21/22 "Twenty armed men." She nodded. "I will pay for my place in the caravan, according to the custom--the half now and the other half on arrival." Without gesture, without moving a muscle of his face, Grim turned down that proposal desert-fashion, that is emphatically, with a reservation. Between Ali Higg and me let this thing be." _"Taib,"_ she answered. "My men shall look for camels. I will go with you tonight." She went away then, leaving a smile behind her that would have coaxed the Sphinx, and rode down-street toward the ancient city on a big gray donkey guarded by two Bedouins armed with swords and spears. |