He said, “Is it as bad as that? Then I think I will not go.” And he did not.
The end of it was that the bad white man who had been so cruel to us was sent away to Europe, and a new one came to us who was much kinder in his treatment of us, and for a time we had peace.
Then came my opportunity; for while there were not so many palavers going on, there was freer intercourse between the rubber white men and the white men of God, and so it became possible for the latter to take a few of us rubber men to work for them.
As I had begged so long for that very chance I was one of the first chosen; and how can I describe the joy with which I said farewell to rubber work, and went with my wife and child to reside near the compound of my new master.
Everything was so different; it was like [[85]]having a rest, although, of course, I do not mean that we did not have any work. We had plenty, and it had to be well done; but there were regular times, and home and food and a welcome from the wife in the evening when one returned from work tired, instead of cold, wet, hunger, and fear in the forest. I thought I had indeed reached a good place, and should never want to leave it, so I set to work with a will.
By and by I was taught to use the saw, and became one of the staff of pit sawyers who were cutting up wood for house building. We worked from sunrise to sunset, with two hours off for rest mid-day; but sometimes we did piece-work, and then our hours were shorter. We received a monthly wage, and a weekly allowance for rations; and as our wives kept their own gardens, and sometimes went fishing, we were well supplied with food and soon got strong and well.
Each morning before we commenced work there was a service in the chapel which we all had to attend, and later on there was school for the boys and domestic servants of the white people and for our children and any who liked to attend from the villages. Some evenings [[86]]there were preaching services or classes for inquirers, and occasionally the white man showed us pictures with a lamp.
The pictures appeared on a large cloth which was hung from above, and we liked seeing them very much. But we were also somewhat afraid of them, especially when we saw some of our own people who were dead—we thought it must be their spirits! And when we went round to the other side to see their backs, behold, they had none, but only another front, so we thought there must be something strange about them; for we have never seen people with two fronts and no backs!
Every first day of the week we did no work, but went with our wives and other people to hear the teaching. Before this time I knew but very little of it: I knew that it was about one Jesus, but who or what He was, or why they talked so much about Him I could not understand. Now I began to learn that He was the Son of God, and came to earth for us. I heard about His birth, life and death, and how He died for us—instead of us—just as the peace-offering is killed in our country to save the whole village. We kill a slave; but God sent His Son, and Jesus came willingly [[87]]and gave His life for us. Truly, He must have loved us!
After a time I joined the inquirers’ class, for I wanted to learn more about Him, and to belong to His company.