He saw no enemy except his
old comrade Comfou, who, from a rock above, fired at them with his
rifle, without wounding or killing any one; they returned his fire,
but to no purpose, and, having fulfilled their instructions, brought
in the two wounded men: both, however, died shortly afterwards.
One of them had his right arm and left leg broken; moreover, a spear
had cut open the abdominal integuments, and the bowels protruded:
he said that he had suffered greatly from thirst, but that his
greatest trouble was, with his left hand, to keep off the vultures
from tearing his intestines.
The Ras, it is true, was now in a worse plight than before; but
this time not alone. Damash had abandoned his men, run away, and
lost the gun, pistols, and horse the Emperor had given, or rather
lent, him. Many of the petty chiefs and soldiers had followed
Damash's example, and some twenty-five matchlocks could not he
accounted for, and of spears and shields the number missing was
still greater. By-the-by, Damash pretended to be wounded, and for
a long time we saw nothing of him, a circumstance at which we
rejoiced extremely, but _his friends_ told us that he was only
suffering from a few excoriations due to his rather too rapid
retreat.
If force had failed, perhaps negotiations might succeed. It was
known that the two fugitives were still living in some of the
villages belonging to the relations of Mahomed, awaiting the return
of a messenger they had sent to the Galla Queen Mastiate, whose
camp was a few days distant.
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