foot fince five in the morning, and engaged all day; has
not, I believe, ate or d rank as y e t ; certainly h e has not
waihed himfelf, or changed his habit, but has been taking
care o f his wounded men, and has prefented himfe lf now
as he came from the field, under the unjuft fufpicion I
was doing him wrong, I then repeated what had hap.
peried at .the bank when the k in g was purfuing the troops
o f Begemder. Now I underhand him, fays the king, but
fiill he is wrong, and this is not the firft inftance I have
.feen, when there was no fuch miftake. At this time a met-
fenger came to call me from within.
. T h e k in g divined the reafon o f fending, and faid, No, he
fhall not go to Guebra M a fc al; I will: not fuller this. Go,
-fays he to one o f his fervants that ,Hood near him, defire
the Ras to call Guebra Mafcal, and afk him what this brutality
means ? I have feen two inftances o f his mifbehavi-
our already, and wiih not to be provoked by a third. At
this inftant came Kefla Yafous, with his le ft hand bound
up, and a broad lea f like ithat o f a plane upon his forehead.
After the ufual falutation, and a kind o f jo k e .o f
the k in g ’s on his being wounded, I afked him i f he would
retire and let me drefs his forehead ? which he ihewing
inclination to do, the k in g faid, Aye, go, and alk Guebra
Mafcal w hy he quarrels with his belt friends, and prevents
me from rewarding him as he otherwife would have de-
ferved. I went out with Kefla Yafous, being very defi-
rous this affair fhould not go to the Ras, and we found
Guebra Mafcal in appearance in extreme agony and de-
fpair.
3 T he
T h e whole ftory was told diftinftly to Kefla Yafous, who
rook it tip in the moll judicious manner. He faid he had
been detained at his tent, but had come to the k in g ’s pre-
fehce exprefsly to give Guebra Mafcal the juft praife he
deferred for his behaviour that day : that he was very happy
that I, who was neap him all the aélion,and wâs a ftran-
ger, and unprejudiced (as he might be thoughtnotto be) had
done it fo juftly and fo handfomely. At the fame time he
could not help faying, that the quarrel with Yagoube in the
pàlacè, the .taunting fpeech made without provocation in
the k in g ’s prefence on the march, his apoftrophe in the field,
and the abrupt manner in which he ignorantly broke in
upon the converfation before the king, interrupting and
contradicting his own commendations, fhewed' a diftem-
pered mind, and that he ailed from a bad motive, which, i f
inquired into, would inevitably ruin him, both with Kin g
and-Ras ; and he had heard indeed i t already, had done with
1 the former.
' G u e b r a M a s c a l , now crying like a child, condemned
n im fe lf for a malicious madman in the. two firft inftances :
ut fwore, that on the field he had no -intention .but to fave
me, i f occafion threw it in his w a y f o r w hich purpofe alone
it was he had cried out to me to ftand firm, for the troops
o f Begemder were coming upon us, but that I did not un-
■derftand his meaning. Guebra Mafcal advances nothing
but truths faid I, to Kefla Yafous ; I did not perfectly underd
him to-day in the field, as he fpoke in his own langu
ag e o f Tigré, and Hammers greatly, nor did I diftinftly
comprehend what he faid acrofs the pool, for the fame
reafon, and the confufion we were in : I ihall however moft
readily confefs my obligation to him, for the opportunity
V o l. IV. a a d g