one hit the back of his head with a piece of rock. A second
later they had pounced on him, and in less than a minute after
that he was kicking in the noose of a hide rope slung over a
house-beam. I don't know what they hanged him for. No one
apparently knew. But they used his carcase for a target and shot
it almost to pieces.

I kept on looking for Grim, although the task seemed hopeless.
Of course, I could not give a hint of my real purpose. But as
Grim knew that the talk about a school-teacher was my passport
to the place, it seemed possible that he might use that as an
excuse for getting in touch with me. So I told Ahmed to show
me the schools.

They weren't worth looking at--mere tumble-down sheds in which
Moslem boys were taught to say the Koran by heart. The places
where Christian missionaries once had been were all turned into
stores, and even into stables for the horses of the notables.

So I returned to ben Nazir's house, and found old Sheikh Anazeh
sitting outside on the step, as motionless as a tobacco-store
Indian but twice as picturesque. He still had his own rifle over
his knees, and the plundered one slung over his shoulder by a
strap; he never stirred abroad unarmed.

I asked him what the conference of notables was going to be
about, and he told me to mind my own business. That struck me as
an excellent idea, so, not having slept at all the previous
night, I went upstairs and lay on the bed. There was no lock on
the door, so I set the chair against it.