THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 515
ended ; all my trouble, all ray expences, all my time, and all my fufFerings for fo many years were thrown away, from no greater obftacle than the whimfies of one barbarian, whofe good inclinations, I thought, I had long before fufficiently fecured ; and, what was worfe, I was now got within lefs than forty miles of the place I fo much wiihed to fee ; and my hopes were fhipwrecked upon the laft, as well as the moll unexpected, difficulty I had to encounter.
I was jufl going to bed when Ayto Welleta Michael, Ras Michael's nephew, taken at Limjour, and a prifoner with Fafil, though now at large, came into the tent. I need not repeat the difcourfe that pafled between us, it was all con- dolence upon the ill-ufage I had met with. He curfed Faiil, called him a thoufand opprobrious names, and faid, Ras Michael one day would iliew me his head upon a pole : he hinted, that he thought Fafil expected a prefent, and ima- gined that I intended to pafs the king's recommendation on him in the place of it. I have a prefent, faid I, and a very handfome one, but I never thought that, while his -2.- gareet was ftill beating, and when he had fcarcely pitched his tent when he was tired, and I no lefs fo, that it v, as then a time to open baggage for this purpofe ; if he had waited till to-morrow, he fhould have had a gratification which would have contented him.
Wt'LL, well, faid Welleta Michael, as for your journey I fhall undertake for that, for I heard him giving orders about it when I came away, even though he expects no prefent ; what does the gratifying your cu'riofity coll him? he would be afhamed to refufeyou pcrmiflion; his own va- nity would hinder him. This affurancc, more than all the
3T2 quieting
