Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/606

578 there is no time to lose, said I, allow me to give you mine. It has appeared to me, that often, since we began this journey, we have been preserved by visible instances of God's protection, when we should have lost our lives if we had gone by the rules of our own judgment only. We are, it is true, of different religions, but all worship the same God. Suppose the present case should be a trial, whether we trust really in God's protection, or whether we believe our safety owing to our own foresight and courage. If the man's life be now taken away, to-morrow we may meet the Bishareen, and then we shall all reflect upon the folly of our precaution. For my own part, my constant creed is, that I am in God's hands, whether in the house or in the desert; and not in those of the Bishareen, or of any lawless spoiler. I have a clear conscience, and am engaged in no unlawful pursuit, seeking on foot my way home, feeding on bread and water, and have done, nor design, wrong to no man. We are well armed, are nine in number, and have twice as many firelocks, many of these with double-barrels, and others of a size never before seen by Arabs, armies of whom have been defeated with fewer: we are ragged and tattered in our clothes, and no prize to any one, nor do I think we shall be found a party of pleasure for any set of wild young men, to leave their own homes, with javelins and lances to way-lay us at the well for sport and diversion, since gain and profit are out of the question. But this I declare to you, if ever we meet these Arabs, if the ground is such as has been near all the wells we have come to, I will fight the Bishareen boldly and chearfully, without a doubt of beating them with ease. I do not say my feelings would be the same if my conscience was loaded with that most heinous and horrid crime, mur