A little after, having passed this square, we came to the Shekh's house, or rather a collection of houses, one storey high, built with canes; near the street, at entering, there was a large hall of unburnt brick, to which we ascended by four or five steps. The hall was a very decent one, covered with straw-mats; and there was in the middle of it, a chair[25], understood to be the place of the grand signior. The Shekh himself was sitting on the ground for humility's sake, reading the Koran, or pretending to read it. At our entry he seemed to be surprised, and made an attempt as if to rise up, which immediately I prevented him from doing, holding him down by the hand, which I kissed.
I shall not fatigue the reader with the uninteresting conversation that passed at this first interview. He affected to admire my size and apparent strength, introduced some loose hints about Abyssinian women; and, in general, pretended to blame me for exposing myself to travel in such a country. In return, I complained of the extreme fatigue of the journey and heat, the beasts of prey, the thick woods without shade, the want of water, and, above all, the poisonous blasts of the simoom that had almost overcome me, the effects of which I was at that instant feeling.
He then blamed himself very politely, in a manner natural to the Arabs, for having suffered me to come to him before I had reposed myself, which he excused by his desire of seeing so great a man as me. He said also, that he would detain me no longer; bid me repose a day or two in quiet and in safety; and, upon my rising to go away, he got up likewise, and holding me by the hand, said, "The greatest part of the dangers you have passed in the way are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your Moor, Yasine, of Ras el Feel, is a thief worse than any in Habesh. Several times you escaped very narrowly, by mere chance, from being cut off, especially at Rashid, by the Arabs Daveina, whom Yasine had posted there to murder you. But you have a clean heart, and clean hands. God saw their designs, and protected you; and, I may say also, on my own part, I was not wanting."
Being then on my legs for retiring, I returned no answer, but the usual one (Ullah Kerim) i. e. God is merciful. Soliman, on the other side, echoed, "Ullah Kerim!" by which I saw he understood me. We both went out, and were conducted to the apartment provided by the old man in the red cloak, who met us on our first arrival at the river, and who now walked before me till we came to the house. It was a very decent one, consisting only of one large room, and stood close upon the river. This situation was chosen with an intention to keep open the correspondence with the Shekh of Nile's servant, whom we had sent to the Jehaina, and who occasionally was to meet us there; but Soliman told the old man, it was necessary to me, on account of frequent ablutions before prayer, which my religion obliged me to perform. This old man was called Hagi Soliman Kaiya, that is, the Shekh's Lieutenant. He had been at Mecca, and had seen Metical Aga, and knew his post and consequence; but he was a murderer and robber like his master, a liar and dissembler beyond all conception.
We had scarce taken possession of our lodging, or thrown off our clothes to put ourselves at our ease, when several slaves of both sexes, brought us a quantity of dishes of meat from the Shekh, with many flattering compliments and good wishes. The whole was dispatched very speedily, and some of our poor companions of the caravan, with the salt, came and helped us very thankfully, without ceremony, as is the custom of the country. When all was over, I was astonished at one young man, who came and put his mouth close to my ear, saying these few words in Arabic, "Seitan Fidele! el Shekh el Atbara Seitan!" i. e. Fidele is a devil! the Shekh of Atbara is the devil himself!
All strangers were now dismissed, under pretence of our going immediately to repose. We had, indeed, much need of rest in our present situation, but still more of council, for which we immediately assembled by ourselves, after having shut the door. I asked Soliman what he thought of the Shekh of Atbara, and his discourse. He answered, without hesitation, "He is a traitor, has deceived Yasine, and means you ill." The word, great man, so often applied to me—the abuse bellowed upon Yasine, whom in his letters he had called his dear brother—the wondering that I came that way, after, in his letters, and by his servants, he had so often persuaded us, while at Ras el Feel, that it was the best, nay, the only road possible; all this united together, seemed to leave us no doubt but that we had fallen into a trap, from which our own activity and resolutions, under the protection of Providence, could alone release us.
