Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/271

SOMOSOMO. 241 them as much as they do pigs. When they took them away to be cooked, they dragged them on the ground : one had a rope round his neck and the others took him by the hands and feet. They have been very strange with us ever since. They refuse to sell us a pig ; and have threatened us, and treated us in such a way as to give us reason, so far as they are concerned, to expect the very worst. But we know, while we give ourselves to God, and say, * Not my will, but Thine be done ; ' God will not say to us, * Neither Mine nor yours shall be done, but that of the Heathen.' O no ; God will not give them the reins of His government. Here we rest : God is ours in Christ : ours if we live ; ours if we die ; ours in all respects ; our * Father and our Love,' " Every day the position of the Missionaries became more trying and more dangerous. The ovens in which the human bodies were cooked were very near their dwelling ; and when cannibal feasts were held, the blinds were closed to shut out the revolting scene. But this greatly offended the natives, who also felt much annoyed at the inter- ference of the strangers, and their faithful reproof of the wickedness of the land. These bold and faithful servants of God were now plainly told that their lives were in danger, and would soon be at an end. One day the King's son, club in hand, came in a fury to kill Mr. Lyth, who had indignantly refused to purchase part of a melon of the King's favourite wife. Mr. Lyth escaped to his bedroom, and Mr. Hunt held the angry Chief in conversation until his rage had cooled down. Threats were more and more plainly uttered, and one night there was every reason to believe that the murderous purpose of the savages was to be carried into effect. The natives, for some time past, had been growing bolder in their theft and insults and defiance, and now the end seemed at hand, A strange and memorable night was that, in the great, gloomy house where the Missionaries lived. Those devoted men and women looked at one another and at their little ones, and felt as those only can feel who believe their hours are numbered. Then they went, all together, for help to Him who ever shelters those who trust in Him. They betook themselves to prayer. Surrounded by native mosquito curtains, hung up to hide them from any who might be peeping through the frail reed walls of the house, this band of faithful ones, one after another, called upon God through the long hours of that terrible night, resolved that their murderers should find them at prayer. Noble men and women ! Theirs, at least, was the martyr's heart. They left their homes in England, knowing that they risked life in coming to the islands of blood ; and they were content to die. Their