Elikana

But they had become so fond of Elikana that they said: "No, you must not leave us," and it was only when he promised to come back with another teacher to help him, that they could bring themselves to part with him.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Elikana and his friends knew the sea almost like fish, from the time they were babies.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Elikana went aboard and sailed to Samoa to the London Missionary

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Thrown up by the ocean in the darkness like driftwood, Elikana and his companions lay on the grey shore.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Elikana looked ahead to where his own island of Rakahanga grew clearer every moment on the sky-line ahead of them, though each time his craft dropped into the trough of the sea between the green curves of the league-long ocean rollers the island was lost from sight.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Manihiki Island looked like a tiny anchored canoe far away across the Pacific, as Elikana glanced back from his place at the tiller.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Elikana gathered them round him, and began to tell them about the love of Jesus and the protecting care of God the Father.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

This went on for four months, till one day Elikana said: "I must go away and learn more so that I can teach you more."

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Elikana turned to the white missionary who had come with him, to ask what they could do.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Then a wicked white man named Tom Rose, who lived on the island and knew how much the people were looking forward to the day when Elikana would come back to teach them, went to the traders and whispered what he knew to them.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews