He looked at our rifles, and then said, pointing:
“These are your weapons, I suppose, though unfamiliar to me. If you wish to leave them here, they will be safe. No man will touch anything.”
I took the opportunity of asking him to have grain and forage brought with us when we went to the caves in the afternoon, and also to let us have a guard of men to stay with the camels. They were rather to help Sadiq and keep him company than for protection, for it was clear now that the Shamans would not follow us.
He said he would gladly arrange everything.
“Now, if you will excuse my leaving you, I will go and see my daughter, whom we all thought dead if, indeed, some worse fate had not befallen her.”
Then he went out.
“Well,” said I, as he went out, “Gobi Greeks are actualities, all right, and here we are. Perfectly good houses, mail shirts, and a war. What are we going to do?”
We took off our bandoliers and unslung our rifles. The kit we had carried up had been taken off us outside, and the men piled it by the beds. Forsyth buried his face and hands in the water, and got off some of the dust we had picked up in the caves.
“Chip in, I think,” said he. “I like the look of these people, and, unless I’m mistaken, they’re a different crowd from your unpleasant friends down by the gate. I only saw one of those by faint moonlight, and he was somewhat the worse for wear, but he didn’t look at all the same as this lot.”
He finished his toilet and smoothed his hair. “Glad I shaved this morning. I notice that most of the younger-looking men here shave.”