"God bless you, Ma. I am going to let you use the king's canoe for this
trip. My rowers can take you there swiftly. They will do anything you ask,
because they love you."
"Thank you, King Eyo; that will help me very much."
King Eyo fixed up his canoe for Mary, as though she were a queen. He put a
carpet in it, and many cushions. He put a sort of tent on it so that Mary
could be alone when she wanted to be. The boat was loaded with homemade
bread, canned meat, rice, and tea.
At last everything was ready for the trip into the wild country. Mary said
good-by to her friends, the missionaries, and to her native friends. Then
the thirty-five rowers pushed out from the shore and headed upstream toward
the wild country. On both sides of the river were banana and palm
trees. There were beautiful plants and flowers of many colors. The light
shimmered on the flowing river as the rowers pulled the oars and sang their
songs.
"What will happen if the Okoyongs are on the warpath?" Mary asked
herself. "What will I do then?" Mary knew the answer. "I will put my trust
in God and not in man."
She lay back on the cushions and prayed to God to protect her in the wild
country and to lead her in His way. The rowers rowed swiftly and sent the
canoe shooting up the river toward the wild country.
"There is the landing place," said the chief rower. "Now we must walk the
rest of the way to Ekenge."
Mary got out of the boat. The rowers followed her. They carried the
packages Mary had brought with her. They began to walk through the
jungle. It was four miles to Ekenge where Chief Edem lived. As they came
near to the little village of mud huts, the chief rower whispered to Mary,
"There is Chief Edem. Praise God, he is at home and sober."
Mary, too, thanked God that the Okoyongs were not on the warpath and she
asked God's blessing on her visit with them.
When the people of Ekenge saw Mary they began to jump up and down and
shout,
"Welcome, Ma. Welcome to Ekenge."
Chief Edem bowed to her and said, "You are welcome Ma Mary. It is an honor
to have you come to us. We are happy because you did not come with
soldiers. We know now that you trust us. I have set aside a house for you
as long as you stay with us."
"Thank you, Chief Edem. I am happy to be here."
"This is my sister, Ma Eme," said the chief. Mary liked Ma Eme at once and
Ma Eme liked Mary. They were friends as long as they lived.
"I want to go to visit the next village now," said Mary. "I want to go to
Ifako."
"Oh, no, Ma," said Chief Edem. "The chief is a very bad man. He is not fit
for you to meet. Besides he is drunk now and he doesn't know what is going
on. You must stay at Ekenge."
"Very well," said Mary, "I will stay, but call the people together so that
I can have a Jesus-talk."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account