In great wrath they cried, “Then will we kill you and this Captain and Mate.”
I kept reasoning with them against such conduct, standing firmly before them and saying, “If you do kill me, Jehovah will punish you; the other men in that vessel will punish you before they sail; and a Man-of-war will come and burn your villages and canoes and fruit trees.”
I urged the two men to try and get into their boat as quickly as possible, in silence, while I kept arguing with the Natives. The letters which they had for me, the savages forbade me to take into my hands, lest thereby some other foreign disease should come to their island. Miaki exclaimed in great wrath that my medicine had killed them all; but I replied,—
“My medicine with God’s blessing saved many lives. You know well that all who followed my rules recovered from the measles, except only one man, and are living still. Now, you seek to kill me for saving your lives and the lives of your people!”
I appealed to Yorian, another Chief, if the medicine had not saved his life when he appeared to be dying, which he admitted to be the truth. The men had now slipped into their boat and were preparing to leave. Miaki shouted,—
“Let them go! Don’t kill them to-day.” Then he called to the Captain, “Come on shore and trade with us to-morrow.”
Next day they foolishly came on shore and began to trade. Natives surrounded the boat with clubs and tomahawks. But Miaki’s heart failed him when about to strike; and he called out,—
“Missi said that, if we kill them, a Man-of-war will come and take revenge on us.”
In the altercation that followed, the men thrust the boat into deep water and forced it out of the grasp of the savages; but they caught the Captain’s large Newfoundland dog and kept it prisoner. As a compensation for this disappointment, Miaki urged that my life and Abraham’s be at once taken, but again Nowar’s firm opposition and God’s goodness rescued us from the jaws of the lion. The _Blue Bell_ left next morning, and the dog remained behind, as no one from the vessel would venture ashore.
Revenge for the murder of the four men killed to accompany Miaki’s child, threatened to originate another war; but the Chiefs for eight miles around met, and, after much speechifying, agreed that as they were all weak for war, owing to the measles and the want of food through the hurricanes, they should delay it till they all grew stronger. Nowar was, however, greatly excited, and informed me that Miaki had urged the people of an inland district to shoot Nowar and Abraham and me, and he pled with us again to take him and flee to Aneityum,—impossible except by canoe, and perhaps impossible even so. That night and the following night they tried to break into my house. On one occasion my valuable dog was let out, and cleared them away. Next night I shouted at them from inside, when they thought me asleep, and they decamped again. Indeed, our continuous danger caused me now oftentimes to sleep with my clothes on, that I might start at a moment’s warning. My faithful dog would give a sharp bark and awake me. At other times, she would leap up and pull at the clothes till I awoke, and then she turned her head quietly and indicated by a wondrous instinct where the danger lay. God made them fear this precious creature, and often used her in saving our lives. Soon after this six Inland Chiefs came to see me. We had a long talk on the evils of war, and the blessings of the Worship of Jehovah. I gave each a knife and a fork and a tin plate, and they promised to oppose the war which Miaki was forcing on. A man came also with a severe gash in his hand, which a fish had given him; I dressed it, and he went away very grateful and spread everywhere the news of healing, a kind of Gospel which he and they could most readily appreciate.