I am wroth with those pilots in that they so far wandered from the course they should have taken, for of a surety if fortune had not intermeddled in the mistake of that voyage, the victory would have been much more perfect. But the blame for this was not so much with the pilots as with the darkness of the night, for although they had been there before, the previous occasions were not so many that these men could fairly be blamed very much for their mistakes at this time. Perhaps, too, the true cause of the misadventure was the water, which was at the neap, so that our men found it in many places so shallow that they could not float[AB]; so that finding themselves on dry ground they were compelled to wait for the aid of the flood tide, which they did not get till it was high noon. Oh, what complaints were to be heard among our men at seeing themselves thus hindered of their purpose by something in which their strength could avail nothing. "Ah, God," said they, "Thou willest to be less favourable to this our enterprise than Thou hast been many times to others, who had not so fervent a purpose to serve Thee This day, on which Thy Holy Name might have cause to be so much glorified and our honour so much exalted, Thou givest place to the feeble power of one element of Thy creation, which is of force to hinder us. Have mercy on us by Thy sacred pity, and aid us, for we are Thy servants, sinners though we be, for the greatness of Thy benignity is more than the multitude of our sins. And if Thou didst exert Thy power to open a way for the Children of Israel through the midst of the waters, and madest the sun to turn back at the request of Joshua against the course of Nature, why wilt Thou not show as great a favour to this Thy people, so that Thy miracle may appear before our eyes, and that these waters may rise before their time, and that our voyage may be directed to gain a perfect victory." [Footnote AB: Their boats.]