As usual in all cases of dispute, I was to be referee. Kamrasi sent his
factotum Cassave in the night to my hut to confer with me without the
Turks' knowledge; then came his brother, M'Gambi, and at length, after
being pestered daily by messengers, the great king arrived in person. He
said that Eddrees was excessively insolent, and had threatened to shoot
him; that he had insulted him when on his throne surrounded by his
chiefs, and that, had he not been introduced into the country by me, he
would have killed him and his men on the spot.
I advised Kamrasi not to talk too big, as he had lately seen what only
ten guns had effected in the fight with Fowooka, and he might imagine
the results that would occur should he even hint at hostility, as the
large parties of Ibrahim and the men of Mahommed Wat-el-Mek would
immediately unite and destroy both him and his country, and place his
now beaten enemy Fowooka upon HIS throne should a hair of a Turk's head
be missing. The gallant Kamrasi turned almost green at the bare
suggestion of this possibility. I advised him not to quarrel about
straws, assuring him, that as I had become responsible for the behaviour
of the Turks while in his country, he need have no fear; but that, on
the other hand, he must be both just and generous.
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