faint pencil lines underneath words or letters, and they'll think
you're more than extra devout. There's nothing special to watch
out for; just keep your ears and eyes open. Well, here's your
hotel. See you again soon. So long."

I got out of the car and went to get ready for a Christian dinner
served by Moslems, feeling like a person out of the Arabian
Nights, who had just met the owner of a magic carpet on which one
only had to sit in order to be wafted by invisible forces into
unimaginable realms of mystery.





Chapter Three

"Do whatever the leader of the escort tells you."


I never learned exactly how Jim Grim got word to ben Nasir. My
suspicion is that he took the simple course of getting the
American Colony to send one of their men; but as they never
referred to it afterwards, and might have their own reasons for
keeping silence, I took care not to ask them. We have most of us
seen harm done by noisy gratitude for kindness, better covered up.

I kept close to the hotel for three days, studying Arabic. By
the fourth afternoon discouragement set in. I began to believe
that the whole affair had petered out; perhaps on reflection the