The surprise, when it came, made him brace himself to meet it; and, once committed, he played with the sky for a limit as usual.
One thing was quite clear: Ayisha had made herself known to them, and they were properly impressed.

They dismounted from their camels, and, after bowing to her as respectfully as any lord of the desert decently could do to a woman, they left their beasts kneeling and started all together toward us.
So Grim went out to meet them, even outdoing their measured dignity, striding as if the desert were his heritage.

But he went only as far as the railway track, and waited; to have gone a step farther would have made them think themselves his superiors.

Ali Baba, Mujrim, Narayan Singh, and I, went out and stood behind him at a properly respectful distance..