. Not till we rose from our knees did they again advance.
Flourishing their weapons, however, with frightful gestures, they rushed
towards us. Happily they did not shoot their arrows. Mr Bent called
out to them, but so loud were their shrieks and cries that his voice was
not heard. We had a couple of muskets and a fowling piece in the boat;
but so completely wetted had they been, that I doubted if they would go
off, even had there been time to get them. We waved our handkerchiefs
and lifted up our hands, to show that we were unarmed, and desired their
friendship; but they disregarded all our signs, and came rushing on.
Our destruction appeared inevitable.

"It's hard lines to lose our lives by these savages, after escaping all
the dangers of the seas," exclaimed one of my men near me.

"Friend, God knows what is best for us," said the missionary, calmly.
"His will is never really hard, though we may think it so. Trust in
Him."

Mary was clinging to her father's arm, ready to share his fate. I stood
by her side, resolved to defend her to the last. The savages were close
upon us, when another person appeared from the wood, flying at full
speed towards us, shouting at the same time in a loud voice to the
savages. He was fully clothed in native fashion, and at first I thought
that he was a chief, till, as he came nearer, I recognised in him our
missing friend Vihala, the Christian teacher. The natives stopped when
they became aware of his approach, and, finding that we made no
resistance, contented themselves with standing around us, till he,
rushing through them, cast himself down at the feet of the missionary,
sobbing with joy at again seeing him. He then turned round to the
natives, telling them that we were their greatest friends, and had left
our homes and come from a far-off land to do them good. He spoke in a
manly, authoritative tone, and greatly to our relief the savages at once
retired, watching us at a distance. Mary's first inquiry was for Alea,
in whom she took a great interest. "She is here, and safe," answered
Vihala; and he then briefly recounted the way in which they had been
brought to the island.

When first escaping, their intention had been to visit Mr Bent, and to
get him to intercede with Alea's father, and to try and conciliate the
heathen chief to whom she was betrothed: but the small canoe in which
they had embarked being driven out of its course, they were unable to
find their wa