238 SFOR T IN ABYSSINIA. 



Red Sea, I must beg my readers to go back into 

 Abyssinia with me, and try to follow the sort of sport 

 my friend H. had been having, and did have, since 

 we parted. He wrote me a letter, saying that directly 

 he had received my note from Azho, dated the 12th 

 of March, and found that I was so ill, he came straight 

 up from the Mareb, and started off with Fisk and 

 Brou for Adiaboo. He arrived there on the 15th, 

 hoping to meet me ; but they told him — which he 

 was very sorry to hear — that I was two days in front 

 of him, and also making long marches in order to 

 reach Massowah in time for the steamer. He saw it 

 was useless going on, and so returned that same even- 

 ing to Adaajerra, which was better known to us by 

 the name of Barrakee's village. On his way back he 

 met with a most unpleasant adventure. It may be 

 remembered by my readers that, on our former visit, 

 Zardic, the old chief of Adiaboo, was excessively rude 

 to us, and we believed it was owing to him that our 

 donkeys were stolen, and also that so large a price 

 was charged for the ones that we bought. H. was 

 travelling quietly along with Fisk and three servants, 

 when suddenly he heard a yelling and shouting, and 

 three or four hundred Abyssinians, with Zardic at 

 their head, rushed down upon them, pulled them off 

 their mules, and began beating them with sticks and 

 spears, and poking their guns into their ribs. This 



