after them they will be caught here, and I shall be accused of
helping them. May the fires of their lying Prophet's Eblis
burn Anazeh and his men forever and ever, Amen! May God curse
their religion!"

That was a nice state of affairs. I did not want to be caught
there by a lot of truculent Sikhs under one of those jocularly
incredulous young British subalterns that Sikhs adore. In the
first place, I had nothing whatever in writing to prove my
innocence. The least that was likely to happen would be an
ignominious return to Jerusalem, after a night in a guard-house,
should there be a guard-house; failing that, a night in the open
within easy reach of Sikh's bayonets. In Jerusalem, no doubt,
Sir Louis would order me released immediately. But it began to
look as if the whole mystery after all was nothing but a well-
staged decoy, using me for bait. Not even tadpoles enjoy being
used for live-bait without being consulted first. I began to
spear about for remedies.

"If you're an honest man," I said, "you'd better simply deny all
connection with the raid."

"Hah?"

He shrugged his shoulders. He did not look like an honest man.
He wasn't one. He knew it. He retorted gloomily:

"Anazeh's scoundrels will have raided sheep, and perhaps cattle.
If any one has resisted them, there will be wailing widows crying
out for vengeance. They will put the sheep and cattle in their