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Title: The Black-Bearded Barbarian : The Life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa

Author: Mary Esther Miller MacGregor

Release date: May 1, 1999 [eBook #1759]
                Most recently updated: November 27, 2011

Language: English

Credits: Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK-BEARDED BARBARIAN : THE LIFE OF GEORGE LESLIE MACKAY OF FORMOSA ***










THE BLACK-BEARDED BARBARIAN

by Mary Esther Miller MacGregor (AKA Marion Keith)




THE BLACK BEARDED BARBARIAN (1)

     (1) The name by which George Leslie Mackay was
     known among the Chinese of north Formosa.




CHAPTER I. SPLITTING ROCKS

Up in the stony pasture-field behind the barn the boys had been working
all the long afternoon. Nearly all, that is, for, being boys, they had
managed to mix a good deal of fun with their labor. But now they were
tired of both work and play, and wondered audibly, many times over, why
they were not yet called home to supper.

The work really belonged to the Mackay boys, but, like Tom Sawyer, they
had made it so attractive that several volunteers had come to their aid.
Their father was putting up a new stone house, near the old one down
there behind the orchard, and the two youngest of the family had been
put at the task of breaking the largest stones in the field.

It meant only to drag some underbrush and wood from the forest skirting
the farm, pile them on the stones, set fire to them, and let the heat do
the rest. It had been grand sport at first, they all voted, better than
playing shinny, and almost as good as going fishing. In fact it was a
kind of free picnic, where one could play at Indians all day long.
But as the day wore on, the picnic idea had languished, and the
stone-breaking grew more and more to resemble hard work.

The warm spring sunset had begun to color the western sky; the
meadow-larks had gone to bed, and the stone-breakers were tired and
ravenously hungry--as hungry as only wolves or country boys can be. The
visitors suggested that they ought to be going home. "Hold on, Danny,
just till this one breaks," said the older Mackay boy, as he set a
burning stick to a new pile of brush.

"This'll be a dandy, and it's the last, too. They're sure to call us to
supper before we've time to do another."

The new fire, roaring and snapping, sending up showers of sparks and
filling the air with the sweet odor of burning cedar, proved too
alluring to be left. The company squatted on the ground before it,
hugging their knees and watching the blue column of smoke go straight
up into the colored sky. It suggested a camp-fire in war times, and each
boy began to tell what great and daring deeds he intended to perform
when he became a man.

Jimmy, one of the visitors, who had been most enthusiastic over the
picnic side of the day's work, announced that he was going to be a
sailor. He would command a fleet on the high seas, so he would, and
capture pirates, and grow fabulously wealthy on prize-money. Danny, who
was also a guest, declared his purpose one day to lead a band of rough
riders to the Western plains, where he would kill Indians, and escape
fearful deaths by the narrowest hairbreadth.

"Mebbe I'm goin'to be Premier of Canada, some day," said one youngster,
poking his bare toes as near as he dared to the flames.

There were hoots of derision. This was entirely too tame to be even
considered as a career.

"And what are you going to be, G. L.?" inquired the biggest boy of the
smallest.

The others looked at the little fellow and laughed. George Mackay was
the youngest of the group, and was a small wiry youngster with a pair of
flashing eyes lighting up his thin little face. He seemed far too
small and insignificant to even think about a career. But for all the
difference in their size and age the bigger boys treated little George
with a good deal of respect. For, somehow, he never failed to do what he
set out to do. He always won at races, he was never anywhere but at the
head of his class, he was never known to be afraid of anything in field
or forest or school ground, he was the hardest worker at home or at
school, and by sheer pluck he managed to do everything that boys bigger
and older and stronger could do.

So when Danny asked, "And what are you going to be, G. L.?" though the
boys laughed at the small thin little body, they respected the daring
spirit it held, and listened for his answer.

"He's goin' to be a giant, and go off with a show," cried one, and they
all laughed again.

