74 Central Africa. 
kill, two more will step in to fill up the gap. , If I die, re- 
member it will only give fi-esh impulse to our mission/ On 
one occasion they armed all their principal slaves, and with 
a body of two hundred armed men approached our house. 
According to custom, I received the Arabs in a friendly way, 
and asked them to sit down inside. I had then about 
twenty of these Arabs filling my principal room. This was 
a critical moment. There were Mr. Hutley and myself 
quite alone and apparently helpless, in the hands of this 
lawless crowd ; they completely filled and surrounded our 
house. There were three large windows in our principal 
room, just a yard or two from where we stood, and through 
the bars of the windows the slaves and followers of the 
Arabs pointed their guns. With their fingers on the triggers, 
they shouted to their masters to give the word of command, 
but they could not ; some wonderful power restrained them, 
and they could only talk excitedly among themselves. At 
length one of the Arabs, securing the attention of the others, 
said these words : * The house is full of goods, let us empty 
it now, and destroy these men by one stroke.' The excited 
mob were now yelling and dancing in our verandah and 
hall, flourishing spears and guns, and begging their masters 
to give the word for the onslaught to commence. The 
Arabs only saw two calm faces, and only heard a quiet 
request to state their business and talk it over quietly. But 
One all-powerful to save, heard two earnest prayers for help, 
and the next moment those Arabs were literally crushing one 
another in the doorway^ in their anxiety to get out. One of 
their leaders had risen from his seat, and said, * Let us get 
out,' when that rush was made and we were left alone," 
Since then sickness has fallen heavily on the agents of 
the mission, and one after another they have been com- 
pelled to seek rest and change for a time. One has died 
