“The water on this route is scarce and bad,” he argued again. “God has said, ‘Do not throw yourselves with your own hands unto destruction.’”
“God will quench the thirst of the true believer,” I answered, “and will protect those who have faith in Him.”
He felt himself in danger of being beaten in argument and shifted his ground.
“None of my men are willing to accompany you on this route,” he asserted, “and I cannot send my camels either. It is sending them to death. If you find anybody who is willing to hire his camels I am ready to pay for them, but neither my men nor my camels are going to take you on this journey.”
“Do what you like,” I retorted with spirit. “I am going by this route. It will be between you and Sayed Idris when he knows that Bu Helega has not kept his word.”
There the argument rested. I had already learned that the few owners of camels at Kufra had been urged by Bu Helega and his men not to help me in my new plan. He hoped by so doing to force me to accept his plan of the safe route through Wadai.
An enormous lunch was provided by Jeddawi. The three days of official hospitality of El Abid having ended yesterday, Jeddawi, as Idris’s wakil at Kufra, can now entertain us.
Bu Helega was about to leave, but I invited him to partake of our meal, and he accepted. He hoped still to persuade me to change my mind. I hoped even more strongly to convince the old man that the route was not as dangerous as he made it out to be. After the third glass of tea we parted, neither of us having succeeded in convincing the other. But I felt that my last words had an effect on him.
THE EXPLORER’S KITCHEN IN A CAVE