They gladly turned round
the heads of their tired mules, and, together with Mr. Meyer, brought
back the good news to our anxious countrymen.
But we must return to ourselves, still shut up in Magdala. We
remained all day in great suspense, not knowing at any moment what
course Theodore would adopt. I dressed several of the wounded and
saw many of the soldiers who had taken part in the fight of the
previous day. All were much cast down, and declared that they would
not fight again. "Of what use is it," they said, "fighting against
your people? When we fight with our countrymen each side has its
turn; with you it is always your turn. See how many dead and wounded
we have! We did not see any of your men fall: and then you never
run away." The rockets terrified them greatly, and if their description
of the shells is correct they must indeed be terrible weapons.
Shortly after receiving an answer from Sir Robert Napier, and
despatching Prideaux and Flad for the second time, Theodore called
his principal chiefs and some of his European workmen before him
and held a kind of council; but he soon became so excited, so mad,
that it was with difficulty he was restrained from committing
suicide. The chiefs reproved him for his weakness, and proposed
that we should all be killed, or kept in a hut in the camp and burnt
alive on the approach of our soldiers.
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