Theodore remembered a rich district not as yet plundered, Belessa,
at the north-east of Begemder. In order to surprise the inhabitants
completely, he proclaimed some days before that he was going on an
expedition in quite a different direction, and to make his army
appear as formidable as possible, he had given orders that every
one who possessed a horse or a mule, or a servant, must send them,
under penalty of death, to accompany the expedition. The Belessa
people, far from being surprised, had been informed of his intention
by their spies, and Theodore, to his disappointment, saw from a
distance their villages on fire; the peasants themselves having
preferred destroying their homes to leaving them a prey to the
invader. Under the conduct of a gallant chief, Lij Abitou, a young
man of good family, and a runaway officer, from the Imperial
household, the peasants, well armed, took up a position on a small
plateau, separated by a narrow ravine from the route Theodore would
take. To his surprise, instead of running away at the mere sight
of his charger, they not only stood their ground, but several
well-mounted chiefs rode out in front and bid defiance to Theodore
himself. Astrologers must have told him that the day was not
favourable, as after several of his chiefs who had answered the
cartel had been laid dead on the field, he still refused to lead
his men in person, and before this unexpected resistance gave way
and ordered a retreat.
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