and hearing our native tongue spoken, made us
glad; besides which, I hoped that somehow or other I should have the
chance of getting home.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER 6.

We had got a good supply of provisions and water, in the canoe, and I
understood that the voyage might take us four or five days, or perhaps
more. The island looked very beautiful as we sailed away from it, and I
did not wonder that Matua loved it so much. His love for it made him
undertake the voyage to fetch a missionary, for what he loved more than
its beauty were the souls of the people in it, over whom he ruled. For
two days the sea was smooth and the wind fair, though there was very
little of it. When it fell calm, we paddled on at a good rate. On the
evening of the second day, the sky looked threatening. Soon after the
next morning broke it began to blow very hard, and the sea soon got up,
and tumbled the canoe about in a way which I thought must upset her, or
send her to the bottom. The sail was lowered, and while some paddled
lustily, others, helped by Bill and me, baled out the water, of which we
shipped a great deal, though none came through the seams. This showed
how strongly it was built. The canoe was kept head to the seas, but we
made no way, and it was very clear that we were driving before the
gale,--not back to Matua's island,--though where we were going we could
not tell. Matua sat steering as calm as possible. He said that he put
his trust in God, and did not fear the storm. He and his people were
doing all that could be done to preserve their lives, and that if it was
God's will that they should die, they were ready. I should say that
they had prayers and sang psalms morning and evening, and that they
prayed and sang now, only of course they could not stop paddling or
bailing, or kneel down. Yet many white persons would have called these
people savages. It gave me an idea of the good the missionaries have
done in these seas.

Though I had seen what a storm at sea is on board the _Rose_, I did not
think how terrible it was in a narrow canoe of thin planks just sewn
together. My wonder was and is that we did not go down, or break to
pieces.

Five days we drove on before the gale. Twice we saw land in the
distance, but did not dare to try and reach it, indeed we could not if
we had tried. The wind then fell, and the sea went down, and then we
lay floating on the water, but the men were too weary to paddle any
more.