"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 to repose a day or two in quiet and 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, and by mere chance, from being cut off by Arabs whom Yasine had posted 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!"
Bruce and his party had scarcely taken possession of their lodging, and had but just thrown off their clothes to enjoy rest and ease, when several slaves of both sexes appeared with dishes of meat from the sheikh, who also sent flattering compliments and good wishes. But Bruce was very much astonished at one young man, who, putting his mouth to his ear, whispered these few words of comfort: "Seitan Fidele! el Sheikh el Atbara Seitan!" (Fidele is the devil, the Sheikh of Atbara is the devil himself!)
Bruce, fearing from this hint that he was in danger, privately and prudently despatched a man to Ras el Feel, begging Yasine to send some person in the name of the King of Abyssinia, or of Ayto Confu, to remonstrate against his detention: until an answer could arrive, he had resolved to see as little of the sheikh as possible; but by-and-by, getting restless and anxious to depart, he waited on the sheikh with presents; and these being apparently very graciously received, he asked for camels. The sheikh replied that they were fifteen days off, in the sandy desert, to avoid the flies; adding that the road to Sennaar was in a very unsettled state, and making many other trifling excuses. At last his real object could no longer be concealed, and he openly insisted on having a part of the treasure which he declared that Bruce was carrying with him.
Bruce resolutely refused to give him anything. And the wretch then endeavoured to have him assassinated by Soliman, to whom he offered half the plunder of his baggage; but Soliman saved his life by declaring that the stranger had no treasure, possessing only a few instruments and glass bottles, the use of which no one understood but himself.
Bruce was again sent for by the sheikh. He was in the alcove of a spacious room, sitting on a sofa surrounded by curtains. After he had taken two whiffs of his pipe, and when the slave had left the room, "Are you prepared?" he said; "have you brought the money along with you?" Bruce replied, "My servants are at the outer door, and have the vomit you wanted." "Curse you and the vomit too," says he, with great passion: "I want money, and not poison. Where are your piastres?" "I am a bad person," replied Bruce, "Fidele, to furnish you with either. I have neither money nor poison; but I advise you to drink a little warm water to clear your stomach, cool your head, and then lie down and compose yourself; I will see you to-morrow morning." Bruce was going out, when the sheikh exclaimed, "Hakim, infidel, or devil, or whatever is your name, hearken to what I say. Consider where you are: this is the room where Mek Baady, a king, was slain by the hand of my father: look at his blood, where it has stained the floor, which never could be washed out. I am informed you have twenty thousand piastres in gold with you; either give me two thousand before you go out of this chamber, or you shall die; I will put you to death with my own hand." Upon this he took up his sword that was lying at the head of his sofa, and, drawing it with a bravado, threw the scabbard into the middle of the room; and, tucking the sleeve of his shirt above his elbow, like a butcher, he said, "I wait your answer."
Bruce stepped one pace backward, and dropped the burnoose behind him, holding a small blunderbuss in his hand, without taking it off the belt. In a firm tone of voice he replied, "This is my answer: I am not a man, as I have told you before, to die like a beast by the hand of a drunkard; on your life, I charge you, stir not from your sofa." "I had no need," says Bruce, "to give this injunction; he heard the noise which the closing the joint in the stock of the blunderbuss made, and thought I had cocked it, and was instantly to fire. He let his sword drop, and threw himself on his back on the sofa, crying, 'For God's sake, Hakim, I was but jesting.'" In all climates and under all circumstances, the bully is always a coward. Bruce, however, was only acting on the defensive; it was neither his intention nor his wish to triumph over the sheikh, and he therefore most willingly accepted the explanation and retired, calmly wishing his enemy good-night.
About a week afterward letters arrived from Yasine, declaring that, unless Bruce was instantly allowed to depart, he would burn every stalk of corn between Beyla and Teawa. This threat had the desired effect; and, after having been most vexatiously detained more than three weeks, Bruce received a message to say that the camels were all ready; that girbas for water, and provisions of all sorts, would be furnished, and that he might set out as soon as he pleased, provided he would promise to forgive the sheikh, and not to make any complaint against him at Sennaar or elsewhere. This having been assented to, Bruce was at last suffered to escape from Teawa.
For the first seven hours his path was through a barren, sandy plain, without a vestige of any living creature, without water, and without grass; "a country," says Bruce, "that seemed under the immediate curse of Heaven."
After travelling all night, they rested at Abou Jehaarat till the afternoon. The sun was intensely hot: but, fortunately, there were some shepherds' caves, into which they crept for shelter. On the 19th of April they again set out, and that evening arrived at Beyla. At the very entrance of the town they were met by Mohammed the sheikh, who declared that he looked upon them as beings who had risen from the dead, and that they must be good people to have escaped from the Sheikh of Atbara! Mohammed provided all sorts of refreshments; and the whole party were filled with joy except Bruce, who was suffering so severely from the Bengazi ague that he had the greatest repugnance even to the smell of meat. He had, besides, a violent headache; so, having drunk a quantity of warm water to serve as an emetic, he retired supperless to his bed—a buffalo's hide.
There is no water at Beyla but what is got from deep wells. Large plantations of Indian corn were everywhere about the town. The inhabitants were in continual apprehension from the Arabs Daveina, at Sim-Sim, about forty miles distant; and from another powerful race called Wed abd el Gin—Son of the slaves of the devil—who live to the southwest, between the Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier town of Sennaar, on the side of Sim-Sim; and between Teawa and this, on the Sennaar side, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelga, upon the Abyssinian side, all is desert and waste, the Arabs only suffering the water to remain there, without any villages near it, that they and their flocks may come at certain seasons until the grass grows, and the pools or springs fill elsewhere.