396 CAESAR IN ABYSSINIA

who is a good Protestant, writes that she was " recumbent,"
but in my view she was only an Irish Catholic.

The crew of the pick-up went down the town to see if
any more respectable wedding garments could be found in
my house.

Bedlam must literally have been let loose here, for the
front steps were strewn with hay. Inside, not a stitch of
clothing remained, only the scattered parts of boot-trees.
All the furniture had gone, including vaunted fixtures like
the wall-divans. Not quite all. The heavy desk, emblem
of the distasteful intellectual effort of the West, had been
revengefully stripped and kicked about, and the dining-
room table, cracked across the top and legs, lay in a floppy
invertebrate condition, only just bearing up in table
formation.

There were two bullet holes drilled through the glass to
show that the house had been attacked. Eventually, I
found, the servants had given in and combined to sack
Ras Mulugeta Bet.

They had taken pretty nearly everything except my
Saturday morning bath water. In this floated, unassailed
1 and ineffective as the Mediterranean Fleet, my sponge and
my loofah.

The shiftas had not stopped to read the latest unopened
copies of The Times which littered the floor of the front
salon.

In the garden and the garage they had left behind two
brand new tyres for my burnt car, a pick-axe, a bucket and
an oil-sump : and Taylor picked up the largest unexploded
cartridge that he had ever seen. We labelled it elephant-
hunter's pom-pom, wrenched away the Government tele-
phone as a memento, and got back to the Legation late for
the marriage ceremony.

They were all there. The bride in utilitarian woollies,
(later she ordered a khaki going-away, or rather expulsion
two-piece from the Libanese couturier at the station). The
Padre's lone dog-collar was just pure enough for the
occasion. Taylor took his place at the bride's side and first
the Consul then the Padre expeditiously settled our future.
There was a delicate titter in the congregation when all