorrow morning!”
“Whether I promise or not?”
“Sure. What is your bare promise worth to me? You’re a woman of the world enough to know I’m playing square; and you’ve got too much sense to suppose I’d trust you without some sort of guarantee. I’ve kind o’ proved that, haven’t I, by making you give that order on the bank.”
“Well, what more guarantee d’you want?” she demanded tartly.
“None, except—you keep on saying I don’t know on which side my bread’s buttered—I’ll feel safer when I’m sure you know where the grease collides with your piece. Once you understand thoroughly that I’m out to see you score off the Avenger person, and that if you put a stick in my wheel you’ll be stalling your own wagon, you and I are going to pull together right well.”
At that Narayan Singh saw fit to lend his counsel. “All well and good, Jimgrim sahib; but let me go with her. She knows you for a man of peace, who hates to inconvenience a woman; but me she knows for a Pathan, to whom it would be small inconvenience, and in certain circumstances quite amusing, to rid the earth of any enemy of yours. Send