Immediately after this we shut our doors; and our fire-arms being cleaned, loaded, and primed, we resolved to abide the issue of this bad affair in the best manner possible, and live or die together. One thing, however, diverted us: One of the large blunderbusses being accidentally laid across the door, this veteran soldier started back at the sight of it, and, although the muzzle was pointed far from him, would not enter till the piece was removed, and placed at a considerable distance from him.
As we saw things were growing to a crisis, we became every hour more impatient for the arrival of relief, either from Ras el Feel or Sennaar. On the 1st of April came a servant from the Shekh of Beyla, and delivered a message to Fidele: What it was I know not; but about noon he came to inquire after us, and pay us a visit.
All this time Fidele had kept our arrival at Teawa a secret from the Shekh of Beyla; but the people, who frequented the market of Teawa, having told their governor that they had seen strangers there, he all at once suspected the truth, and dispatched a confidential servant to Fidele, under a shew of business, to inquire whether we were those strangers. An explanation immediately followed upon his coming to my house, and especially concerning the message the Shekh of Beyla had received from the Shekh of Atbara, that we were gone by Kuara down the Dendar. He said, that his master either had sent, or intended to send, advice of this to my servant at Sennaar, who, expecting us no longer by Teawa, would neither come himself, nor seek a king's servant to conduct us from hence, but would seek measures for our safety the other way, or wait at Sennaar, expecting our arrival daily; for the way from Kuara was through a number of outlawed, or banditti Arabs, so that it was not in the power of the government of Sennaar, if ever so well inclined, to conduct us one step in safety on that road till we should be within two days journey of Sennaar. The servant therefore proposed, that he should return instantly to Beyla, (as he did that night) and that his master should send a messenger on a dromedary express to Sennaar, to inform Hagi Belal of our situation, and procure immediate relief. He promised further, that his master should send a Moullah, (or man of extraordinary holiness and learning) in whose presence Shekh Fidele would not dare to proceed to extremities, as this was a man universally esteemed, and of great weight and reputation at Sennaar, both with Abou Calec and Adelan, as well as throughout Atbara.
I must here obviate a very reasonable objection which may be made by my reader:—"Why, when you knew your safety depended upon the government of Sennaar, when you was arrived at Teawa, did you not take the first opportunity of notifying it to Fidele, that you had already sent to acquaint your correspondent at Sennaar that you had set out for that place?" I answer, That to do this had been many times in agitation among us, but was always rejected. It was thought a dangerous measure to leave a man like Fidele, the only person who had seen us, to give us any character and description he pleased, who, from the connection and correspondence he must have in that capital, and the confidence necessarily placed in him, as governor of a frontier province, might so far prejudice the minds of that credulous and brutal people, by misrepresenting us, as either to get orders to cut us off upon our journey, or procure us a fate similar to that of M. du Roule, the French envoy, after our arriving in that capital. It was by the goodness of Providence alone that we were restrained from adopting that measure, often considered as the most adviseable, but which, we since have certainly known, would have ended in our destruction.
Nothing material passed on the 3d of April, their festival day; but on the 4th no meat was sent us. However, on Sunday the 5th it was brought rather in larger proportion than before, and we spent the whole day in conjecturing what was become of our servants, and of the Moullah whom the Shekh of Beyla's servant had promised us. On the 6th the Kaiya came, and, without ceremony, told me that the Shekh had heard I wanted to escape to Beyla, in which journey I should certainly perish, and therefore he had taken my horse from me, which was in a stable at some distance. From this time we got our victuals very sparingly. On the 7th he sent me word, that I should bring him a vomit the day after, which I promised to comply with. It was very plainly seen Beyla's secret was not kept, and to this we attributed the delay of the Moullah; but nothing could comfort us for the want of an answer from Ras el Feel.
