Down they went into a cellar way and the guru's curse stalked beside them.

For opium is the handmaiden of all curses.
Perhaps twenty minutes later slight sounds came from the front of the compound wall.

A rifle barrel clattered upon the cobbles.

Then, over the wall, near the elephant, a head appeared, then a body.

This was repeated four times, and four light-footed nomads of the desert lowered themselves into the compound.