"An hour later we reached the timber line. Before we entered it the first boy fell flat on his face and prayed to the god of the mountain asking that god not to hurt them. Then the next boy did likewise; then the third and the fourth and the fifth!
"Their faces were almost white with fear when we missionaries did not pray. It filled them with terror!"
* * * * * *
And the last Flash-light of Fear is that of the baby in Medan. The Priest lived across the way in a temple.
The baby was sick with whooping-cough. It was the usual, simple case of baby sickness that American babies all have, and which is not taken seriously here by either doctor or mother.
The mother took the baby to the priest.
The priest took a red hot iron; laid the baby on the church altar and ran the iron across its neck, and then across its breast and then across its little stomach. Then he laid it on the front steps of the temple.
The baby died after a few hours spent in terrible pain.
Hate the Priest?
No!