"By preventing that unwise raid on El-Maan."
"Wallahi! Do you think my men could not have accomplished it?"
"Maybe. Do you think the British would be fools enough to let that go unpunished? The El-Maan people would surely have appealed to them. Aeroplanes would have been sent to bomb you out of Petra. Can you fight aeroplanes?"
"The British do not pretend to rule on this side of the Jordan," the Lion retorted.
"No. Do you want them to pretend to?"
"Allah forbid!"
"Then take a friend's advice, O Ali Higg, and keep the peace here rather than make war."
"That is good advice; but will the British make a treaty with me?"
"No," Grim answered, smiling. "By that they would recognize you as a ruler, which they will not do until they surely know you rule."
"Mashallah! How shall men know that I am a ruler unless I make war and enforce my will?"