offered his canoe and paddlers and a number of bearers for her baggage.
By Friday evening, August 3, 1888, all was ready, and she lay down to
rest but not to sleep. On the morrow she would enter on the great
adventure of her life, and the strangeness of it, the seriousness of
it, the possibilities it might hold for her, kept her awake and
thoughtful throughout the night.




III. THE ADVENTURE OF TAKING POSSESSION

The dawn came to Creek Town grey and wet. The rain fell in torrents,
and the negroes, moving about with the packages, grumbled and
quarrelled. Wearied and unrefreshed after her sleepless night, Mary was
not in the best of spirits, and she was glad to see King Eyo, who had
come to supervise the loading and packing of the canoe: his kind eyes,
cheery smile, and sympathetic words did her good, and her courage
revived. Few of the natives wished her God-speed. One young man said
with a sob in his voice, "I will constantly pray for you, but you are
courting death." Not great faith for a Christian perhaps, but her own
faith at the moment was not so strong that she could afford to cast a
stone at him. As the hours wore on, the air of depression became
general, and when the party was about to start Mr. Goldie suddenly
decided to send one of the Mission staff to accompany her on the
journey. Mr. Bishop, the printer, who was standing by, volunteered, and
there and then stepped into the canoe. Mary and her retinue of five
children stowed themselves into a corner, the paddlers pushed off, and
the canoe swept up the river and disappeared in the rain.