A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
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He Appeared Calm, And
Remained, For A Long Time, In Conversation With His Favourite, Ras
Engeddah, Who Stood Below.
We were guarded night and day, and could not move a few steps outside
the tent without being followed by a soldier; at night, if we had
to go out, we were told to carry a lantern with us.
Our guards were
all old confidential chiefs of the Emperor, men of rank and position,
who executed their orders, but did not abuse their position to make
us feel still more our disgrace. On the evening of the 15th a small
farce was played that amused me at the time. I was going out a short
distance, a servant carrying a lantern before me. We had only
advanced a few steps when a soldier roughly seized my servant;
immediately the officer on guard ran up towards us, and pretending
to be very indignant at the soldier's conduct, told him to let my
servant go, and lifting up his stick, gave him a few strokes on the
back, exclaiming, "Why do you stop him? These are not prisoners;
they are the friends of the King." On turning round; I saw the chief
and the soldier having a good laugh together. The following morning
the reconciliation was to take place. Theodore desired to impress
us with the idea that we might be still his friends, and that we
had better give in to him with good grace, as the arrest of the
13th would prove to us that he could also treat us as enemies.
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