The Royal Handmaid (30 page)

Meredith, who was right behind Chip, said, “That’s terrible. It must be an awful thing for them.”

“Why, it’s all they know,” Chip said with a shrug.

Rena became more and more agitated. She fell back and walked beside Dalton, saying, “Dalton, you’ve got to be more careful.”

“Careful about what?” he asked.

“About, well—about showing any affection for these women.”

“They seem very friendly. Especially this one. I’m just being friendly back.”

Rena did not know how to express herself. She finally said bluntly, “This woman lost her husband. Among these people, when that happens, a single woman can . . . well, try out men.”

“You mean sleep with them?” Dalton said with some surprise. “Is that what you’re talking about?”

“Well . . . yes.”

Dalton laughed. “My, my, that’s something, isn’t it?”

“It’s serious, Dalton!”

“Look, Rena, it’s been pretty clear for some time what’s happening to you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re in love with Travis. Whatever you and I had, it’s over.”

At that instant Rena knew this was the truth. She said quietly, “I think you’re right about us, but we must be very careful with these people.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dalton said. There was a hard edge to his voice, and he turned and smiled at Tabita, who laughed and said something to him.

Rena was shocked by Dalton’s attitude. They were coming into the camp now, and the ones who had stayed behind came to meet them. She went to Travis and said, “You’ll have to speak to Dalton, Travis.”

“About the woman?”

“Yes. I . . . I don’t know what to say. He’s changed.”

“Men do that sometimes. Bad things can happen in situations like this. I’ll talk to him.”

As the tribe was introduced to the other members of their party, she could not help noticing the hungry look of the three sailors she did not trust. She realized for the first time, perhaps, what bringing a new set of values could do to a
people such as this. She found herself praying, “God, don’t let us hurt these people. We came to help them.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Visitors to the Camp

Those who had remained at camp were apprehensive, especially Oscar Blevins. He had frozen up when he saw the natives coming, and only after Travis assured them that the natives were friendly did he relax.

“Oscar, I think we need to fix the best meal we can for our new friends here.”

Glad to have something to do, Blevins threw himself into the work of fixing a feast. He butchered a fat goat and filleted the fish that had been captured in the traps earlier that day.

As for the natives, they appeared perfectly at home. They laid their weapons aside and ran around like children, fascinated by simple things. Lomu’s sharp eyes were everywhere, and Travis made certain to stay close beside him, along with Chip to do the translating. Lomu was very interested in the construction of the shelters and he also seemed curious about the tools. He held a double-bitted ax in his hand and obviously was much taken with it. He said to Travis through Chip, “This is a good thing. Two sides.”

“Yes, when one side gets dull you can use the other side.”

Lomu ran his thumb along the edge and smiled with approval. “Very sharp.”

“Accept it as a gift, Chief Lomu,” Travis said. Fortunately they had four of these axes, and he saw a chance here for winning the friendship of the chief.

“It is a great gift,” Lomu said. “Travis is a generous chief.”

“I’m no chief,” Travis said. “Tell him, Chip, that we don’t really have a chief here.”

This concept proved to be rather difficult for Lomu to grasp. “Someone has to be the head man. How would you decide if there was a disagreement?”

“Sometimes we take a vote, but come to think of it, we do have one man who’s the chief. Come, and I will introduce you to him.” Lomu was introduced to Captain Barkley, and it seemed to reassure the native that there was a leader.

He kept looking back and forth between Travis and Barkley, and Chip said, “He can’t understand why you’re not the chief, Travis. You are obviously in charge. It’s got him bothered.”

“Tell him the captain was hurt, and I’m just filling in.”

This seemed to satisfy Lomu, and Travis left the two of them to talk with Captain Barkley while he helped Oscar with the feast. The women were helping too, and the meal was soon ready. The natives waited until Lomu gave the sign, and then as the missionaries passed the meat out, they fell on it like hungry wolves.

“They act like they haven’t had a bite to eat in days,” Karl murmured.

“I don’t suppose they’ve had much except maybe fish,” Professor Dekker said. “They didn’t get a chance to eat the goat they were cooking on the other beach.” He was watching the natives with great interest, for he was an anthropologist as well as a theologian. “They’re fine-looking people,” he said. “Primitive, of course.”

