I recommended to this servant of the Shekh of Beyla that he should tell the Moullah that he was not to expect I was to open my baggage here, but that I was a man who understood perfectly the value of a favour done me, and should not be in his debt longer than arriving at Beyla, which I wished to reach as soon as possible; nothing can be quicker than these people are on the smallest hint given; we separated, fully satisfied that we were now a sufficient match for the Shekh, even at his own weapons. Ever since the adventure of the Shekh of the Jehaina, one of us had kept guard, the door being open every night for fear of fire, and it was my turn that night, a post that I never declined, for the sake of good example; but my spirits were so exhausted this day, that I gave the old Turk plenty of coffee and tobacco, to undertake, as he did with great willingness, the office of that night for me. I went to bed, and fell presently into a profound sleep, from which I was awakened, a little before midnight, by a message from the ladies, my patients, in the Shekh's house, sent by the black slave that had spoken in the Abyssinian language to me while I was attending her mistress. They advised me to be upon my guard, for the Shekh was absolutely resolved to take a severe revenge upon us all: That after we had left him that evening, an express arrived from the lower part of Atbara, giving him an account that Shekh Ibrahim, a great man at Sennaar, and favourite of Adelan the prime minister, while he was employed in gathering the taxes from the Arabs, had fought with the tribe called Shukorea, somewhere east of Sennaar; that he had been completely beaten, and many of his people killed; as also, that Shekh Ibrahim and his two sons were wounded; that Shekh Fidele had immediately sent back word, that he had then with him a surgeon and physician, meaning me, who could, upon occasion, even bring a dead man to life, but that I would never consent to come to him unless I was forced; therefore, if he would dispatch a sufficient number of armed men, to help him to surprise me in the night, he would conduct the execution of that scheme, and would send me to him in irons. He said I was an infidel, a white man from Abyssinia, and had several stout people with me expert in fire-arms, (of which I had a number,) who would be of great use to him in subduing the Arabs. They assured me, however, of their friendship, and begged me to consider what I had to do in time, for many wild men would be poured in upon me, who would not fail to kill me if I resisted.