Page:A Prisoner of the Khaleefa.djvu/322

256 the river, try and "snip" any or all of the wires running round the "barrel," but cutting the wires in different places, so that the trick would not be discovered. Ragheb must have succeeded, for neither of the mines exploded, although Mansour had appointed people to fire them as the gunboats passed.

It is impossible for me, away from the spot where association would bring to memory the incidents of those stirring times, to remember the names of all who came to me asking what they might do to evidence, before the arrival of the troops, their loyalty to the Government, and. it must not be forgotten that they were running risks in fighting Mahdieh. It is but right that I should record the one or two striking examples which occur to me, especially in the face of my oftexpressed opinion that there are one or two released captives, who should not even be allowed the formality of a drum-head court-martial.