Belessa was saved: the hungry, famished
robbers that Theodore called soldiers passed a dreadful night;
tired, hungry, and cold, they could not sleep, for the peasants
might surprise and attack them, in their turn. The cruelties Theodore
perpetrated after his return to Debra Tabor were fearful; too
horrible to be related. At last, tired of taking his revenge on the
innocent, he turned his thoughts to the place he might most easily
plunder, and fixed upon the island of Metraha.
That island, situate in the Tana Sea, about twenty miles north of
Kourata, is only a few hundred yards from the mainland. It was
considered in the light of an asylum, and protected by its sacred
character, priests and monks resided there in peace; while merchants
and rich landowners sent their goods and stores there for safe
custody. Theodore had no scruples about violating the sanctity of
the island: the asylum afforded by the churches to all before his
time he had long ago violated, and, certain of a large booty, did
not hesitate to add another sacrilege to his numerous crimes. On
his arrival before Metraha, he at once ordered his people to make
rafts. Whilst Theodore was occupied in their construction, a priest
came in a boat, and approaching within speaking distance, inquired
of the Emperor what it was that he desired. Theodore told him the
grain that they had in store.
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