nd said:

"There will be rats and lizards and centipedes, and maybe a snake, but a
leopard would never come in ... even though it did it would just look at
you and go away again."

"We'll not give it the chance, Ma," said the ladies.

"Well, I'll give you the cat: it will scare the rats at any rate."

This cat, a big yellow one, had been found, when a kitten, meowing
piteously by the side of a bush track, and was taken to the Mission
House, where it became a favourite with Ma. It always travelled with
her, lying in a canvas bag at the bottom of the canoe, or motor-car, and
sometimes she carried it on her shoulder.

The night did turn out to be a lively one, for although no leopard came,
every other kind of creeping and jumping and flying thing paid the
ladies a visit, and there was not much rest for them, nor for the yellow
cat, which hunted the rats until the dawn.

[Illustration: A WEST AFRICAN LEOPARD.]

[Illustration: A STYLE OF HAIRDRESSING.]

CHAPTER IX

Ma goes farther up the Creek and settles in a heathen town in
the wilds; she enters into happy friendships with young people
in Scotland; has a holiday in a beautiful island, where she
makes a secret compact with a lame boy; and is given a Royal
Cross for the heroic work she has done.

One day there came out of the unknown a black boy with a number of
strange-looking men.

"M[:o]k[:o]m[:o] Ma," he said, "I salute you. We come to see you. We are from
Ikpe. The soldiers and the people fought there and the people fled. I
know about you and I told them and they want your help."

[Illustration]

"Ikpe?" echoed Ma. "Where is that? I never heard of it."

"Far up the Creek," he replied vaguely; "two days by canoe. A big town."

"But I never knew of trading canoes going there."

"No, Ma, they don't allow Calabar men at Ikpe."

"Oh, I see, a closed market. Well, what do they wish?"

"They want to be god-men and learn book."

She talked long with the men, whose cry was "Come yourself, Ma, come
back with us."

It was known that she was always ready to go anywhere at a moment's
notice.

"No, not now, I cannot, but I'll come soon"; and having her promise they
went away with light hearts.

She was growing very, very feeble, and she shrank from entering a new
place, where she would have no friends amongst the natives and could see
no white faces, but the spirit of adventure still tugged at her heart,
and one morning she boa