I lay on the floor with one eye open, expecting Grim every minute; but it must have been four in the afternoon before he came, and all that while, with only short intervals for food and coffee, Noureddin Ali and the other man talked steadily, discussing over and over again the details of some plan.
Shortly after midday Suliman began to whimper for food.

Yussuf produced a mess of rice and mutton, of which the two Syrians ate enormously before giving any to the boy; then they put what was left in the dish on the floor in front of me, pretty much in the way you feed a dog, and I hate to remember what I did to it.
It is enough that I did not overlook Grim's advice to eat like a lunatic, and however suspicious of me Noureddin Ali might otherwise have been he was satisfied at the end of that performance.
Several people tried the door, and some of them made signals on it but Yussuf had a peep-hole where one of the heavy iron nails had been removed, and after a cautious squint through it at each arrival he proceeded to ignore them.

One man thundered on the door for several minutes, but was allowed to go away without as much as a word of explanation.
That was the first incident that made me feel quite sure Nourreddin Ali was in fear of the police.

All the time the thundering was going on he glanced furtively about him like a rat in a trap.

I saw him feel for a weapon under his arm-pit.