It may be remembered that, some time before our setting out from Ras el Feel, I had dispatched a servant with the Daveina to Sennaar, whom they were to escort as far as Beyla; and they had consigned him into the hands of Mahomet, Shekh of Beyla, who was to forward him to Sennaar; and this he certainly would have done immediately without delay, but for a misfortune that happened, and entirely disconcerted the plan. The Daveina, on their way to Beyla, had heard that an encampment of Arabs, (who usually, at this time, occupy the banks of the Nile) had come eastward towards Atbara. Whether the Daveina intended to attack these Arabs, or were afraid the Arabs intended to fall upon them, I know not; but they returned westward to the left, instead of coming to Beyla; they sent my servant forward, after some loss of time, and Mahomet, Shekh of Beyla, had forwarded him to Sennaar. Here, too, he was detained by Shekh Adelan, the first minister, who happened then not to be at Sennaar, but levying taxes upon the Arabs. This we did not know at that time; so every moment we expected his arrival. We were disappointed, likewise, in not finding a servant of the Shekh of Beyla waiting for us, who was to inform us of the situation of the country about Beyla. This we more wondered at, because, being ill of the gravel, he had expressed himself very anxious, in his letter to Yasine, to have some lime-water, which his servant was to get from me at Teawa. We did not then know, as we soon afterwards did, that this servant had been waiting for us at Teawa, and that Shekh Fidele had informed him that I was no longer coming by Atbara, but that Coque Abou Barea had sent me, under the care of some Ganjar horse, straight down the Dender from Kuara; so that the Shekh of Beyla did not expect to see me.
All this being unknown to us; we were in constant expectation of servants from Sennaar, and the message from the Shekh of Beyla. But, as we all agreed we were in danger, we resolved, the next day, at meeting Shekh el Nile's servant, to dispatch him to Ras el Feel, requiring Yasine to send some person, as from the king or Ayto Confu, to ask the reason of our being detained, and to be a witness of the Shekh's behaviour and our departure. In the mean time, we determined to make our interviews with him as few as possible, till some assistance should arrive. Soliman met the Shekh el Nile's servant, and gave him the letter he was to carry to Yasine, explaining himself to the Arab by word of mouth.
On the night of the 24th of March, the day after our arrival, our dispatch set off from Jibbel Isriff for Ras el Feel; where he arrived safely, but found Yasine was gone to Ayto Confu at Tcherkin, else he would certainly have been the first to bring us comfort, for he had executed his commission with great fidelity. This day I had staid in the house, being ill of the simoom; but had sent to Fidele, to let him know I should wait upon him next day, having as yet given him no present, and being desirous to know what effect that might have.
On the 25th, at four o'clock I waited upon the Shekh accordingly, in his own house. Soliman the Moor, Hagi Ismael the Turk, who, besides, was a sherriffe, and my Greek servant, were along with me. I gave the Shekh, for a present, a large piece of blue Indian cotton cloth, with gold flowers, a silk and cotton sash, about two ounces of civet, two pounds of nutmegs, and ten pounds of pepper. He received the presents very graciously to appearance, and laid all the articles down beside him. I desired that he would dispatch me as soon as possible, and, for that end, be preparing the camels. He answered, the camels were fifteen days journey off, in the sandy desert, for fear of the flies; but that the want of them should not detain us, if he had leave from Sennaar, for which he was to write that night. He added, that they always were exceedingly tedious at Sennaar, and both the town and road were, at present, in a very unsettled state. I told him, I was surprised at this, as Hagi Belal had written to Yasine and myself also, in a letter (then in my custody) that orders were gone both to him and the Shekh of Beyla, to receive me kindly, and forward me safely and speedily to Sennaar: that he himself had confessed this to Yasine in a letter written to him from Teawa, desiring that I would come speedily, as he had every thing ready, which letter I myself had read. Fidele seemed in the utmost surprise at this. He lifted up his hands and eyes, as if I had been telling the greatest of lies. He said, "he never wrote a letter about me to Yasine in his life; or, at least, not this year; that it was all a forgery of Yasine, knowing that I had a quantity of gold with me, to get me out into the desert, to rob and murder me there; that I might see he never could receive such orders, or else it would have been as much as his life was worth, not to have prepared to dispatch me immediately; but so far from that, says he, seek all over the town, and if you find one camel, or any other number, I will make you a present of them all, for this is entirely a forgery of Yasine."