If there was a certainty in the world it was that somebody who had no
right to be there was lurking in that shadow, and he was presumably up
to mischief. On the other hand, I had absolutely no right in that place
either. Jeremy and Narayan Singh, being both in the British Army, were
liable to be disciplined, and I might be requested to leave the country,
if we should happen to blunder and tree the wrong 'possum, revenge being
more than usually sweet to the official disturbed in the pursuit of
unauthorized "diplomacy." It might even be some clandestine love
affair.

So I took each of my companions by the arm, gripping Jeremy's
particularly tightly, and started forward, whispering an explanation
after we had turned the corner of the building. "Let one of us go and
warn the guard," I suggested. "If we should draw that cover and start a
shindy, we're more likely to get shot by the guard than thanked."

So Narayan Singh started off for the guard-house, he being the one most
capable of explaining matters to the Sikh officer, and Jeremy and I
crept back through the shadows to within earshot of the dark magnolia
tree, choosing a point from which we could see if anybody bolted.

You know how some uncatalogued sense informs you in the dark of the
movement of the man beside you? I looked suddenly sideways toward
Jeremy, knowing, although I couldn't see him, that his eyes were seeking
mine. It is only the animals who omit in the darkness those instinctive
daylight movements; men don't have sufficient control of themselves.
We had both heard Grim's voice at the same instant, speaking Arabic but
unmistakable.