16 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
ed him to pass there, or at Kerr. I kept him to the place where you passed; you would have all perished at Kerr. This, to be sure, was not a good ford, nor passable at all except in summer, unless by swimming ; but so many men crossing had made it still worse ; besides, do you remember what a storm it was ? — what a night of rain ? O Lady Mariam, al- ways a virgin, said I, while they struggled in the mud and clay. O holy Abba Guebra Menfus Kedus, who never ate or drank from his mother's womb till his death, will you not open the earth, that all this accursed multitude may descend alive into hell, like Dathan and Abiram ?" — A kind and charitable prayer ! — " I thank you for it, Welled Amlac, said I ; first, for carrying us to that charitable ford, where, with one of the strongeft and ablest horses in the world, I had nearly pe- rished : — and, secondly, for your pious wish, to dispose of us out of the regions of rain and cold into so warm quarters in company with Dathan and Abiram !"
"I DID not know you was there, says he ; I heard you had staid at Gondar in order to bring up the black horse. I law a white person* with the Ras, indeed, who had a good hanjar and gun, but his mule was weak, and he himself seemed sick. As 1 returned I could have carried him off in the night, but I said, perhaps it is the brother of Yagoube, my friend and physician ; he is white like him, and for your sake I left him. 1 was much with you white people in the time of Kasmati Eshté." — " And pray, said I, what did you after we passed the Abay ?" — " After I saw that devil Ras Mi- chael over, said Welled Amlac, I returned under pretence of
assisting
- This was Francisco, who was sick.
