SHOOTING IN SLEEP (?) 659 



with him again, and was received with absolute confidence. 

 That very night, as Mr. Stanley was about falling asleep, he 

 heard a shot, and a bullet tore through his tent, only a few 

 inches above his body. Snatching up his revolvers he rushed 

 out of the tent, and asked the men around the watch-fires, " Who 

 shot?" They had all jumped up, startled by the report. 



"Who fired that gun?" "Bana Mdogo " (little master), 

 said one of the men. This was the title by which Shaw was 

 known. Lighting a candle, Stanley walked with it to Shaw's 

 tent, and after calling him several times succeeded in getting 

 a response. Faining to be half asleep, Shaw said, " Eh — eh, 

 fire, me fire did you say ? I've been asleep." But his gun was 

 lying by him. Stanley put his hand on it, the barrel was still 

 warm, and the mark of fresh-burnt powder was on his hand. 

 The man then tried to excuse himself by saying that he had 

 been dreaming, and thought that he was shooting a robber. 

 There could be no doubt in Mr. Stanley's mind that this was a 

 deliberate attempt to murder him. Looking back over the way 

 he had been led, he felt constrained to thank God for his 

 goodness ; and is it not a notable coincidence that, at almost the 

 same hour in which the Banian slaves were plotting for the 

 destruction of Dr. Livingstone, a similar peril should have 

 been impending the life of Mr. Stanley? — and both were 

 spared. Surely there can be no doubt that the same watchful 

 eye was over them both, and that the same Providence which 

 revealed the wicked purposes of the Banians disappointed the 

 murderous intention of the white man. 



