that at the politically opportune moment a powerful chieftain will
declare for us, bringing all his warriors and his influence across to
us. This man will in due course be declared Emperor of Ethiopia and
will administer the territory under Italy."
"Yes, yes. I
understand, "said the Count.
"The man governs part of the area which is the direct objective of your
column. As soon as you have seized the Sardi Gorge and entered the
town of Sardi itself, this Chief will join you with his men and,
with appropriate international publicity, be declared King of
Ethiopia."
"The man's name?" asked the Count, but the agent would not be
hurried.
"It will be your duty to meet with this Chief, and to synchronize your
efforts. You will also make the promised payment in gold coin."
"Yes."
"The man is an hereditary Ras by rank. He is presently commanding part
of the army that opposes you at Sardi.
However, that will change-" said the agent, and produced a thick
envelope from the briefcase beside his chair. It was sealed with the
wax tablet and the embossed eagles of the Department of Colonial
Affairs. "Here are your written orders. You will sign for them,
please." He inspected the Count's signature suspiciously, then, at
last satisfied, went on in the same dry disinterested voice.
"One other matter. We have identified one of the white mercenaries
fighting with the Ethiopians those mentioned by you as being reported
by the three of your men captured by the enemy and subsequently
released." The agent paused and drew on his almost dead cigar, puffing
up the tip to a bright healthy glow.
"The woman is a notorious agent provocateur, a Bolshevik with radical
and revolutionary sympathies. She poses as a journalist,
employed by an American newspaper whose sentiments have always been
strongly anti-Empire. Already some of this woman's biased
inflammatory, writings have reached the outside world. They have been
a severe embarrassment to us at the Department-" He drew again on the
cigar, and spoke again through the billowing cloud of smoke.
"If she is taken, and I hope that you will place priority on her
capture, she is to be handed over immediately to the new Ethiopian
Emperor-designate, you understand? You are not to be involved, but you
will not interfere with the Ras's execution of the woman."
"I see." The
Count was becoming bored. This political nitpicking was not the type
of thing which would hold his attention. He wanted to show the young
lady hostesses at the Casino the great cross which now hung around his
neck and thumped on his chest each time he moved.
"As for the white man, the Englishman, the one responsible for the
brutal shooting of an Italian prisoner of war in front of witnesses, he
has been declared a murderer and a Political terrorist. When you
capture him, he is to be shot out of hand. That order goes for all
other foreigners serving under arms with the enemy troops. This type
of thing must be put down sternly."
"You can rely on me," said the Count. "There will be no quarter for
the terrorists."
General Pietro Badoglic, moved forward to Ambo Aradam, there were some
minor brushes. while the Italian General deployed his men for the
major stroke. At Abi Addi and Tembien he received advance warning of
the fighting qualities of his enemy, barefoot and armed with spear and
muzzle-loading gun. As he wrote himself, "They have fought with
courage and determination.
Against our attacks, methodically carried out and covered by heavy
machine-gun fire and artillery barrage, their troops have stood firm,
and then engaged in furious hand-to-hand fighting; or they have moved
boldly to counter-attack, regardless of the avalanche of fire that had
immediately fallen upon them. Against the organized fire of our
defending troops, their soldiers many of them armed only with Cold
steel attacked again and again, pushing right up to our wire
entanglements and trying to beat them down with their great swords."
Brave men, perhaps, but they were brushed aside by the huge Italian war
machine. Then at last Badoglio could come at Ras Muguletu, the war
minister of Ethiopia, with his entire army waiting like an old lion in
the caves and precipitous heights of the natural mountain fortress of
Ambo Aradam.
He loosed his full might against the old chieftain, the big
three-engined Capronis roared in, wave after wave, to drop four hundred
tons of bombs upon the mountain in five days of continuous raids, while
his artillery hurled fifty thousand heavy shells, arcing them up from
the valley into the ravines and deep gorges until the outline of the
mountain was shrouded in the red mist of dust and cordite fumes.
Up to now, the time of waiting had passed pleasantly enough for
Count Aldo Belli at the Wells of Chaldi. The addition to his forces
had altered his entire way of life.
Together with the magnificent enamelled cross around his neck,
they had added immeasurably to his prestige and correct sense of
self-importance.
For the first few weeks he never tired of reviewing and manoeuvring his
