“Oh yes?” Katie set her jaw adamantly. “I’m just as stubborn as you are, Barney. What did you say over and over to Dorothy when she begged you not to come here? I’ve got to go! Wasn’t that it?”
By now the morning sun was steaming hot and Barney suggested, “Let’s sit in the shade for a while.” It was really an excuse to give him time to answer Katie’s probing argument. “That sun’s burning me up,” he went on. “Haven’t been in the bush for a while.” They dropped down on a fallen log beneath a spreading tree.
Katie knew Barney was troubled. And she guessed it was mostly about her safety, so she said, “Barney, if you clutter up your mind with worries about me, you won’t be able to pray. Right now we all need to be seeking God. It’s going to be dangerous, of course, but what isn’t dangerous in this place? Why, I’m more afraid of malaria than I am of that old witch doctor of a chief!”
As she spoke, he watched the animated movements of her face. Her skin had sunburned deeply from the intense heat. Beads of perspiration gathered on her upper lip and over the fine fatigue lines etched on the edges of her mouth. She’s very attractive, in spite of the harsh climate, Barney thought.
He dropped his eyes, lest she read his mind. “You’re right, I suppose. But we are in a tough situation for sure. There’re no policemen out here, Katie. Batoni is like all these warlike chiefs, as unstable as gun powder. One spark and they blow up. He could have a fit of anger and kill all of us. It’s happened before out here.”
“We knew coming here wouldn’t be easy, didn’t we? Remember how we used to talk about it at the mission?”
“I remember.”
Barney’s eyes were half shut against the brilliance of the sun. His sweat-soaked shirt clung to his body, the swelling muscles of his chest and shoulders clearly outlined. He was strong physically, Katie knew, but in the craggy planes of his face and the steady light of his brown eyes, there was another kind of strength. That was what had drawn her to him in the early days, and she realized it was still there. He had lost his way, but underneath he had not changed. This thought made her smile.
“What makes you smile?”
“Oh, I’m just thankful that I’m here,” she said quickly, hiding the undercurrent of emotion. “God’s been good to me. I was so lost, and He brought me out of the pit. All of this—” She waved at the primitive village—stench, poverty, clutter. “Why, it’s not as bad as New York, Barney. It’s a little dirtier, maybe, but the people long for God. I think our people have too much. They have so many things, they crowd God out of their lives. These people don’t have anything, so Jesus can find a place in them. They make room for Him.”
“That’s the way I’ve always thought about it,” Barney replied. “Andy, he’s able to see the big picture. He can think of the entire continent of Africa, but all I can think of is Bestman or maybe Laota.” He laughed shortly, ashamed at his lack of vision.
But Katie said cautiously, “That’s the way Andy is.” She wanted to add, And Dorothy too. But she was too wise for that. Instead, she said, “Do you have any plan? About getting Bestman away from Batoni, I mean?”
“Not even a part of one! How about you?”
“My mind’s a blank!” she confessed. Then the humor of the situation struck her. “Here we go—one woman, three men, one so sick he has to be carried. And we’re going to march into the village where the most wicked chief in Africa wants to kill all Christians!” She laughed aloud and shook her hair free, letting it cascade down her back.
He watched her for a moment, grinning. “You’re good for a man, Katie Sullivan! Most women would be nagging to take them back to safety. That’s what I saw in you back in New York.”
She flushed at his praise, and jumped to her feet. “Come on,” she commanded. “I want to see what’s left of the juju house.”
He led the way to the charred remains of the structure. In no time they were joined at the site by the children of the village.
“Kwi Balee, you remember honey?” One of the young boys spoke up.
“The honey in the juju house that was here?” Barney asked.
“Yes! When chief burn juju house down, bees, they leave. I wait. When fire go, I eat honey.”
“Was it good?” Barney smiled.
“Very good! Some peoples say, ‘You die!’ But me, I sing song you teach.” He opened his mouth wide and sang, “Oh, there’s honey in the rock! There’s honey in the rock!” Then he grinned widely. “Very good honey, Kwi Balee!”
