From the camp by the falls of the river, as soon as the light of the morning broke on the eastern horizon, the carriers made their way homewards, loaded with heavy bundles of long poles, bearing a natural shine as smooth as that of prepared walnut tree pole.
The plain, which was so destitute of life two days before, was now covered with many thousands of animals. Wildebeest in vast numbers were running around in frantic gaiety. When the men of the caravan rose out of a low depression in the plateau, they came into unusually close contact with numbers of these creatures. Some of the old stallions leaped forward in curiosity, and then with a capering gallop dashed back to the herd behind them, and the whole mass of animals rushed past the caravan in a headlong run, making the ground tremble as if it had been moved by a sudden earthquake.
The porters were very anxious for some meat, but my husband refrained from shooting, for the men were so heavily burdened with palms that they could not carry another pound. As the day advanced the men pressed forward in the sweltering heat while the burning sun glowed in scorching fury. The dancing, quivering rays of light, which fell upon the herds of striped zebra and the troops of spotted giraffe, transformed them into weird, phantom-like spectacles.
When the sun was going down there appeared away in the distance charming scenes of mirage, luring the men homewards to their huts, from which they were still separated by twenty miles of burning plain. Some of those in the rear were already dropping out of the ranks and throwing down their loads for desire of water. Our little son was sent forward on his donkey a mile ahead, to inform the men in front to stop at the first gully and make a search for water.
Eventually the caravan reached the dry bed of a stream, where deep holes were soon dug in a basin-like dip in the course of the brook, with the result that the thirsty porters were refreshed and able to rest peacefully until both sun and temperature were considerably lower.
With the evening breeze, which forever follows the sun from east to west in the Equatorial Regions, the caravan made its way with accelerated speed towards the thick bush which clothed the boundary of the plain where the night camp was to be pitched, for already all hope of reaching the station that day had been given up.
The red ball of fire had dropped below the horizon and the night was quickly approaching, when the dark line of trees to which the caravan was hurrying was still in the faint distance, leaving a march of an hour or more to be accomplished in the darkness, for the moon was not due to rise until three hours after sunset. The many antelope had already fled from the open plain to the bush for shelter, and there also the carnivores had gone forth from their lairs. The men bravely plodded on, and as the caravan entered the thick line of jungle growth, the roar of a lion in their immediate surrounding area sent a thrill through everyone.
In a short time huge fires were kindled, and as thick limb and leafy branch were added to the burning piles, the red blaze leaped up high enough to give perfect security to the weary and hungry natives, who nestled around the reassuring flames. The dry logs of fuel which the men had brought into camp from the surrounding jungle were so large, that it was not considered necessary to appoint watchers for the night to keep up the fires, and for this reason every man in camp was soon fast asleep, and unaware of the fact that carnivores roved the wilderness around.
Starting from camp by moonlight, the Mission Station was reached at dawn the following morning, and the first stage in the building of the wattle-and-daub erections in the heart of Africa had been achieved. Many tons of grass were then pulled from the nearby hills and carried to the selected site.
When one of the houses was thatched and nearing completion it had a very narrow escape from destruction by fire. On a Sunday morning, just after two meetings had been held, one for our own workers and another for a group of natives from a distance, the roar of a jungle fire could be heard in the valley below us. It was, however, so far away at the time and the weather so calm that no attention was given to the matter.
In the course of an hour, when all our men had gone to visit their native friends, it was noticed that a strong breeze had sprung up, which was blowing directly from the valley towards the new building. My husband and I went down to observe the path of the fire, and were startled when we found the flames approaching the building at a very rapid speed, while the breeze seemed to increase with every minute of time.
The new building was resting on a grassy plateau, and was surrounded with lots of thatching grass, piles of leftover timber and all kinds of flammable material, which were as dry as tinder, for our season of drought was present and the temperature on the surface of the ground often reached 150 to 160 f. in the sun.
For some time, with the help of a few native boys, a brave effort was made to fight and extinguish the long line of fire, but due to the turning motion of the flames as they bent to the strong breeze, the naked bodies of the youths had been severely scorched, and they were obliged to stop all further labors.
