“As days passed by, the Arabs were in an increasing state of uncertainty as to the course they ought to pursue, but were fully determined to be loyal to their Bey, if he proved true to his trust, and in any case and under all circumstances not to allow the French to conquer them without a struggle. The sensation produced, therefore, can be very well imagined, when Hamed Ben Yusef appeared suddenly on the scene, loudly declaring that the Bey’s dynasty had passed away for ever, and that those who did not side with the French must be prepared to fight for their independence and their homes. “Their first idea was to kill the envoy, who by the insolent way he spoke almost seemed to court death; but luckily for him the Khalifa, or sub-governor, Hamda El Kateb, who possessed considerable influence over the tribesmen, refused to leave his side. During the darkness of the following evening Sidi Hamda managed to smuggle the emissary out of the place, but in doing so he ran considerable risk, as many of the Arabs rushed wildly about the town calling out that the Khalifa had been bribed to facilitate the man’s escape. “Soon after the arrival in Mater of Hamed Ben Yusef the heads of the tribes came in a body to consult me, and ask me if I knew the truth about what was going on between the French and the Bey. I naturally answered, that not having been in Tunis for some time, I was as ignorant as they were. They then entreated me to go on their behalf to the Prime Minister; and I accordingly started the same afternoon and rode to Tunis, a distance of some fifty miles: this was on the 8th of May. Early the next morning I went to see Mustapha, and told him all that had happened. He promised to send a letter by a special messenger, but could not give me any satisfactory answer for the tribes, merely repeating over and over again, ‘that they should not oppose the entry of the French into Mater if they came there.’ When I returned with this message on the afternoon of the 9th May, I found most of the chiefs assembled about a mile on the Tunis side of the town awaiting my arrival. They were not at all pacified by Mustapha’s answer, and declared that Mater did not belong to the Bey, but to the Arabs, and that they would not give it up. About 8000 of them were now assembled about six miles on the Bizerta road, and they appeared to be determined to march on Bizerta itself.