These people, who were for
the most part convicts, although professing Islamism preferred to live
with the natives, to the steady discipline of military life.
One evening, the sentry, on guard before the house of Lieutenant Baker
and Mr. Higginbotham, was observed by Mr. Baker's soldier servant (a
black) to lay his rifle on the ground and to enter stealthily the
doorway of his hut. Abdullah Maseri, the servant, lost no time in
running towards the hut, which he quietly entered in the dusk, without
being perceived by the thief within, who in the absence of Mr. Baker was
pillaging his boxes.
Abdullah quietly crept up behind him, pinned him by the back of the
neck, and held him until he obtained assistance. There was no escape
from conviction, therefore I sentenced the thief to receive 100 lashes
and to be, confined in irons.
While he was undergoing the punishment he yelled for mercy, saying, "I
will confess-I will confess all. It was I who entered the Pacha's room
at Tewfikeeyah. It was at me that the Pacha fired the pistol! Put me in
irons, but don't flog me; I will confess all."
This man was an Egyptian belonging to the "Forty Thieves," and he now
confessed his former delinquency. He was secured in irons and placed
under a guard. The fellow had been a professional thief, and during the
night he managed to slip off his irons and make his escape, no doubt
with the connivance of the sentry.
The fact of the natives receiving the deserters was enough to suggest
the suspicion that they were tampering with the troops. Although the
Baris would neither work nor assist in any manner, they continued, in
spite of my warning, to swim their cattle across to the pasturage on the
mainland occupied by the troops.
I again gave the sheik Allorron notice, that if he continued to drive
his cattle to the forbidden pasture, they would be confiscated.
On the following morning they returned to the mainland as usual, not the
slightest notice having been taken of my repeated and official warning.
I gave orders to secure them. About ten men of the "Forty Thieves"
quietly explained the order to the natives who guarded the cattle, and
without any remonstrance they drove them to my station, and stood guard
around the herd.
The natives returned to the island, and reported the affair to the sheik
Allorron and his people.
Early on the following morning, the sheik, accompanied by fifteen
headmen of villages and a number of natives, together with Tomby the
interpreter, attended and formed a deputation. I received them beneath
the shady tree near my diahbeeah. They looked very sheepish, and asked
me, "Why had I confiscated their cattle?"
I explained the reason:
