Shadows in Zamboula

'Peril hides in the house of Aram Baksh!'The speaker's voice quivered with earnestness and his lean, black-nailed fingers clawedat Conan's mightily muscled arm as he croaked his warning. He was a wiry, sun-burntman with a straggling black beard, and his ragged garments proclaimed him a nomad.He looked smaller and meaner than ever in contrast to the giant Cimmerian with hisblack brows, broad chest, and powerful limbs. They stood in a corner of the Sword-Makers' Bazar, and on either side...
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'Peril hides in the house of Aram Baksh!'The speaker's voice quivered with earnestness and his lean, black-nailed fingers clawedat Conan's mightily muscled arm as he croaked his warning. He was a wiry, sun-burntman with a straggling black beard, and his ragged garments proclaimed him a nomad.He looked smaller and meaner than ever in contrast to the giant Cimmerian with hisblack brows, broad chest, and powerful limbs. They stood in a corner of the Sword-Makers' Bazar, and on either side of them flowed past the many-tongued, many-coloredstream of the Zamboula streets, which is exotic, hybrid, flamboyant and clamorous.Conan pulled his eyes back from following a bold-eyed, red-lipped Ghanara whoseshort skirt bared her brown thigh at each insolent step, and frowned down at hisimportunate companion.'What do you mean by peril?' he demanded.The desert man glanced furtively over his shoulder before replying, and lowered hisvoice.'Who can say? But desert men and travelers have slept in the house of Aram Baksh,and never been seen or heard of again. What became of them? He swore they rose andwent their way--and it is true that no citizen of the city has ever disappeared from hishouse. But no one saw the travelers again, and men say that goods and equipmentrecognized as theirs have been seen in the bazars. If Aram did not sell them, after doingaway with their owners, how came they here?''I have no goods,' growled the Cimmerian, touching the shagreen-bound hilt of thebroadsword that hung at his hip. 'I have even sold my horse.'