“That might not be the worst thing in the world, Professor.”

“What do you mean, Karl?”

“I mean when I look at some of the terrible things that go on in civilization, like the Great War, there’s something to be said for the placid life these islanders live.”

“That’s not exactly accurate. Pacific islanders have wars among themselves, and they can be as vicious as the American Indians were when their territory was invaded.”

The two men talked quietly, and finally they all sat down. Lomu made a short speech, which Chip interpreted. “We thank you for the food. You are good people and wise too.” His speech went on for some time, but to everyone’s relief he finally sat down.

Rena said quickly, “You’ll have to respond to that speech, Travis.”

“Captain, why don’t you do it?” Travis said. “You’re the leader.”

“No, Lomu’s got it right. Since I’ve been holed up, you’re chief now, Travis.”

As Rena surveyed the group she saw Dalton sitting with the woman called Tabita beside him. Dalton was looking at Travis with dislike, and she knew there was something in his heart that was wrong.

Travis shrugged. “Well, I’ll do the best I can.” He stood up and spoke with lengthy pauses, allowing Chip time to interpret. “Chief Lomu, we are believers in the one God. Our God has sent us here to the islands to tell those that we meet about Him.”

“What is your God’s name?” Chief Lomu interrupted. “We do not tell others about our God. We do not even say his name among ourselves.”

Travis knew this was not uncommon with some native peoples. He smiled and said, “Our God is called Jesus. It means ‘One who saves His people.’ ”

“That is good.” Lomu nodded with appreciation. “Do you make sacrifices to your God?”

Travis hesitated. “There was a time when the followers of our God killed animals, but now He asks that we sing to Him and honor Him in other ways.”

“I would like to hear such singing.”

Travis was caught off guard, and it was Pete Alford who lifted his voice and began singing “The Old Rugged Cross.” It was his favorite, and all of the missionaries joined in, as well as Shep and Oscar and Chip.

The natives applauded and cried out with pleasure, smiles on their faces.

“My people like to sing too,” Lomu said. “Tell us more about your God.”

As Travis continued he kept his words as simple as possible. He spoke of God the Father, who had made all things and who kept all things in order. He indicated the sun and said, “Our God makes the sun to send its beams upon us all. He made the stars to give us light at night. He gives us rain and He blesses the earth with fruit. The animals He gave us for food.”

The natives sat listening avidly as Chip interpreted Travis’s words. Finally Travis said, “I hope you will all come to love Jesus.”

Lomu shook his head. “We have our own god.”

“Do you love him, Chief Lomu?”

“Love him!” Lomu exclaimed. “No, I fear him!”

“We serve the God of love,” Travis went on. “That’s what He wants from us—love. He loved us before we even loved Him.” For some moments he continued speaking, and then he said quietly, “I hope in the days to come you will allow us to tell you more about Jesus, this God that we love.”

“We will hear more of this Jesus God,” Lomu said.

When Travis sat down Rena reached out and squeezed his arm. “That was wonderful, Travis. Just exactly right. The Lord was with you.”

Travis’s face was wreathed in smiles. “I believe we’ve found our mission field,” he whispered. “He’s a good God, isn’t He, Rena?”

****

“I’m surprised the natives have stayed four days,” Lanie said. She and Pete were dressing fish for the evening meal. “It’s just a big vacation for them, isn’t it?”

Pete cut the head off of a fish and tossed it into the pile.
“It sure is. And they sure eat a lot!” He grinned. “I guess it’s just rest and recreation for them.”

“It’s marvelous, isn’t it, that God has given us this opportunity to share the Gospel?”

“Yes, it is.” Pete shook his head with wonder. “They listen to the Gospel so readily.”

“I wish I could speak their language.”

“Well, Meredith is making progress. She’s learned to say some sentences. She can teach the rest of us what she’s learned.”

As the two continued to clean the fish, Lanie smiled at him and said, “I like doing everyday things with you. It’s good to have a man.”

Pete smiled. “It’s good to have a woman. That’s what the Bible says. You know the first thing God said to Adam was, ‘Son, you need help.’ ”

“And I’m your help.”