Little G. L. laughed too, but he did not say what he intended to do when
he grew big. Down in his heart he held a far greater ambition than the
others dreamed of. It was too great to be told--so great he scarcely
knew what it was himself. So he only shook his small head and closed his
lips tightly, and the rest forgot him and chattered on.

Away beyond the dark woods, the sunset shone red and gold between the
black tree trunks. The little boy gazed at it wonderingly. The sight of
those morning and evening glories always stirred his child's soul,
and made him long to go away--away, he knew not where--to do great and
glorious deeds. The Mackay boys' grandfather had fought at Waterloo, and
little George Leslie, the youngest of six, had heard many, many tales
of that gallant struggle, and every time they had been told him he had
silently resolved that, some day, he too would do just such brave deeds
as his grandfather had done.

As the boys talked on, and the little fellow gazed at the sunset and
dreamed, the big stone cracked in two, the fire died down, and still
there came no welcome call to supper from any of the farmhouses in
sight. The Mackay boys had been trained in a fine old-fashioned Canadian
home, and did not dream of quitting work until they were summoned. But
the visitors were merely visitors, and could go home when they liked.
The future admiral of the pirate-killing fleet declared he must go and
get supper, or he'd eat the grass, he was so hungry. The coming Premier
of Canada and the Indian-slayer agreed with him, and they all jumped the
fence, and went whooping away over the soft brown fields toward home.

There was just one big stone left. It was a huge boulder, four feet
across.

"We'll never get enough wood to crack that, G. L.," declared his
brother. "It just can't be done."

But little George answered just as any one who knew his determination
would have expected. In school he astonished his teacher by learning
everything at a tremendous rate, but there was one small word he refused
to learn--the little word "can't." His bright eyes flashed, now, at the
sound of it. He jumped upon the big stone, and clenched his fist.

"It's GOT to be broken!" he cried. "I WON'T let it beat me." He leaped
down, and away he ran toward the woods. His brother caught his spirit,
and ran too. They forgot they were both tired and hungry. They seized a
big limb of a fallen tree and dragged it across the field. They chopped
it into pieces, and piled it high with plenty of brush, upon the big
stone. In a few minutes it was all in a splendid blaze, leaping and
crackling, and sending the boys' long shadows far across the field.

The fire grew fiercer and hotter, and suddenly the big boulder cracked
in four pieces, as neatly as though it had been slashed by a giant's
sword. Little G. L. danced around it, and laughed triumphantly. The
next moment there came the welcome "hoo-hoo" from the house behind
the orchard, and away the two scampered down the hill toward home and
supper.

When the day's work of the farmhouse had been finished, the Mackay
family gathered about the fire, for the spring evening was chilly.
George Leslie sat near his mother, his face full of deep thought. It was
the hour for family worship, and always at this time he felt most keenly
that longing to do something great and glorious. Tonight his father read
of a Man who was sending out his army to conquer the world. It was only
a little army, just twelve men, but they knew their Leader had more
power than all the soldiers of the world. And they were not afraid,
though he said, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves." For he added, "Fear ye not," for he would march before them,
and they would be sure of victory.

The little boy listened with all his might. He did everything that way.
Surely this was a story of great and glorious deeds, even better than
Waterloo, he felt. And there came to his heart a great longing to go out
and fight wrong and put down evil as these men had done. He did not
know that the longing was the voice of the great King calling his young
knight to go out and "Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the
King."

But there came a day when he did understand, and on that day he was
ready to obey.

When bedtime came the boys were asked if they had finished their work,
and the story of the last big stone was told. "G. L. would not leave it,"
the brother explained. The father looked smilingly at little G. L.
who still sat, dangling his short legs from his chair, and studying the
fire.

He spoke to his wife in Gaelic. "Perhaps the lad will be called to break
a great rock some day. The Lord grant he may do it."

The boy looked up wonderingly. He understood Gaelic as well as English,
but he did not comprehend his father's words. He had no idea they were
prophetic, and that away on the other side of the world, in a land his
geography lessons had not yet touched, there stood a great rock, ugly
and hard and grim, which he was one day to be called upon to break.




