Kaid Maclean had an interview with the brigand chief in April (1907). Raisuli listened to the Kaid's proposals, but refused to accompany him to Fez, where the Sultan was then residing. However, a step had been made toward a possible arrangement. A month later, armed with the authority of the Sultan, Kaid Maclean returned to Alcazar, a town on the Tangier-Fez road, situated about sixty miles from the former. But meanwhile it had leaked out that Raisuli would attempt the capture of this important functionary. Every effort was made by the Sultan, who had also received the news, and by the British Legation, to cancel the interview, and the British Consular Agent at Alcazar was instructed to this effect. An interview with Raisuli was secretly arranged, to be held on the borders of the Ahlserif tribe-lands, some few miles from Alcazar. There these two personages met. The Sultan's propositions were made known to Raisuli, who pretended to accept them, and to be disposed to return to Fez with the Kaid. He would, he said, start at once, and if the Kaid would accompany him to the village where his camp was pitched they would set out the next day. The Kaid agreed, and entered the mountains with his host-only there was no setting out the next day, for he found himself a prisoner, and remained in captivity for some seven months, suffering considerable hardships,

Of all the negotiations for the obtaining of the liberty of Raisuli's prisoners this was the most difficult. The terms demanded by Raisuli were preposterous, and a score of people seemed negotiating on their own account, while the Kaid himself was doing his utmost, and very naturally, to obtain his release. The result was confusion and misunderstanding, and the distance from Tangier at which Raisuli kept his captive increased the difficulties. Had the whole affair been left to the hands of Sir Gerard Lowther, who at this period ably represented Britain in Morocco, it is probable that Kaid Maclean's release would have been more quickly obtained. But on every occasion on which a solution seemed near, some perfectly new proposition, emanating from unauthorised sources, would frustrate the official plans. In the end Raisuli obtained £20,000, and he was made a British protected subject; and there were other minor terms. Kaid Maclean was released. The only pleasing aspect of all these brigandage cases was the absolute confidence that Raisuli always placed in the word of the British Government, the British authorities, and, in fact, in that of all Britishers.

Some years after this event, when the ex-Sultan Mulai Abdul Aziz, who had just abdicated, was visiting my villa at Tangier, I showed him two Arabic documents. One was his original "Dahir" for

the nomination of Raisuli as Governor of the tribes, which the brigand had extorted as part of the ransom of Perdicaris, and the other was Raisuli's appointment as Governor of the same tribes bearing another great seal of State, that of the Pretender, Bou Hamara. Mulai Abdul Aziz asked me how I had become possessed of these two documents. I told him. The "Dahir" of the Pretender I had found concealed in a secret cupboard, during my imprisonment in the room of Raisuli's house at Zinat. I had carried it, sewn up in my clothing, with other equally interesting correspondence, during the whole period of my captivity. The firman of the Sultan himself I had obtained the day Raisuli's house was looted by the Makhzen troops, at which picturesque incident I had been present.

"How both?

"God gave me, no doubt, my English, for it was the language of my childhood and my country. As to my Arabic, I acquired it at the Court of Your Majesty, and I have hesitated to inquire too particularly who was my master."

It was at this period, while an outlaw in the mountains, that Raisuli nearly made his most important capture. It was an incident that was kept very quiet at the time, but leaked out in the French press a little later. The truth was, we Europeans who played a part-and we very nearly played a very serious part— in the story had no desire for publicity.

The facts were these. The ruins of Raisuli's stronghold at Zinat were only distant from Tangier about fourteen miles, and formed a tempting excursion, but one which no one undertook, as it was notoriously unsafe. However, as time went on and nothing occurred in the neighbourhood of Tangier to disturb the tranquillity, and as Raisuli and his band seemed permanently to have taken up their residence in the mountains at a considerable distance from the scene of their former activities, a picnic at Zinat was decided upon, and I was invited. The other members of our party consisted of Sir Gerard Lowther, then British Minister to Morocco, Monsieur and Madame de Beaumarchais of the French Legation, and Mr Christopher

of the House of Commons. I formed the fifth member of the party.

One hot summer's morning we rode out, having sent our lunch on in advance. On nearing Zinat we were hailed by a countryman who was ploughing his fields. I rode to see what he wanted, and was informed that Raisuli's band was back at Zinat, apparently having come to take away some treasure which had, by being buried, escaped the looting of the soldiery at the time of the destruction of the castle. He advised us not to proceed. We discussed this news, and in the folly of an enjoyable excursion, decided, as the lunch was on ahead, to proceed. Nothing could surpass the tranquillity of the scene on our arrival, and we were soon lunching under the shade of the olive-trees. I confess that the pleasure of the foie-gras was mingled, in my case, with a certain nervous apprehension from which the others appeared immune. We did not believe, or had pretended not to believe, the story of the return of Raisuli's brigands.

Lunch was nearly over when the glint of a rifle-barrel in the thick brushwood caught my eye, and another and yet another in the rocks, for the hill at Zinat is a wild precipitous slope of broken masses of rock and scrub. A minute later we were surrounded. The men were perfectly polite, and to all intents and purposes ap

VOL. COIX.-NO. MCCLXIII.

to wish us good-day. At their head was the good-looking young Ahmed el-Aoufi, Raisuli's second-in-command, a personal friend of my own, who had shown me considerable kindness during my captivity with the brigands in 1903. He shook us warmly by the hand, and, his rifle between his knees, sat down to pass the time of day. A few yards away, in a complete circle round us, were thirty or forty of his men.

