I admitted that, although secretly pitying any poor devil who might pin faith to the claim.
"Ali Higg--the real one, who is known as the Lion of Petra--believes in Indian _hakims,_ like all these Arabs who have no use for European doctors. And this big man on my left, who is he?"
"My servant."
"An Afghan?"
"A Pathan."
She turned that over in her mind, too, for several minutes.
"And how does Ayisha come to be with you?" she asked at last.
At that Narayan Singh broke silence, and although he denied it afterward I know that his only motive was to get a little preliminary vengeance on Ayisha for the names she had called him.
He maintains that he was "casting a stone, as it were, into a pond to see which way the ripples went."
"Few women will refuse to follow a Pathan when honored by his admiration," he boomed.
I could not see her face then, because she was staring at Narayan Singh.
"Do you realize whose wife you are tampering with?" she asked him.
"Hah! Where I come from a man must guard his women if he hopes to keep them."
"Where you are going to, such a man as you will find his own life hard enough to keep," she retorted.
_"Bismillah!_ I have kept it thus far," said Narayan Singh.
She turned to me again.
"What does the sheikh of yours call himself?"
"Hajji Jimgrim bin Yazid of El-Abdeh."
"Jimgrim. Jimgrim. Where have I heard that name?"
"The stars have heard it," roared Narayan Singh loud enough for the stars to hear him boast. "He has taken the Lion of Petra"s shape. He has taken his name. He has taken his wife. And now he will take his den. _Akbar,_ Jimgrim Ali Higg of Petra!"
Mahommed the poet was riding two or three behind us in the line, and heard that. He took the cue and began his song. In a minute the whole line was roaring the refrain, and it broke like volleys on the night:
_"Akbar! Akbar! Jimgrirn Ali Higg!"_
Jael Higg laughed. "He has a fool"s luck and a l.u.s.ty band of followers," she said. "It was only because Ayisha called out that he caught me. But a fool"s luck is like a breath of wind that pa.s.ses--"
Suddenly she sat bolt upright and raised her right hand.
"Oh, this night! This madness! Of all the dreams, of all the hallucinations, this is the wildest! I warned Ali Higg! I told him my foreboding, and he laughed!"
She looked down at me again, and studied me for half a minute.
"Tell me," she went on, "is that Sheikh Jimgrim of yours mad, or am I mad?"
"If you ask my opinion, as a _hakim,"_ I answered, "you were mad to sit your camel alone, with only two men, within reach of our Jimgrim."
"What does he think he will do with me at Petra?"
"He thinks silently," said I.
Whereat she too was silent for a few minutes, and then broke out into a new tirade of exclamations, but this time in a language of which I knew not one word--perhaps Russian, or Slovak, or Bulgarian. I think she was praying in a sort of wild way to long-neglected saints.
She gave me the impression of being mentally almost unhinged by the sudden anticlimax of helplessness after over-confidence. Yet when she spoke again her voice was calm, and not without a ring of rather gallant humor.
"I suppose he thinks he has stolen the queen bee, and so has the swarm in his power. But the swarm can sting, and will come for the queen bee."
"So they bring their honey with them, who minds that?" Narayan Singh retorted.
He was enjoying himself, acting the part of a bandit"s follower with perfect gusto.
"Oh, so it is honey you are after? And you two are Indians--a Pathan and--"
"From Lah.o.r.e," said I.
"Five thousand pounds would buy your services?"
"Five thousand promises would make us laugh," said the Sikh.
"How much will your sheikh ever pay you? In an hour I will show you a _wady_ down which we three can escape. Agree to that and you shall have five thousand each the same hour that we reach Petra."
_"Wallahi!_ Doubtless!" laughed Narayan Singh. "Five thousand bastinados each from Ali Higg, while the queen bee laughs at us for fools! Nay, lady Jael, you are Jimgrim"s prisoner."
"Jimgrim!" she said. "Somewhere I have heard that name."
And she turned it over in her mind again like a taster trying wine, not speaking again for nearly an hour, until we drew abreast of a chaos of irregular great boulders that partly concealed the mouth of a gorge as dark and ugly as the throat of Tophet.
"There is your chance!" she said. "Will you take it? You shall have employment with the Lion of Petra! Come!"
But neither of us answered, and I kept a bright lookout for a pistol she still might have concealed on her; for she had not been searched--there was none who could do that with decency except Ayisha, who was not to be trusted.
I knew Grim would not halt again before morning because the camels would not feed properly until after daylight, even if you put corn in front of them. We were likely in for a forced march on Petra, and he would not choose to halt twice if it could be helped. And I supposed that when we did halt he would look to Narayan Singh and me for information.
Yet Mrs. Ali Higg number one was hardly a person you could expect to answer questions truthfully; and even until the stars began to grow pale in the east ahead of us I possessed my soul in patience.
Then: "Is it money your Sheikh Jimgrim wants?" she asked at last.
"Does he hold me to ransom? If so, I will give him a draft on the Bank of Egypt. I have Ali Higg"s seal here, and I write all his letters."
I did not answer, but Narayan Singh checked his camel a stride or two to make a signal to me behind her back.
"Hah!" he remarked with an air of triumph. And I took that to mean that in his judgment Jimgrim could find use for Ali Higg"s seal.