CHAPTER II. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

The steamship America, bound for Hongkong, was leaving the dock at San
Francisco. All was bustle and noise and stir. Friends called a last
farewell from the deck, handkerchiefs waved, many of them wet with
tears. The long boom of a gun roared out over the harbor, a bell rang,
and the signal was given. Up came the anchor, and slowly and with
dignity the great vessel moved out through the Golden Gate into the wide
Pacific.

Crowds stood on the deck to get a last glimpse of home and loved ones,
and to wave to friends as long as they could be distinguished. There
was one young man who stood apart from the crowd, and who did not wave
farewell to any one. He had come on board with a couple of men, but
they had gone back to the dock, and were lost in the crowd. He seemed
entirely alone. He leaned against the deck-railing and gazed intently
over the widening strip of tumbling waters to the city on the shore. But
he did not see it. Instead, he saw a Canadian farmhouse, a garden and
orchard, and gently sloping meadows hedged in by forest. And up behind
the barn he saw a stony field, where long ago he and his brother and the
neighbor boys had broken the stones for the new house.

His quick movements, his slim, straight figure, and his bright, piercing
eyes showed he was the same boy who had broken the big rock in the
pasture-field long before. Just the same boy, only bigger, and more man
than boy now, for he wore an air of command and his thin keen face bore
a beard, a deep black, like his hair. And now he was going away, as
he had longed to go, when he was a boy, and ahead of him lay the big
frowning rock, which he must either break or be broken upon.

He had learned many things since those days when he had scampered
barefoot over the fields, or down the road to school. He had been to
college in Toronto, in Princeton, and away over in Edinburgh, in the old
homeland where his father and mother were born. And all through his
life that call to go and do great deeds for the King had come again
and again. He had determined to obey it when he was but a little lad at
school. He had encountered many big stones in his way, which he had to
break, before he could go on. But the biggest stone of all lay across
his path when college was over, and he was ready and anxious to go away
as a missionary. The Presbyterian Church of Canada had never yet sent
out a missionary to a foreign land, and some of the good old men bade
George Mackay stay at home and preach the gospel there. But as usual he
conquered. Every one saw he would be a great missionary if he were only
given a chance. At last the General Assembly gave its consent, and now,
in spite of all stones in the way, here he was, bound for China, and
ready to do anything the King commanded. Land was beginning to fade
away into a gray mist, the November wind was damp and chill, he turned
and went down to his stateroom. He sat down on his little steamer trunk,
and for the first time the utter loneliness and the uncertainty of this
voyage came over him. He took up his Bible and turned to the fly-leaf.
There he read the inscription:

Presented to REV. G. L. MACKAY

First missionary of the Canadian Presbyterian Church to China, by the
Foreign Mission Committee, as a parting token of their esteem, when
about to leave his native land for the sphere of his future labors among
the heathen. WILLIAM MACLAREN, Convener.

Ottawa, 9th October, 1871. Matthew xxviii: 18-20. Psalm cxxi

It was a moment of severe trial to the young soldier. But he turned to
the Psalm marked on the fly-leaf of his Bible, and he read it again and
again.

"My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth"

"The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand."

"The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night."

The beautiful words gave him comfort. Homesickness, loneliness, and
fears for the future all vanished. He was going out to an unknown land
where dangers and perhaps death awaited him, but the Lord would be his
keeper and nothing could harm him.

Twenty-six days on the Pacific! And a stormy voyage it was, for the
Pacific does not always live up to her beautiful name, and she tossed
the America about in a shocking manner. But the voyage did not seem long
to George Mackay. There were other missionaries on board with whom he
had become acquainted, and he had long delightful talks with them and
they taught him many things about his new work. He was the same busy G.
L. he had been when a boy; always working, working, and he did not waste
a moment on the voyage. There was a fine library on the ship and he
studied the books on China until he knew more about the religion of that
country than did many of the Chinese themselves.

