The Imperial message was as follows:--"I thought that the people
that are now coming were women; I now find that they are men. I
have been conquered by the advance guard alone. All my musketeers
are dead. Reconcile me with your people."
Mr. Rassam sent him back word that he had come to his country to
make peace, and now, as well as formerly, he only wished to see
that happy result obtained; he proposed, he said, sending Lieutenant
Prideaux for himself, and that his Majesty should send Mr. Flad,
or any other European whom he trusted, together with one of his
noblemen, to the British camp to make terms; but that unless he was
willing to deliver over to the Commander-in-Chief all the prisoners,
the proposed steps would be quite useless. The two Europeans and
the other messenger remained some time with us to rest and refresh
themselves: they told us that his Majesty had mistaken a battery
of artillery for Baggage, and seeing only a few men at Arogie,
he had given in to the importunities of his chiefs, and allowed
them to have their own way. On a cannon being fired, the Abyssinians,
excited by the prospect of a large booty, rushed down the hill. His
Majesty commanded the artillery, which was served by Abyssinian
workmen, under the direction of a Copt, the former servant of the
Bishop, and of Lij Engeddah Wark, the son of a converted Bengal
Jew.
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