"'Our uniforms are at Matamma,' I replied, 'we had simply come out for a ride on the sand, without dreaming that you would have the audacity to show yourselves. And in proof of what I say, here is my commission,' and so saying, I took out of my pocket the letter of the Governor of Souakim.
"I had read somewhere, either in Schweinfurth's or Barth's works, that in Africa letters either sealed or stamped have a wonderful effect on the people, an effect which is heightened in proportion to their inability to understand them. So I opened my letter, and instead of reading the contents, I recited from memory, with certain additional and personal details, the latest firman of the Khedive, which I had seen posted up in Cairo.
"'We, Ismael, Khedive of Egypt, considering the savage condition of the tribes who inhabit the Nile Basin, considering that humanity imposes on all the duty of putting down the slave hunters who occupy those countries in great numbers—We have decreed and hereby do decree as follows—An expedition is organized for the suppression of the slave trade, and the introduction of a system of regular commerce.
"'The Command-in-Chief of this expedition is entrusted to Sir Samuel
White Baker, for four years, commencing from the 4th April, 1869.
"'And we invest him, and all his officers, with the most absolute power, even that of death, over all slave-traders or slave-merchants who may resist this authority.'
"My reading ended, or, if you prefer it, my lesson recited, I calmly re-folded the letter of the Governor of Souakim, converted under my hand into a firman from the Khedive, put it in my pocket, and looked up to enjoy the effect I hoped I had produced on the bystanders.
"Périères and Delange smiled behind their moustaches, the men of the escort were dumbfounded, but their rascally leader, in his character as a wily old Portuguese, did not appear in the least moved by my reading, either because he did not care two straws for the official document, or because he considered that we were not in sufficient strength to enforce it.
"After a glance around him to assure himself that the slaves were not making any attempt at escape, and after having reckoned up his escort, he complacently stroked his scanty beard land, looking at me with blinking eyes, he said—
"'These slaves are my property. I bought them in Darfour and Kordofan. The Khedive has no right to take them from me, and I will not give them up!'
"'Then,' I replied, without hesitation, 'we shall be obliged to arrest you.'