John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
I seized the paddle nearest me; I ordered Abraham to seize another
within his reach; I enjoined Matthew to bail the canoe for life, and the
lad to keep firm in his seat, and I cried,—
“Stand to your post, and let us return! Abraham, where is now your faith
in Jesus? Remember, He is Ruler on sea as on land. Abraham, pray and ply
your paddle! Keep up stroke for stroke with me, as our lives depend on
it. Our God can protect us. Matthew, bail with all your might. Don’t
look round on the sea and fear. Let us pray to God and ply our paddles,
and He will save us yet!”
Dear old Abraham said,—
“Thank you for that, Missi. I will be strong. I pray to God and ply my
paddle. God will save us!”
With much labour, and amid deadly perils, we got the canoe turned; and
after four hours of a terrible struggle, we succeeded, towards daylight
as the tide turned, in again reaching smooth water. With God’s blessing
we at last reached the shore, exactly where we had left it five hours
ago!
Now drenched and weary, with the skin of our hands sticking to the
paddles, we left the canoe on the reef and waded ashore. Many Natives
were there, and looked sullen and disappointed at our return. Katasian,
the lad who had been with us, instantly fled for his own land; and the
Natives reported that he was murdered soon after. Utterly exhausted, I
lay down on the sand and instantly fell into a deep sleep. By-and-by I
felt some one pulling from under my head the native bag in which I
carried my Bible and the Tannese translations—the all that had been
saved by me from the wreck! Grasping the bag, I sprang to my feet, and
the man ran away. My Teachers had also a hedging knife, a useless
revolver, and a fowling-piece, the sight of which, though they had been
under the salt water for hours, God used to restrain the savages.
Calling my Aneityumese near, we now in united prayer and kneeling on the
sands committed each other unto the Lord God, being prepared for the
last and worst.
As I sat meditating on the issues, Faimungo, the friendly Inland Chief,
again appeared to warn us of our danger, now very greatly increased by
our being driven back from the sea. All Nowar’s men had fled, and were
hid in the bush and in rocks along the shore; while Miaki was holding a
meeting not half a mile away, and preparing to fall upon us. Faimungo
said,—
“Farewell, Missi, I am going home. I don’t wish to see the work and the
murders of this morning.”
He was Nowar’s son-in-law. He had always been truthful and kindly with
me. His home was about half-way across the island, on the road that we
wanted to go, and under sudden impulse I said,—
“Faimungo, will you let us follow you? Will you show us the path? When
the Mission Ship arrives, I will give you three good axes, blankets,
knives, fish-hooks, and many things you prize.”
The late hurricanes had so destroyed and altered the paths, that only
Natives who knew them well could follow them. He trembled much and
said,—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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