d the look of his visitor, and was strongly
disposed to believe him, he had too much knowledge of the native
character to place immediate confidence in him. Besides, the man being
a stranger to him, and possibly one of the government spies, he feared
to comply at once with his request, lest he should hasten his own
banishment from the island. He replied, therefore, with caution.

"I cannot give you what you want to-night," he said, "but you may call
on me again to-morrow, and I will speak with you."

This answer did not at all satisfy the eager heart of the poor fellow
who had travelled so far and risked so much. His countenance showed the
state of his feelings so strongly that the sympathetic missionary laid
his hand kindly on his shoulder, bade him cheer up, and asked for his
name as well as the name of some one in Tamatave who knew him.

"Now then, Mamba," he said, as they were about to part, "don't be cast
down. Come here to see me to-morrow. Come early."

Comforted a little--more by the missionary's look and tone than by his
words,--Mamba took his departure.

Meanwhile Mr Ellis made inquiries, visited the friend to whom he had
been referred, and found that not only was Mamba a good and true man,
but that many of his family "feared the Lord greatly."

When, therefore, his anxious visitor returned very early the following
morning, he was ready for him.

"I am assured that you are a Christian, Mamba," he said, "as well as
many of your kindred."

"Yes, I love the Lord, and so do many of my kinsmen. But my family is
large and scattered."

"Have any of them got the Scriptures?"

"They have seen and heard them," returned Mamba, "but all that we
possess are a few pages of the words of David. These belong to the
whole family. We send them from one to another, and each, after keeping
them for a time, passes them on, until they have been read by all. They
are in my hands just now."

"Have you them with you?" asked the missionary. Mamba did not reply at
once. He seemed unwilling to answer, but at last confessed that he had.

"Will you not show them to me? Surely you can trust me, brother!"

Mamba at length made up his mind. Thrusting his hand deep into his
bosom, he drew a parcel from the folds of his lamba. This he slowly and
carefully opened. One piece of cloth after another being unrolled,
there appeared at length a few leaves of the Book of Psalms, which he
cautiously handed to Mr Ellis.

Th