They did not sit down, but stood round listening to the conversation, and sometimes joining in.

Dick's feeling of uneasiness increased, and thrusting one hand carelessly into his girdle, he grasped the butt of one of his hidden pistols.
Suddenly a loud cry came from Ibrahim.

At the same moment something passed before Dick's face.

He threw himself backwards, drawing his pistol as he did so, and fired into the body of the man behind him.

A second later he shot another, who was in the act of throwing a twisted handkerchief round Surajah's neck.