THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. *& 



fcut don't let the Ras either kill or maim him." " Come, 

 faid I, let us go to the Ras, and he fhall neither kill, maim, 

 nor piinifli him, if I can help it. It is my firft requeft ; if 

 he refufes me I will return to Jidda ; come and hear." 



Aylo had urged the thing home to the Ras in the proper 

 light— that of my fafety. " You are a wife man, fays Mi- 

 chael, now perfectly cool, as foon as he faw me and Welleta 

 Selafie. It is a man like you that goes far in fafety, which 

 is the end we all aim at. I feel the affront offered you more 

 than you do, but will not have the puniihment attributed 

 to you ; this affair fhall turn to your honour and fecurity, 

 and in that light only I can pafs over his infolence." " Wel- 

 leta Selafie, fays he, falling into a violent paffion in an in- 

 ftant, What fort of behaviour is this my men have adop- 

 ted with Grangers ? and myjlrangcr, too, and in the king's 

 palace, and the king's fervant? What! am I dead ? or be- 

 come incapable of governing longer?" Welleta Selafie bow- 

 ed, but was afraid to fpeak, and indeed the Ras looked like 

 a fiend. 



« Come, fays the Ras, let me fee your head." I fhewed 

 him where the blood was already hardened, and faid it was 

 a very flight cut. " A cut, continued Michael, over that 

 part, with one of our knives, is mortal." " You fee, Sir, 

 faid I, I have not even dipt the hair about the wound ; it 

 is nothing. Now give me your promife you will fet Guebra 

 Mafcal at liberty \ and not only that, but you are not to re- 

 proach him with the affair further than that he was drunk, 

 not a crime in this country." " No, truly, fays he, it is 

 not; but that is, becaufe it is very rare that people fight with 

 knives when they are drunk. I fcarce ever heard of it, even 



in 

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