“You Peter, my little boy?” exclaimed the old man, gazing in his countenance. “You captain of this ship, and I have found you after these long years! God be praised! And your mother, tell me about her.”
“I tried to prepare you, sir, for what I have to say,” said Peter. “She has been among the blessed for many years, and her last prayer on earth was that I might find you that you might be brought to know the Saviour in whom she trusted.”
“God’s will be done! God’s will be done!” murmured the old man, letting his head fall on his son’s shoulder. “He knows what is best. In His mercy He took her; and I all the time living like a savage, but He found me—He found me; and He has sent you, and all through His love, to tell me about her. I began to fear that she might be poor and suffering, and you living a hard life, or sent maybe to the workhouse, but He orders all things for the best. Praise His name!”
The old man could say no more. His feelings overcoming him, he bent his head and wept like a child.
No one would have recognised the once “roaring Jack Gray,” and for some time the wild, half-clad savage, in the now venerable-looking old Christian man, who sat at supper with the young captain and the missionary who had now arrived.
“I fear that I shall lose your assistance, friend Gray,” said Mr Wilson, “though I rejoice that you have found your son.”
“I have been casting the matter in my mind, sir,” answered the old sailor, “and asking God to direct me, and, now she has gone whom I longed to see, and my son in His mercy has been sent to me, I am very sure that He does not want me to go away from this place. I should be a stranger in England, of no use to any one, and a burden to my son, and here you tell me that I am of help to you among the natives, and I think I am, as I can speak their language, and tell them about the love and mercy of God, who found them out as He found me out, and has sent His blessed Gospel of peace to them.”
“I am very sure Captain Gray will agree with me that, although he may wish to have you with him to look after you in your old age, you are more certain to enjoy happiness here, knowing that you are of use to your fellow-creatures, than you would be in returning to the land you have so long left.”
“I do not wish to bias my father,” said Peter, “and I am very sure that, seeking direction from God, he will be directed aright.”
“It is settled then, my son,” said the old sailor, looking up, “I’ll remain with Mr Wilson, and help him. I can say with old Israel, about whom he was reading to me the other day, when he saw Joseph, ‘Now let me die since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.’”