“Yes, and I’m yours.”

Another conversation was going on at this same time among Day and Novak and Olsen. The three had imbibed freely of the alcoholic drink the natives had brought. Apparently they had transported a good supply. All three men were now half drunk. Day leered at the native woman who stood before them holding the jug. “They ain’t bad-lookin’ women,” he said.

“You’d better watch out. If you touch one of ’em, their men might cut your head off. I ain’t sure they’re not head-hunters anyway,” Olsen grunted. Two days earlier he had started to touch one of the young women and had been challenged by one of the natives, a strong-looking young man who had drawn a jagged-looking knife and was stopped only by Lomu’s quick action.

“There’s ways of gettin’ around that,” Day said.

Novak had said little, but he had been watching. Now he sipped at the drink the young woman offered him, coughed, and handed it back. “We don’t need to get drunk. Somehow
we’re gonna get off this crazy island. I don’t care what these preachers do.”

“Chip said the island they live on is only two days’ sail away,” Day said. “Why don’t we go back with ’em?”

“In the first place, they might not wanna take us,” Novak said.

“But we got the guns.”

“Use your head, Charlie, if you have one. What are we gonna do—shoot ’em all? How will we find the island? No, we’ve gotta find a way to persuade ’em to take us with ’em.”

“We could have a good life there if the preachers weren’t there. They’ve already started preachin’ at ’em,” Day complained.

“We’ll find a way,” Novak said. “Don’t worry about it.”

****

Novak was not the only one thinking about a way to get off of their island. Captain Barkley set up a meeting with Travis and Pete to discuss it, and when the rest of the missionaries heard about it they all decided they should be in on it.

Pete opened the conversation by saying, “Captain, why can’t we go to the island they live on?”

“We don’t know that their island’s any better than this one—as far as getting rescued is concerned,” the professor observed. “It’s all a gamble.”

“I’m more interested in the people there than I am in getting a ship,” Travis said. “I think God sent us out here for a purpose, and if we were on that island, we could work with the people there, bringing them the Gospel.”

“I think that’s right,” Rena said quickly. “God’s put us here, and we need to serve Him while we can.”

Dalton lifted his head. He had been a disappointment to everyone. To their dismay, he had not discouraged the attentions of the young native woman. He had also been drinking too much of the liquor that the natives had brought. “I don’t
think God brought us here at all,” he said. “I think it was all an accident.”

Rena’s heart sank. “You don’t really believe that, Dalton.”

Dalton glared at her. He got up and left the group without looking back.

“Dalton’s in a bad way,” Benson said. “He’s going downhill quickly.”

“We’ve got to pray for him,” Abby said. She was holding Michael in her arms, cuddling him. “But I do think we need to do all we can to visit that island. Will they take us, do you think?”

“I’ve been talking to Lomu about it, and he hasn’t said one way or another,” Travis said. “I think he’s afraid we’ll try to take over.”

“He’s not far wrong about that when you think about Novak,” Captain Barkley said. “I wish they didn’t have those confounded guns. I’ve been trying to think of a way to take them away from them.”

“I’d like to do the same thing,” Pete said, “but it would be tough.”

They talked for a long time and finally concluded that they would try to persuade Lomu to take at least some of them back to the island.

“I think it might be good,” the captain said, “if they would take some of us there and teach us how to build a boat like the one they’ve got. Then we could come back for the others.”

“Put it to him like that, Captain,” Travis said. “I think he’ll listen to reason.”

****

The morning after the missionaries had their meeting, Rena was awakened by the sound of angry voices. She sprang from her cot in one bound and tore outside. She saw a great number of natives speaking in angry voices, but she could not make out what they were saying. She found Travis and asked, “What’s going on, Travis?”

“It’s Dalton. Not good news, Rena.”

“What is it? What’s happened?”

“One of the young men of the tribe caught him with Tabita. The man wants her for his wife, and when he caught the two together, he jumped on Dalton and cut him pretty badly.”

“Is he . . . is he okay?”

“I’m not sure. Karl’s working on him now, but the whole situation put us in a pretty bad light.” Travis nodded over toward Lomu, who was watching them. “I’ve been trying to explain to him, but he’s unhappy about it.”