There were only two armed men leaning against it.

They eyed Anazeh and our numbers nervously.
"Open!" Anazeh could use his voice like a whip-crack.

They fumbled with the great bolt and obeyed, swinging the door wide.

I thought for a minute that my arrogant old protector meant to ride up the steps and through the door into the mejlis hall with all his men; but he was not quite so high-handed as that.
After a good long look through the door, I suppose to make sure there was no ambush inside waiting for him, he dismounted, and ordered his men to occupy a stable-building across the courtyard, from which it would have been impossible to dislodge them without a siege.

Then, when he had seen the last man disappear into it, he led me and Mahommed ben Hamza up the steps.
Ben Hamza was grinning like a schoolboy, beside himself with delight at the prospect of elbowing among notables, as well as inordinately proud of his new clothes and the smell of imported soap that hung about him like an aura.