DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0165
1$0 TRAVELS IN UPPER
There was no time to be lost; I made my com-
panions take the oars, which the darkness pre-
vented us from finding so soon as we could have
wished ; I sprung to the helm, and, encouraging
my new and very inexperienced sailors, we suc-
ceeded in making our escape from a repetition of
shocks, by which we must all, at length, have
inevitably perished; for scarcely had we gained,
after several efforts, the middle of the river, when
a piece of hardened mild, of an enormous size,
tumbled down at the very spot we had just
quitted, and which must, had we been but a few-
minutes later, have carried us to the bottom.
We crossed to the opposite shore, where we
fastened the boat, as well as we could, waiting
till the daylight should discover to us where we
were, and enable us to recover our Egyptian
sailors. But it was not long before we perceived
them ; not seeing the boat, they had thrown them-
selves into the river to swim, and had gained the
shore in pursuit of it, till they got intelligence
respecting our fate. The idea of the dangers to
which they had exposed us, was too recent not to
procure for them some effects of our resentment;
and I could not prevent my companions from be-
labouring them soundly with the very same oars
ofjfWhich they had been obliged to make so un-
pleasant
There was no time to be lost; I made my com-
panions take the oars, which the darkness pre-
vented us from finding so soon as we could have
wished ; I sprung to the helm, and, encouraging
my new and very inexperienced sailors, we suc-
ceeded in making our escape from a repetition of
shocks, by which we must all, at length, have
inevitably perished; for scarcely had we gained,
after several efforts, the middle of the river, when
a piece of hardened mild, of an enormous size,
tumbled down at the very spot we had just
quitted, and which must, had we been but a few-
minutes later, have carried us to the bottom.
We crossed to the opposite shore, where we
fastened the boat, as well as we could, waiting
till the daylight should discover to us where we
were, and enable us to recover our Egyptian
sailors. But it was not long before we perceived
them ; not seeing the boat, they had thrown them-
selves into the river to swim, and had gained the
shore in pursuit of it, till they got intelligence
respecting our fate. The idea of the dangers to
which they had exposed us, was too recent not to
procure for them some effects of our resentment;
and I could not prevent my companions from be-
labouring them soundly with the very same oars
ofjfWhich they had been obliged to make so un-
pleasant