— 7 — it, but did not find anything to support the slander, or anything that compromised me in any way. In spite of this they arrested me, although I had committed no offence and sent me to Gibraltar, where they imprisoned me for thirtj' months. Here I saw many strange things, and, among them, a cannon that killed a mule standing no less than three miles away(i). When they were certain of my innocence they released me and brought me back to Cairo in the year 1887. Here I remained while the years rolled on, with naught to relieve their monotony, save that in the year 1896 some of the French, who were the highest In the land, came to me secretly by night. They remained with me until two hours after midnight, trying to induce me to make an arrangement for them with Rabeh, whom they were then engaged in fighting. They offered me in return such wealth as could not be counted and the gratification of all my heart's desire.

While I was at Gibraltar I remembered my former days of honour in the Sudan, and compared them with my present humiliation in the following poem.

"Time was when with my relatives I enjoyed sweet converse, when power and dignity were mine; time was when at my call were establishments of troops, and knights swift to revenge. But time in its course has reversed all this, and imprisoned (i) In the June number, 1908, of the Nineteenth Century is a most interesting account of this period in Zubeir's life, written by the Rij;ht Hon. Lord Ribblesdale.