Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/173

 me to the ship to receive it, expressing, at the same time, great obligations for my kindness. Nothing can be more insinuating than the manners of a Turk when he has any particular point to carry; yet, satisfactory as his conduct appeared throughout the whole of this interview, I own I thought it too conciliating to prove finally sincere. On my arrival at the ship I selected a valuable pair of pistols, a blunderbuss with a spring bayonet, and a rich piece of satin, and I made out an order upon the Banian for two hundred dollars; all of which I forwarded, as a present to the Kaimakan, by the person whom he had appointed to convey them. I made his present on this occasion handsome, from my knowledge of the character of persons of his description, and from a private intimation sent me by the Nayib, that, if I acted in this manner, all would go on well. The 14th and 15th were busily employed in preparations for our journey, and nothing very particular occurred till the 17th, when we were considerably alarmed by the appearance of a fleet of armed dows, standing into the harbour, carrying the green flag of the Sheriffe of Mecca. They bore down in regular order, and each fired a salute of three guns on passing the fort, immediately after which they all came to an anchor in a regular line, a-head of our vessel, across the mouth of the harbour. As the Banian happened to be on board at the time, I instantly dispatched him to the Kaimakan, to gain intelligence respecting the destination of these vessels; and, in the mean time, Captain Weatherhead made every possible preparation for resistance, should their design prove to be of a hostile nature, which, from Captain Rudland's letters and other communications, appeared by no means improbable. The wind blowing into the harbour, which is a perfect cûl de sac, prevented every possibility of escape, and the weakness of our numbers, which altogether amounted to no more than seventeen fighting men, promised very slender hopes of a successful opposition; as every one of the dows carried at least eighty men. Our principal dependance rested on a strong boarding-netting, and, for greater security, the Captain carried out a kedge anchor from the stern, to bring the ship's broadside to bear, and give us the full advantage