It is also not improbable that a copy of the proclamation
the Commander-in-Chief had sent to the different chiefs may have
fallen into his hands about this time, as one was found after his
death amongst his papers. Whatever may have been the cause of his
sudden change, he, without any apparent reason, all at once regarded
his workmen with suspicion, and though he ordered them to be in
constant attendance upon his person, he would not for many days
allow them to work.
Mr. Waldmeier one evening, on returning to his tent to take his
evening meal, entered into conversation with a spy of the Emperor's
on the subject of the advance of the English army. Waldmeier, amongst
other things, told the man that it would be a very unwise act of
his Majesty if he did not at once make friends with the English,
as he had not a single friend in the country. On the officer reporting
that conversation, Theodore in a fearful passion sent for all the
Europeans; for a while his rage was such that he could not speak,
but kept walking up and down, looking fiercely at them, and holding
his spear in a threatening attitudes. At last, stopping before Mr.
Waldmeier, he abused him in no measured terms: "Who are you, you
dog, but a donkey, a poor man who came from a far country to be my
slave, and whom I have paid and fed for years? What does a beggar
like you know about my affairs? Are you to dictate to me what I
am to do? A King is coming to treat with a King! What do you know
about such matters?" Theodore then threw himself on the ground and
said, "Take my spear and kill me; but do not revile me.
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