The Final Adversary (25 page)

He prayed long and powerfully over each of them. Several times he would pause, wait for a time, then would have a word of encouragement or warning for the individual. When he came to Katie, he prayed a long time for her safety, then said, “You will be surrounded, my daughter, by the powers of darkness. The enemy will come against you with awesome power. You will face death itself. But greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. When your spirit is being torn apart, remember my promise, you will cast out demons, and if you drink any deadly thing, it will not harm you. And you will see the power of Almighty God!”

It was late by the time he had finished praying for the entire group. Grateful for what the Lord had done, Beecham said, “Praise God for all He has revealed to us. When you face adversity, remember God’s special word to you. He will not fail, for all the elements of your times are in His hands. Stand fast in the trying hour. His name and His blood are more powerful than the strongest force against you. Now, sleep well. We may never meet again in this world, for we are
pledging our heads to heaven, as the old Puritan once said. But if you hear that Stanley Beecham is dead, remember, I will be in the presence of the King!”

****

At dawn the next day the group separated, each pair heading in different directions. They were sober and a little frightened.

Gardner sensed their apprehension and called out, “Cheerio! Let’s give the devil a hard time!”

Maoli, the station where Irene and Katie were to serve, was on the same route as Gropaka, where Barney and Gardner were going. It was thirty-five miles away, a two-day walk through the jungle. That meant the men would be with them all the way on the overland trail. Their little party set out, and for the first ten miles the trail was broad and easy. But that afternoon, they hit the heavier jungle, and traveling became difficult.

The trail narrowed the deeper they got into the forest, making it necessary to form a single line. Even then the vines and creepers were so enmeshed a native had to cut the way clear with a long knife. Not only was the path narrow, it was very crooked, as the Africans always detoured around fallen trees and branches instead of cutting them out of the way. The party wound around in such a serpentine fashion that at times it was difficult for Katie to tell if the songs of the marchers came from in front or behind.

By three o’clock Katie and Irene were staggering with exhaustion. Bestman saw it and cried out, “What we go do for Mammy?” He halted the caravan and soon had fashioned two makeshift hammocks, using canvas and clothesline rope from the missionaries’ supply. Bamboo poles were added at each end. “We go carry Mammy now,” he announced.

Katie awkwardly got into the hammock, and two natives picked up the ends and balanced them on their heads, using a rolled circle of grass for padding. “We go now!” Bestman
shouted. Both hammocks were picked up, and Katie found herself suspended in the air. It was a strange sensation, swaying gently as the caravan moved through the dense jungle. She could see nothing, though she was too tired to care and soon dozed off.

She awakened when she heard Bestman call out something in his own language, and then the hammock was gently lowered. Getting out, she smiled at the two bearers, saying, “Madalla, Madalla!” which meant “Thank you.”

Camp was struck beside a small stream, and the natives soon had a fire going. Overtaken by weariness, Barney and Gardner just sat with their backs to a tree.

“I thought I wuz in pretty good shape,” Barney murmured ruefully. “I’m just a baby!”

“Those skinny fellas carried the women half the bloomin’ day!” Awful shook his head. “They may have to carry
me
tomorrow!”

Bestman had disappeared, but the sound of a rifle indicated why. Soon he returned with meat for supper. “Very fine!” he grinned, holding up the game.

Katie squinted, then covered her mouth. Monkey!

The other missionaries saw it at the same time. Irene gasped. Leaning toward Katie, she whispered, “We can’t eat
that,
Katie!”

But Katie said boldly, “I hope we brought plenty of Reverend Beecham’s hot sauce!”

Actually the meat was not too bad. Their cook made up a stew of rice and fish, and threw the monkey in for good measure. Katie took the bowl that Bestman handed her and glanced at Barney. A humorous thought struck her. “This is all your fault, Barney Winslow! You’re the one responsible for making me come to Africa to eat monkey meat!”

The other three laughed, the natives joining them, though they didn’t have the slightest idea what was so funny.

Barney took a bite, chewed it, and smacked his lips. “You know, this isn’t too bad!”

