The Man Who Did the Right Thing: A RomanceJohnston, Harry
General
The Man Who Did the Right Thing: A Romance
Johnston, Harry
British -- Africa, East -- Fiction; Missions -- Tanzania -- Fiction
You may have heard some rumour of what has happened to us here. You
will find much of it described in the letter I have written to Mr. John
Baines’s mother. You can read this letter. Read it and then take
notes. You have several clerks and none of them with a broken head like
mine, I’ll be bound, and plenty of good pens, ink and stationery. All
I’ve got to write on is some old ruled exercise books and no envelopes.
Well, make up some sort of a letter out of what I’ve written to Mrs.
Baines senior, and then send it to the headquarters of the Mission in
London; and post the letter to her, Mrs. Baines, Tilehurst, Reading.
Tell them I’m recovering and I’m going to stay here till I am relieved
and even perhaps afterwards, supposing I and my husband get quite well.
You may be surprised at my change of surname, having known me as Miss
Jamblin. Just before the attack on our station (Hangodi) occurred I
went through a religious form of marriage with Mr. Ebenezer Anderson.
Mrs. John Baines had gone away—her husband sent her off to the coast in
the charge of Consul Brentham—and I did not think it right to stay at
the Mission with three men and me unmarried; so I accepted Mr.
Anderson’s proposal. Mr. Baines married us, but as I supposed it
wouldn’t be legal without we were married again before the Consul at
Unguja, we haven’t lived together as man and wife, and won’t till
everything can be made right and proper. I only mention this in case
either of us died.
You can also tell the big man at Unguja—Sir Godfrey Something—what has
happened in case he cares to know. I don’t suppose he does care. Those
big pots always sneer at Nonconformist Missionaries. But I want him to
know this. We should have all been killed and perhaps tortured and our
station might have been utterly destroyed and our people carried off
into slavery if it hadn’t been first for the Masai, and most of all for
an old Arab, Ali bin Ferhan—I think he spells his name. He’s written it
in Arabic on the piece of paper I enclose. He lives at Momoro, near the
Lingani River. Well, for reasons too long to give he no sooner heard we
were going to be attacked by the Ruga-ruga and the black Arabs (they
were led by that limb of the Devil, Ayub bin Majidi, whom they nickname
Mnazi-moja) than he came to our assistance. Mbogo and his people deserve
a gold medal—not that any one will give it—they’re only "Wa-shenzi" and
we’re only Nonconformists; they fought splendidly; but they were just
giving way when this old Arab—just like a picture of Abraham he is—came
up with a lot of his people armed with guns and carrying flags. And he
called off the fighting. After that the Ruga-ruga and their leaders
simply disappeared with all the plunder they could carry and we have
been at peace ever since, with Ali bin Ferhani camped here and keeping
guard over Ulunga. Ali doesn’t like the Germans. He always wanted his
beloved "Ekkels"—I suppose he means Sir James Eccles—to take the country
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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