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96 legitimate prey; but Makarrab Khan was almost a gentleman compared with he who sat at the receipt of custom at Aden. Rejib Aga, to give him his official name, was one of a low class of European renegades who were not uncommonly met with at this period in Asia in positions of authority to which they had wormed their way by devious methods. Jourdain's account of him is that he was of Greek nationality and "was originally a servile slave of the pasha of Sania," whose favour he had won because he had shown himself "a beneficiall knave."

Towards the Englishmen Rejib Aga at the outset adopted an attitude of ostentatious friendliness. He welcomed Sharpeigh "with tabour and pipe and other heathen music," invested him with a robe of honour, and conducted him personally to "a fine house" which he had had specially prepared for his accommodation. His effusiveness was part of a deep-laid plot to get both ships and their cargo into his power. His real intentions were revealed when Sharpeigh, after he had had his fill of honours, essayed to return to his ship. It was then made clear that the English commander and the men with him were practically prisoners until Rejib Aga had had time to communicate with the pasha at Sana, near Mocha. After ineffectual protests Sharpeigh resigned himself to his fate, but the astute Greek, though he had the English commander in his power, gained nothing by his treachery.

Sharpeigh's colleagues on the ships, alarmed at the turn of events, resolutely declined either to leave their safe anchorage in the harbour for a position nearer the shore, where they would be commanded by the guns of the fortress, or to land their cargo. They even managed to turn the tables on their wily foe by enticing on board some leading