"Late in the evening," says Bruce, "Ozoro Esther came to the king's tent. She had been ill and alarmed, as she well might, at the passage of the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; she was dressed all in white, and I thought I seldom had seen so handsome a woman. The king had sent ten oxen to old Ras Michael, but he had given twenty to Ozoro Esther; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary mark of favour that she had come to visit him in his tent. I had for some time past, indeed, thought they were not insensible to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the young king for the distinction he had shown her, 'Madam,' said he, 'your husband, Ras Michael, is intent upon employing, in the best way possible for my service, those of the army that are strong and vigorous; you, I am told, bestow your care on the sick and disabled, and by your attention they are restored to their former health and activity. The strong, active soldier eats the cows that I have sent to the ras; the enfeebled and sick recover upon yours, for which reason I sent you a double portion, that you may have it in your power to do double good.'" Bruce had now violent threatenings of the ague, and retired to bed full of reflections on the extraordinary events that in a few hours had crowded upon one another. On the 30th of May he reached Gondar, and on the 3d of June the army was encamped on the river below the town. "From the time we left Dingleber," says Bruce, "some one or other of the ras's confidential friends had arrived every day. Several of the great officers of state reached us at the Kemona; many others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not perceive that the news they brought increased the spirits either of the king or the ras: the soldiers, however, were all contented, because they were at home; but the officers, who saw farther, wore very different countenances, especially those that were of Amhara. I, in particular, had very little reason to be pleased; for, after having undergone a constant series of fatigues, dangers, and expenses, I was returned to Gondar, disappointed of my views in arriving at the source of the Nile, without any other acquisition than a violent ague. The place where that river rises remained still as great a secret as it had been ever since the catastrophe of Phaëton: "Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem, Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet." OVID, _Metam._, lib. ii. "The frighted Nile ran off, and under ground Concealed his head, nor can it yet be found." ADDISON--_Trans._ The king had heard that Gusho and Powussen, and all the troops of Belessen and Lasta, were ready to fall upon him in Gondar as soon as the rains should have so swelled the Tacazzé that the army could not retire into Tigré; and it was now thought that the king's proclamation in favour of Fasil, especially in giving him Gojam, would hasten the movements of the rebels.