My husband then saw that the only way to adopt to save the station was to abandon the oncoming flames, rush home to the building, and burn a narrow stretch of grass around the station itself, gradually extinguishing the fire as the circle of flame progressed, so that when the bush inferno would reach the house, it would be intercepted by a band of earth on which there was nothing to burn.
The native boys helped me in breaking down leafy branches of green trees, with which to beat the flames, carrying them to my husband. He required a fresh branch every minute, as he was pounding away with such force that the leaves were soon entirely demolished. For a time we thought that the house which had cost so much work to put up must inevitably perish. The extended line of jungle fire was approaching at a great speed, and its hot breath was scorching our faces, but my husband beat and punished the burning grass with unending energy, while the smoky atmosphere increased in thickness and almost hid him from our vision. There still remained to be burned a strip of about twenty yards long, until the burnt circle around the building would be complete; and unless this were accomplished before the on-rushing fire arrived, the station must of necessity be immediately destroyed by the coming fire.
The hungry flames leaped forward with increasing speed, as they touched some highly flammable stretches where cut grass had been blown about over the natural vegetation. The last green branches we could grab had already been carried to my husband, for we had to flee for safety to that part around the compound which had already been burned.
He was then in desperate battle with the flames, while the last few yards were being burned which connected the building with the advancing fire. The flames rolled and roared around him, as he stamped them with his feet and thrashed and pounded them with his last branch. Ultimately, with the help of the Lord, the black, ashy circle was done, the house was saved, and the flaming billows bounded away past the building upon their devastating pathway.
Often have we had thus to fight the flames around our dwelling, and on one occasion our grass-thatched small house actually caught on fire. About noon, when the sun was splitting the rocks, our native cook came slowly into the dining-room, barely putting one foot past the other, and said in quiet tones, "Bwana, Nyumba inakwatwa na mwagi." (Sir, the house is on fire.) My husband rushed out instantly and found the grass roof of the kitchen in a blaze. A square yard of the thick, sodden thatch which had already been consumed was a glowing red. Lifting a basin full of water he threw it on the flaming thatch, calling upon the cook to bring all the water available. Bucket after bucket was thrown on the burning grass until the fire was extinguished. If the thatch had not been well seasoned with smoke and thus rendered less flammable, nothing could have saved the entire compound.
When the excitement of the moment was over, we could not help smiling at the cool, bland manner in which the native told us that our house was on fire. Times without number their own little grass huts are burned, and they never attempt to do anything, except to flee from the area, carrying their bows and arrows; and then, standing at a safe distance, they stoically watch the blaze.
When our new church was built larger numbers than ever came to our meetings, some of them from a distance of fifteen to twenty miles, but our hearts were saddened at the thought that none of them had given convincing evidence of being truly born of God. They listened at times with close attention to the message of the Gospel, but failed to respond to its demands.
We were grateful, however, for the marvelous opportunities offered to us of proclaiming the Glad Tidings to men who formerly had been so unwilling to hear. Ever-increasing numbers of young men came to the station for work, and as some of the trees we had planted were already fruiting, and there was a demand for this produce among the government and railway officials, we gladly received all the natives who came to us, and, while teaching them the dignity of labor, we pointed them to the way of Eternal Life. We had from fifty to sixty natives always on the station, and, although the expenses were very great, the Lord so blessed the work that it became self-supporting.
We had been living a life of great poverty so as to enable us to provide the children's cost to travel home to England. Sufficient funds had eventually accumulated to pay for five passages, and we were led to consider the advisability of my husband accompanying four of the children to the homeland and placing them at boarding schools, while I should hold the fort till his return. It was a bold venture of faith in God. We fully trusted Him to provide for their education. Never had we in a single instance asked help from any man.
After much prayer for guidance we booked the five passages by the SS. "Reichstag," of the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Line, sailing from Mombasa to Hamburg. Never can I forget the day when my loved ones said good-bye to me, and the caravan marched out from the station bearing away over the hills four of my darling children, while I was left alone in the wilderness, with a little boy and girl aged five and three, to fight the battle for souls among the natives.
The Uganda railway had then penetrated a great distance into the interior, and after two days' marching they reached the line of rails, while another couple of days found them on the east coast ready to go on board ship. What a contrast to the conditions which prevailed when we entered the Great Unknown. Then it was tramp, march, walk, over field and wilderness, through ravine and gorge, swollen river and swampy marsh.
