140 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA CHAP. 
We now saw the intention of the Abyssinian leader, and, as 
it would never do for our Somalis to suppose that we could be 
detained against our will, we decided to take the next step ; and 
going up to Dago, who was still sitting on the carpet inside the 
little hut, I threatened to complain to Ras Makunan, the Governor 
of Harar, if this attempt at our arrest should be persisted in. 
Dago said that we ourselves might go where we liked, but 
that our Somalis, camels, and property must remain inside the 
enclosure. We refused this separation, and told the officials 
simply that we were going out. Some of the soldiers became 
excited, and began shouting, but were silenced. 
Again I walked over to Dago, and he said the caravan could 
not go without the order of the Ras; that it would take till to- 
morrow at noon for a horseman to go to Harar and get this order, 
and our party must be detained in custody till then. 
I stayed talking to him for a moment, while my brother 
quietly told off an advance and rear guard, passing the word 
round for each of our followers to mark his man, and to put a 
bullet into him should an attack be made upon us. I then 
finally told Dago that we were going, and walked to the 
entrance, where my hunter Géli silently put into my hands the 
double four-bore elephant rifle, loaded in each barrel with four- 
teen drams of powder and fifty SSG slugs. This rifle, so loaded, 
scatters a good deal, and would have been quite equal to the 
occasion. ; 
We had not mistaken our friend Dago. The forces were 
exactly equal, not counting the Gildessa crowd, some of whom 
would have been for, and some against us, and seeing we were 
capable of carrying our point, and being afraid of the responsi- 
bility he would incur by using force, he called me back and 
consented to our leaving, with our men, our camels, and our 
baggage, provided I would write a letter to Ras Makunan, to 
state why we had come to Gildessa. With my brother and 
half a dozen men, all having their rifles ready, I entered Dago’s 
hut, and we sat down on the carpets in a circle, and he pushed 
me a reed pen, ink, and paper. 
I wrote a short note to the Ras in English, stating that we 
had come to examine caravan routes for the Aden authorities, 
and meant no harm. That we had also had some shooting, 
and wished to go to Zeila; and I begged him to accept, as an 
accompaniment to my letter, a pair of rhinoceros horns, those 
of one of the two cows I had shot in the Dih Wiyileh. 
