He had been dressed rather differently when I last saw him, so he must have been doing some pretty careful spy-work.
Of course, a close examination showed a dozen differences between the two men, but in his weak state following that drastic physic and the operation Ali Higg believed for a moment that he saw his own ghost! One or two of the women checked a scream, which helped matters, and the others shrank into a corner, staring with wild eyes.

One woman laughed, but not from amusement.
_"Salamun alaik,_ O Ali Higg!" said Grim after a full minute's silence.
_"Wa alaik issalam!_ Who are you, in the name of Allah ?" Instead of answering Grim strode in, and Ali Baba lined up his sons across the cave-mouth.

Unless Grim had left undone some precaution in the camp below it looked as if we had the Lion caged to rights, and you could tell by the look in Ali Baba's usually mild old eyes that there would have been short shrift for somebody if his advice were taken.

For a moment I caught sight of Ayisha peering timidly between the end man and the wall--to see, I suppose, whether the Lion was dead yet--but the minute I caught her eye she disappeared.
Grim stooped down over Ali Higg, who was sprawling on his stomach on a Persian rug.
"Has my _hakim_ relieved Your Honor's pain ?" he asked.
The Lion managed to sit upright.

Three of the women piled cushions behind him and ran back again to their corner.
"Who are you in my likeness ?" "A friend, _inshallah,"_ answered Grim.
He squatted down cross-legged on the mat in front of him; for though the Lion's neck was pretty nicely bandaged and the hypodermic had not lost its power, yet it hurt him quite a little to look up.
"I had three brothers, but thou art none of them.