"No, white Ma, I cannot let you go. This is elephant country. The elephants go wild and run over everything in the jungle. These stampedes have been so bad my people have had to leave off farming and make their living by fishing. I cannot let you go. You might get hurt or killed." One night Mary saw that the people looked very angry. Some were sad. "What is the matter?" asked Mary. "Two of the king's young wives have done wrong. They have broken a law," answered one of the natives. "They thought nobody was looking and went into a room where a young man was sleeping. Each of them will be hit a hundred times with a whip." Mary went to the king. She asked him to be kinder to these girls. She begged him not to beat them so much. "Ma, you are right," said the king. "I will call palaver of all the chiefs. If you say we must not whip girl, we must listen to you as our guest and Ma. But the people will say God's Word be no good, if it keeps the law from punishing those who do wrong." Mary saw the king was right. She turned to the girl-wives of the king. "You have brought shame to the king and the tribe by the silly foolish things you did. God's Word teaches men to be kind and merciful and generous, but it does not pass over sin or permit it. I cannot ask the king not to punish you. Ask God to help you in the future, so that you will not do bad or foolish things." All the chief men of the tribe grunted their approval of what Mary had said to the girls. But then Mary turned to the chief men and said: "You are to blame. Your custom of one man marrying many wives is wrong and cruel. These girls are only sixteen years old and still love fun and play. They are too young to be married. They meant no real harm." The men did not like to hear that. They did not like to hear that their ways were wrong. "If punishment is hard," said the old men, "wife and slave will be afraid to disobey." "King Okon," said Mary, "show that you are a good king by being kind and merciful. Don't be too hard on these young girls." "All right, Ma," said the king, "I will make it only ten blows with the whip. Also we will not rub salt into the wounds to make them sting." When the whipping was over, Mary took the girls into her room. There she put healing medicine on their backs while she told them about Jesus who could heal their souls. At last it was time for Mary to go back to Old Town. The king and the people were sorry to see her go. On her homeward way a tropical storm struck the canoe and the people in it. Mary was soaked. The next morning she was shaking with sickness and fever. The rowers feared their white Ma would die. They rowed as fast as they could for Old Town. Mary was so sick that she had to take a long rest. A few months later a big storm tore off the roof of her house and again she was soaked as she worked to save the children. Again she became very sick.