On the 8th, in the evening, a little before six o'clock, when I was making ready to go to the Shekh, a message came, that he was busy, and could not see me; with which, for a time, I was very well pleased. About ten, arrived a naked, very ill-looking fellow, more like an executioner than any other sort of man, with a large broad-sword in his hand, and seemingly very drunk. He said he was one of the Shekhs of Jehaina, and in a little time became extremely insolent. He first demanded coffee, which was given him, then a new coat, then some civet, and, last of all, drawing his sword, that we should instantly provide him with a new scabbard, his own being but a piece of common leather, which he threw with a kind of indignation down upon the floor. Till that time I had been writing these very memoirs, at least the journal of the day. I was not any way afraid of one drunkard, but laid down my pen, wondering where this insolence was to end. Before I had time to speak a word, I heard my old Turk, the sherriffe, Hagi Ismael, say, "You are of the Jehaina, are you? then I am of the Daveina;" and with that he caught the stranger by the throat, taking his sword from him, which he threw out of the house, after casting the owner violently upon the floor. The fellow crept out upon all-four, and, as soon as he had picked up his sword, attempted again to enter the house, which Soliman perceiving, snatched his own short, crooked sword, from a pin where it hung, and ran readily to meet him, and would very speedily have made an end of him, had I not cried out, "For God's sake, Soliman, don't hurt him; remember where you are." Indeed, there was little reason for the caution; for when the Arab observed a drawn sword in the Turk's hand, he presently ran away towards the town, crying, Ullah! Ullah! Ullah! which was, God! God! God! an exclamation of terror, and we saw no more of him; whilst, instead of a new scabbard, he left his old one in the house. Seeing at once the cowardice and malice of our enemies, we were now apprehensive of fire, things were come to such an extremity; and as our house was composed of nothing but dry canes, it seemed the only obvious way of destroying us.
On the 9th, in the morning I sent Soliman with the scabbard to Fidele, and a grievous complaint against the supposed Shekh of the Jehaina for his insolence the night before. Shekh Fidele pretended to be utterly ignorant of the whole, made light of what had passed, and said the fellow was a fool. But a violent altercation took place between him and my servant black Soliman, who then told him all his mind, threatening him with Yasine's immediate vengeance, and assuring him he was, before this, fully informed of his behaviour. They, however, both cooled before parting. Fidele only recommended to Soliman to persuade me to give him 2000 piastres, without which he swore I never should go alive out of Atbara. Soliman, on the other hand, declared, that I was a man that set no value upon money, and therefore carried it not about with me, otherwise I should not refuse what he desired, but warned him to think well before he uttered such expressions as he now had done.
In the course of conversation, as Soliman told me, the Shekh gave him several hints, that, if he would agree with him, and help to rob and murder me, he should share the booty with him, and it never would be known. But Soliman pretended not to understand this, always assuring him that I was not the man he took me for; and that, except the king's present, all I had was brass, iron, and glass bottles, of no value to any but myself, who only knew how to use them. They then finished their discourse; and he desired Soliman to tell me, that he expected me at the usual hour of 6 o'clock to-morrow evening, which was Friday the 10th.
This seemed to me to be an extraordinary appointment, because Friday is their festival, when they eat and drink heartily, nor did I ever remember any of them take medicine upon that day. But with Fidele all was festival, not even their annual solemn fast of Ramadan did he ever keep, but was universally known to be an unbeliever, even in what was called his own religion. I had still this further objection to wait upon him at night, that he had gone so far as to solicit Soliman to assist him in murdering me. But I considered at last, that we could not escape from his hands; and that the only way to avoid the danger was to brave it. Providence, indeed, seemed all along to have reserved our deliverance for our own exertions, under its direction, as all the ways we had taken to get relief from others had hitherto, in appearance at least, miscarried. However, it was resolved to go armed, for fear of the worst; but to conceal our weapons, so as to give no umbrage. I had a small Brescian blunderbuss, about 22 inches in the barrel, which had a joint in the stock, so that it folded double. It hung by an iron hook to a thin belt under my left arm, close to my side, quite unperceived, like a cutlass. I likewise took a pair of pistols in my girdle, and my knife as usual. All these were perfectly covered by my burnoose; so that, with a little attention, when I sat down, it was impossible to discover my having any weapons about me; Hagi Ismael the Turk, Soliman my servant, and two other Moorish servants, took also their fire arms, small and great, and swords, along with them. We all went to the house of the Shekh a little before seven o'clock in the evening. I entered the back door into the square where the women's house was; but declined going so far as their apartment without leave, turning to the left hand into the side of the square where he usually staid. I was surprised to meet but one servant, a black boy, in the whole house, and he carried me to the Shekh, my servants remaining at the outer-door.
Fidele was sitting in a spacious room, in an alcove, on a large broad sofa like a bed, with India curtains gathered on each side into festoons. Upon seeing the boy, in a very surly tone he called for a pipe; and, in much the same voice, said to me, "What! alone?" I said, "Yes, what were his commands with me?" I saw he either was, or affected to be, drunk, and which ever was the case, I knew it would lead to mischief; I therefore repented heartily of having come into the house alone.