the flimsy roof. The night was sultry, and they did not miss their
blankets.
Nicholas had a tube of insect repellent in his pack to keep the
mosquitoes at bay After they had settled down on the grass mattress,
their heads were close enough together to allow them to converse in
quiet tones. When he turned his head Nicholas could see the dark
silhouettes of Mek Nimmur and Tessay still sitting close together by the
fire.
'Ethiopian girls are different from the Arabs, and from most other
African women.' Royan too was watching the other couple. 'No Arab girl
would dare be alone with a man like that. Especially if she were a
married woman.'
'Any way you cut it, they make a damned fine pair,' he gave his opinion.
'Good luck to them. Tessay hasn't had much of that lately - she is
overdue.'
He turned his head and looked into her face, 'What about you, Royan,
what are you? Are you a decorous, submissive Arab, or an independent,
assertive Western girl?'
'It's both a little early and much too late for intimate questions of
that nature,' she told him, and turned over, presenting him with her
back.
'Ah, we are standing on ceremony this evening!
Goodnight, Woizero Royan.'
'Goodnight, Alto Nicholas,' she replied, keeping her face turned away
from him so that he could not see her smile.
The gorilla column moved out before dawn the next morning. They marched
in full battle order, with scouts moving ahead and flankers covering
each side of the path.
'The army come down here into the gorge very seldom, but we are always
ready for them when they do come,' Mek Nimmur explained. 'We try to give
them a hearty welcome.'
Tessay was watching Mek Nimmur as he spoke; indeed, she had seldom taken
her eyes off him that morning. Now she murmured to Royan, 'He is a truly
great man, a man who could unite our land, perhaps for the first time in
a thousand years. I feel humble in his presence, and yet I also feel
like a young girl again, filled with joy and hope.'
The march back to the monastery took the entire morning. When they came
in sight of the Dandera. river, Mek Nimmur drew his men back off the
path into thick bush, while sending only one scout forward. After an
hour's wait, a party of acolytes came up from the monastery, each
carrying a large bundle balanced upon his head.
They greeted Mek with deep reverence, and handed over their bundles to
his men before returning down the pathway into the gorge of the Abbay.
The bundles contained priestly shammas, headcloths and sandals. Mek's
men changed out of their camouflage fatigues into these garments, all of
which were well worn and unwashed for the sake of authenticity. They
wore only their sidearms under the robes. All their other weapons and
equipment they cached in one of the caves in the limestone Cliffs, and
left a detachment to guard them.
