“With one man of her crew alive,What put to sea with seventy-five.”
“With one man of her crew alive,What put to sea with seventy-five.”
“With one man of her crew alive,What put to sea with seventy-five.”
“With one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five.”
But they caught Esona again and threw him to ground, shouting at me the while to leave the town as quickly as possible. To their mingled entreaties and curses I yielded a tardy compliance, which however was not nearly as reluctant as it seemed.
There is a sequel to this story also, which I shall relate. This chief Esona, whom I flogged, announced a few days later that he was going to marry Sara. He already had seven wives, and the thought of such a marriage was repugnant to Sara. But she had no choice in the matter and was compelled to marry him. Polygamy is not always a happy institution, even in Africa. The seven wives were angry and jealous. Being powerless to injure Esona they avenged themselves upon Sara. One day shortly after the marriage, as she was walking along the street, they suddenly came running from their houses with knives and attacked her. They wounded her and would have killed her but she was rescued by some men who happened to be near. A woman costs money and her life may not be sacrificed wantonly.
Then these wives tried another expedient. Four women in succession, coming from different towns, visited Esona and solemnly told him that they had had a dream concerning him—all four of them in succession relating the same dream. They had seen Mb’Obam, Sara’s dead husband, who was very angry that Esona had married Sara, and threatened all kinds of plagues and finally death, if he would not put her away. A few days later their word was confirmed when five houses belonging to Esona wereburned to the ground. They were perfectly aware that a certain young man of the town had accidentally let some live coals fall upon some dried thatch and the fire had started forthwith. Nevertheless, with one voice the people attributed the fire to Mb’Obam, and Esona in great fear, believing that his life might be the next forfeit, let Sara go. After a period of various trials and sorrows dire fortune at last relented and I was glad to learn that Sara was comfortably married to a Christian man.
One quiet day, as we were pulling up the river in theEvangeline, seventy miles from the coast, a man suddenly emerged from the forest and came rapidly towards us in a canoe. When he came near I recognized a Fang friend, a young man about twenty years old, named Ingwa, who had been one of my first boat-boys in theEvangeline, and who was a Christian. After a hearty greeting I said: “I am surprised to see you, Ingwa; I sent word to you long ago that I would like to have you again in theEvangeline, and I have not heard a word from you.” But, observing that he looked worn and sick, I asked him what was the matter; and he told me the following story: “A year ago I was married to a woman whom I had loved for a long time and who loved me. I paid the dowry and took my wife home. We both were very happy, for I loved only her and she loved only me. After six mouths her father and brothers agreed with another man to take her from me and give her to him, wishing to make friendship with his town. Her father invited her and me to visit him. During the night they suddenly rushed in upon us and made us prisoners. They tied my wife’s hands and led her away. Then they bound me, hands and feet, and put me into a canoe and pushed the canoe out into the current of the river. Far down the river towards the sea I was picked up by some people who knew me and were friendly. They set me free and I borroweda paddle and reached my own town. But I could not stay there, it was so lonely; for my wife was gone and my heart was sick. They sent her to the other man’s town, but I knew that she loved only me. I hid in the forest near that town, but I could never see her. Six months I have been hiding in the forest, night and day, and I have been hungry, and sometimes sick. They know I am there and are trying to kill me. Her father sent word to me that he would pay me back the dowry; but I want only my wife. And surely God will help me; I will meet her again, and she will go with me. For I love only her, and she loves only me.” The story ended in a sob.
With a hasty good-bye he turned and sped towards the shore, while I sat, silently and with aching heart, watching, till the dark form was merged into the darkness of the forest and we saw him no more. But how changed was nature’s aspect! How different the impression of the hazy, languid atmosphere, the torpid life of bird and beast, the deep mystic forest with dark forms moving like phantoms to and fro, screened from the river by a heavy veil of vine and flower that hung from the tops of the trees and lay upon the water below; and behind the veil a real and tragic world of human suffering and breaking hearts!
Not long after this Ingwa, still watching and waiting in the forest, met his wife. They fled together, days and nights through the forest, until they reached a town far away, which Ingwa had once visited in trading for rubber and ivory and where he had made friends. There they were still living when I left Africa. A native trader afterwards visited that far distant town of the forest, and returning, brought me a message from Ingwa. The trader informed me also that he found the people of the town singing Christian hymns and praying, and that through the influence of Ingwa many had thrown away their fetishes and were followers of Christ.