At this point Stanley reveals one of his strongest characteristics, which we mentioned in the sketch of him at the beginning of the book--the Napoleonic quality of relying on himself. Ordinary well-established principles and rules often condemned the action of Bonaparte--results approved them. So ordinary prudence would have turned Stanley back as it did Cameron--the stories told him of the character of the tribes in advance--the obstacles he would have to encounter, all the mystery, perils and uncertainty of the future--the universal warning and fearful prognostications of those who were supposed to know best--his isolated condition in the heart of Africa--all things that could surround a man to deter him in his actions, were gathered there around that lonely man at that outpost of civilized enterprise; yet, falling back on himself, rising superior to all outward influences, gauging all the probabilities and possibilities by his own clear perceptions and indomitable will, he determined to push forward. If he could not get canoes, which he feared he could not any more than Cameron, then he would try to follow the river by land; if that failed, he would make canoes in the African forest; if he could not go peaceably, he would fight his way, and not turn back till deserted by his own men and left alone in the midst of a savage, hostile people. This determination, under the circumstances, shows him to be no ordinary character, and marks him as one who in a revolution would control the stormy elements around him and mount to power or to the scaffold. There were also minor obstacles attending this desperate effort to trace the Lualaba to the sea. He had thirteen women in his expedition, wives of his chief Arabs, some of them with young children, others in various stages of pregnancy, who would be delivered of children before they reached the Atlantic coast, and under what circumstances the hour of travail might come no one knew. It might be in the hour of battle, or in the desperate race for life, when one hour's delay would be total ruin to the expedition and death to all. It might be in the struggle and fight around a cataract, or in the day of extreme famine. A thousand things had to be taken into consideration before resolving on this desperate movement. But no matter, the obstacles might even be more formidable than represented, the risk tenfold greater, his mind was made up--the secrets of that mysterious river he would unlock, or his last struggles and mysterious fate would add one more to the secrets it held.