durft go o n fu ch an errand, it is fome difturbance about
Tchelga.”
I e a s i l y perceived that the Moullah wanted me to con-
fefs, which I likewife faw the ufe o f myfelf. “ I fent, faid'
I, meflengers from Teawa two feveral times.. The firft
when Fidele pretended. Yafine was to murder me in the
defert; the lecond, when h e faid he: had no camels; and
I alio mentioned the piaitr.es, and his intention: to murder
me.” “ Ammonios, fays black Soliman, and Yafine, Nara,.
and Ras el Eeel, all belong to Ay to, Confu, and were given
toY a gou b e by him, for his maintenance all the. time he
was at Gondar. Ay to Confu and he are brothers ; . they
were together in the camp, ilept together in the fame h oufe-
they are brothers and more than brothers,, for they fwore’
.to-each other, when we paifed Tcherkin, upon the heart o f '
the elephant *. I fwear by our holy faith, that ,Confu w i ll
be down here h im fe lf; what does he care for. a journey of,
two days ?”
A l l now with, one voice condemned , Fidele, who had:
not a word to fay, only, that i f he kn ew the perfon who -
carried that meiTage, he would cut off his, head, i f he was
his brother. “ But it is impoffible. iays the Shekh ; ihonld I
not have known o f the meffenger b eing abfent ? impoilible
Then, turning, to his- fervant, faid; “ Is Kutcho el Hybari
here ? I have not feen.him lately.”— “ Sir, fays he, you know-
y o u fent Kutcho to' Mendera long before the Hakim arrived.”
* U u s is a very horrid oath, full o f nonfeirfe, and vowsof/riendlhip and. iecrecy.
rived.”—■ True, fays Fidele, then it is impoilible.” “ Your
meflengers and mine, laid I, Shekh, are not o f the fame
fort, nor lhall I alk your leave when I am to fend to
Ras el Feel or Sennaar, nor lhall you ever cut off the
head from any one o f them. But why are you alarmed at
thefe affes being taken ? Should you not be afraid o f fome-
thing limilar happening at Mecca? Am not I under the
protection o f the fherriffe ? When Metical Aga hears this,
w ill he not refent it? Will Youfef Kabil, the Chriftian, the
fherriffe’s vizir at Jidda, through whofe hands your people
pafs, w ill he be gentler to them upon this account?”— “ A
curfe upon him ! fays the fherriffe ; he gentle! he is a fhark.?’
“ Meloun Ibn Sheitan, fays the T u rk Ifmael, i. e. accurfed
wretch, child o f the d e v il!”— “ Well then, faid L the difficulty
is only to know i f he is informed o f this at Mecca.
Friday the 17th is your feilival.- I f the afternoon o f that
fhall pafs like - thofe o f common days, I am a worthlefs
man and ail impollor; but i f on that day, before ePafTer*,,
a lign be feen in the heavens that lhall be thought by all o f
you unufual and extraordinary, then am I an innocent man,
and Fidele’s deligns againft me are known to the world, at
Sennaar and at Mecca, at Cairo and at Gondar, and everywhere
elfe, and will not be pleafing either to God or man.!”
Yarif el Hakim f , fays the-fherriffe ; Hakim J ! fays the-
Shekh o f the Jehaina.; Ullah Akbar | !' fays the Moullah,,
liftin g his eyes up to heaven., and counting his, beads ve ry
devoutly..
T h e :
b E l’afler. is four: o’clock.. f The Hakim, or wife mao knows..
£ H e is indeed wife.. II. God is great. ’