First of all, you will have to deal with the desert mafia. For if they are not your guides and your guards, they will rob you.
-The Golden Rhinoceros, from the chapter “The Customs of Mali”, François-Xavier Fauvelle
There were rumors of Harāmiyya, Thieves, lying in wait for us along the Way of the Forty. That’s why KhairAllah wanted Nedu to hoist the Aaton on his shoulder when an unknown rider approached, so it looked like a rocket launcher. On the previous trip we’d crossed paths only with Billa Ali, who carried an Enfield, and even though it looked like it hadn’t been fired since WW2, we didn’t want to test our luck.