patient to the end He lets us do even
more than we had hoped for. So it was with Mary Slessor. She was at last
allowed to go.

[Illustration: THE OKOYONG DISTRICT.]

The Okoyong people, however, would not have her.

"We want no missionary, man or woman," they said sullenly.

For a whole year messengers went up and down the river, but the tribe
remained firm. Then Ma said:

"I'll go myself and see them."

One hot June day she got the loan of King Eyo's canoe, a hollow
tree-trunk twenty feet long, on which there was a little arch of palm
leaves to shade her from the sun, and set out up the Calabar River. As
she lay back on a pillow she thought how pretty and peaceful the scene
was--the calm water gleaming in the light of the sky, the cotton trees
and bananas and palms along the banks, the brilliant birds and
butterflies flitting about. The only sound was the dip of the paddles
and the soft voices of the men singing about their Ma. And then she
thought of what might lie before her, of the perils of the forest, and
the anger of the blood-thirsty Okoyong, and wondered if she had done
right.

"We'll have a cup of tea, anyhow," she said to herself, and got out an
old paraffin stove, but found that matches had been forgotten. Coming to
a farm the canoe swung into a mud-beach, and Ma went ashore, and was
happy to find that the owner was a "big" man whom she knew. He gave her
some matches, and on they went again. When the tea was ready Ma opened a
tin of stewed steak and cut up a loaf of home-made bread.

"Boy," she said, "where is the cup?"

"No cup, Ma--forgotten."

"Bother! now what shall I do?"

"I wash out that steak tin, Ma."

"Right; if you use what you have you will never want."

But alas! the tin slipped out of his hand and sank.

Ma was a philosopher. "Ah, well," she said, "it cannot be helped. I'll
drink out of the saucer."

Ma was really very timid. Just before leaving Devonshire she would not
go out on Guy Fawkes' Day, because she shrank from the crowds who were
parading the streets; and yet, here she was going alone into an unknown
region in Africa to face untamed savages. What made her so courageous
was her faith in God. She believed that He wanted her to do this bit of
work, and that therefore He would take care of her. She would not carry
a weapon of any kind. Even David, when he went out to fight Goliath, had
a sling and a stone as well as his faith. Ma was going to fight a much
bigger giant