I confess that situations like this exhilarate me. I hate bloodshed and noisy encounters, but a delicate situation has a zest that is unique-and, heavens! it was a delicate situation. The British Minister and the French Chargé d'Affaires-what a coup! I was the only member of the party who spoke Arabic, and the suspense the others must have suffered during the next hour or two must have been extreme.

Yet no one made a sign. I have often seen great examples of self-restraint, but never, I think, greater than on this occasion. Remember, my friends understood nothing of what I was saying, except that every now and again I referred to them for confirmation of my assertions. For me the situation was very exciting. If I was taken, after all it was only what had happened before, and I was used to adventure and hardship; but for the others! and I could not help thinking of the terms-proqably impossible terms-that

D

Raisuli would demand for their release, and of the possible consequences! I have found on occasions like these for this was by no means the only tight place of the kind that I had been in-that not only is there a kind of exhilaration, but also that one's power of concentration of thought is accentuated. However inauspicious the actual surroundings may be, one feels and knows that the mental superiority rests with the European, and that hereditary training of thought and education stand one in good stead. The Moor is no fool; he is cunning and astute, but his mind is untrained, and he is confiding when dealing with Europeans. In the first moments of our encounter at Zinat I knew that our safety depended upon the game that I was determined to play and which I played successfully.

I began with an enormous untruth. Holding El-Aoufi's hand, I told him I was delighted to see him, and that his visit was most opportune -nothing, in fact, could have been better. Then I sat him down, and talked to him and to his chief companions seriously. It was at this moment that Madame de Beaumarchais, with the admirable sangfroid of a talented and courageous Frenchwoman, took a photograph.

The story that I told them was this. I reminded them that Raisuli had been driven from the Governorship of Tan

gier and the surrounding tribes at the demand of the European Powers. They had acted unwisely and realised it, and now they regretted their action. "Do you know," I asked, "who these people are who are here to-day?"

"We are not sure," they replied.

"Then I will tell you," and I did. Instead of, as would seem natural, trying to conceal the identity of my distinguished friends, I launched out into exaggerated statements as to their importance. I saw I had made an impression. My audience were now thoroughly puzzled.

66

And why are they here?" I asked. Listen, and I will tell you. The Powers of Europe regret Raisuli's departure and disgrace. They desire him to be reinstated, but the Sultan has refused. The Powers insist, and as the Makhzen still holds out, the Governments of England and France have telegraphed to their representatives the gentlemen you see here to-day-instructing them to visit the scene of the depredations on Raisuli's castle, and to make all the necessary arrangements for its reconstruction as quickly as possible, so that Raisuli can be restored to his own and once more introduce law and order into the region. For this purpose we are come to-day-against the advice of all our friendsso that the work can be undertaken at once. Meanwhile the letter recalling Raisuli from the

I then added, 66 We were warned on the way that we should find you here, and advised to turn back; but I told the people who warned us that Raisuli's men would perfectly understand our mission, and nice trouble they would get into with their chief if they captured the very men who were insisting on restoring him to his former grandeur, and obtaining the return of all his confiscated property-and even rebuilding his castle at the expense of the Governments they represent. I should like to see your face, friend Ahmed el - Aoufi, after Raisuli had discovered the 'gaffe' that you had made; and if I know your chief, friend and confidant as you are, I can imagine the stripes he could lay upon your bare back. Do you think that, unless we had been really his benefactors, we should ever have been such fools to have ventured into this hornets' nest ? Now, up with you," I cried, rising, "and we will see what we can do with these ruins."

I led the way down to the ruins, and for the next hour measured walls, took notes of the local price of masons and carpenters and the possibilities of obtaining bricks on the spot, proposed a new water-supply which the laws of gravitation rendered quite impossible, and even whispered in El-Aoufi's ear that there would be money to build him a little house adjoining his chief's. We came

tween £12,000 and £15,000, taking into consideration that Raisuli could obtain a plentiful supply of forced labour and as much material as he liked, the house could be restored to more than its pristine glories.

Another photograph taken by Madame de Beaumarchais pictures me pacing out the length of the walls of the house.

My note-book full of figures, I sat down again and dictated to El-Aoufi the following letter, which he wrote: "To the trusted and well beloved Shereef, the learned Mulai Ahmed er-Raisuli, peace and the mercy of God be upon you; and acting on the instructions of their Governments, of which the letter I sent you yesterday will have given you full particulars, the British Minister and the French Chargéd'Affaires have paid a visit to the ruins of your Kasbah. They have grieved much to see its piteous state. As you will have learned by the contents of my letter, it is the intention of their Governments not only to restore you to power but also to reconstruct your castle. To-day we are at Zinat, and we had the good fortune to find your faithful and intelligent deputy, my lord Ahmed el-Aoufi, and your followers, who have been of great use to us, and have shown us many things that have helped us, and have guarded us in security and peace from any bad people who may have been about. We are grateful. And my lord