ompany, and he stood
by me in every danger. We conducted Family Prayers alternately; and that
evening he said during the prayer in Tannese, in which language alone we
understood each other:--

"O Lord, our Heavenly Father, they have murdered Thy servants on
Erromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now
they want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and
make their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are
permitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of
Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for
sinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to Heaven--that
good place where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon the woman and all
thy dear servants now are singing Thy praise and seeing Thy face. Our
Lord, our hearts are pained just now, and we weep over the death of Thy
dear servants; but make our hearts good and strong for Thy cause, and
take thou away all our fears. Make us two and all Thy servants strong
for Thee and for Thy Worship; and if they kill us two, let us die
together in Thy good work, like Thy servants Missi Gordon the man and
Missi Gordon the woman."

In this manner his great simple soul poured itself out to God; and my
heart melted within me as it had never done under any prayer poured from
the lips of cultured Christian men!

Under the strain of these events, Miaki came to our house, and attacked
me in hearing of his men to this effect, "You and the Worship are the
cause of all the sickness and death now taking place on Tanna! The
Erromanga men killed Missi Gordon the man and also the woman, and they
are all well long ago. The Worship is killing us all; and the Inland
people will kill us for keeping you and the Worship here; for we love
the conduct of Tanna, but we hate the Worship. We must kill you and it,
and we shall all be well again."

I tried to reason firmly and kindly with them, showing them that their
own conduct was destroying them, and that our presence and the Worship
could only be a blessing to them in every way, if only they would accept
of it and give up their evil ways. I referred to a poor girl, whom Miaka
and his men had stolen and abused--that they knew such conduct to be
bad, and that God would certainly punish them for it.

He replied, "Such is the conduct of Tanna. Our fathers loved and
followed it, we love and follow it, and if the Worship condemns it, we
will kill y