“Good for you, Luke!” Barney laughed, patting him on the head.
“He’s a fine boy, Luke,” Barney said as he and Katie continued toward the mission house. “I baptized him last year.”
“These people love you, Barney,” Katie said soberly.
Her comment triggered something deep within him and he whirled around, his eyes sweeping over the village. “I miss this place, Katie!” The words burst out like a gusher. “I wish—” He stopped and his shoulders slumped. “But a man can’t be everywhere.”
“God only wants us in one place.”
God only wants us in one place. The phrase echoed in his mind as they walked along slowly. He kept his head down until finally he nodded and lifted his eyes to hers. “And all we have to do is find that one place.”
She didn’t answer, for by then they were at their destination.
“Hey,” Del cried as the two entered, “this is the best rat stew I’ve ever tasted. Better sit down before it’s all gone.”
The thought turned her stomach, but she took a chair across from Barney and cautiously tasted the helping Del dished up for her. Surprised, she said, “It is good!”
“You’ve come a long way, Katie Sullivan,” Awful smiled. “I remember when you had to douse rat soup with Stanley Beecham’s hot sauce to get even one mouthful down.”
Katie nodded. “I guess we’ve all come a long way, Awful. But we’ve got a ways to go yet.”
They spent the day quietly, mostly in prayer. Barney implored, “Lord, you know how unable I am. But you are able, so no matter what it costs me, let us bring Bestman back with us.” Awful had a difficult time, dropping off to sleep, then awakening just as abruptly.
That night after Katie had gone to Chief Lodi’s house and Awful was asleep, Del said, “Barney, remember when I asked you to help me with Katie?”
“Sure do.” Barney turned to look ruefully at his friend. “I made hash out of it, didn’t I?”
Del’s honest face broke into a grin. “Well, you didn’t have much to work with. Anyway, thanks for trying.”
“Want me to try again?” Barney asked carefully.
“Nope.”
The blanket statement of resignation took Barney off guard. “What’s happened to you, Del?”
Saunders ducked his head, then lifted it again. “Why, I found out three things. One, I’m not in love with Katie. She’s a great girl, but not for me. Two, she’s not in love with me. So you can take down your sign as a marriage broker, Winslow!”
Barney smiled with relief. “Guess you know best, Del. But what’s the third thing?”
A strange expression flashed across his face. “Well, Barney, that third thing, I’m going to let you find out for yourself.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Powers of Darkness
Batoni’s village was only fifteen miles from Gropaka, but the pathway was steep, winding through a series of serrated mountain ranges and crossing two swift rivers. The rivers were down, so the small party forded them with no difficulty. But the porters carrying Gardner were slowed by the dense undergrowth. At times they had to get on their hands and knees to plow through the mass of vines; and late that afternoon, Barney decided to make camp beside a small river. As the porters built a fire, Barney took his shotgun and headed for the riverbank.
Del looked down the river where Barney had disappeared, then at Katie resting nearby. “Katie, did you know I asked Barney to help me court you?” He’d made up his mind to confess the affai
r to her on the trip, and took the first chance.
His bluntness amused Katie. She studied his open features, and said, “He asked me to marry you, Del. Why didn’t you ask me yourself?”
“Aw, Katie, I don’t know!” Del pulled up a handful of grass and threw it down with a sudden gesture. He grinned, his red hair standing out against the green wall of the jungle. “It was a crazy idea I had. I’ve always liked you, and I was lonesome.”
“That’s the way I’ve felt about you, Del,” she replied gently. “I’ve been a little lonesome myself.” Then she asked curiously, “Why’d you ask Barney to do your courting?”
Surprised at the question, his brow furrowed. “Why, you and him are so close, Katie. It made sense to me at the time.” With a sly smile, he added, “But now I know better. The thing I don’t understand is why he keeps hanging around Dorothy Hansen.”
