"Suleiman now informed him that he could not supply the men, as all his people had absconded from fear (of Abd-el-Kader).
"On the following morning the colonel perceived, from the smoke above our old camp on the opposite side of the river (which in this part is 500 yards broad), that Suleiman's people had escaped during the night, and had crossed the river with all their slaves and effects.
"This was the first act of my new irregular levy—they had positively run away from the colonel like a parcel of hostile natives!
"Suleiman and Eddrees declared that they could not control their men, who were afraid that I had ordered my officer to release the slaves that were in their possession. (The truth was they considered that I had heard of the murder of the prisoner committed to the care of Suleiman, and that I had sent the colonel and his party to make inquiries.)
"Abd-el-Kader ordered Suleiman to accompany him to my halting-place at Kisoona. Suleiman declined upon the excuse that he had some business, but that he would present himself to-morrow."
"I can stand these scoundrels' conduct no longer. I have tried lenient measures, and I had hoped that by forming Suleiman's party into an irregular corps I might be able, by degrees, to change their habits, and to reduce them by good discipline into useful troops, but 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?'
"I immediately released and examined the captive sheiks, who one and all declared that the fault lay with Suleiman, who had previously arranged the plan with Rahonka: that when I should be led away a distance of two days' journey, he would assemble his men and attack Rionga in conjunction with Rahonka's army.
"The report of Umbogo, the dragoman, is thus corroborated by overwhelming evidence. This man, Umbogo, declares that Abou Saood wrote to Suleiman, instructing him to wait until I should have passed on, and then to bring all his slaves to Fabbo.
"I immediately sent Captain Mohammed Deii with fifty men, including twenty-five of the 'Forty Thieves,' with orders to liberate all slaves that might be discovered within the zareeba. He was to summon all the people of Suleiman, and to disarm those who had run away from the colonel, Abd-el-Kader.
"In the event of resistance, he was to use the force at his disposal, and at all hazards to prevent the escape of the slavers across the river.