One day, as he was poring over a Chinese history, some one called him
hastily to come on deck. He threw down his book and ran up-stairs. The
whole ship was in a joyous commotion. His friend pointed toward
the horizon, and away off there against the sky stood the top of a
snow-capped peak--Fujiyama!--the majestic, sacred mountain of Japan!

It was a welcome sight, after the long ocean voyage, and the hours they
lay in Yokahama harbor were full of enjoyment. Every sight was thrilling
and strange to young Mackay's Western eyes. The harbor fairly swarmed
with noisy, shouting, chattering Japanese boatmen. He wondered why they
seemed so familiar, until it suddenly dawned on him that their queer
ricestraw coats made them look like a swarm of Robinson Crusoes who had
just been rescued from their islands.

When he landed he found things still funnier. The streets were noisier
than the harbor. Through them rolled large heavy wooden carts, pulled
and pushed by men, with much grunting and groaning. Past him whirled
what looked like overgrown baby carriages, also pulled by men, and each
containing a big grown-up human baby. It was all so pretty too, and so
enchanting that the young missionary would fain have remained there. But
China was still farther on, so when the America again set sail, he was
on board.

Away they sailed farther and farther east, or was it west? He often
asked himself that question in some amusement as they approached the
coast of China. They entered a long winding channel and steamed this
way and that until one day they sailed into a fine broad harbor with
a magnificent city rising far up the steep sides of a hill. It was an
Oriental city, and therefore strange to the young traveler. But for all
that there seemed something familiar in the fine European buildings
that lined the streets, and something still more homelike in that which
floated high above them--something that brought a thrill to the heart of
the young Canadian--the red-crossed banner of Britain!

It was Hongkong, the great British port of the East, and here he decided
to land. No sooner had the travelers touched the dock, than they were
surrounded by a yelling, jostling crowd of Chinese coolies, all shouting
in an outlandish gibberish for the privilege of carrying the Barbarians'
baggage. A group gathered round Mackay, and in their eagerness began
hammering each other with bamboo poles. He was well-nigh bewildered,
when above the din sounded the welcome music of an English voice.

"Are you Mackay from Canada?"

He whirled round joyfully. It was Dr. E. J. Eitel, a missionary from
England. He had been told that the young Canadian would arrive on the
America and was there to welcome him.

Although the Canadian Presbyterian Church had as yet sent out no
missionaries to a foreign land, the Presbyterian Church of England had
many scattered over China. They were all hoping that the new recruit
would join them, and invited him to visit different mission stations,
and see where he would like to settle.

So he remained that night in Hongkong, as Dr. Eitel's guest, and the
next morning he took a steamer for Canton. Here he was met on the
pier by an old fellow student of Princeton University, and the two old
college friends had a grand reunion. He returned to Hongkong shortly,
and next visited Swatow. As they sailed into the harbor, he noticed two
Englishmen rowing out toward them in a sampan. (*) No sooner had the ship's
ladder been lowered, than the two sprang out of their boat and clambered
quickly on deck. To Mackay's amazement, one of them called out, "Is
Mackay of Canada on board?"

     * A Chinese boat from twelve to fifteen feet long, covered
     with a house.

"Mackay of Canada," sprang forward delighted, and found his two new
friends to be Mr. Hobson of the Chinese imperial customs, and Dr.
Thompson of the English Presbyterian mission in Swatow.

The missionaries here gave the stranger a warm welcome. At every place
he had visited there had awaited him a cordial invitation to stay and
work. And now at Swatow he was urged to settle down and help them. There
was plenty to be done, and they would be delighted to have his help.

But for some reason, Mackay scarcely knew why himself, he wanted to see
another place.

Away off the southeastern coast of China lies a large island called
Formosa. It is separated from the mainland by a body of water called
the Formosa Channel. This is in some places eighty miles wide, in others
almost two hundred. Mackay had often heard of Formosa even before coming
to China, and knew it was famed for its beauty.

