I do not think Mou-Setse ever told any one what his feelings really were
when he at last understood that he was free; that the English who had
captured him, far from being his worst enemies, were proving themselves
his best friends.
There is a story told of him that, when he first landed at Sierra Leone,
and saw a kind-looking black woman, he threw his arms round her neck,
whispered to her in his native tongue that she was like his mother, and
wept some of the tears he had restrained through all his sufferings on
her bosom.
But perhaps his early and great suffering had made him reserved, for,
unlike most of his race, he had few words, and no ejaculations, to
betray his feelings.
For a time he even scarcely trusted the new life of peace and happiness
which was opening before him. He had many dreams of being retaken as a
slave, and his little face had a wistful and scarcely trustful
expression.
The kind English, however, did well by him. He was sent to a mission
school at Freetown, where he was taught to read and to speak English;
also to write, and, above all, in this school he first got any true,
knowledge of God.
It was wonderful how this knowledge took possession of him--how he
craved to know more and more of his Father in Heaven; how eagerly he
asked; how quickly he learned; and then, as the great love of God
revealed itself, how his own warm heart leaped up in answer to it, until
all the "fear which hath torment" passed away, and the little face
became bright and happy.
The good missionaries at Sierra Leone were more than kind to Mou-Setse;
they had him baptised and openly proclaimed as a Christian. At his
baptism they called him "John," but Mou-Setse would never allow himself
to be addressed by this name. His mother had herself given him his
other name, and the missionaries, when they saw how his heart still
clung to his mother, spoke to him and of him by his old African name.
In his new home he grew tall and strong; and having, notwithstanding the
suffering he had endured on it, a fancy for the sea, went on board an
English merchant-vessel when fourteen years of age. In this vessel he
travelled over many parts of the world, and saw strange sights and new
faces. Thus his childhood and early youth passed away.