“I’ve brought a lot of trouble—” I said feebly. “Don’t mean a thing to us, darling. Near half of us were against falling on them asleep, but howled down by the rest. In a case like so, the chief lets the vote decide it, d’y’see. Now we’ve won after all—makes a better fight if they’re all awake. I’ll just tell all our lot to be ready—they don’t need it. We’re always ready enough for anything.” The man with plaits made off behind the trees.

I turned to another bandit, whose gold ear-rings in the shape of nude couples cast a glimmer on his face.

“Do you mind giving me back my bird?” I said humbly. “I’m on a private mission—got to get somewhere in a hurry—’

“Private mission in this kind o’ land, eh? Oh, well, maybe you know what you think you’re talking about. But how you can ride that demon at the best of times I dunno. And now you’re here you may as well get a bite—we’ll attend to your demon, too, if you like—and then watch the fight or make off again, whichever you like. If you leave us now you may only ride straight into the arms of their scouts.”

He led me down a dip, behind the screen of trees, and I was in a hollow lit by several fires whose argent wood-smoke was lost long before it could top the surrounding foliage. There was not much noise, but nobody was falling over himself to keep silent. My teeth watered as I was sat down and given a hunk of roast festooned with strip-sliced onions. A few hungry curious hyaenas stared with pale eyes from among the boles at the top of the further slope—Ael and his new second-in-command were holding a conversation with each other as they urinated against a tree-trunk over there, and the man with plaits waited civilly till they had finished and turned to him, rebuckling their belts.

I supposed their attention was being drawn, among other things, to me but I was too busy eating to watch.

“Not having milk?”

I turned round and there they were watching me, but not grinning or looking pleasant.

I didn’t know what on earth to say so I shrugged and went on eating, getting rather smeared with fatty gravy.

They lowered themselves on to the long flattened grass, which served as a thick straw mat, the second-in-command to my left and Ael to my right.