Ahmed, with Mahommed ben Hamza and his men were sent along ahead; being unarmed, unmounted, they were a liability now.

But those Hebron thieves could talk like an army; they put up a prodigious bleat, all night long, about that cash-box.

They maintained they had a clear right to share its contents, since unless they had first captured Abdul Ali, Anazeh's men could not have burned his house and seized his money.

Anazeh's men, when they had time to be, were suitably amused.
It was not a peaceful retreat by any means.

Time and again before morning we were fired on from the rear.