“I will talk to them,” said Mary.  She plodded on through the mud.  She came to the canoe.  The men were all sound asleep.  Mary woke them and put them to work.  In the meantime Mr. Bishop had coaxed some of the slaves from Ekenge to help.  Soon all the things Mary had brought were being carried to Ekenge.

Sunday morning was cloudy.  Mary got things ready for church.  Church time came.  But where were the people?  Mary and Mr. Bishop and the children began to sing hymns as loud as they could.  Still no one came.  How discouraging!  All the people had been at the burying.  When they buried somebody, especially somebody important like the chief’s mother, they would have a wild party.  The people would get drunk and do many other wicked things.  The next day they would be too tired and sick to do anything.

Mary and the children and Mr. Bishop kept on singing.  At last a few women came.  Mary gathered them around her and told them the story of Jesus and His love.  The women listened but they did not say anything.

After the service was over and the women had gone to their huts, Mary knelt down and prayed.

“O God, my heavenly Father, with Your help I have made a beginning in the jungles of Okoyong.  Things look black and discouraging now, but I know that if it is Your will You can change all that.  If it is not Your will that my work is successful here, then send me wherever I can work best for You.  Forgive my sins.  Make me a better and more faithful worker for You.  And bless the work here in Okoyong.  I ask this for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.”

Would the work in Okoyong be a failure or a success?  Time would tell.  Mary knew that it depended on God.

At last Chief Edem and his people came back from the wild, drunken party at Ifako.

“Welcome Ma Mary,” said Chief Edem.  “I am glad you have come.  I have a place for you.  You take this room here in my women’s yard.  It is for you.”

“Thank you, Chief,” said Mary.  It was a dirty, filthy room, but it was the kind of room all the people of Okoyong used.  Mary cleaned out the dirt.  She had a window put in.  She hung a curtain over the door.  While she was working a boy came up to her.

“Ma Mary,” he said, “I am Ipke.  I want to help you.”  Ipke worked hard.  He helped Mary as much as possible.  Whatever there was to do, Ipke was ready to do it.

A few days later Mary looked out of her room.  She saw Ipke.  He was standing near a pot of boiling oil.  A crowd of people stood around yelling and shouting.

Chief Edem came up to the crowd.  Then a man took a dipper and filled it full of boiling oil.  Ipke stretched out his hands in front of him.  Suddenly Mary knew what was happening.  She rushed out of her house, but she was too late.  Already the man had poured the boiling oil over Ipke’s arms and hands.

“Why have you done this?” asked Mary.  Chief Edem said nothing.  He turned and walked away.  The other people also kept still.  Mary took Ipke to her room.  She put medicine on the burns.