Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 2.djvu/655

Rh visible, the cries of women at the sight of an enemy so near them, and the hurry of the men deserting their habitation loaded with the most valuable of their effects, all increased the king's impatience to put himself in possession of this capital of his enemy.

happened that an Arab, belonging to Nile Wed Ageeb, had seen the manœuvre of Hamis and his cavalry. This man, crossing the Nile at the nearest ford, came and told his master, Wed Ageeb, what he had seen, who informed the king of his danger. Upon interrogating the Arab, it was found that the affair of Welled de l'Oul would certainly be over before the king could possibly join him; and in that case he must fall in the midst of a victorious army, and his destruction must then be inevitable, if he attempted it. It was, therefore, agreed, as the only means possible to save the king and that part of the army he had with him, to retreat in the route Shekh Nile should indicate to them, marching up with the river Nile close on their right hand, and leaving the desert between that and the Dender, which is absolutely without water, to cover their left. This was executed as soon as resolved.

the mean time, Hamis had crossed the Nile, and continued his march with the utmost diligence, and, in the close of the evening, had fallen upon Welled de l'Oul as unexpectedly as he could have wished. The Abyssinians were everywhere slaughtered and trodden down before they could prepare themselves for the least resistance. All that could fly sheltered themselves in the woods: but this refuge was as certain death as the sword of the Funge; for, after leaving the river Dender, all the country behind them