On the 28th of March, all of us, with the exception of Mr. Rassam,
were called out and made to stand in a line to be _counted_
by the new Ras; then at about ten at night, as we were undressing,
Samuel came to inform us that he had received orders to put us all,
with the exception of Mr. Rassam, in one hut for that night, but
that as none of our huts was large enough, he had obtained leave
that we should be distributed into two. Cameron, Mr. Rosenthal, and
Mr. Kerans were made to join us company, and four villanous-looking
rascals, with lighted candles burning all night, were posted inside
the door to prevent our going out. Samuel and two chiefs slept in
Mr. Rassam's room, and I strongly suspect that Samuel was on that
occasion more in the position of a prisoner than a guardian.
We slept but little, expecting that the morning would bring some
change for the worse. To our day guards some ten or fifteen of the
greatest scoundrels of the camp had been recently added, and we
felt rather anxious when we learnt early the next morning that
Theodore had sent word he would come up in the course of the day
to muster the garrison.
At about three in the afternoon some of our servants came rushing
into our hut to tell us that Theodore had arrived on the Amba, and
that he appeared to be a _little_ drunk. Shortly afterwards
Mr.
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