“She’s an attractive woman, Del. It’s natural that Barney would be drawn to her. And,” she continued, though the subject made her uncomfortable, “it looks like he just might marry her. Slim and Pearl are married. That leaves you and me as the only single ones left, Del.” She laughed shortly. “Maybe I ought to marry you!”
Alarmed, Del protested, “No, Katie, that won’t work!”
Surprised at the sheer dismay on his face, she laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, Del,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. “I’m not going to chase you down and make you marry me.” But she was curious. “You did want to marry me. What changed your mind?”
“Like I told Barney last night,” Del replied, “I found out three things, Katie. You don’t love me and I don’t love you.”
“That’s two. What’s the third?”
“That’s for you and Barney to find out,” he said enigmatically. Suddenly the sound of two explosions broke the silence that followed his answer, and he added, “I bet he got something. He never misses. Except with women,” he added with a broad grin.
The sage comment was lost to the wind as the expert hunter returned with two fat waterfowl, which the natives roasted hurriedly. The missionaries sat around the fire, eating and discussing the next day’s activity.
“Awful, what’s your plan?” Barney asked. “I hope you’ve got one, because I haven’t.”
Gardner looked worse than he had before the journey. But his eyes were alert, and he said cheerfully, “My plan? Why, it’s to rescue Bestman and bring ’im back!”
“That’s a good overall plan, Awful,” Barney agreed. “But I’d like to hear a few of the details.”
“Haven’t got none!” Gardner stared into the fire, watching the dancing flames. “Most of the time when we make plans, we make ’em up and ask God to join us as we carry ’em out. We don’t stop to think that God’s got a plan already made. Now, what I’m tryin’ to do is find out what His plan is—and get in on it. Because His don’t fail like mine!”
Barney poked a burning log with a stick, sending a myriad of blazing sparks swirling into the air. The jungle was rank around them, and the raw odor of a thousand miles of trees was wafted on the slight breeze.
“Seems like most of us have trouble finding out what God’s plans are, Awful. He doesn’t always publish them in the morning paper.”
“That’s right enough,” Gardner answered. “There’s a little gem of a verse in the book of Deuteronomy, lad. It’s the last verse of chapter twenty-nine. It says, ‘The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law.’ ”
Katie broke in. “Strange you should mention that verse, Awful. It’s become one of my favorites.”
“I don’t get it,” Del said, puzzled. “What secret things?”
“Anything that God, for His own purposes, doesn’t want us to know,” Awful replied. “Sometimes God has a plan, but it’s so different than anything we could think of, we’d never follow it.”
“Like what?” Barney asked. He had long ago discovered that the uneducated Australian heard from God and was able to get things from the Bible that most people missed completely.
Awful thought for a moment, then said, “Remember when Lazarus wuz sick? Mary and Martha sent for Jesus. Well, their plan wuz for Jesus to come runnin’ and heal their brother. Nothin’ wrong with that! I’d do the same thing. But God had somethin’ else on His mind. Jesus said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.’ And so He stayed where He wuz—and let His friend Lazarus die.”
“Pretty hard on Lazarus,” Del observed.
“Aye, we’d think so,” Awful agreed. “And hard on the sisters, too. So the first thing they say to Him wuz what?”
“ ‘If you’d been here our brother wouldn’t have died,’ ” Katie answered. “Just about what I’d have said.”
“Most of us would,” Awful nodded. “But God had a ‘secret’ He didn’t let the others in on. He intended to demonstrate His power by raisin’ Lazarus from the dead. And He did just that.”
Barney mulled over that for a few minutes. “So we don’t need to be making God’s plans for Him? That what you’re saying?”
“No, it’s not that simple, I’m thinkin’. Proverbs twenty-five has another little gem. It says, ‘It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.’ ”
“It sounds as if God likes to hide things,” Katie spoke up.
