" He asked us if
our tents had arrived, and on being informed that they had not, he
ordered one of his own, of red flannel, to be pitched in the
meanwhile. He remained with us about half an hour conversing on
different topics; he narrated the anecdote of Damocles, asked us
about our laws, quoted Scripture--in a word, jumped from one subject
to the other, discoursing on topics quite foreign to his thoughts.
He did his best to appear calm and amiable, but we soon detected
that he was labouring under great excitement. When, in January,
1866, he received us at Zage, we were struck by the simplicity
of his dress, in every respect the same as that of his common
soldiers; of late, however, he had adopted a more gaudy attire, but
nothing compared to the harlequin coat he wore that day.
After he had dismissed us, he ascended the hill under which our
tent was pitched, and for two hours, at about fifty yards from us,
surrounded by his army, he "fakered" (bragged) to his heart's
content. He discoursed first on his former deeds, or what he intended
to do when he should encounter the white men, speaking all the while
in contemptuous terms of his advancing foe. Addressing the soldiers
whom he was sending as an advanced post to Arogie, he told them,
on the approach of the white men, to wait until they had fired, and
before the enemy had time to reload, to fall upon them with their
spears; and showing the gaudy dress he had put on for the occasion,
he added: "Your valour will meet with its reward, and you will
enrich yourselves with spoils, compared to which the rich dress I
am wearing is but a mere trifle.
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