The next man on his feet was ben Nazir, my erstwhile host, who had repudiated me.

And he repudiated me all over again, accusing me of abusing his hospitality by going over to Abdul Ali, who had never even heard of me before I came to El-Kerak.
There was no making head or tail of the storm of abuse and counter-abuse that followed, except that it did not look healthy for me.

There seemed to be four or five different factions, all of whom regarded me as the bone of contention.

Rather than betray anxiety I opened the Bible and began to make dots under letters, spelling out a message to Grim to the effect that I had no notion where to find lodgings for the night, and that if Anazeh elected to carry me off I should have to go with him.
I did not know how to get the message to him without arousing suspicion and making matters worse than they were, and it seemed best not to call attention to the fact that I was writing.

So I made a few dots at a time, and looked about me.