As I had a white turban upon my head, (having shaved the fore part of it after the blow I had received from the stone) I was employed taking this off before I presented myself to the king, when somebody said out loud, Ozoro Esther is taken prisoner. Ras Michael answered, That is impossible; Ozoro Esther is here. It is Ozoro Altash and the Abuna, said I, from behind; I came just now from them. By whom are they taken? says the king. By the Galla, I believe, answered I; at least by men whose language I did not understand, though indeed I took no time to consider, but they are close in our rear, and I suppose they will be here presently. Here! says the Ras, what will they do here? It must be Powussen, and the troops of Lasta, to recover his mother-in-law, that she may not go to Gondar; and it is the Tcheratz Agow language that Yagoube has taken for Galla. It is so, says another horseman; the people of Lasta have carried her off, but without hurting any body. This I thought a good sign, and that they were under orders, for a bloodier or more cruel race was not in the army, the Galla not excepted; and they had met with their desserts, and had suffered considerably in the course of this short campaign.
The whole road was now as smooth as a carpet; and we had scarce done speaking when Ras Michael's mule fell flat on the ground, and threw him upon his face in a small puddle of water. He was quickly lifted up unhurt, and set upon his mule again. We passed the Mogetch, and at about 200 yards from the bridge, upon ground equally plain as the former, the mule fell again, and threw the Ras another time in the dirt, on which a general murmur and groan was heard from all his attendants, for every body interpreted this as an omen that his power and fortune were gone from him for ever. Another mule was speedily brought, but he refused to mount it, and we passed on by the Mahometan town, and up to Confu's house, by Aylo Meidan. I could not, however, help reflecting how justly the Ras was now punished for the murder of the singers in that very spot, when he returned from Mariam-Ohha and entered Gondar. The king went directly to the palace, the Ras to his own house, and, by the secretary's advice, I went with him to that of the Abuna, where I left my Greek servants with my gold chain, and some trifles I wanted to preserve, together with my instruments. I then dressed myself in the habit of peace, and returned to the palace, where, remembering the advice of Gusho, I resolved to expect my fate with the king. Upon seeing me with the fore part of my head shaven, and remembering the cause, as his first mark of favour he ordered me to cover my head, a thing otherwise not permitted in the king's presence to any of his household.
The king's servants brought me a bull's hide for my bed; and although many a night I have wanted rest upon less dangerous occasions, I scarcely ever slept more soundly, till I heard the cracking of the whips of the Serach Massery, about five o'clock in the morning of the 29th. He performs this function much louder than a French postilion upon finishing a post, it being the signal for the king to rise. There was, indeed, no occasion for this custom, now there was no court, nor judgment of causes civil or criminal. The palace was quite deserted; even the king's slaves, of both sexes, (fearing to be carried off to Begemder and Amhara) had hid themselves among the monks, and in the houses of private friends, so that the king was left with very few attendants.
CHAP. X.
Rebel Army invests Gondar—King's Troops deliver up their Arms—The Murderers of Joas assassinated—Gusho made Ras—Ras Michael carried away Prisoner by Powussen—Iteghé's return to Koscam—Fasil arrives at Gondar—King acknowledged by all Parties—Bad Conduct of Gusho—Obliged to fly, but is taken and put in Irons.
About eight o'clock in the morning of the 29th of May, the day immediately following the night of our retreat, came Gusho's Fit-Auraris, and marked out the camp for his master between the Mahometan town and the church of Ledeta, on the very spot where Michael had encamped after his late return from Tigrè; Coque Abou Barea from Ledeta to Koscam; Aylo and Ayabdar on the other side of the Kahha, in a line passing by Kedus Raphael, the Abuna's house at the foot of the mountain, above Debra Berhan; Ayto Tesfos in the valley below, by the side of the Angrab; on the road from Woggora to Gondar, and all along the Angrab, till it joined the Kahha, and Kasmati Gusho's camp, were Powussen and the rest of the confederate army; so that by nine o'clock the town was completely invested, as if a wall had been built round it. The water being all in possession of the enemy, centinels were by them placed along the banks of each river, with orders to suffer every townsman to fill single jars, such as one man or woman could carry, and to break any supernumerary jars, that might be brought by way of securing a larger provision[15]. All the people of consequence who had property in and about Gondar, who had fled to Fasil and to the provinces, from fear of Ras Michael when he returned from Tigrè, had gone back upon Gusho's word, each man to his house; Gondar was full of men in arms. In Gusho's and Ayabdar's army, and depending on them, was the property of all Gondar. Ras Woodage, Gusho's father, and brother to Ayabdar, had been Ras in Yasous' time, till he died, universally beloved and regretted; Ayto Engedan and Aylo, sons of Kasmati Eshté, (by a sister of king Yasous) had the property of near one half of the town. Though Engedan was prisoner, and Aylo had married Ras Michael's daughter, they were, by interest and inclination, united to Gusho, and had served Michael only through fear, from attachment to the king, so that Gusho and Ayabdar were the only citizens in whom the inhabitants of Gondar confided. Powussen, and the rest, were looked upon as free-booters in their inclinations, at least by the townsmen; very little better than Michael, or his troops of Tigrè.
From the moment the town was invested, and indeed in the field, before Gusho had taken the lead, and though neither Ayabdar nor Powussen were his friends, all Gondar was at his command; and in it an army infinitely superior in number and riches, now they had got such a chieftain, to all the Confederates put together, and Michael's army added to them. Gusho, a man of great understanding, born and bred in Gondar, knew this perfectly well, and that he alone was looked up to as the father of his country. He knew, moreover, that he could not ruin Michael so effectually as to lodge him safely in Gondar, amidst a multitude of enemies, and blockade him there before he had time for resources. He therefore detached Ayto Tesfos, the very day he arrived before the town, after Darien, Basha of Belessin, whom Ras Michael had sent before him into Woggora to effect a passage through that province into Tigrè by fair means, promises, and presents. Tesfos came up with Darien before he had time to enter upon his commission, and, having beaten and taken him prisoner, raised all Woggora in arms against Michael, so that not a man could longer pass between Tigrè and Gondar.
No person from the rebel army had yet entered Gondar. The king's secretary, Azage Kyrillos, a relation of Gusho, had gone to his camp the day of his arrival. The same day the kettle-drums were brought to the brink of Kahha, and a proclamation made. That all soldiers of the province of Tigrè, or who had bore arms under Ras Michael, should, on the morrow before mid-day, bring their arms, offensive and defensive, and deliver them on a spot fixed upon near the church of Ledeta, to commissaries appointed for the purpose of receiving them; with further intimation to the inhabitants of Gondar, That any arms found in any house in that town, after noon of the day of proclamation, should subject the owner of such house and arms to death, and the house, or houses, to be razed to their foundation.