“So He does,” Gardner agreed. “And He likes for us to look for them. Don’t ask me why, though. The apostle Paul called such things ‘mysteries.’ ”
The walls of the jungle seemed to move closer to them, listening and watching as they huddled around the fire, each lost in thought. Barney gazed into the flames, remembering the way God had worked in his life. He raised his head, voicing his opinion. “I’ve discovered that God won’t be backed into a corner. Sometimes we just have to wait. I guess that’s what we’ll do tomorrow, Awful. Just go in and see what God’s plan is.”
“A little bit scary,” Del observed.
“Walking by faith is always an awesome thing, lad!” Awful said, his words fading away as he succumbed to the ever-present drowsiness.
****
The next morning as they approached the collection of thatched huts on the outskirts of Batoni’s village, they were confronted by a band of warriors armed with knives, spears, rusty guns and clubs. The leader, dressed in trousers and an ancient derby on his head, looked like a gladiator in western dress.
“That’s Batoni,” Awful whispered. He had insisted on leaving the porters behind and walking the last mile. Now, facing the invincible opponent, Gardner knew his frail frame could have been slain by a breath from the warrior’s nostrils.
Batoni carried himself like a king, his bright intelligent eyes spewing out defiance. He advanced within ten feet of the four missionaries, paused, and threw his head up with an imperial gesture.
“Jesus men go away!” he cried, his command echoed by a rumble of voices from the other warriors. Two witch doctors were positioned directly behind Batoni, and at his side stood a young boy about sixteen, carrying a long spear with a wicked-looking spearhead. He took a stance like Batoni and appeared to be his son.
“Chief, we have come for our friend,” Gardner said. He stood straight in the sunlight, his voice growing stronger as he spoke. “You give us our man, and we go away.”
Batoni reached over and snatched the spear from the boy beside him and brandished it over his head. “White man go away!” he cried. The warriors picked up the cry and stomped the ground with one foot, making a booming sound. They held their weapons high and screamed again and again, “White man go away!”
Katie glanced at Barney and Del. Neither one seemed ruffled. Her own nerves were tightly strung, but she kept her face calm.
Finding it impossible to make himself heard over the tumult, Gardner simply fixed his gaze on Chief Batoni until the chief lifted his hand, quieting the natives. Then Gardner said, “We need a plac
e to camp, Chief Batoni. When you are ready, we will talk.”
Batoni glared, his eyes boring into Awful. Finally he nodded. One of the witch doctors came close and whispered in his ear, but he shook the man off and turned to his son. “Take them to old hut,” he commanded, then whirled and stalked away.
The warriors made a path as the boy marched toward the huts, followed by the missionaries.
“That wuz pretty close, dear boy!” Awful said with relief. “I wuz afraid they’d cut us down without waitin’ to talk.”
“You handled it well,” Del replied, brushing his sweaty brow with his arm. “What now?”
“We wait until the meeting,” Gardner replied. “They won’t miss a chance like this! But it probably won’t be until tomorrow, or maybe even a week.”
“A week!” Katie gasped.
“Yes. That chief is pretty tough. He knows how to break a man’s nerve. So our job is to just enjoy ourselves until he gets tired of tryin’ to break us down.”
The boy stopped just outside a hut with a peaked thatched roof. “You sleep here,” he said and stood aside, watching them carefully.
Barney remained outside. “You speak good English. Where did you learn white man’s talk?”
“Missionary teached me.”
“Is he around here now?” Barney looked at him with surprise.
“No. We chop him.”
The boy gazed at him insolently, proud of having eaten a missionary—although Barney suspected the chief’s son was boasting about his part in the event.
“Did he teach you about God, this missionary?”
The boy hesitated, then shook his head and slapped his chest. “Bendi no listen to white man talk!”
He was the image of his father and was no doubt a pretty tough specimen, Barney noted. Young African males grew up quickly, and in a hard school. Bendi’s teeth were already filed to a point, and his chest was ridged with an elaborate set of tribal markings—a very painful procedure—and he spoke to the boy with respect. “Did white man tell you about Jesus, Bendi?”
The Final Adversary Page 27