What was that? A firefly? No, a light. The other man had discovered a
hut, and had procured a lighted palm tassel dipped in oil. Poor as it
was the light served to show the way until the path was reached.
After sore toil they gained the Mission yard. The men laid the
stretcher in an open shed and, overcome with their exertions, threw
themselves down anywhere and went asleep. But there was no rest yet for
Mary. Securing some old doors and sheets of iron she patched up a room
for the woman, In which she could pass the night.
The children were awakened and crawled out of Iye's hut into the yard
crying in sleepy misery. Jean and Annie carried them to the Mission
House and put them to bed, and brought back some hot food for the
patient, who was constantly moaning, "Cold, cold; give me a fire."
Not till she was fed and soothed did Mary give in. She could not summon
sufficient strength to go upstairs, but lay down on the floor where she
was, with her clothes on, and all the dirt of the journey upon her, and
slept till daybreak.
The baby died next day, and the mother hovered at the point of death.
Mary strove hard to save her, but the result was doubtful from the
first. None in the yard would give any help save Jean; the woman was a
social leper, and all sat at a safe distance, dumb or blaspheming.
Conscious at the end, the poor girl cried piteously to her husband not
to reproach her. "It is not my fault," she said, "I did not mean to
insult you."
"Ma" placed her hand on her hot brow calming her, and prayed that she
might find an entrance into a better world than the one which had
treated her so badly. When she passed away she thrust aside the leper
woman whom her people sent to assist her, and washed the body herself
and dressed her so that for once a twin-mother was honoured in her
death. She was placed in a coffin of corrugated iron, strengthened with
bamboo splints, and beside her were put the spoons and pot and dish and
other things which she had used.
Her husband and his slave bore her away into the bush, and there at a
desolate spot, where no one was likely to live or plant or build, they
left her and stole from the place in terror.
XXXVIII. WITH LOVING-KINDNESS CROWNED
On the fifteenth anniversary of that notable Sunday in 1888 when Mary
settled at Ekenge, the first communion service in Okoyong was held. It
crowned her service there, and put a seal upon the wonderful work she
had accomplished for civilisation and for Christ. Alone, she had done
in Okoyong what it had taken a whole Mission to do in Calabar. The old
order of heathenism had been broken up, the business of life was no
longer fighting and killing, women were free from outrage and the death
menace, slaves had begun to realise that they were human beings with
human rights, industry and trade were established, peace reigned. Above
all, people were openly living the Christian life, and many lads were
actively engaged in Church work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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