Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/178

 Had I been commander of the Begemder troops that day this shower should have been the signal of charging; for all the king's fire-arms were useless, and the matches wet; but the Begemder horse seemed most uneasy under the fall of rain; they began to be unmanageable, and turn tail to the wind, which now arose and was directly in their faces, and in a few minutes they wheeled about, and retired to their camp. The king halted on the ground where he was, ordered the kettle-drums to beat, and the trumpets to found; and having continued half an hour till the heavy shower began, he fell back as did the whole army, and retired to the camp. When he got up the hill, and passed the brow where Ras Michael was sitting with some slaves, who held up a piece of sail-cloth over his head to keep off the rain, the servants raised the Ras upon his feet; without any previous salutation, he then asked the king what he had done with king Theodorus? and was answered, "Begemder brought him, and Begemder took him away, we saw nothing but his flag." Lasta carried his flag, says one of the nobility. He is a peaceable prince, says the king; yet he begins with fighting, but he will make amends afterwards, if he governs this country in peace a thousand years. If he does that, says the Ras, Powussen is to die at the next battle, for the thousand years peace will never begin, as long as he is alive.