I swear that I will be avenged, or die--or both." Again I saw my opportunity and said, "You must swear more than that, Robertson.

Only sober men can accomplish great things, for drink destroys the judgment.

If you wish to be avenged for the dead and to rescue the living, you must be sober, or I for one will not help you." "Will you help me if I do, to the end, good or ill, Quatermain ?" he added.
I nodded.
"That's as much as another's oath," he muttered.

"Still, I will put my thought in words.

I swear by God, by my mother--like these natives--and by my daughter born in honest marriage, that I will never touch another drop of strong drink, until I have avenged those poor women and their little children, and rescued Inez from their murderers.