By this time the second division had arrived upon the scene, and a strong force prepared to attack the stronghold of the Abyssinian king. The Gallas, the hereditary enemies of the Abyssinians, had come up in great numbers and encircled the fortress behind, rendering all escape in that direction impossible, for although the fortress could not be attacked from the rear, there existed two or three narrow paths by which escape was possible. On the night before we attacked, Theodore attempted to escape in this manner; but finding the Gallas everywhere in force, he returned to his citadel and prepared to defend it to the last. His army was now, however, determined to offer no further resistance. Cowed by the terrible slaughter at Aroge, and seeing that the power to order wholesale executions had now passed out of the tyrant's hands, the whole of the chiefs and their followers declared that they would no longer obey his orders, and only some twenty or thirty faithful men remained with him. The 33rd Regiment led the assault, and advanced up the steep road by which the enemy had before descended to the attack. Fala and Sallasye were covered with natives, and at every moment an attack was expected upon us, although messages had been sent down by the chiefs saying that they rendered their submission. The 33rd, however, gained the top of the hill without a shot being fired, and there some 15,000 or 20,000 persons were seen sitting quietly down. Orders were given to disarm the men, and they and their families were then suffered to leave, and the force moved over the shoulder of Sallasye towards Magdala itself. A small party of officers and others, riding on in advance, came, at the edge of the shoulder connecting Sallasye with Magdala, upon some fifteen of Theodore's guns, which he had not had time to take with him into Magdala. At the same moment a party of horsemen, among whom the natives recognised Theodore himself, came down the steep path from the fortress, and rode about on the plateau, brandishing their arms and shouting defiance. The officers dismounted, and finding some cases of ammunition with the guns, turned these upon Theodore, and speedily drove him and his companions up into the fortress again.