It was sheer will-power that gained her a little strength to face the
ordeal of the official visit. She determined to make no change whatever
in the course of her daily life, and she was afraid the deputies might
not find things to their liking and be disappointed. They were the Rev.
James Adamson, M.A., B.Sc., of Bonnington, Leith, and the Rev. John
Lindsay, M.A., Bathgate, who was accompanied by Mrs. Lindsay. They
entered the Creek one market day, when it was crowded with canoes, and
the landing-beach--one for the missionaries had just been constructed
at Okopedi--was swarming with people, amongst whom the arrival of the
strangers caused the greatest excitement. On bicycles the party
proceeded uphill to Use. Mr. Adamson went on ahead, and at a spot where
a few rough steps were cut in the steep bank he saw a boy standing, He
called out, "Ma Slessor?" The boy signed to Mm to come--it was a short
cut to the house. Clambering up the bank and making his way through the
bush, Mr. Adamson came upon a little native hut. Miss Slessor advanced
to meet him. "Come awa in, laddie, oot o' the heat," was her greeting.
When the Lindsays arrived it was also her chief concern to get them
into the shade. Mr. Adamson was her guest, whilst the Lindsays went on
to Ikotobong. His room--an erection built out from the house--had mud
walls and a mat roof, and was furnished with a camp-bed, a box for
dressing-table and another for a washstand, and for company he had
abundance of spiders and beetles and lizards. He proved a delightful
guest. "He is a dear laddie," wrote Mary; "all the bairns are in love
with him, and so am I!"
While he was with her a woman came to the yard with twins. She had been
driven out of her house and town, and had come several miles to "Ma"
for shelter. Her husband and her father were with her--which denoted
some advance--and the three were crouched on the ground, a picture of
misery. The twins were lying in a basket and had not been touched. Mr.
Adamson helped "Ma" to attend to them, and she felt as proud of him as
of a son when she saw him sitting down beside the weeping mother and
gently trying to comfort her. She gave the parents some food and a hut
to sleep in, and made the man promise to stay until the morning.
Neither would, however, look at the twins, and they were given over to
the girls.
A service was held at which Mr. Lindsay was also present, and about a
hundred people attended. "Take our compliments to the people of your
country," the latter said to the deputies, "and tell them that our need
is great, and that we are in darkness and waiting for the light." What
astonished the natives was to see the white visitors standing up
courteously when spoken to by black men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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