The answer to that was unexpected. Ismail knelt--seized his hand--
and pressed the gold bracelet to his lips!

In turn, every one of them filed by, knelt reverently and kissed
the bracelet!

"Saw ye ever a Hillman do that before?" asked Ismail. "They will
obey thee! Have no fear!"

"Kutch dar nahin hai!" King answered. "There is no such thing as
fear!" and Ismail grinned at him, not knowing that King was feeling
as Aladdin must have done.

"I have heard you swear," said King; "be ye true men!"

"Ah-h-h!"

"Have they belongings that ought to be collected first?" he asked,
and Ismail laughed.

"No more than the dead have! A shroud apiece! Ali gave them
bitterness to eat and picked their teeth afterward for gleanings!
They stand in what they own!"

"Then, come!" ordered King, turning his back confidently on thirty
savages whom Saunders, for instance, would have preferred to drive
in front of him, after first seeing them handcuffed. But when he
is not pressed for time neither pistols, nor yet handcuffs, are
included in King's method.