, she said, "Yes, I will go."

And so she passed Itu and sailed up the Enyong Creek, one of the
loveliest little waterways in the world. She had seen many beautiful
bits of tropical scenery, but never one so beautiful as this. At first
it is broad and open, and here and there she saw a tiny canoe with a man
fishing for shrimps, and she was told that electric fish, which gave one
a shock, lived in the water. Then it ran through the forest, where it
was as still as a lake in the heart of the hills, and dark and green
because the branches drooped over it. Through the little arches of
foliage she got glimpses of what looked like fairyland beyond. The
surface was covered with lilies of dazzling whiteness. Scarcely a sound
broke the deep and fragrant silence. Sometimes a kingfisher would rise
and fly lazily away, sometimes a troop of monkeys would look down from
the branches overhead and chatter, sometimes grey parrots with red
tails would scream angrily for a moment at being disturbed.

But as Ma lay and enjoyed all the peace and the beauty, she seemed to
see other things--she saw canoe-loads of sad-eyed slaves passing down,
week after week, year after year, century after century--what terrible
misery and despair that lovely creek must have known!

And when she landed and walked through the forest trails, the same
thought was in her mind--how these paths had been beaten hard by endless
files of hopeless slaves--men, women, and little children.

"At last," she said thankfully, "the cruel reign of heathendom is over,
and peace and kindness and happiness are now coming to this dark land!"

She found the villages and towns almost touching one another, and full
of people.

"Welcome, Ma! we looked for your coming," shouted her old friends, the
slave-traders, although they knew well that she would try and stop their
evil doings.

She found that some native traders from the coast had been telling the
people about Jesus, and she called the chiefs and held a palaver and set
about starting a school and building a church. It was curious to see not
only children but grave men and women squatting on the ground learning
A B C! And some of the men were old slave-hunters.

"Come back soon, Ma! You are the only one who cares for us," they cried
as she left.

One day, when coming down the Creek, she was idly watching a snake
trying to swim across the quiet water, when bump, bump, her canoe was
run into and nearly overturned by anothe