In the morning Petros was still ill and feverish from fatigue and fright. However, Bruce left him, and, accompanied by Aylo, again proceeded towards Koscam. They were just entering the palace door when they saw a numerous procession of monks and priests, carrying a large cross, also a picture in an old, dirty gilt frame; and they were informed that three great saints from Waldubba, one of whom declared that he had neither eaten nor drank for twenty years, had come to cure Welled Hawaryat by laying upon him a cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary; in consequence of which, Bruce was requested not to meddle with the patient. "I assure you, Ayto Aylo," replied Bruce, "I shall strictly obey you. If they can cure him by a miracle, I am sure it is the easiest kind of cure of any, and will not do his constitution the least harm afterward, which is more than I will promise for medicines in general; but remember what I say to you, it will be a miracle indeed if both the father and daughter are not dead before to-morrow night." After the procession, in great solemnity, had passed, Aylo again went to the iteghe. Bruce was then formally introduced, and, according to the custom of Abyssinia, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground, falling first on his knees, then on the palms of his hands, and lastly touching the earth with his forehead. Aylo then said, "This is our gracious mistress; you may safely say before her whatever is in your heart." "Our first discourse," says Bruce, "was about Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, Calvary, the City of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with the situations of which she was perfectly well acquainted. She then asked me to tell her truly if I was not a Frank. 'Madam,' said I, 'if I was a Catholic, which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater folly than my concealing this from you in the beginning, after the assurance Ayto Aylo has just now given; and, in confirmation of the truth I am now telling (she had a large Bible lying on the table before her, upon which I laid my hand), I declare to you, by all those truths contained in this book, that my religion is more different from the Catholic than yours is; that there has been more blood shed between the Catholics and us, on account of the difference of religion, than ever was between you and the Catholics in this country: even at this day, when men are become wiser and cooler in many parts of the world, it would be full as safe for a Jesuit to preach in the market-place of Gondar, as for any priest of my religion to present himself as a teacher in the most civilized of Frank or Catholic countries.' 'How is it, then,' says she, 'that you do not believe in miracles?'