Sikh just in sight of him at the next corner, and another beyond him again, all looking rather bored but awfully capable. None except the first one took the slightest notice of us.
It was some consolation to know that “Jimgrim’s friend” was on guard outside Yussuf’s. I had no means of knowing what weapons Grim carried, if any, but was positive of one thing: if either Noureddin Ali or the man with alligator eyes should get an inkling of his real identity his life would not be worth ten minutes’ purchase. Including Yussuf, who would likely do as he was told, there would be three to one between those silent walls, and it seemed to me that Narayan Singh might as well be three miles away as thirty feet. However, there was nothing I could do about it.
It was late afternoon already, and the crowd was swarming all one way, the women carrying the baskets and the men lording it near enough to keep an eye on them. If Suliman and I were followed, whoever had that job had his work cut out, for we were swallowed up in a noisy stream of home-going villagers, whose baskets and other burdens made an effectual screen behind us as well as in front.
The hotel stands close by the Jaffa Gate, and there the crowd was densest, for the outgoing swarm was met by another tide, of city-folk returning. In the mouth of the hotel arcade stood an officer whom I knew well enough by sight—Colonel Goodenough, commander of the Sikhs, a quiet, gray little man with a monocle, and that air of knowing his own mind that is the real key to control of Indian troops. Up a side-street there were a dozen troop-horses standing, and a British subaltern was making himself as inconspicuous as he could in the doorway of a store. It did not need much discernment to judge that those in authority were ready to deal swiftly with any kind of trouble.
But the only glimpse I had of any mob-spirit stirring was when three obvious Zionist Jews were rather roughly hustled by some Hebron men, who pride themselves on their willingness to brawl with any one. Two Sikhs interfered at once, and Goodenough, who was watching, never batted an eyelash.
I was tired, wanted a whiskey and soda and a bath more than anything else I could imagine at the moment. I was eager to get to my room in the hotel. Suliman, being not much more than a baby after all, wanted to go to sleep. We went past Goodenough, who eyed me sharply but took no further notice, and we entered the hotel door. But there we were met by Cerberus in the shape of an Arab porter, who cursed our religion and ordered us out again, threatening violence if we did not make haste.
Suliman argued with him in vain, and even whimpered. There was nothing for it but to return to the arcade, where I sat down on a step, from which a native policeman drove me away officiously. I had about made up my mind to go and speak to Goodenough in English, when Grim appeared. Not even Goodenough recognized him, his Syrian stride was so well acted. He saluted, and the salute was returned punctiliously but with that reserve toward a foreigner that the Englishman puts on unconsciously. When Grim spoke to him in Arabic Goodenough answered in the same language. I did not hear what was said at first, but as I drew closer I heard the sequel, for Grim changed suddenly to English.
“If you can’t recognize me through that magnifying-glass of yours, colonel, I must be one leopard who can really change his spots. I’m Grim. Don’t change your expression. Quick: look around and tell me if I’m followed.”
“Hard to say. Such a crowd here. There’s a Syrian over the way with a bulbous nose, who came along after you; he’s leaning with his back to the wall now, watching us.”
“He’s the boy.”
“I see Narayan Singh has left his post. Did you give him orders?”
“Yes. Told him to follow any one who followed me. I don’t want that fellow interfered with. He may stay there, or more likely he’ll call others to take his place; they’ll watch all night, if they’re allowed to; let them. Wish you’d give orders they’re to be left alone. Then, please let Narayan Singh go off duty and get some sleep; I’m going to want him all day tomorrow.”
“All right, Grim; anything else?”
“First opportunity, I wish you’d come to Davey’s room upstairs. Now—long distance stuff again, sir—if any Syrian asks you about me, you might say I was making sure the car would come for me at dawn.”
They exchanged salutes again as one suspicious alien to another. Grim looked suitably surprised at sight of me, and led me and Suliman back to the hotel, where Suliman wanted him to wreak dire vengeance on the porter; he grew sulky when he discovered that his influence with Grim was not sufficient for the purpose, but forgot it, small boy fashion, ten minutes later, when he fell asleep on the floor in a corner of Davey’s room.
Davey did not look exactly pleased to see us, although he seemed to like Grim personally, and was the first that day to see through Grim’s disguise at the first glance. Mrs. Davey, on the other hand, was radiant with smiles—thrilled at the prospect of learning secrets. She produced drinks and pushed the armchairs up. When she learned who I was, her husband could hardly keep her from putting on a costume too, to make a party of it.
Davey was reserved. He asked no questions. A gray-headed, gray-eyed, stocky, sturdy-looking man, who had made impossibilities come true on three continents, he waited for trouble to come to him instead of seeking it. There was silence for several minutes over the cigars and whiskey before Grim opened fire at last. He talked straight out in front of Mrs. Davey, for she had mothered Cosmopolitan Oil men in a hundred out-of-the-way places. She knew more sacred secrets than the Sphinx.
“Any news about your oil concessions, Davey?”
“No. Not a word. We’ve got every prospect in the country marked out. Nothing to do now but wait for the mandate, while the Zionists go behind our backs to the Foreign Office and scheme for the concessions. It’s my belief the British mean to favor the Zionists and put us in the ditch. The fact that we were first on the ground, and lodged our applications with the Turks before the war seems to make no difference in their lives.”
“Well, old man, I’ve arranged for you to change your policy,” said Grim.
“What in thunder do you mean?”
Mrs. Davey giggled with delight, but her husband frowned ominously.
“I’m supposed to be Staff-Captain Ali Mirza of the Shereefian army.”
“I’ve heard of him. He’s a bad one, Jim. He is one of those Syrian Arabs who will accept any one’s money, but who never stays bought. Why masquerade as a scoundrel?”
“I was in a place just now with a bunch of murderers, who’d have made short work of me if I couldn’t give them a sound reason for being in Jerusalem just now.”
“Why not have ’em all arrested?”
“For the same reason, Davey, that your Oil Company isn’t piping ten thousand barrels a day from Jericho. The time is not yet. Things haven’t reached that stage. I told them your Oil Company gave up hope long ago of getting a concession from the British, and has decided to finance Mustapha Kemal.”
Davey flung his cigar out of the window, and laid both hands on his knees. His face was a picture of baffled indignation. But his wife laughed.
“They were tickled to death,” Grim continued. “I’m supposed to be going to Damascus tomorrow morning with a hundred thousand dollars in U.S. gold, obtained from you in ten small bags. We’ve got to find some bags and pack them full of something heavy.”
“I’ll have nothing to do with it!” Davey exploded at last. “It’s a damned outrage! Why—this tale will
