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This spring, for some reason, he delivered very little, and is still heavily in debt to Rafiki." "How many men has he?" "Might turn out fifty strong." "That's where we're due for our first trouble, then," said Grim. "We'll have to put one over on him. I know one way of spoiling friend Rafiki's game; old Woolly-wits'll fall sure.

Then he'll have to work fast, because we shall move fast. What villages does he trade with chiefly?" "The Beni-Assan and the Beni-Khor." "Small crowds, both of them. Counting her four fanatics, we'll be four-and-twenty armed men, and tough in the bargain. Is there any outlying sheikh who owes old Rafiki money? Who are his wives, for instance?" "Now you're on the track," said de Crespigny.

So there we halted and held a conference, letting the camels kneel and rest for half an hour, while each man said his say in turn. "That man is Rafiki's messenger," said Grim. "He is on his way to Abbas Mahommed, Sheikh of the Beni Yussuf, who owes Rafiki money. I think Rafiki is offering to forgo the debt if Abbas Mahommed will lie in wait for us and carry off this woman."

So old wool-merchant Rafiki had to refund the purchase-price not that he admitted that to me, of course. "I suspect that's where the rub comes. If he hadn't been selling the girl illegally he'd surely have complained to you about the rape in the first instance. As it was he couldn't think of anything except revenge.

We had hardly finished a hurried meal when the lady Ayisha and her men arrived on mean baggage camels provided by old Rafiki; and they were not in the least pleased with their mounts, for a baggage camel is as different from a beast trained to carry a rider as an up-to-date limousine is from a Chinese one-wheel barrow.

I suppose he lectured me for two hours, until Grim came in looking pleased with himself, followed by the two infants looking much more pleased. You can't mistake the adventurous air of an eight-year-old with money hidden on his person, whatever his nationality may be. De Crespigny followed them in to learn the news. "Know anything about old Rafiki, the wool-merchant?" Grim asked.

He was next in front of me, and I saw him exchange signals with a fat man in a house door, who may have been Rafiki the wool-merchant. Narayan Singh was next behind me, and I looked back to make sure that he had seen the signal too.

"She is the wife of Ismail ben Rafiki, the wool-dealer." "Uh-huh. Yes. Go on." "Good!" pronounced Grim. "Not half bad. Just for that I'll go with you." He winked at de Crespigny, nodded to me, pulled on a black-and-white striped Bedouin cloak, and went off with them at once. Whereat Narayan Singh came in, looking like another person altogether, although, if anything, bigger than before.