Gardner agreed. “I knew a fella once from Arizona. Ate snakes, he did! And there wuz a Frenchmen who come to the mission, claimed he ate snails back in France.” He shuddered. “Snakes and snails! I’d rather have good old monkey stew!”

By the time the meal was over, the sunlight had faded, and the darkness closed in. The natives huddled together for a time, the flickering firelight casting shadows on their ebony faces. One of them began to sing a slow, rhythmic chant, which the others echoed at intervals.

Katie and Irene sat close to the fire listening to the serenade, but after a while the bugs became too much, and the ladies climbed under their mosquito netting and lay down on a blanket, using the other for cover. The ground was hard, but they lost no time falling asleep.

The next day was even more tiring, but by sundown they reached a small collection of huts, and Bestman announced, “We here, Mammy.”

Suddenly, a group of warriors armed with cutlasses, spears, bows and arrows, and cudgels appeared and surrounded them.

When they recognized Bestman, they lowered their weapons and smiled. A long conversation followed. Bestman, Katie discovered later, told them, “We come peacefully. We mean no harm!”

“Good thing he’s here,” Gardner said. “They look like a lynch mob, don’t they?”

When the conference was over, the visitors were led into the village, and one of the warriors armed with an ancient rifle directed them to a thatched hut.

“Chief Teo say this your house,” Bestman said.

It was only a single room, apparently abandoned for some time. But Katie smiled at Chief Teo, saying, “Thank you, Chief Teo. May the Lord of heaven bless you and your house.”

Bestman translated, and the chief, a regal-looking man with teeth filed to fine points, grinned and made another speech. Bestman interpreted. “Chief Teo wants to know which of these two white men your husband.”

Katie flushed, saying quickly, “Neither of them! Tell him that Irene and I aren’t married.”

The chief listened to Bestman, then shook his head. “That is bad thing,” Bestman translated. “Chief say no good to waste two women!”

Gardner was amused by the exchange, but Katie was mortified. Barney saw her discomfort and came to the rescue. “We can’t go on to Gropaka tonight. See if you can find a place for the two of us, Bestman.”

Later that night, they once again ate rice. When a meat stew was passed around, all four missionaries added some fiery hot sauce to it. The chief asked for a sample, but spat it out on the ground.

“I think this stew has palm butter in it,” Gardner commented. “Most of the natives use it as a gravy or sauce.”

“Is this monkey meat?” Irene asked. “It doesn’t taste exactly like it.”

She asked Bestman, and he shook his head. “Oh no! This is rat stew, Mammy—very good!” A common dish for the Africans, they learned later.

They soon told Bestman they had eaten too much of Chief Teo’s good food and couldn’t eat any more. Bestman translated well without insulting the chief, but Katie felt her stomach churning for some time.

After the meal, the four went with Bestman to make what improvements they could on the house the women would be living in. Working by the light of one of the lanterns they had brought, and with some help from Bestman, they managed to rig two cots out of poles. They had brought plenty of rope, which they used to support the mattresses of stuffed grass.

Gardner looked at Barney and Katie’s efforts. “You two go get some more grass. Neither of you can tie a decent knot.”

“I’m not going out in the dark!” Irene cried, alarmed.

“Barney and I will get the grass,” Katie said. “You can stay here and help Awful.”

Barney lit the extra lantern, picked up the mattress covers,
and the two went outside. The earth around the hut was trampled flat, but as they explored a little farther, they found a plentiful supply of long grass at the edge of the woods. They began pulling it and stuffing it into the ticking, and soon had two fat mattresses.

“They look like sausages,” Katie laughed.

“Better than sleeping on the ground,” Barney grinned. He looked up at the sky and added, “That’s the same moon we have back home, but it looks larger here.”

Katie nodded. “It does look big. And look at the stars!” The sky was spangled with countless points of light, some of them glittering like silver fire. “When I see the stars, I always think of what God said to Abraham,” she mused. “That he’d have more descendants than all the stars he could see.”

“God gave him a big promise. We are part of that promise, part of his covenant, Awful told me, and can expect the Lord to do big things for us here.”

