"My fathers of old were heathen, savage men on the island of Mangaia,"
he would say. "The white men came to them and brought the story
of Jesus. Now we are happy. But we, too, must go to the men of New
Guinea, just as the white men came to us. To-day the New Guinea
Papuans are savage cannibals and heathen. To-morrow they will know
Jesus and be as happy as we are."
So Ruatoka had been trained as a teacher and preacher as well as a
house-builder and carpenter; and his wife was taught how to teach
children as well as good housekeeping.
This was the brown man, Ruatoka, who sat that night in his little
house at Port Moresby on the shore behind the great reef of Papua.
Suddenly there came a knock at his door. The door opened, and the
black, frightened faces of Papuans, with staring eyes, looked at him.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
And they told him that, as they came at sunset along the path from the
people of Larogi to Port Moresby, they found by the side of the path a
white man. "He was dying," they said. "We were afraid to touch him. If
we touched him and he died, his ghost would haunt us for evermore."
Ruatoka stood up at once and reached for his lantern, and turning to
the men said:
"Come and guide me to the place.
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