turn
to Him and believe in Him before it is too late and you end in Hell, the
place where bad people suffer forever."

"Go," said Chief Njiri angrily, "get out of my village. Go back to Ekenge."

Sadly Mary started back to Ekenge.

"I have failed these people who asked for my help. O God, soften the heart
of Chief Njiri and keep Your protecting hand over the young man Kolu."

When Chief Edem heard that Njiri would not set the man free, he said,

"Njiri has insulted our Ma. Let the warriors get their spears and
shields. Let us get ready for war."

The women slipped quietly into Mary's room to tell her the latest news. It
made Mary sad that these men were getting ready for a war, but neither one
of the chiefs would listen to her. Mary knew where to go for help. She
prayed to God.

"O God," prayed Mary, "You can stop this war. You can soften the hearts of
these cruel chiefs. Please stop this war so that the warriors may not be
killed and their wives made widows and their children orphans. Hear me for
the sake of Jesus, my Saviour."

A man knocked on the door of Mary's hut. "Ma, Ma," he cried, "Kolu has
been set free. Chief Njiri let him go, and he is back at the village. There
will be no war!"

"Thank You, Father in Heaven," prayed Mary. "Thank You that You heard my
prayers and that peace and quiet will again be in the villages."

Mary had a true friend in Ma Eme, the sister of Chief Edem. She helped Mary
often. She did everything she could to help Mary and the mission, but one
thing she never did, that was to confess Christ openly. She and Mary talked
of many things as they worked together. One day Ma Eme said,

"When my husband died, I had to go through the chicken test."

"What is that?" asked Mary.

"All of my husband's wives, I too, were put on trial. The witch doctors
were trying to find who caused my husband, a great chief, to die. Each of
us had to bring a chicken. The witch doctor chopped off the heads of the
chickens one at a time. If the headless chicken fluttered one way, the
witch doctor said the wife was innocent. If it fluttered the other way, he
said she was guilty."

"What happened when they cut off the head of your chicken?" asked Mary.

"It fluttered wildly in the right direction. The witch doctor said I was
innocent. But the strain had been so great I fainted and had to be carried
to my hut. But many of the other wives were killed."

"You do not believe in the witch doctors, do yo