was rather out of touch with what was going on here. This
conference of notables was rather a surprise to me. It will not
really take place until tomorrow, but there are important details
to attend to in advance. If you could amuse yourself--"

The man who could not do that in a crusader city, crammed with
sons of Ishmael who looked as if they had stepped out of the
pages of the Old Testament, would be difficult to please. I
asked for Ahmed, to act as interpreter. Ben Nazir volunteered to
provide me with two men in addition as a sort of bodyguard.

"Because Ahmed is a person who is not respected."

It did not take ten minutes to produce Ahmed and the two men.
The latter were six-foot, solemn veterans armed with rifles
and long knives. With them at my heels I set out to explore
El-Kerak.

"There is nothing to see," said Ahmed, who did not want to come.
But Ahmed was a liar. There was everything to see. The only
definite purpose I had in mind was to find Grim. It was possible
I might recognize him even through his disguise. Failing that,
he could not help but notice me if I walked about enough; if so,
he would find his own means of establishing communication.

But you might as well have hunted for one particular pebble on a
beach as for a single individual in all that throng. Remembering
Grim's disguise when I first saw him, I naturally had that
picture of him in mind. But all the Bedouins looked about as
much alike as peas in a pod. They stared at me as if I were a