Even its name shows this. Long, long years before, some navigators from
Portugal sailed to this beautiful island. They had stood on the deck
of their ship as they approached it, and were amazed at its loveliness.
They saw lofty green mountains piercing the clouds. They saw silvery
cascades tumbling down their sides, flashing in the sunlight, and,
below, terraced plains sloping down to the sea, covered with waving
bamboo or with little water-covered rice-fields. It was all so
delightful that no wonder they cried,

"Illha Formosa! Illha Formosa!"

"Beautiful Isle! Beautiful Isle." Since that day the "Beautiful Isle,"
perhaps the most charming in all the world, has been called Formosa.

And, somehow, Mackay longed to see this "Beautiful Isle" before he
decided where he was going to preach the gospel. And so when the kind
friends at Swatow said, "Stay and work with us," he always answered,
"I must first see Formosa."

So, one day, he sailed away from the mainland toward the Beautiful
Isle. He landed at Takow in the south of the island, just about
Christmas-time. But Formosa was green, the weather was hot, and he could
scarcely believe that, at home in Oxford county, Ontario, they were
flying over the snow to the music of sleigh-bells. On New Year's day
he met a missionary of this south Formosa field, named Dr. Ritchie. He
belonged to the Presbyterian Church of England, which had a fine mission
there. For nearly a month Mackay visited with him and studied the
language.

And while he visited and worked there the missionaries told him of
the northern part of the island. No person was there to tell all those
crowded cities of Jesus Christ and His love. It would be lonely for him
there, it would be terribly hard work, but it would be a grand Thing
to lay the foundations, to be the first to tell those people the "good
news," the young missionary thought. And, one day, he looked up from the
Chinese book he was studying and said to Dr. Ritchie:

"I have decided to settle in north Formosa."

And Dr. Ritchie's quick answer was:

"God bless you, Mackay."

As soon as the decision was made, another missionary, Dr. Dickson, who
was with Mr. Ritchie, decided to go to north Formosa with the young man,
and show him over the ground. So, early in the month of March in the
year 1872, the three men set off by steamship to sail for Tamsui, a port
in north Formosa. They were two days making the voyage, and a tropical
storm pitched the small vessel hither and thither, so that they were
very much relieved when they sailed up to the mouth of the Tamsui river.

It was low tide and a bare sand-bar stretched across the mouth of the
harbor, so the anchor was dropped, and they waited until the tide should
cover the bar, and allow them to sail in.

This wait gave the travelers a fine opportunity to see the country. The
view from this harbor of the "Beautiful Island" was an enchanting
one. Before them, toward the east, rose tier upon tier of magnificent
mountains, stretching north and south. Down their sloping sides tumbled
sparkling cascades and here and there patches of bright green showed
where there were tea plantations. Farther down were stretches of grass
and groves of lovely feathery bamboo. And between these groves stretched
what seemed to be little silvery lakes, with the reflection of the great
mountains in them. They were really the famous rice-fields of Formosa,
at this time of the year all under water. There were no fences round
their little lake-fields. They were of all shapes and sizes, and were
divided from each other by little green fringed dykes or walls. Each
row of fields was lower than the last until they came right down to the
sea-level, and all lay blue and smiling in the blazing sunlight.

As the young missionary stood spellbound, gazing over the lovely,
fairylike scene, Mr. Ritchie touched his arm.

"This is your parish, Mackay," he whispered smilingly.

And then for the first time since he had started on his long, long
journey, the young missionary felt his spirit at peace. The restlessness
that had driven him on from one Chinese port to another was gone. This
was indeed his parish.

Suddenly out swung a signal; the tide had risen. Up came the anchor, and
away they glided over the now submerged sand-bar into the harbor.

A nearer view showed greater charms in the Beautiful Isle. On the south,
at their right, lay the great Quan Yin mountain, towering seventeen
hundred feet above them, clothed in tall grass and groves of bamboo,
banyan, and fir trees of every conceivable shade of green. Nestling at
its feet were little villages almost buried in trees. Slowly the ship
drifted along, passing, here a queer fishing village close to the sandy
shore, yonder a light-house, there a battered Chinese fort rising from
the top of a hill.

