(Here Karim made a vicious prod with his talwár, which passed within half an inch of the terror-stricken victim's throat.)

"What does Lincoln mean?" he would blankly exclaim, impervious alike to the drollery and to the keen prod concealed within it.

A man on either side of me held my arms, and by way of warning I received now and then a merciless prod between my shoulder-blades from a halberd in the hands of an enthusiastic soul that walked behind me.

From time to time he raised his bludgeon and ran in at me, but a sharp prod under the upraised arm always sent him leaping back out of reach with the inevitable 'Ower!'