ABSTRACT
Preparations for departure 179 Acting o.n Qadhi Raghib's advice to. make a "last attempt", I
so.ught the help o.f an influential San'ani. He in turn visited die Qadhi 'Abdullah, who. wro.te o.ut the draft o.f a letterfo.r me to. sign and send to. the King. Whether Qadhi 'Abdullah was perso.nally o.ppo.sed to. o.ur pro.ject, I do. no.t kno.w. At any rate he sent a farewell message o.f regret that it had been impo.ssible fo.r permissio.n to. be granted. The letter to. the King was no.t answered, no.r was a seco.nd o.ne sent thro.ugh a different channel. Bo.th these letters were co.uched in the most deferential and correct style. The substance of them was mainly that we were ready to pay all expenses of the mule journey o.urselves. We thanked the King anew fo.r all that had been do.ne fo.r us, and expressed the wish not to. impose further burdens o.n the Treasury. I had tho.ught that the greater expense of the mule caravan needed for travelling by Manakha was possibly the cause of the refusal. But still no answer came. At length, after a week had elapsed, I had to. tell Qadhi Raghib that we simply must leave San'aby o.ne ro.ute or the other, as it was already impossible to reach England without overstaying our leave of absence. That evening he called to tell us the King's pleasure. The Manakha route was finally refused, no reason was given and the question of expense was brushed aside. His Majesty had decreed (ordonne) that we were to leave on the morning of March 8th in a lorry and a car, and to travel by way of Madinat al Abid to Hodeida, and thence to Ta'izz, where we could send for cars to take us back to Aden. In the event, however, not all of this could be carried out. We left Hodeida by sea. .