And now Tamsui came in sight--the new home of the young missionary. It
seemed to him that it was the prettiest and the dirtiest place he had
ever seen. The town lay along the bank of the river at the foot of a
hill. This bluff rose abruptly behind it to a height of two hundred
feet. On its face stood a queer-looking building. It was red in color,
solid and weather worn, and above it floated the grand old flag of
Britain.

"That's an old Dutch fort," explained Mr. Ritchie, "left there since
they were in the island. It is the British consulate now. There, next to
it, is the consul's residence."

It was a handsome house, just below the fort, and surrounded by lovely
gardens. But down beneath it, on the shore, was the most interesting
place to the newcomer, the town of Tamsui proper, or Ho Be, as the
Chinese called it. The foreigners landed and made their way up the
street. To the two from south Formosa, Tamsui was like every other small
Chinese town, but Mackay had not yet become accustomed to the strange
sights and sounds and stranger smells, and his bright eyes were keen
with interest.

The main thoroughfare wound this way and that, only seven or eight feet
wide at its best. It was filled with noisy crowds of men who acted as if
they were on the verge of a terrible fight. But the older missionaries
knew that they were merely acting as Chinese crowds always do. On each
side were shops,--tea shops, rice shops, tobacco shops, and many other
kinds. And most numerous of all were the shops where opium, one of the
greatest curses of Chinese life, was sold. The front wall of each was
removed, and the customers stood in the street and dickered with the
shopkeeper, while at the top of his harsh voice the latter swore by
all the gods in China that he was giving the article away at a terrific
loss. Through the crowd pushed hawkers, carrying their wares balanced
on poles across their shoulders. Boys with trays of Chinese candies and
sugar-cane yelled their wares above the din. The visitors stumbled
along over the rough stones of the pavement until they came to the
market-place. Foreigners were not such a curiosity in Tamsui as in the
inland towns, and not a great deal of notice was taken of them, but
occasionally Mackay could hear the now familiar words of contempt
--"Ugly barbarian"--"Foreign devil" from the men that passed them. And
one man, pointing to Mackay, shouted "Ho! the black-bearded barbarian!"
It was a name the young missionary was destined to hear very frequently.
Past opium-dens, barber shops, and drug stores they went and through the
noise and bustle and din of the market-place. They knew that the inns,
judging by the outside, would be filthy, so Mr. Ritchie suggested, as
evening was approaching, that they find some comfortable place to spend
the night.

There was a British merchant in Tamsui named Mr. Dodd, whom the
missionaries knew. So to him they went, and were given fine quarters in
his warehouse. They ate their supper here, from the provisions they had
bought in the market, and stretching themselves out on their grass mats
they slept soundly. The next day was Sunday, but the three travelers
spent it quietly in the warehouse by the river, studying their Bibles
and discussing their proposed trip. They concluded it was best not to
provoke the anger of the people against the new missionary by preaching,
so they did not go out. To-morrow they would start southward and take
Mackay to the bounds of their mission field, and show him the land that
was to be "his parish."




CHAPTER III. RECONNOITERING THE TERRITORY

Early Monday morning Mackay peeped out of the big warehouse door at the
great calm mountain shrouded in the pale mists of early dawn. The other
two travelers were soon astir, and were surprised to find their young
companion all ready. They were not yet well enough acquainted with him
to know that he could do with less sleep at night than an owl. He was in
high spirits and as eager to be off as he had ever been to start for a
day's fishing in the old times back in Ontario. And indeed this was just
a great fishing expedition he was commencing. For had not One said to
him, long long ago when he was but a little boy, "Come follow me, and I
will make you to become a fisher of men"? and he had obeyed. The first
task was to go out and buy food for the journey, and to hire a couple of
coolies to carry it and what baggage they must take.

