"KNOCK THE TEVIL OUT!"
ONE of the last attempts ever made on my life resulted, by God's
blessing, in great good to us all and to the work of the Lord. It was
when Nourai, one of Nasi's men, struck at me again and again with the
barrel of his musket; but I evaded the blows, till rescued by the
women--the men looking on stupefied. After he escaped into the bush I
assembled our people, and said, "If you do not now try to stop this bad
conduct, I shall leave Aniwa, and go to some island where my life will
be protected."
Next morning at daybreak, about one hundred men arrived at my house, and
in answer to my query why they came armed they replied, "We are now
going to that village where the men of wicked conduct are gathered
together. We will find out why they sought your life, and we will rebuke
their Sacred Man for pretending to cause hurricanes and diseases. We
cannot go unarmed. We will not suffer you to go alone. We are your
friends and the friends of the Worship. And we are resolved to stand by
you, and you must go at our head to-day!"
In great perplexity, yet believing that my presence might prevent
bloodshed, I allowed myself to be placed at their head. The old Chief
followed next, then a number of fiery young men; then all the rest,
single file, along the narrow path. At a sudden turn, as we neared their
village, Nourai, who had attacked me the Sabbath day before, and his
brother were seen lurking with their muskets; but our young men made a
rush in front, and they disappeared into the bush.
We took possession of the Village Public Ground; and the Chief, the
Sacred Man, and others soon assembled. A most characteristic Native
Palaver followed. Speeches, endless speeches, were fired by them at each
other. My friends declared, in every conceivable form of language and of
graphic illustration, that they were resolved at any cost to defend me
and the Worship of Jehovah, and that they would as one man punish every
attempt to injure me or take my life. The orator, Taia, exclaimed, "You
think that Missi is here alone, and that you can do with him as you
please! No! We are now all Missi's men. We will fight for him and his
rather than see him injured. Every one that attacks him attacks us. That
is finished to-day!"
In the general scolding, the Sacred Man had special attention for
pretending to cause hurricanes. One pointed out that he had himself a
stiff knee, and argued, "If he can make a hurricane, why can't he
restore the joint of his own knee? It is surely easier to do the one
than the other!"
The Natives laughed heartily, and taunted him. Meantime he sat looking
down to the earth in sullen silence; and a ludicrous episode ensued. His
wife, a big, strong woman, scolded him roundly for the trouble he had
brought them all into; and then, getting indignant as well as angry, she
seized a huge cocoanut leaf out of the bush, and with the butt end
thereof began thrashing his shoulders vigorously as she poured out the
vials of her wrath in torrents of words, always winding up with the cry,
"I'll knock the Tevil out of him! He'll not try hurricanes again!"
The woman was a Malay, as all the Aniwans were. Had a Papuan woman on
Tanna or Erromanga dared such a thing, she would have been killed on the
spot. But even on Aniwa, the unwonted spectacle of a wife beating her
husband created uproarious amusement. At length I remonstrated, saying,
"You had better stop now! You don't want to kill him, do you? You seem
to have knocked 'the Tevil' pretty well out of him now! You see how he
receives it all in silence, and repents of all his bad talk and bad
conduct."
They exacted from him a solemn promise as to the making of no more
diseases or hurricanes, and that he would live at peace with his
neighbors. The offending villagers at length presented a large quantity
of sugar-cane and food to us as a peace-offering; and we returned,
praising God that the whole day's scolding had ended in talk, not blood.
The result was every way most helpful. Our friends knew their strength
and took courage. Our enemies were disheartened and afraid. We saw the
balance growing heavier every day on the side of Jesus; and our souls
blessed the Lord.