Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/86

 municate you, Tecla Haimanout. And he was going on, when Tecla Mariam, son of the king's secretary, a young man, struck the Acab Saat so violently on the face, that it made his mouth gush out with blood, saying, at same time, What! suffer this in the king's prefence? Upon which both Chremation and the Acab Saat were hurried out of the tent without being suffered to fay more; indeed the blow seemed to have so much disconcerted Abba Salama, that it deprived him for a time of the power of speaking.

In Abyssinia it is death to strike, or lift the hand to strike, before the king; but in this cafe the provocation was so great, so sudden, and unexpected, and the youth's worth and the insolence of the offender so apparent to every body, that a slight reproof was ordered to be given to Tecla Mariam (by his father only) but he lost no favour for what he had done, either with the King, Michael, or the people.

When the two prisoners were carried before the Ras, he refused to see them, but loaded them with irons, and committed them to close custody. That night a council was held in the king's tent, but it broke early up; afterwards another before the Ras, which sat much later; the reason was, that the first, where the king was, only arranged the business of to-morrow, while that before the Ras considered all that was to be done or likely to happen at any time.

On the 24th the drum beat, and the army was on their march by dawn of day: they halted a little after passing the rough ground, and then doubled their ranks, and formed into close order of battle, the king leading the center; a