Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-20

Yet, needless OF any one
else. in a cold frenzy, the king still
struggled desperately to get near
enough to Christos to plunge knife
into him.
This ended tho battle.
The struggle had lasted until al
most noon; and the actual dead upon
the field certainly numbered over
fourteen Thousand.
The thunder Of the war-drums died
away. The tumult was stilled. Over
the field went warriors, plucking
trophies from the slain; and after
them the camp followers and the
neighboring peasants, to strip the
dead and pillage among the wounded.
The victory was complete.
Upon the fourth day. after the
valiant Negus threw himself away
in a blind effort to avenge himself
upon a traitor, and his invincible
army had been crumpled by the forces
of Shoa, he was marched on foot and
in chains to the pavilion Of the new
empress and forced to humble himself
in the presence of fifty thousand
Shoan warriors and a multitude of
spectators.
$50
EARLY in the morning my horse
IL was ready for me, and with my
two French friends 1 rode through
the villages that lie from the capital
out to eastward, where a clear
greensward plain, a hollow in the
t,,Y i
to stage the triumph.
AS we made our way along. we
found the broad highways and narrow
lanes thronged with the populace go
ing forth to view the spectacle. There
were soldiers, chieftains and great
rases, on foot, on mule. or cantering
on arch-necked steeds, some with a
solitary follower or two. like the
bearded crossbowmen of yore, some
with well-armed vassals, some with
troops of cavalrymen on curvettng
horses, with drummers and trump
eters trotting behind on mules. Ec-
clesiastics, with flowing white boards
spreading over their chests and col
ored parasols protecting their heads
from too ardent a celestial benedic-
ton, trtpped by on donkeys; and the
large mass Of the people footed II in
the dust, or took position on the
high banks by the roadside. to watch
the colorful stream of humanity pour
by.
Two things were noticeable. There
were no peddlers with sweetmeats
and bottled drinks; and 1t may be
that the far-sighted Baltcha, the
against them. Also In all the throns
there was no boisterousnesa On the
contrary, the greetings were soft and
gentle; and none jostled his neigh
Dor unduiy. For this there was a
reason, as D'Artagnan might have
told. You do not jostie, unthinkingiy,
a musketeer armed cap-a-pie. This
had already learned when once, be-
yond the market place, my frettish
horse had almost got beyond control.
AS we arrived. some lesser chiefs
OF the empress bodyguard were TAX
ing places within the pavilion OF the
foreign minister's and these, with the
ministers themselves and their at
taches and bodyguardsr all in full
dress uniforms, and the members of
their households, made in itself a
spectacle of uncommon brilliancy.
know of few other places in the world
where such a scene could now be en-
acted-Peking, doubt; Teheran, per-
haps-for here were the European
plenipotentiaries, with mounted
guards from Eritrea, Somaliland and
the Punjaub. These bewhiskered
Punjaubis, with lined mail upon their
shoulders, block-like turbans adding
to their lofty stature, and fiuttering
pennons on their lances to give point
to their presence, were as solemnly
at home as their brothers on the pa
rade grounds of Delhi. They were
familiar figures to me, and only as
such did they catch my eye; for my
beyond the natural cour-
tesies, was almost wholly taken up
by the arriving rases.
IN their feudal domains most of
" these men were simple warriors
at peace, or even plain herdsmen,
whose garments were of dirtied cot
ton and whose heads were crowned
with battered felt hats. They had no
high sounding titles; but Master of
the Piebald Pony" or Father of
Wind" they were called,
justly sharing fame with their
mounts. Their dignity was in the
steadiness OF their eyes, their honor
he L. T. =. -
their pride in their country, their
glory in their God. The standards
by which they were judged were
tested at every phase of the moon;
and no man among them had reason
to doubt himself in his own heart.
So they wore their robes of cere-
mony with simple dignity and courtly
grace, as much at ease in the gar
ments of velvet and CLOTH of gold as
though seated within their tokhuls
with homespun blankets across their
shoulders.
The plain began to blaze with color
like a field of flowers bursting with
bloom, with petals scattered willy
nilly. First came the high priests
in respondent robes, with gorgeous
umbrellas over their heads, trotting
along on sleek ecclesiastical mules,
recalling the days when the Pope
was in Tours, and took their posi-
ton opposite the empress pavilion,
leaving a space, hundred yards In
width, so that the review might pass
between. Their retainers lined the
paling on either side of their mas
ters, and though they were of no
particular rank, the thick sheepskins
they wore upon their shoulders dyed
In violent colors, irresistibly suggested