TCD MS 10515 folio 130 verso
Mornings and evenings are now bracing; the nights are actually cold.
For two days we secretly known that a small expedition was in the course of organisation to be sent against an Arab village some eight miles down the river for the prupose of punishing the inhabitants. The matter was strictly secret as the endeavour was to surround the village at dawn, surprise the Arabs and chastise them for the trouble they have recently caused us by stealing government bellums.
On July 8th we learnt that we were to carry out the project; that we had to to leave tonight and be ready to surround the village at dawn on the following morning. I will first describe more precisely our object, the composition of our force, the intended