A friendly chief came to us, and implored us to remain
very quiet in our tents, as it would be very dangerous if Theodore
remembered us in his present mood. At dusk he returned, followed
by an admiring crowd. He, however, took no notice of us; and, after
a while, seeing all quiet, we felt pretty confident that we were
safe for _that day_ at least.
There is no doubt that when Theodore sent for us and all the
prisoners, he had made up his mind to kill every one. His apparent
clemency was merely used as a blind to mask his intent and inspire
hopes of freedom in the hearts of those whose death he had already
determined upon.
Early on the morning of the 10th his Majesty sent us word to get
ready to return to Magdala. Shortly afterwards one of his servants
brought us the following message:--"Who is that woman who sends her
soldiers to fight against a king? Send no more messengers to your
people: if a single servant of yours is missing, the covenant of
friendship between you and myself is broken." A few minutes afterwards
a boy whom I had some days previously sent to General Merewether,
with a request that a letter should be sent to Theodore, who had
on several occasions manifested great astonishment at not receiving
any communication from the army, returned with a letter from his
Excellency the Commander-in-Chief for the Emperor.
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