"It was easy to see," continues Bruce, "that fear of their own lives only, and not cruelty, was the reason they sought that of the Arab. They answered me, two or three of them at once, 'that it was all very well; what should they do? should they give themselves up to the Bishareen, and be murdered? was there any other way of escaping?' 'I will tell you, then,' says Bruce, 'since you ask me, what you should do: you shall follow the duty of self-defence and self-preservation as far as you can do it without a crime. You shall leave the women and the child where they are, and with them the camels, to give them and their child milk; you shall chain the husband's right hand to the left of some of yours, and you shall each of you take him by turns till we shall carry him into Egypt. Perhaps he knows the desert and the wells better than Idris; and if he should not, still we have two hybeers instead of one; and who can foretell what may happen to Idris more than to any other of us? But as he knows the stations of his people, and their courses at particular seasons, that day we meet one Bishareen, the man that is chained with him and conducts him shall instantly stab him to the heart, so that he shall not see, much less triumph, in the success of his treachery. On the contrary, if he is faithful, and informs Idris where the danger is and where we are to avoid it, keeping us rather by scanty wells than abundant ones, on the day I arrive safely in Egypt I will clothe him anew, as also his women, give him a good camel for himself, and a load of dora for them all. As for the camels we leave here, they are she ones, and necessary to give the women food. They are not lame, it is said; but we shall lame them in earnest, so that they shall not be able to carry a messenger to the Bishareen before they die with thirst in the way, both they and their riders, if they should attempt it.'" Universal applause followed this speech; Idris, above all, expressed his warmest approbation. The man and the women were sent for, and had their sentence repeated to them. Having expected death, they all cheerfully subscribed to the conditions; and the woman declared she would as soon see her child die as be the cause of any harm befalling them; and that, if a thousand Bishareen should pass, she well knew how to mislead them all, and that none of them should follow till they were far out of danger. Bruce accordingly sent two Barbarins to lame the camels effectually, but not so as to injure them past recovery. After which, for the nurse and the child's sake, he took twelve handfuls of the bread which was their only food, and which, indeed, they could scarcely spare, and left it to this miserable family.