Their talk ceased as we rode along the track, and those who were on the platform--about half of them--eyed Ayisha with as much curiosity as a Bedouin taken by surprise ever permits himself to betray.
She did not give them much time for reflection, and wasted none whatever on conciliation, but affronted them from camel-back, having learned that method, no doubt, from her rightful lord and master.

It was obvious from the first that they all knew her by sight.
_"Wallahi!_ Good meat for the crows ye will all be presently! Has the Lion of Petra lost his teeth that jackals hunt ahead of him?
Did the men of Dat Ras profit by coming between him and his prey?
Go, look at Rat Das and count the splinters of men's bones! So shall your bones lie--ye who tempt the wrath of Ali Higg!" She rode along the line, showing her little teeth like pomegranate seeds in a sneer that would have made a passport clerk take notice; and her voice was raised to a shrill, harpy scream that rasped under the iron roof, so that none could have pretended he did not hear.
"The Lion claims this train! The Lion of Petra lies in wait for it at a place of his own choosing! Who dares forestall him?
Who dares slay one passenger, or loot one truck?
Who dares?
Stand out, whoever dares, that I may take his name back to the Lion of Petra!" Nobody did stand out.

They all herded closer together, as if in fear that any one left on the edge of the crowd might be assumed to challenge her authority.

Yet they looked capable of plundering a city, that company of stately cutthroats.

Perhaps some of them had seen what actually happened when Ali Higg raided Dat Ras.
Certainly they came from scattered settlements, on which Ali Higg could take detailed vengeance whenever it suited him.
"Ye know me! I wait here for the train.