Page 39 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

descendants of the Shaikhs’ Baluchi bodyguards still hold position
of trust in the households of the Khalifah. A dispute then broke
out between Bedr and Said’s brother, Salim. Salim had returned
to Muscat without Bedr’s permission and, when threatened by
Bedr with death, fled back to Said at Barka. Bedr ordered Said
to hand his brother over to him, which Said refused to do.
The story of Bedr’s death is described fully by Maurizi, Said’s
doctor, who claims to have had it from the negro slave who was
present at the time. Bedr, unwisely, went to Barka to deal with
the two young men. Some writers suggest that it was Bedr’s
intention to kill both boys. He entered the fort near the town,
where he was received by Said, and sat down in a room between
Said and Mohammed - the negro slave stood at the door. There
was a disagreement, probably about handing over Salim and dis­
banding the Baluchi bodyguard. Suddenly Said leaned forward,
pulled Bedr’s dagger from his waistbclt, and stabbed him on his
left side. The slave slammed the door shut. Bedr, though
wounded, made for the window, jumped out and fell on a heap
of horse dung below. There were saddled horses close by, he
leapt on to one of them, and galloped away towards a Wahabi
camp near the town. Said, with his brother, Mohammed bin
Nasr, and the negro slave, followed Bedr on their horses. They
caught up with him, and Mohammed attacked him with his
sword and unhorsed him. The slave finished him off with a
spear.
According to Maurizi, Said then persuaded Mohammed bin
Nasr to disappear for the time being. Meanwhile, he told his
excited supporters that Bedr had been killed by Mohammed. It
is unlikely that the people of Barka, or the Baluchi bodyguard,
eared who had done the killing. Bedr, whom they all disliked
because of his friendship with the Wahabis, was dead. That was
all that mattered. They applauded the deed, and rallied round
Said, who took ship to Muscat, and was hailed there as the deliverer
of his country from one who had turned renegade and had been
hand-in-glovc with the invaders. Said was acclaimed as ruler
and, as Sultan of Muscat and of Oman, became one of the most
outstanding men in the Middle East for over half a century.
The only people who were thoroughly shocked were the
English, who for some years refused to have anything to do with
him. Considering the conciliatory attitude of the English to-
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