"Let that Mother of Snakes Beware" The terms that Grim had imposed on Abbas Mahommed were perfectly well understood by every one concerned.

The Arab is an individualist of fervid likes and dislikes and the thing that perhaps he hates most of all is to be observed by strangers; he does not like it even from his own people.

So there was nothing incomprehensible, but quite the reverse, about that requirement that none from the village should trespass in our direction all that day.

And, of course, only a bold robber conscious of his power to enforce them would have dared to insist on such terms.

But it was a good thing that Mahommed Abbas did not call the bluff.
As it was, we slept all morning undisturbed, with only four watchers posted, relieved at intervals of one hour.