stooped down and lifted it and took it to her heart, resolving to give
it a double share of the care and comfort of which it had been
defrauded. As she carried it about in her arms, or sat with it in her
lap, she was regarded with a kind of amused astonishment. But the old
grandmother came and blessed her. At first the child rallied to the new
treatment: it grew human-like: sometimes Mary thought it looked bonnie:
but in a few days it drooped and died.

The bodies of children were usually placed anywhere in the earth near
the huts or under the bush by the wayside, but she dressed the tiny
form in white and laid it in a provision box and covered it with
flowers. A native carried the box to a spot which she had reserved in
her ground: here a grave was dug, and she stood beside it and prayed.
The grandmother knelt at her feet, sobbing. Looking on at a distance,
curious and scornful, were the revellers from Ifako; they had heard of
the proceedings, and had come to witness the white woman's
"witchcraft." All that they said in effect when they saw the good box
and the white robe was, "Why this waste?" And so the work in Okoyong
was consecrated by the death and Christian burial of a little child.

When the people came crowding back from the devil-making they sought
out a young lad who had detached himself from the orgies and remained
in the village, where he had been very attentive to Mary. They accused
him of deserting their ancient customs. She saw him standing in their
midst near a pot of oil which was being heated over a fire, and noticed
the chief, in front going through some movements and the lad holding
out his arms, but was unaware of what was taking place until she saw a
man seize a ladle, plunge it into the boiling oil, and advance to the
boy. In a moment the truth flashed upon her and she darted forward, but
was too late. The stuff was poured over the lad's hands, and he