But you must give it back at dawn, because the prayers are in it that a very holy ma'lim wrote for me, and unless I read those prayers properly tomorrow's train will come to grief before we reach Damascus." He acted the part perfectly of one of those half-witted, wholly shrewd mountebanks, who pick up a living by taking advantage of tolerance and good nature.

You've all seen the type.

It's commonest at race-meetings but you'll find it anywhere in the world where vagrant men of means foregather.
Again Yussuf Dakmar's face became a picture of suppressed emotion.

I pocketed the wallet with the same matter-of-fact air with which I have accepted a servant's money to keep safe for him scores of times.

He believed me to be a drunkard, who had been thoroughly doped that day and would probably drink hard that night to drown the after-taste.