A CHERISHED LETTER 173 



moonrise) and told me that the prisoner refused to 

 walk with them and they were simply forcing him to 

 march and dragging him forward, he arrived a few 

 yards to this side of that big river (to which you have 

 arrived at 6.35 this morning) and there he died, 



P.T.O. 

 " And ' Kadi ' knowing that this man is dead tied 

 him up to a tree (for fear lest he should be pretending 

 to be dead and after they had left him he would run 

 away, this is ' Kadi's ' statement). I had in compli- 

 ance with your orders sent back the onb " [corporal 

 and men I sent back when the prisoner did not turn 

 up] "with 2 other men but they met Kadi on his 

 way back not very far from here, now I am sending 

 back the onb and Kadi with 2 men to find out the 

 truth and if the man is only sick to carry him in, if 

 he is dead to bury him and mark the spot where they 

 put him and to cut a piece of his small finger and 

 to get it here, that is all what struck me to do at 

 present. Waiting for your instructions. — Yours 

 obediently, N. G. Tibsherani, M.A., M.C. 



"22.I.'905." 



My soul turned to water when I read the first few 

 lines of this message. It was all very well to deal 

 firmly with a recalcitrant prisoner ; but to force a 

 sick man to walk, even to the length of his dying, 

 that was quite another thing. I was horrified, more 

 especially as I knew that there must be something in 

 the tale, as "Kadi" was a very good man. As a 

 matter of fact, he was the big Niam-Niam who had 



