It meant, presumably, that instructions would be obeyed, and so far, good; we were not now in danger of trouble from that source.
But Ali Baba found his tongue again, and freed himself from his sons after he had drank about a quart of water.
"That Ibrahim ben Ah was puzzled," he said.

"Allah! But the fool asked questions; and by the Prophet's beard I lied in answer to him! Ho! What a string of lies! Who was I but a sheikh from El-Kalil bringing word to Ali Higg of the movements of a British force! In what way did I become the friend of Ali Higg?
Was I not always his friend! Was it not I who fed him when he first escaped from Egypt! Ho-ho-ho! Have I not been working for a year to gather men for him in El-Kalil! Have I not made purchases in El-Kalil and El-Kudz for his wife Ayisha! _Il hamdulillah!_ My tongue was ready! May the lies rot the belly of the fool who ate them! "But that was not all.

He wanted to know other things--as, for instance, whether the other force of forty men is still at large, and if so who shall protect the women in Petra.
"'For,' quoth he, `by Allah, there are men in the neighborhood who have felt our Ali's heel, and who would not scruple to wreak vengeance if his back were altogether turned.

Convey him my respectful homage, and bid him look to his rear,' said Ibrahim ben Ah." At that Grim called to Narayan Singh, who came down the goat-track like a landslide.

You mustn't whistle your man in those parts, or the Arabs will say the devil has defiled your mouth.
"Ask Jael Higg to come here." "A word first, Jimgrim sahib! While I watched, those women talked.