Page 180 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

this expedition, and it was our desire and duty to follow it out.
The passage which they entered almost immediately became too
low for walking upright, but after groping their way for some
distance, they arrived at a spacious room, cut out of the rock. At
first it was difficult to see in the room, for there was no light
except what came in through the passage. Soon, however, their
eyes became accustomed to the partial darkness.
The Shaikhs sat down and invited Bruce and Loch to sit beside
them. For some time, the two Shaikhs carried on a whispered
conversation, leaving their guests sitting silent and wondering.
This is a custom to which Arabs arc addicted, and is not considered
bad manners. This whispered conversation was followed by a
long silence. Shaikh Sulman then explained why he had brought
them to this place; it was because he wished to find out the real
reason for their visit to Bahrain, for he and his brother could not
believe that they came only to destroy some pirate vessels. The
Shaikhs were most anxious to know whether the expedition was
intended as a threat to Bahrain, which they evidently suspected.
They also thought that the British might be in league with their
enemy Rahmah bin Jabr who boasted that he was on good terms
with the British. Shaikh Sulman explained that, if a conversation
had taken place anywhere else, it would surely be overheard so
they held the discussion in this secret, underground room. The
Shaikhs asked to be informed, candidly, why the ships had come.
‘Of course, we could only answer that the cause of our visit was
solely for the destruction of pirate vessels, which he had given
shelter to. To prevent any of his own vessels falling a sacrifice,
either through erroneous information, or through a mistake, he
had better point out those of the pirates.’ The Shaikhs were
assured that they need not fear another visit, unless they persisted
in helping the Joasmi and their adherents.
The next point which the Shaikhs took up was the question of
Muscat. They asked whether the British had come to some
arrangement with the Sultan about Bahrain. Loch and Bruce
had no official information on this subject, ‘but we assured him
that we knew for a certainty that there was not and, as far as our
information reached, there was no desire or intention of interfering
in any way with them, if they proved by their conduct, a desire
to withdraw entirely from the pirates and would act on peaceable
terms with our vessels and trade. We again enforced on his mind