"That bet's on," Grim answered. "It's to be a female hat, and Mabel
gets it. Order an expensive one from Paris, Mabel; Jeremy shall pay.
We've lots of other information. The troops here have been warned of an
intended massacre of Jews. The arrival of this letter probably puts a
date to it.

"But it puts a date to something else on which the whole future of the
Near East hangs; and that means the future of half the world, and maybe
the whole of it, because about three hundred million Mohammedans are
watching Feisul and will govern themselves accordingly. India, Persia,
Mesopotamia, Egypt, all Northern Africa--there's almost no limit to what
depends on Feisul's safety; and the French can't or won't understand
that."

There came the sound of heavy ammunition boots outside on the stone
step, followed by a cough that I believe I could recognize among a
thousand. Narayan Singh coughs either of two ways--once, deep bass, for
all's well; twice, almost falsetto, for a hint of danger. This time it
was the single deep bass cough. But it was followed after half a minute
by the two high-pitched barks, and Grim held up a hand for silence. At
the end of perhaps a minute there came from the veranda a perfect
imitation of the lascar's ungrammatical, whining singsong from a
fo'castle-head:

"Hum dekta hai!--I'm on the watch."

Grim nodded--to himself, I suppose, for none had spoken to him.

"Do you mind stepping out and getting that letter from him, Ramsden?
Keep in the shadow, please, and give him this pistol; he may need it."