Many other people came and told her how glad they were that the old ways were changing.  They said that they knew the old ways were bad.  Mary had had a very hard time in the jungles, but now things were going better.  She was busy all the time, teaching and preaching and nursing.  She journeyed through the jungle where the wild animals were, but she did not fear.  She was trusting God to take care of her as He had taken care of Daniel in the lions’ den.  Always she told the people of the loving Saviour who had died for their sins.

After a time Mary fell sick.  She caught the jungle fever.  She became very weak.

“Mary,” said Ovens, “you must take a vacation.  You must get away from the jungle for a while.  You must go to England for a long rest.  That way you can get well and come back to work here at Okoyong.”

“You are right,” said Mary.  “Much as I hate to leave my work here, I know I must go.  I will ask for a furlough at once.”

For three years Mary had worked in Okoyong.  But already there was a change among the heathen people.  The Gospel of Jesus has a wonderful power to change hearts and lives.  As soon as word came that another worker was being sent to take her place, Mary got ready to leave for England.

At last the day came that Miss Dunlop, the new worker, arrived.  Mary was ready to leave.  Her friends carried her trunk and suitcases down to the Ekenge landing.  A great crowd had come to the landing to tell her good-by and wish her a safe journey.  Mary was telling them to help Miss Dunlop and to remain true to the Bible teaching.  Suddenly a man was seen running through the crowd.  He ran up to Mary.

“Come, white Ma, a young man has been shot in the hand, and he wants your medicine!”

“Don’t go Ma,” said Ma Eme, Mary’s friend.  “You are tired and sick.  You must get back to England.  If you go with this man you may miss your boat.  Let someone else go.”

“It is a bad tribe.  They are always fighting.  It is dangerous to go,” said Chief Edem.  “Do not go with the man.”

“You cannot go,” said her other friends at Ekenge.  “You are too sick to walk.  The wild animals in the jungle will kill you.  The wild warriors are out.  They will kill you in the dark, not knowing who you are.”

“But I must go,” said Mary.

“If you must go,” said Chief Edem, “then you must take two armed men with you.  You must get the chief of the next village to send his drummer with you.  When the people hear the drum, they will know that a protected person is traveling who must not be hurt.”

It was night.  Mary Slessor and the two men marched out into the darkness.  The lanterns threw strange shadows that looked like fierce men in the darkness.  At last Mary and her guard came to the village where they were to ask for the drummer.  They told the chief what Chief Edem had said, but the chief did not want to help them.