How do you think he received me?
He was sitting on a chair of brocade with silver legs in great magnificence, and across his knees he held a loaded rifle at full cock.

It was a Snider, so that I could be quite sure it was cocked." Violet stared at him, not understanding.
"But why ?" she asked.
"Well, he knew quite well that I was brought back to Kohara in order to replace him, if he didn't mend his ways and spend less money.

And he didn't mean to be replaced." The smile broke out again on Shere Ali's face as he remembered the scene.

"He sat there with his great beard, dyed red, spreading across his chest, a long velvet coat covering his knees, and the loaded rifle laid over the coat.

His eyes watched me, while his fingers played about the trigger." Violet Oliver was horrified.
"You mean--that he meant to kill you!" she cried incredulously.
"Yes," said Shere Ali calmly.