“He will,” Katie said, thinking of Beecham’s prayers for all of them.

Barney gazed at the panoply of the heavens, remembering how his father had wondered what the sky would look like in Africa.

“The stars look so close. I wish I knew enough constellations to write my father about them,” he said. “Somehow it looks bigger here than at home.”

As they stood in the small clearing, caressed by the warm wind, they breathed in the fragrance of the forest. Many of the odors were alien to Katie and Barney—the smell of ancient dark earth, the endless variety of trees, the rotting leaves, the compost that was made and remade endlessly as the trees grew to dizzying heights that cut out the light of the sun, then fell to become part of the black earth. In time those trunks would be reduced to dust through the work of worms and a thousand species of insects.

The sounds were as strange as the odors of the jungle. In addition to the faint drone of human voices, Barney could
hear the animal life roaming the trackless woods. A sharp chattering sound came at regular intervals. A faint scream from far away scored the night, and then a hoarse grunting not too far from where he and Katie stood.

Barney sighed. “We’re a long way from home, Katie.”

“No, we’re
really
at home now, Barney!”

He smiled at her.
She is lovely,
he thought. The moonlight made a silver corona around her head, framing her face. Her eyes sparkled from the soft light of the full moon.

“I’m glad you said that. I’ve been standing here feeling like some sort of out-of-place fellow. But you’re right, Katie. This
is
our home now.”

Her comment had drawn them closer somehow, and each of them felt better knowing they were not alone.

Suddenly a fierce scream rent the air, and Katie cried in fear as she grabbed Barney.

Barney instinctively wrapped his arms around her, hunching his shoulders to protect her from the sharp claws he fully expected to slice into his back. They stood there, nerves shrieking with shock. Then the scream faded into silence.

Barney felt Katie’s body shaking as he held her. They were both too numb to speak. Finally Katie raised her eyes to his. Her lips trembled as she said, “I—I guess it’s gone!”

Barney nodded and was about to release her when he was struck by the beauty of the woman he held in his arms. Her face was only inches away. Impulsively he lowered his lips to hers.

Katie had grabbed him out of sheer reflex, but as she felt his lips on hers, a sense of need rushed in. She had stood alone for so long, had been lonely for so long, that now she simply accepted his kiss and gently returned the pressure of her own. She had not realized her deep desire for someone to share with, for her call to Africa had obliterated everything else—including her need as a woman.

Then his arms tightened around her, and she gasped and pulled away. He released her and she stepped back, confused
and afraid. Not afraid of him, but of herself, of the sudden streak of passion that had gripped her.

Barney sensed the emotional turmoil and was himself surprised at what had happened. “I’m sorry, Katie,” he whispered. “I guess I just wanted to let you know—” He broke off and tried again, “I guess we were both frightened out of our wits. When I get scared like that, I just—I grab the first thing I see.”

“Me, too, Barney,” Katie murmured. Then with a burst of nervous energy, she picked up the mattress, saying brightly, “We’d better get back before that thing really comes to get us!”

Neither of them referred to the event, but the next day when Gardner and Barney said goodbye to the women, he could tell that Katie was not as open as she had been.
I’ve disappointed her,
he thought.
Why did I ever do a thing like that?

“We’ll come back in a month.” Gardner’s voice exuded excitement and cheer. “You ladies try not to get eaten by a lion or something.”

Katie avoided Barney’s eyes, her cheeks flushed.

Irene didn’t miss a beat and after the men had left, asked, “Why’d you blush like that?”

“Oh, I’m just sorry to see them go, I guess,” Katie said defensively. Then she forced herself to smile. “Well, we’re here, Irene. Let’s start being missionaries!”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Witch Doctor!

“What day is it, Katie?”

Katie looked up from the notebook. “It’s Thursday.”

Irene stirred the beans in the cooking pot, put the lid on, then walked to the bench outside their house and sat down. “I mean what day of the month.” She pulled her sun helmet off and wiped her brow with a limp handkerchief. “Every day’s just like every other day here. I lose count.”

“It’s the twenty-fifth of August,” Katie said after consulting a small calendar she had glued in the back of her notebook.