Doug caught a thief "red-handed" TWICE!

We caught a thief "red handed!" 
This afternoon, we decided to take the boys for a walk that they had been asking for.  We decided to walk the "fire breaks."  While walking we notice someone way down in the valley "poking around" with a stick.  It didn't look like anyone we knew, so Doug and Ashery headed back up to the road, while Joshua and I went on down and around to where we had seen him.  On our way I thought I saw him way ahead of us looking at us.  By the time we got up the hill and met the other two guys, it sure seemed that he must have ducked into the brush and trees.  We kept looking and poking around for him for over 30 minutes.  Doug finally heard him in the brush and ducked down.  Then he came out and Doug confronted him.  He no longer had the stick that we had seen him with in the beginning.  He did have a machete and a few plants.  Doug called to the rest of us and we came from our various places. 

The man said he was from two different villages and also gave his name differently a few times.  Supposedly he was looking for plants for medicine.  He had not gotten permission to be on Kibidula property, and we were told to ask him to leave.  The man said he had his motorcycle parked a distance away.  Doug and the boys escorted him to his motorcycle and I took the dog home. 
After arriving back home, Doug told me more of the story.  After they arrived at the motorcycle, the man took his handful of plants, and strapped them to his bike.  Doug and the boys headed away from him but then ducked down out of sight to see what he might do.  The man took off on his bike and the boys left to go to a friends house to help walk their dogs.    Doug was going a different way but kept hearing a motorcycle. He said he thought it was probably another one.  So he headed back to where they had saw the man leave.  Doug saw the motorcycle again, but the man was not there.  After a while, he heard the man coming through the woods and ducked down.  He had a bag this time and started up his bike to leave.  Doug popped out and told him to turn of the bike.  Doug asked to inspect the bag.  Sure enough, the guy was caught.  In his bag were rats!  (I wish I had been there to see the look on Doug's face.  I think that was what he was doing with that big stick in the bushes when we first saw him.  I thought maybe he was poking around for snakes.  He was searching for rats!  He should have just said so in the beginning.)

Doug also asked him why he needed medicinal plants.  Supposedly his kids have the flu.  Doug told him that we could help with that problem.  Supposedly he will come back tomorrow to our house for help for the kids.  But Doug told him not to come back for plants or rats again.  I really don't expect him to come for help tomorrow, but I could be surprised.  Stranger things have happened.  So, Doug caught a rat & plant thief red handed.  I think the plants were probably a cover-up when he saw that we had seen him.  I could be wrong.  The whole thing is pretty suspicious.  The good news it that there are few less rats here on campus (and a few less weeds.)

So our walk was a bit more interesting than we had planned it to be.