Almost all his servants
were spies of the King. He could trust no one, except a few of his
slaves--young Gallas given to him in former days by Theodore--and
a Copt, who, with some priests, had accompanied the Patriarch David
on his visit to Abyssinia: some of them had accepted the King's
service, whilst others, like the Copt servant I have mentioned,
devoted themselves to their compatriot and bishop.
During the former imprisonment of the captives at Magdala, the
intercourse between the Bishop and them had been very limited. They
never saw each other; but occasionally a young slave of the Bishop's
would carry a verbal message, or a short Arabic note containing
some piece of news, generally some exaggerated rumours of the rebels'
doings (always believed by the too credulous Abouna), or simple
inquiries about medicine, &c.
The day of our arrival, and whilst the chiefs were reading Theodore's
instructions concerning us, the young slave above mentioned came
up to Mr. Rosenthal with kind compliments from the Abouna, to inform
us that as far as his master then knew there was nothing bad for
the present, but great fears for the future. The Bishop, we knew,
had frequent communications with the great rebel chiefs (Theodore
was also well aware of the fact, and hated him all the more for
it); he had shown himself at all times well disposed towards us,
and as he was as anxious as ourselves to escape from the power of
Theodore, we deemed it of the highest importance to open communication
with him.
Pages:
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295