Now the ice was broken Lovelace took up the cue: `Any news from the American Legation yet?'
'Yes,' Christopher replied in a low voice. `There was a note waiting for me when I got in last night. Rudy Connolly had found out about Zirrif for me. He's there all right and staying with his friend, Ras Desoum.'
'Are the others with him?'
'They are. Eleven of them I'm told. That obviously includes secretary Cassalis and the six gunmen, The others'll be his pilots and servants. It looks as though we shall be up against the whole bunch and Ras Desoum's men into the bargain.'
Lovelace grinned, `Not so easy, and we've only got twenty four hours, at the outside, to work in. It seems almost impossible to plan an attempt in that time which'll give us any chance of getting out alive.'
'We've got to risk our own necks, at least I have.' Christopher's face was white and set again.
'Oh, I'm coming too,' Lovelace volunteered with a cheerfulness he was far from feeling.
`It's decent of you to offer but this is my job not yours. I'd much rather you stayed behind to take care of Valerie in case anything goes wrong with me.'
Lovelace shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'I still don't grant you that the Millers have the right to slay, however just their cause, but I haven't forgotten my vow of vengeance on Zirrif for the way he shot Valerie's plane down in the Danakil country. You can't involve your Legation in this so we'll leave her in the care of that nice Swedish air pilot who's in the Emperor's service. Henrick Heidenstam wasn't that his name? If things go wrong he can place her under your friend Connolly's protection later. We're in this together and our first move is to find out where Ras Desoum is living.'
'Connolly told me the Ras has a castle in the north end of the town,' said Christopher quickly. `I was hoping we might give Blatta Ingida Yohannes the slip this morning and go out there to have a look at it.'
`Better not,' Lovelace demurred. `It's the very devil we should have to tag around with this chap when time's so precious, but European visitors are so few here, and it's the Emperor's order we should be shown the sights. They're terribly suspicious of all whites, too, so if we go off on our own they'd immediately jump to the conclusion that we were spies. Within half an hour the police in Addis would be after us and that's the last thing we want.'
`Can't we possibly think of an excuse to get rid of him,' Valerie urged, `pretend we've all got food poisoning or something?'
`We might try that later but if we do it means we'll have to stay in the hotel. At the moment we want to get out and see this Ras's place. I see no reason, though, why we shouldn't get Yohannes to take us there.'
The red headed Belgian whom they had met on first arriving at the hotel came over to them. `Have you heard any rumours?' he asked in a low voice:
`No,' replied Christopher. `Why?'
`It is said the reason for the Emperor's return to Addis is that his troops broke; and that the Italians have already covered half the distance from Dessye. It may be completely untrue but I wondered if you'd heard anything. It's queer that he should have returned
practically alone and I'm told he had to send for a car to meet him a few miles outside the town.'
Lovelace shrugged. `He'd hardly be likely to bring a lot of his troops back with him when every man is wanted in the firing line; and with such bad roads the older methods of travel are nearly as fast and much more comfortable. Still, if a story like that's running round I wonder there hasn't been a panic.'
`So many wild rumours have proved false in the last six months that the people don't take much notice of them any more. That the Emperor has called an Assembly of his Rases for tomorrow, too, is enough to ally any anxiety for the moment.'
`Say his army has been routed and the Italians manage to push right on to Addis. That will mean the end of the war, won't it?' asked Valerie.
The Belgian laughed. `Dear me, no, Mademoiselle, only the end of my job. The real capital of Abyssinia is not Addis but wherever the Emperor is. He'd just retreat into the mountains of the west until he's had time to rally his forces.'
The arrival of the young Abyssinian put an end to the discussion. After greeting them cheerfully he said that the Emperor was making an inspection of the military college that morning and wished them to be present. They must leave at once.
As they drove out to Oletta, where the officer's school was situated, Lovelace questioned their guide about the rumour.
`It is true the Emperor returned from the front with only a few retainers and on mule back,' Yohannes admitted, `but that was because he wished to travel by short cuts through the mountains and thus avoid demonstrations of loyalty on the way which would have delayed him. As for this tale that his regular army has been defeated, it is absurd. It has not yet been engaged
in any serious action. The Emperor has come back to
Addis only to make an announcement to his Rases of his plans for the coming months.'
Christopher thought he could guess what that announcement was to be. That, in return for a sweeping concession over all Abyssinian oil and mineral rights, many millions of pounds' worth of munitions would be forthcoming from Europe which would enable them to fight the Italians on more equal terms by the opening of next year's campaign.
`What would happen if the Italians did reach Addis?' Valerie asked_
Blatta Ingida Yohannes smiled. 'They would find themselves in a pretty mess. What would the good of the city be to them once we had removed our stores? And how, please, would they feed themselves through all the long months of the rains? The road becomes impassable in fifty places between here and Dessye. They could not bring up either reinforcements or supplies except by air. We should harass them from the surrounding mountains until they surrendered.'
'It would be a big loss to your prestige if they captured Addis, though.' Lovelace insisted. `Don't you think the Emperor might think it better then, to come to terms?'
`No, no. He would agree to no peace except through the League and in whatever part of Abyssinia he made his headquarters, that would be the new capital.'
'What would happen if he was killed fighting, or in an air raid?'
'Ah, that would be different. Abyssinia without Haile Selassie would be like a body from which the head has been cut off.'
Shortly afterwards they arrived at the Military Academy and pulled up at the side of a barrack square where numerous companies of natives were drilling.
To their amazement they found that these cadets, who were to officer the armies in a few months' time, averaged no more than fifteen years of age; but Blatta, Ingida Yohannes explained that his countrymen reached Maturity early and experience had proved them to make first class soldiers when still in their teens.
The young soldiers performed various evolutions with speed and precision at the orders of their Belgian instructor officers. They were all in smart new uniforms and carried modem rifles, in fact they differed in appearance from the O.T.C. of an English public school only n their black or coffee coloured faces, and the point hat their uniforms ended at their ankles. The soles of Abyssinian feet have been inured to rocky ground for generations, and, as yet, only the Emperor's immediate entourage have submitted to the acute discomfort imposed by the wearing of boots.
As she watched them drilling Valerie's thoughts were taken, for a moment, from her own gnawing .anxieties. Unless the war was stopped these children would be flung into the battle in a few short weeks. How could they hope to stand against the Italians and all those vast stores of modern death dealing equipment Which she had seen at Assab and Massawa. It would be sheer massacre and her heart bled for them.