onversations they had had with Mr Davidson one
thing had shone out clearly and that was the man's unflinching courage.
He was a medical missionary, and he was liable to be called at any time
to one or other of the islands in the group. Even the whaleboat is not
so very safe a conveyance in the stormy Pacific of the wet season, but
often he would be sent for in a canoe, and then the danger was great. In
cases of illness or accident he never hesitated. A dozen times he had
spent the whole night baling for his life, and more than once Mrs
Davidson had given him up for lost.

"I'd beg him not to go sometimes," she said, "or at least to wait till
the weather was more settled, but he'd never listen. He's obstinate, and
when he's once made up his mind, nothing can move him."

"How can I ask the natives to put their trust in the Lord if I am afraid
to do so myself?" cried Davidson. "And I'm not, I'm not. They know that
if they send for me in their trouble I'll come if it's humanly possible.
And do you think the Lord is going to abandon me when I am on his
business? The wind blows at his bidding and the waves toss and rage at
his word."

Dr Macphail was a timid man. He had never been able to get used to the
hurtling of the shells over the trenches, and when he was operating in
an advanced dressing-station the sweat poured from his brow and dimmed
his spectacles in the effort he made to control his unsteady hand. He
shuddered' a little as he looked at the missionary.

"I wish I could say that I've never been afraid," he said.

"I wish you could say that you believed in God," retorted the other.

But for some reason, that evening the missionary's thoughts travelled
back to the early days he and his wife had spent on the islands.

"Sometimes Mrs Davidson and I would look at one another and the tears
would stream down our cheeks. We worked without ceasing, day and night,
and we seemed to make no progress. I don't know what I should have done
without her then. When I felt my heart sink, when I was very near
despair, she gave me courage and hope."

Mrs Davidson looked down at her work, and a slight colour rose to her
thin cheeks. Her hands trembled a little. She did not trust herself to
speak.

"We had no one to help us. We were alone, thousands of miles from any of
our own people, surrounded by darkness. When I was broken and weary she
would put her work aside and take the Bible and read to me till peace
came and settled up