Part 21 (1/2)
Where was this raid headed for?”
”El-Maan” ”Why?”
”That place has become too independent The tribes meet there and plan raids on their own account”
”Uh-huh That sounds fairly credible Now, observe--I pass my pistol to this Indian”
He handed it to me
”He will shoot you dead if you make one false move You will tell Ibrahim ben Ah to take all his men at once to that next oasis on the way to El-Maan, and to wait there for yourself and Ali Higg, to wait as long as three days if necessary Say you will join them there and lead the raid You understand me?”
”Yes”
”You understand that you will die immediately if you disobey?”
”Yes”
”He will ask what the shootingto the darkness, and that Ali Higg is in a great rage, and he had better make himself scarce If he asks others questions, curse hi, Jael Higg! Obey me exactly, and you shall see your husband in Petra Disobey by as n and you're dead Do we understand each other?”
”You really o to Petra?”
”Yes”
”I have seen fools, and reatest madman of them all,” she answered ”Very well, I will speak to him as you say”
Grie of sand about twenty yards ahere he halted and sat , as seemed to be the case, no one at that distance could have doubted his identity I hauled off two or three paces, so as not to betray the fact that I was to be Jael's executioner in a certain contingency, and the long sleeve ofdown the facts exactly as they happened I hed at her in cold-blooded delight at the prospect of ivein the least cold-blooded I was laughing at ht be forced to shoot a woave the job to me because he kneould not shoot her in any case I don't know Nor do I myself knohether I would have shot her; souess is that I would have failed to do it, and that Narayan Singh, as standing by and heard every word that passed, would have wipedis
Then Ibrahi into our midst like an old-ti neither to the right nor the left of hi on the ca stopped him, and told him to take all his men at once to that oasis, where he was to wait, if necessary, three days
”I was told to speak with the Lion himself,” he objected _”Ya sit Jael,_ there is wrath for those who disobey him!” [ O lady Jael]
”Go, taste his wrath then!” she retorted ”There was shooting because of a mistake in the darkness Good caed than at the loss of twenty men He would have it the blame is yours--”
_”Mashallah!_ Mine!”
”But I persuaded hi with Allah Better go, Ibrahiain”