Mrs. Day laughed, and her laugh made David for some strange reason
sober.
"Why, your eyes are full of tears!" said she. "There isn't anything to
cry about!"
David did not explain; he continued to eat with one hand while he held
the umbrella with the other. His tears were not tears of sorrow, but
tears of joy. Said he to himself:
"I used to say, 'If only I had someone to care for me!' and now I have."
But his heart was not at rest. When the supper was finished, he walked
to the door and looked out. Again the thunder of the rain had ceased,
the sun was shining brightly, and mist was rising from the earth. He
could see with his mind's eye the thick jungle extending hundreds of
miles away and growing darker and darker. It was not the thought of the
jungle which troubled him, but of the inhabitants whose hearts were
darker than their skins, darker than the shadows of night which would
soon settle down. He had now a new question to trouble his peace.
"What can one man do?" he said to himself.
* * * * *
Ten more years passed, and this morning the sun shone clear and
unclouded. The rains were over, and fine weather was certain for weeks
to come. David remembered as he rose that the eleventh anniversary of
his coming to Africa had passed unnoticed. He had an important matter
on his mind and he dressed quickly and came and stood at the doorway of
the mission house, waiting a little impatiently for his breakfast.
The mission house had changed in appearance; the roof was sound and the
floor safe to walk upon and there was comfortable furniture everywhere.
Even more changed was the aspect of everything without. It seemed as
though on all sides the jungle had been pushed back and the sunlight
had been let in. Before the mission house was a garden; near by stood a
chapel; here were dormitories; there were workshops. Surrounding the
mission grounds were plantations of coffee trees.
Not only were there pleasant things to look at, but there were pleasant
things to hear, the sound of children singing, the cheerful jingling of
the breakfast dishes, and, above all, the soft pleasant splash of the
waterfall in the river.
There were even funny sounds. A pet monkey sat on the porch railing and
chattered at David—whom, by the way, we should now call Mr. Day. The
poor monkey had yesterday learned a lesson which all naughty creatures
must learn, to keep his hands away from that which did not belong to
him. His aim in life was mischief; he liked to steal, to tear down
pictures from the wall, to open ink bottles and smear ink over nice
clean paper, or, better still, over paper which had been laboriously
covered with reports.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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