Sun March 28 [28 March 1909] Drew out the castle all day and
finished the plan. Bad cold. At night under the moon I heard the crack
of a rifle and the whizz of a bullet. It was answered by several shots
from the castle. Fattuh hurried off with 'Ali and his men leaving me my
pistol; I slipped on some clothes and came out into the night. We
walked out around the stable and gazed into the uncertain moonlit
desert where we saw the red fire of several shots. Presently we heard
a great sound of singing and all the men came back with their guns
over the shoulders, their white robes gleaming in the moon and some
little children clinging to their skirts. Mubarak had a finger grazed with
a bullet. 'Ali said it was a ghazu of the [Arabic characters] thafir. He
had seen some men hanging about at dusk and had kept watch.
They were all robbers. Next day he sent out a scout to the ain 11/4
hours to the S who reported the tracks of about 30 camels.