Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/248

226 it was about the 14th that these letters were to be all read. I expected at the ordinary hour, about five in the afternoon, to be sent for, and had rode out to Koscam with Ayto Heikel, the queen's chamberlain, to see the child, who was pretty well recovered of all its complaints, but very weak. In the interim I was sent for to the Ras, with orders to dispatch a man with the king's present, to wait for me at the palace, whither I was to go after leaving Michael. It was answered, That I was at Koscam, and the errand I had gone on mentioned; which disappointment, and the cause, did no way prejudice me with the Ras. Five in the evening was fixed as the hour, and notice sent to Koscam. I came a little before the time, and met Ayto Aylo at the door. He squeezed me by the hand, and said, "Refuse nothing, it can be all altered afterwards; but it is very necessary, on account of the priests and the populace, you have a place of some authority, otherwise you will be robbed and murdered the first time you go half a mile from home: fifty people have told me you have chests filled with gold, and that you can make gold, or bring what quantity you please from the Indies; and the reason of all this is, because you refused the queen and Ozoro Esther's offer of gold at Koscam, and which you must never do again."

went in and saw the old man fitting upon a sofa; his white hair was dressed in many short curls. He appeared to he thoughtful, but not displeased; his face was lean, his eyes quick and vivid, but seemed to be a little sore from exposure to the weather. He seemed to be about six feet high, though his lameness made it difficult to guess with accuracy. His air was perfectly free from constraint, what the French call degageé. In face and person he was