"
The following morning, the 30th, a message was sent to the five who
had lately joined us, asking them to work again for him, as he
wanted more stone shots. On accepting his offer, their foot chains
were taken off, hand chains put by pairs, and they were conducted
to the camp. A tent was pitched for them, and on their arrival they
received a present of tej, meat and bread, from his Majesty.
None of us were over sanguine at the recent good treatment we had
received at the hands of Theodore; we knew how suddenly he changed,
and that often,--as formerly in our case,--he pretended great
friendship, when he intended all the while to ill-use, or even kill
his dupes. We were, however, in good spirits and kept up our courage,
knowing that the end was near: we left the result in God's hands,
and hoped for the best.
On the 1st of April we learnt that the evening before, Theodore,
being very drunk, had "fakered" a great deal. At about ten in the
forenoon a large number of soldiers came rushing in from the camp
below (we always disliked very much those abrupt movements of the
soldiers), but instead of coming towards our fence, as at first we
feared, they went in the direction of the magazines, and shortly
afterwards we saw them again passing along on their way back,
carrying the cannons Theodore had on the mountain, powder, cannon-balls,
&c.
Pages:
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382