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?"