knew where to find, though I did not. Meanwhile, the coachman, who
had sufficiently the outside of a man, excused himself from
intermeddling under pretence that he durst not leave his horses, and
so left me to shift for myself; and I was gone so far beyond my
knowledge, that I understood not which way I was to go, till by
halloing, and being halloed to again, I was directed where to find
my company.

We had easy means to have found out who these men were (the
principal of them having been in the daytime at the inn, and both
quarrelled with the coachman, and threatened to be even with him
when he went back); but since they came off no better in their
attempt, my father thought it better not to know them, than to
oblige himself to a prosecution of them.

At that time, and for a good while after, I had no regret upon my
mind for what I had done, and designed to have done, in this case,
but went on in a sort of bravery, resolving to kill, if I could, any
man that should make the like attempt or put any affront on us; and
for that reason seldom went afterwards upon those public services
without a loaded pistol in my pocket. But when it pleased the Lord,
in his infinite goodness, to call me out of the spirit and ways of
the world, and give me the knowledge of his saving truth, whereby
the actions of my fore-past life were set in order before me, a sort
of horror seized on me, when I considered how near I had been to the
staining of my hands with human blood. And whensoever afterwards I
went that way, and indeed as often since as the matter has come into
my remembrance, my soul has blessed the Lord for my deliverance, and
thanksgivings and praises have arisen in my heart (as now at the
relating of it, they do) to Him who preserved and withheld me from