[Sidenote: The Reward of Faith.] The devotion of Egede to these degraded people was not shared by the colonists and traders who had come with him. When the expected ship failed to appear in the spring they announced that they would return. They had already begun to tear down the buildings preparatory to their departure when the faith of Egede was rewarded. A ship arrived and with it the welcome news that the mission would be supported. During the summer, Egede, in his exploration of the various bays which indent the coast, discovered the ruins of one of the settlements which he had read about and which had seemed to beckon him to Greenland. There were only ruins remaining, but it seemed to this devoted soul that he could hear the echoes of Norwegian hymns and Norwegian prayers. The next year in a journey along the coast he found many other ruins, among them those of a church fifty by twenty feet with walls six feet thick. Nearby in the churchyard rested the bones of pastor and people. [Sidenote: A Devoted Wife.] Preaching, translating, trying to establish better methods of agriculture, now receiving aid from home, now apparently forgotten, Egede labored for fifteen years. Beside the heavenly assurance of ultimate victory his chief solace was the devotion of his wife. “She was confined to the monotony of their humble home, while he was called here and there by the duties of his office; but though its comforts were very scanty, she saw the ships from Norway come and go, and heard tidings from her native land without any desire to desert her work. Amid all his troubles her husband ever found her face serene and her spirit rejoicing in God. His greatest trial was the want of success in his work. Though many pretended to believe, he could find little change in heart or life, for those who affected to hear the Word with joy, among their own people still spoke of his instructions and prayers with derision.”[3] Footnote 3: _Ibid._ Presently a fort was established to protect the colony and the island from other nations, but the presence of armed men drove the islanders farther away. After the death of Frederick IV., the colonists were commanded to return to Denmark. Egede declined to go. In 1733 hope was once more kindled by the announcement that trade would be renewed and the mission be supported.