In Afric’s Forest and Jungle 
starvation. So, one night, they decided to attack 
the Ebaddan camp and, if they could not break 
it up, die fighting, as they preferred death in bat¬ 
tle to starvation. When they came to the camp 
of the enemy, it was not only deserted but it had 
been abandoned in such haste that it was full of 
provisions. These they seized and hurried back 
into the walls of Ejahyay, thinking that an am¬ 
bush had been laid for them. When day came, 
it was found that the enemy had gone home for 
good and the starving Ejahyay people were 
abundantly supplied with provisions until they 
got more. Why the Ebaddans fled, I have never 
heard; but I have always supposed that they 
came to capture slaves rather than to fight, and 
when they found that they would have to face 
men made desperate by hunger, and that too in 
the darkness of the night, they decided that dis¬ 
cretion was the better part of valor. 
The king favored Ejahyay in this war, and 
at its close bestowed upon its determined 
ruler the title Areh. But Areh’s increasing 
power alarmed even the king himself and he en¬ 
tered into a conspiracy to assassinate him when 
he came up to the capital to pay his annual visit. 
The plot failed however through Areh’s vigilance 
and daring. Having left his horse at the gate of 
56 
