were men of the Benî Ḍafî’ah.” Then with a burst of confidence he added, “But I saw no one.”
“At whom did you shoot?” said I in bewilderment.
“At the Benî Ḍafî’ah,” answered Fattûḥ, surprised at the stupidity of the question.
I gave it up, neither do I know to this hour whether we were or were not raided in the night.
Two days later my plan was finished. I had turned one of the vaulted rooms of the stable into a workshop, and spreading a couple of waterproof sheets on the sand for table, had drawn it out to scale lying on the ground. Sometimes an Arab came in silently and stood watching my pencil, until the superior attractions of the next chamber, in which sat the muleteers and the zaptiehs, drew him away. As I added up metres and centimetres I could hear them spinning long yarns of city and desert. Occasionally Ma’ashî brought me coffee.
“God give you the reward,” said I.