Now one is carried along in an upholstered railway carriage over the trackless jungle, slowing up now and again at Dak Bungalows, where lunch and dinner are to be had as comfortably served as in a European hotel. A crossing can be made over the course of a roaring river in sixty seconds, which, on our way up country, would have taken the caravan a day to cross. The many weeks of long and toilsome marching is only a memory of the past.
When the Missionary and traveler now enter the East Equatorial Regions, there is no more suffering from drought and deluge on the weary march through the jungle, with all the accumulation of misery and agony to the poor caravan porters, whose skulls have been thickened by the immense loads they have borne far into the interior. The steam engine has dissipated those conditions and made them part of history.
When my husband arrived with the children in England the Lord had already prepared the way for them. A son of the late F. E. Wigram, Honorary Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, had been out for several years as a Missionary in Central Africa. While there he visited our Station and became interested in our work and the tuition of our children, with the result that he willingly undertook to provide one hundred and fifty pounds per year, for five years, towards their education. This self-sacrificing service can never be forgotten, though to God we ascribe all the glory for His marvelous provision.
The two girls were placed in a school for the daughters of Missionaries, at Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks, and our two sons at the Methodist College, Belfast. My husband then immediately returned to the field, though much weaker than when he set out, due to a severe illness on the way home and a stormy return voyage, during which time he was rarely able to be at table. On his arrival in Ukamba the people received him with open arms, and were more than ever willing to hear from his lips the Word of Life. Among those who had been busy for manual work on the Station and who had come in close touch with us, there were many who were quite anxious about their status before God, and were groping for something they had not yet experienced. In the village around, wherever my husband went, numbers of men came together to listen to the message of the Book.
Between these people, however, and their Savior there still seemed a great gulf. They were adequately awakened to know that a better life was within their reach. They were convinced that it was possible truly to know God: but they felt unable to make the sacrifice involved in accepting of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Lord and Master of their being. They candidly admitted that they were unwilling to leave their old life.
We admired their honest spirit and honest answers to the questions which were put to them. In their manly, straightforward responses, we saw the hope of a new era for which we had toiled in sorrow and tears. A better day was soon to dawn. More passive and less violent tribes might have said, "Yes! Yes!" to every question made, and yet remained wholly indifferent to the claims of God upon their heart.
These wild natives of the wood had told us on our arrival in their country that they did not want us, that they would sweep us off the earth, poison our water and cause our destruction, and they immediately and persistently set about doing it. They would never listen, they said, to the voice of the white man. The scene was now changed. Day by day meetings were held to which no objection was raised. These natives now listened to truths which seemed to hold them with a living grasp. They felt in their inmost souls that the Book mirrored their lives, and, not only that, but brought them news of a Savior so mighty as to be equal to their deepest needs.
Many hundreds of them we reckoned as our faithful friends, and under certain formal conditions they might have been enrolled as followers and adherents as so-called christians. Alas, that they did not fall at the feet of Jesus and own Him as their Savior. One may wonder why they did not do so. And yet, in how many congregations in the homeland, crowds of would-be worshippers meet in the various church buildings week after week, but still refuse to accept the free gift of God and fail to surrender their lives to the regenerating power of His Spirit.
Among these native tribes it is, humanly speaking, infinitely more difficult to be on the Lord's side. In their midst is Satan's throne. For long ages he has there reigned supreme. The people are bound hand and foot by the devil. The unwritten law of tribal custom enslaves them. The first man of a pagan tribe who proclaims himself a Christian has urgent need of a mighty power behind him. He needs more. He requires an almighty potency within him—the power of the Spirit of the Living God. Nothing short of that could enable the native warrior to take a stand, singly and alone, against the fiendish life and soul-enslaving environments of his tribe. Mere ritual, creeds, forms, and ceremonies are as rotten wood.
When my husband brought before them instances of many of their old warriors, who, during the famine, had confessed faith in Christ and had passed away while breathing the name of Jesus, they would say, "Yes! It is easy to believe on Jesus and die, but it is a different matter to believe on Jesus and live." They meant that the pattern of their bestial, tribal life was of such strong growth that it was utterly impossible for a native to burst the bonds of his bondage and free himself from the shackles of his degrading surroundings.
