them grunting by two’s and three’s fo near me as to be' a-
fraid they would take fome opportunity o f feiz ingme by the
l e g ; a piftol would have frightened them, and made them
fpeedily ran, and I conftantly carried two loaded at my g ir dle,
but the d ifcharging a piftol in the night would have a-
larmed every one that heard it in the town, and it was not
now the time to add any thing to people’s fears. I at laft
fcafce ever went out, and nothing occupied my thoughts
but how to efcape from this bloody country by way o f
Sennaar, and how I could beft exert my power and influence
over Yafine at Ras el Feel to pave my way, by a lM in g
me to pafs the defert into Atbara.
T he k in g milling me fome days at the palace, and hearin
g I had not been at Ras Michael’s, began to inquire who.-
had been with me. Ay to Confu foon found Yafine, who>
informed him o f the whole matter; upon this I was fent
for to the palace, where I found the king, without any bod
y but menial fervants. He immediately remarked that I
looked very i l l ; which, indeed, I felt to be the cafe, as I had
fcarcely ate or flept fince I faw him laft, or even fo r , fome
days before. He afked me, in a condoling tone, What ailed
me } that, befides looking lick, I feemed as i f fomething
had raffled me, and put me p ut o f humour. 1 told him
that w hat he obferved was true : that, coming acrofs the
market-place, I had feen Za Mariam, the Ras’s doorkeeper,
w ith three men bound, one o f whom he fell a-hacking to
pieces in my prefence. Upon feeing, me running acrofs the
place, flopping my nofe, h e called me to ftay till he ihpuld
come and difpatch the o ther two, for he wanted to fpeak to-
me, as i f he had been engaged about ordinary bufinefs : that
the fOldiers, in confideration o f his hafte, immediately fell
upon
upon the other two, whofe cries were ftill remaining in my
ears : that the hyaenas at n ight would fcarcely let me pafs
in the ftreets when I returned from the palace ; anfl the
dogs fled into my houfe to eat pieces o f human carcafes at
leifure.
A l th o u g h his intention was to look grave, I faw it was
a ll he could do to ftifle a laugh at grievances he thought
very little of. “ "The men you faw with Za M ariam juft now,
fays he, are rebels, fent by Kefla Yafous for examples : he
has forced a junction with Tecla and Welleta Michael in
Samen, and a road is now open through Woggora, and
plenty eftablifhed in Gondar. The men you faw fuffer were
thofe that cut off the provifions from coming into the city;
they have occafioned the death o f many poor people; as for
the-hysena he never meddles with livin g people, he feeks
carrion, and w ill foon clear the flreets o f thofe incumbrances
that fo much offend you ; people fay that they are the
Falaiha o f the mountains, who take that fhape o f the hysena,
and come down into the town to eat Chriftian fleih in the
night.”— “ I f they depend upon Chriftian fleih, and eat no
other, faid I, perhaps the hysnas o f Gondar w ill be the
worft fed o f any in the world.”— “ True, fays he, burfting
out into a loud laughter, that may be, few o f thofe that die
by the knife anywhere are Ghriftians,, or have any religion
at a l l ; why then fhould y o u mind what they fuffer ?”—
“ Sir, faid I, that is not my fentiment; i f you was to order a
d o g to be tortured to death before me every morning, 1
could not bear it. The carcafes o f Abba Salama, Guebra
Denghel, and the reft; are ftill hanging where they Were up-
cm-the tree; you fmell the flench o f them at the palace-gate,
and w ill foon, I apprehend, in the palace itfelf. This cannot
L a be