He lay very still, though, on the watch for footsteps, whispers, breathings in the passage.

Four years in the palace had taught Sunni what these things meant.

He lay still for more than two hours.
At last, very quietly, Sunni lifted himself up by his elbows, put first one leg, and then the other, out of the charpoy, and got up.
More quietly still he drew the locked box from under the bed, took a key from his pocket, and opened it.

The key squeaked in the wood, and Sunni paused again for a long time, listening.

Then in the smoky, uncertain light of the chirag flaring in the niche, he took from the box three gold bangles, two broken armlets, enamelled in red and blue, and a necklace of pearls with green enamelled pendants.