This sudden
contretemps changed the aspect of affairs. Certain well-mounted
horsemen galloped after Ras Ali and succeeded in overtaking him
towards evening. He would not at first believe in his good fortune;
but others of his soldiers arriving and confirming the glad tidings,
he returned to Debra Tabor, reunited his scattered followers, and
was able to dictate terms to his captive conqueror. Oubie was
pardoned and allowed to return to Tigre, the Bishop being answerable
for his fidelity. Ras Ali treated the Bishop with all respect, fell
at his feet and implored him not to listen to the calumnies of
his enemies, assuring him that the Church had no more faithful son
than himself, nor any more willing to comply with the holy father's
wishes. The Bishop, now on friendly terms with all parties, and all
but worshipped by them, soon made his authority felt; and had not
Theodore risen from obscurity, Abouna Salama would, no doubt, have
been the Hildebrand of Abyssinia.
During the campaigns of Lij Kassa against the ruler of Godjam, and
during that period of revolution ending in the overthrow of Ras
Ali, Abouna Salama retired to his property in Tigre, residing
there in peace under the protection of his friend Oubie. Ever
since his arrival in Abyssinia Abouna Salama had shown the bitterest
opposition to the Roman Catholics: an enmity not so much engendered
by conviction, perhaps, as inflamed by the fact that some of his
property had been seized at Jiddah at the instigation of some Roman
Catholic priests, who had through his influence been plundered,
ill-treated, and expelled from Abyssinia.
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