So it truly seemed from their human point of view. But, saith the Lord, "As the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." That Word which never can return void had been delivered. Seed had been sown in tears, and harvest would surely be gathered in joy. They had yet to learn the power of that supernal grace which makes all things new, and to experience the blessed fact that Christ is able to save unto the uttermost them who come unto God by Him.
Among a batch of strangers there came to our station one day a man belonging to a distant tribe. His appearance was not at all of a nice character. His countenance was gloomy, sullen and miserable, and his face was rendered all the more malevolent-looking by a peculiar sneer that lurked in his eye. He had often eaten human flesh, having cooked it in the clay pot with his native grain.
This man came to the meetings that we held for the natives and heard for a number of times the story of Jesus and His redeeming love. On one occasion, while my husband was speaking on the parable of the prodigal son, and seeking to express to the minds of the natives, as simply as he could, the great love of God in Christ Jesus, and His willingness to receive and pardon even those who had steeped their hands in human blood, this poor fellow was led to accept of Christ as his everlasting Redeemer. On a subsequent occasion, when he stood up before the meeting and confessed what Jesus had done for him in pardoning his sins and changing his heart and life, there was not a single face in the whole company of assembled natives that was not moistened with tears. There was a European sitting by us that day while this man was giving his testimony, and he was so overcome by the thrilling experience of that pagan convert that he covered his face with both hands while the floodgates of his own soul were opened.
After this baptism of the Holy Spirit, the work proceeded little by little under the obvious blessing of Almighty God. In a short period of time nine adult men and one woman individually sought and found a present salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and experienced His power to change the heart and transform the life. These people publicly confessed their faith in the Savior before a large assembly of natives. For many months afterward they were under our continual observation, when they gave undeniable evidence of regeneration of heart, and their testimony had a wonderful influence upon the whole tribe.
One of the ancient chieftains, with whom my husband had made blood brotherhood on first entering the country, had been a seeker after the truth for a long time, but he now came boldly out and professed to accept Jesus Christ as his Redeemer and Lord. One day, with a number of other natives, he was baptized in a river beneath his own village, and witnessed, before a large assemblage of natives who lined either bank of the stream, that Christ had saved him.
During the many years of persecution and danger we had passed through in the days gone by, that chieftain had never turned his back upon us: had never broken the troth he plighted by native custom; and when we were in danger from the natives of other districts, over whom he had no control, he came ever and always to tell us of their movements and tell us about their plans.
When the old man was converted to God I had a native in the kitchen who was one of the most hopeless natives of which I have had any experience. He was a perplexing trouble to me night and day. He belonged to the wily vengeful warrior type: a skilled deceiver and an talented liar. It seemed impossible for him to open his mouth without conveying an untruth. Even regarding matters of comparatively unimportance, he would utter the most blatant lies in a relaxed way. I had passed hundreds of natives through my hands, and in doing so I had learned great patience, and had always been rewarded by eventually witnessing some change for the better. With this son of the wilds, however, I was greatly disappointed, but my past experience never allowed me to consider the worst person as hopelessly depraved.
At our meeting one day, this man listened to my husband's message concerning the power of Jesus Christ to save the most corrupt and debased human beings that ever lived, if they would only surrender themselves soul and body to Him, and accept Him as their Savior. Then there was a pause, and the question was asked, "Who is going to accept of that Savior today?"
While the meeting was hushed in silence there was one single response. With moistened eye and subdued attitude, and an honesty which was beyond question or doubt, this big, broad-shouldered, athletic native answered in manly tones that he had taken Christ as his Savior. Our hearts were humbled before the mighty power of the Spirit of God.
From that hour there was a big change in that man's life. Weeks fled and months passed by, but the work which had been wrought in the heart of the burly native by the Holy Spirit remained and brought forth daily fruit in a transformed life. I have seen and heard of many cases of wonderful conversion to God in Great Britain, but never in my life have I witnessed such a wonderful change and miraculous transformation as I did in that native warrior. He, with a good many other converts, entered the service of the Government, where they boldly witnessed before their friends about the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ.