A few minutes after this, arrived a messenger from Fasil, a dwarf, named Doho, a man always employed on errands of this kind; it is an intercourse which is permitted, and the messenger not only protected, but rewarded, as I have before observed; it is a singular custom, and none but shrewd fellows are sent, very capable of making observations, and Doho was one of these. He told the Ras to prepare immediately, for Fasil intended to attack him as soon as he had brought his foot up: Doho further added a request from his master, as a mark of his duty, that the king might not change his dress that day, lest he might fall into the hands of some of the stranger troops of Galla, who might not know him otherwise, or shew the proper respect to his person. The Ras, I was told afterwards, for he was too far before us to hear him, laughed violently at this compliment. “Tell Fasil, says he, to wait but a few minutes where he now is, and I promise him that the king shall dress in any way he pleases.” When Doho’s message was told to the king, he sent back answer to Ras Michael, “Let Doho tell Fasil from me, that, if I had known those two trees had been where they are, I would have brought Welleta Gabriel, Ozoro Esther’s steward, to him; by which he very archly alluded to the battle of Fagitta, where that drunkard, shooting from behind a tree, and killing one Galla, made all the rest fly for fear of the zibib.”
Doho being thus dismissed, the whole army advanced immediately at a very brisk pace, hooping and screaming, as is their custom, in a most harsh and barbarous manner, crying out Hatzé Ali! Michael Ali! But Fasil, who saw the forward countenance of the king’s troops, and that a few minutes would lay him under necessity of risking a battle, which he did not intend, withdrew his troops at a smart trot over the smooth downs, returning towards Boskon Abbo. It seems, as we heard afterwards, he was in as great anxiety about the fate of Welleta Yasous, of whom he had no intelligence, as we had been for that of Kefla Yasous; and he had got as yet no intelligence till he had taken Welleta Michael prisoner; he had heard no firing, nor did he consequently know whether Kefla Yasous had passed the Nile with the Ras or not; he had, therefore, left his camp, and marched with his horse only to take a view of Michael, but had no sort of intention to give him battle; and he was now very much exasperated against both Gusho and Powussen, by whom he saw plainly that he had been betrayed.
This is what was called the battle of Limjour, from a village burnt by Ras Michael last campaign, which stood where the two trees are; the name of a battle is surely more than it deserves. Had Fasil been half as willing as the Ras, it could not have failed being a decisive one. The Ras, who saw that Fasil would not fight, easily penetrated his reasons, and no sooner was he gone, and his own drums silent, than he heard a nagareet beat, and knew it to be that of Kefla Yasous. This general encamped upon the river Avoley, leaving his tents and baggage under a proper guard, and had marched with the best and freshest of his troops to join Michael before the engagement. All was joy at meeting, every rank of men joined in extolling the merit and conduct of their leaders; and, indeed, it may be fairly said, the situation of the king and the army was desperate at that instant, when the troops were separated on different sides of the Nile; nor could they have been saved but by the speedy resolution taken by Kefla Yasous to march without loss of time and pass at the ford of Delakus, and the diligence and activity with which he executed that resolution.
Although a good part of Kefla Yasous’s soldiers were left at the Avoley, the Ras, as a mark of confidence, gave him the command of the rear. We were retreating before an enemy, and it was, therefore, the post of honour, where the Ras would have been himself, had not Kefla Yasous joined us. We soon marched the five miles, or thereabout, that remained to the Avoley, and arrived just as the sun was setting, and there heard from the spies that Welleta Yasous with his troops had retired again to Goutto, after having been joined by Woodage Asahel. There again were fresh rejoicings, as every one recovered their baggage and provisions, many rejoined their friends they had given over as lost at the passage, and the whole army prepared their supper. All but Ras Michael seemed to have their thoughts bent upon sleep and rest; whilst he, the most infirm and aged of the army, no sooner was under cover of his tent than he ordered the drum to beat for assembling a council. What passed there I did not know; I believe nothing but a repetition of the circumstances that induced Kefla Yasous to advance to Delakus, for, after supper, just before the king went to bed in the evening, a man from Kefla Yasous brought the four priests of Mariam Net, who had been the guides to the ford at Delakus. The king ordered meat to be set before them, but they had done very well already with Kefla Yasous, and, therefore, only took a small piece of bread and a cup of bouza, the eating and drinking in presence of the king being an assurance that their life was safe and pardon real. They had then five ounces of gold, and several changes of clothes given to each of them, and the king took them to Gondar with him, to provide for them there, out of the reach of the revenge of Fasil, and placed them in the church of Hamar Noh[116].
The army marched next day to Dingleber, a high hill, or rock, approaching so close to the lake as scarcely to leave a passage between. Upon the top of this rock is the king’s house. As we arrived very early there, and were now out of Fasil’s government, the king insisted upon treating Ras Michael and all the people of consideration. A great quantity of cattle had been sent thither from Dembea by those who had estates in the neighbourhood, out of which he gave ten oxen to Ras Michael, ten to Kefla Yasous, the same number to several others, and one to myself, with two ounces of gold for Strates and Sebastos to buy mules; but they had already provided themselves; for, besides the two they rode upon of mine, they and my servants had picked up four others in very good condition, whose masters had probably perished in the river, for they were never claimed afterwards.
Just as the king sat down to dinner an accident happened that occasioned great trepidation among all his servants. A black eagle[117] was chased into the king’s tent by some of the birds of prey that hover about the camp; and it was after in the mouth of every one the king would be dethroned by a man of inferior birth and condition. Every body at that time looked to Fasil: the event proved the application false, though the omen was true. Powussen of Begemder was as low-born as Fasil, as great a traitor, but more successful, to whom the ominous presage pointed; and, though we cannot but look upon the whole as accident, it was but too soon fulfilled.
In the evening of the 29th arrived at Dingleber two horsemen from Fasil, clad in habits of peace, and without arms; they were known to be two of his principal servants, were grave, genteel, middle-aged men; this message had nothing of Doho’s buffoonery. They had an audience early after their coming, first of the Ras, then of the King. They said, and said truly, that Fasil had repassed the Kelti, was encamped on the opposite side, and was not yet joined by Welleta Yasous. Their errand was, to desire that the Ras might not fatigue his men by unnecessarily hurrying on to Gondar, because he might rest secured of receiving no further molestation from Fasil their master, as he was on his march to Burè. They told the Ras the whole of the conspiracy, as far as it regarded him, and the agreement that Powussen and Gusho had made with their master to surround him at Derdera: they mentioned, moreover, how sensible Fasil was of their treason towards him; that, instead of keeping their word, they had left him to engage the King and the Ras’s whole force at a time when they knew the greatest part of his Galla troops were retired to the other side of the Nile, and could be assembled with difficulty: That if the Ras by chance had crossed at Delakus, as Kefla Yasous had done, instead of embarrassing his army among the rivers of Maitsha, and crossing the Nile at that most dangerous place near Amlac-Ohha, (a passage never before attempted in the rainy season) the consequence would have been, that he must have either fought at great disadvantage with an inferior army against the Ras, or have retired to Metchakel, leaving his whole country to the mercy of his enemies. Fasil declared his resolution never again to appear in arms against the king, but that he would hold his government under him, and pay the accustomed taxes punctually: he promised also, that he would renounce all manner of connection with Gusho and Powussen, as he had already done, and he would take the field against them next season with his whole force, whenever the king ordered him. The messengers concluded, with desiring the Ras to give Fasil his grand-daughter, Welleta Selassé, in marriage, and that he would then come to Gondar without distrust.
At the audience they had of the king the same night, they added, That Fasil could not trust Ras Michael, he broke his word so often, and had so many reservations and evasions in his promises.
The Ras, though he did not believe all this, made no difficulty in agreeing to every thing that they desired. He promised the grand-daughter; and, as an earnest of his believing the rest, the king’s two nagareets were brought to the door of the tent, where, to our very great surprise, we heard it proclaimed, “Fasil is governor of the Agow, Maitsha, Gojam, and Damot; prosperity to him, and long may he live a faithful servant to the king our master!”—This was an extraordinary revolution in so small a space of time. It was scarce 43 hours since Fasil had laid a scheme for drowning the greater part of the army in the Nile, and cutting the throats of the residue on both sides of it; it was not twenty-four hours, since he had met us to fight in open field, and now he was become the king’s lieutenant-general in four of the most opulent provinces of Abyssinia. This was produced, however, by the necessity of the times, and both parties were playing at the same game who should over-reach the other. Fasil’s messengers were magnificently cloathed, and it was first intended they should have gone back to him; but, after reflection, another person was sent, these two chusing to go to Gondar with the king to remain hostages for Fasil’s word, and to bring back his investiture from thence to Burè. The whole camp abandoned itself to joy.
Late in the evening Ozoro Esther came to the king’s tent. She had been ill, and alarmed, as she well might, at the passage of the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; she was dressed all in white, and I thought I seldom had seen so handsome a woman. The king, as I have mentioned, had sent ten oxen to Ras Michael, but he had given twenty to Ozoro Esther; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary mark of favour that she had come to visit him in his tent. I had for some time past, indeed, thought they were not insensible to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the king for the distinction he had shewn her, Madam, said he, your husband Ras Michael is intent upon employing, in the best way possible for my service, those of the army that are strong and vigorous; you, I am told, bestow your care on the sick and disabled, and, by your attention, they are restored to their former health and activity; the strong active soldier eats the cows that I have sent to the Ras; the enfeebled and sick recover upon yours, for which reason I sent you a double portion, that you may have it in your power to do double good. After this the room was cleared; and she had an audience alone for half an hour. I doubt very much whether Ras Michael had any share in the conversation; the king was in the very gayest humour, and went to rest about twelve. The Ras loved Ozoro Esther, but was not jealous.