submitted and sworn fidelity to us, were established. Of these, a desperate rascal named Ali gave de Wouters a great deal of trouble. After many acts of insubordination and petty treacheries, matters culminated in the discovery by de Wouters' faithful of a plot arranged by Ali to murder the entire garrison in the swamp and long grass within a hundred yards of de Wouters' house. Ali had intended to post his men — of whom he had three or four hundred in the town — close to the garrison and hidden in the grass, when, by raising an alarm, he hoped to draw de Wouters and some of his men into the snare; de Wouters' energetic way of looking into every question himself being well known.

On hearing of the plot, de Wouters despatched his interpreter, Selimani, alone to All's camp, which was situated at the end of the