Part 11 (2/2)
CHAPTER xxxIX
FAINT YET PURSUING
HURRYING still onwards, we caround called Aneai, _i e_ Heaven The sun was oppressively hot, the path almost unshaded, and our whole party very exhausted, especially Faioods So here he sat down on the village dancing-ground for a s, ”Missi, I am near my own land now We can rest with safety”
In a few minutes, however, he started up, he and his e and above it, there cas, and anon the trao got up and planted his back against a tree I stood beside him, and the Aneityumese woman and the two men stood near me, while his e body of the tallest andon and filled the dancing-ground They were all arer had informed them of our escape, probably from Miaki, and they had crossed the country to intercept us
Faio on in that path, you and your Aneityumese; and I will follohen I have had a smoke and a talk with these men”
I replied, ”No, I will stand by your side till you go; and if I am killed, it will be by your side, I will not leave you”
He io on, but that I kneould be certain death They began urging one another to kill us, but I looked round the, ”My Jehovah God will punish you here and hereafter, if you kill -stone, thrown by one of the savages, grazed poor old Abrahaave such a look at me, and then upwards, as if to say, ”Missi, I was nearly away to Jesus” A club was also raised to follow the blow of the killing-stone, but God baffled the ai another to strike the first blow, or fire the first shot My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I saw Hi all the scene In that awful hour I beheld His oords, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of Heaven: ”Seek, and ye shall find Whatsoever ye shall ask in My nalorified in the Son” I could understand how Stephen and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed up through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne!
Yet I never could say that on such occasions I was entirely without fear Nay, I have felt , and ht close to a violent death, butushered into Eternity and appearing before God Still, I was never left without hearing that pro up through the darkness and the anguish, ”Lo, I am with you alway;” And with Paul I could say, even in this dread , ”I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
Faio on in the path I said, ”Faio, why are we to leave you? My God heard your promise not to betray me He knohat is in your heart and in mine I will not leave you; and if I am to die, I will die by your side”
He replied, ”Now, I go on before; Missi, keep close to one, and I persuaded o started after the with Jesus to protect me or to takeon each side with their weapons ready; but leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if they were my escort, or as if I saw them not If any reader wonders how they were restrained, much more would I, unless I believed that the sa Daniel held back these Savages fro our path With a bound all my party cleared it, ran up the bank opposite, and disappeared in the bush ”Faint yet pursuing,” I also tried the leap, but I struck the bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards the streast the branches of an overhanging tree, and I knew that a _Kawas_ had been thrown, and that that branch had savedmy God, I scrambled up on the other side, and followed the track of azed after me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the strea to the village and another pressing inland With what gratitude did I recognize the Invisible One who brought their counsels to confusion
I foundin the bush, and a for o and hisa little ashamed of their oardice He now ascended the mountain and kept away froe enemies to the Worshi+p were ready to shoot us But I kept close to our guide, knowing that the fear of shooting hi at me, as he was the most influential Chief in all that section of the island
One party said, ”Miaki and Karewick said that Missi ht to kill hio replied, ”They lie about Missi! It is our own bad conduct that makes us sick”
They answered, ”We don't knoho ht us to kill all Foreignclub and spear, exclai betwixt theo now sent his own uided us hi down, he said, ”Missi, I have now fulfilled o farther My love to you all Now go on quickly! Three of o with you to the next rocks Go quickly! Farewell”
These o!
Faio is at ith the people of the next land Youthis path” So they turned and ran back to their own village
To us this district was especially perilous Many years ago the Aneityuainst the Tannese of this tribe, and the thirst for revenge yet existed in their hearts, handed down from sire to son Most providentially the men were absent on a war expedition, andonly three lads and a great number of women and children, who ran off to the bush in terror In the evening the enraged savages of another district assaulted the people of the shore villages for allowing us to pass, and, though sparing their lives, broke in pieces their weapons of war--a very grievous penalty
In the next district, as we hasted along the shore, two youngspears I took the useless revolver out ofit cried, ”Beware!
Lay down your spears at once on the sand, and carryat the Black Rocks”
They threw their spears on the sand, lifted the bag, and ran on before us to the rocks which for it down, they said appealingly, ”Missi, let us return to our ho the pursuit of their foes
In the next landnone After that ds all along, some friendly, others unfriendly, but they let us pass on, and with the blessing of Alhty God we drew dear to Mr Mathieson's Station in safety Here a reatly required, having tasted nothing all that day, and very little for several days before We were so weak that only the struggle for life enabled us to keep our feet; yet my poor Aneityumese never coer and excite of God ere now approaching the Mission House, praising God for His wonderful deliverances
Hearing of our co toht I was dead! They were themselves both very weak; their only child had just been laid in the grave, and they were in great grief and in greater peril We praised the Lord for peruidance, and protection; and resolved now, in all events, to stand by each other till the last