Dr. Dickson went off on this errand, and being well acquainted with
Formosan customs and language, soon returned with two Chinese carriers
and plenty of food. This last consisted of canned meats, biscuits,
coffee, and condensed milk, bought at a store where ships' supplies were
kept for sale. There was also some salted water-buffalo meat, a Chinese
dish with which the young missionary was destined to become very
familiar.

They started out three abreast, Mr. Ritchie's blue serge figure capped
by a white helmet on the right, Dr. Dickson on the left in his Scotch
tweed, and between them the alert, slim figure of the newcomer, in his
suit of Canadian gray. The coolies, with baskets hung to a pole across
their shoulders, came ambling along behind.

The three travelers were in the gayest mood. Perhaps it was the clear
spring morning air, or the breath of the salt ocean, perhaps it was the
intoxicating beauty of mountain and plain and river that surrounded
them or it may have been because they had given their lives in perfect
service to the One who is the source of all happiness, but whatever was
the cause, they were all like schoolboys off for a holiday. The coolies
who trotted in the rear were very much amazed and not a little amused at
the actions of these foolish foreign devils, who laughed and joked and
seemed in such high spirits for no reason at all.

They swung along the bank of the river until they came to the ferry that
was to take them to the other side. They sprang into the boat and
were shoved off. Before they reached the other side, at Dr. Dickson's
suggestion, they took off their shoes and socks, and stowed them away in
the carriers' baskets. When they came to the opposite bank they rolled
up their trousers to their knees and sprang out into the shallow water.
For a short distance they had the joy of tramping barefoot along the
hard gleaming sand of the harbor.

But shoes and stockings had to be resumed, for soon they turned inland,
on a path that wound up to the high plain above the river. "Do you ever
use a horse on your travels?" asked young Mackay as they climbed upward.

Mr. Ritchie laughed. "You couldn't get one in north Formosa for love or
money. And if you could, he wouldn't be any use."

"Unless he was a second Pegasus, and could soar above the Formosan
roads," added Dr. Dickson. "Wait a bit and you'll understand."

The young missionary waited, and kept his eyes open for the answer.
The pathway crossed a grassy plain where groups of queer-looking,
mouse-colored animals, half ox, half buffalo, with great spreading
horns, strayed about, herded by boys, or lay wallowing in deep pools.

"Water-buffaloes," he said, remembering them as he had seen them in the
south.

"The most useful animal on the island," remarked Mr. Ritchie, adding
with a laugh, "except perhaps the pig. You'll have a taste of Mr.
Buffalo for your dinner, Mackay."

And now they were up on the heights, and the lovely country lay spread
out before them. Mackay mentally compared this walk to many he had taken
along the country roads of his native land. It was early in March, but
as there had been no winter, so there was no spring. It was summer,
warm, radiant summer, like a lovely day in June at home. Dandelions,
violets, and many gay flowers that he did not recognize spangled the
grassy plain. The skylark high overhead was pouring out its glorious
song, just as he had heard it in his student days in Scotland. Here and
there were clumps of fir trees that reminded him of Canada, but on the
whole the scene was new and wonderful to his Western eyes.

They were now on the first level of the rice-fields. The farms were
tiny things, none larger than eight or ten acres. They were divided into
queer-shaped little irrigated fields, separated not by fences, but by
little low walls of mud. Every farm was under water now, and here and
there, wading through his little flooded fields, went the farmer with
his plough, drawn by a useful water-buffalo,--the latter apparently quite
happy at being allowed to splash about in the mud.

These rice-farms soon became a familiar sight to the newcomer. He liked
to see them at all times--when each field was a pretty blue or green
lake, later when the water was choked with the fresh green growth, or in
harvest days, when the farmers stripped the fields of their grain.
Just now they were at their prettiest. Row above row, they went up the
mountainside, like a great glass stairs, each row reflecting the green
hills and the bamboo groves above. And from each terrace to the one
below, the water tumbled in pretty little cascades that sparkled in the
sunlight and filled the air with music. For travelers there were only
narrow paths between farms, and often only the ridge of the dykes
between field and field. As they made their way between the tiny fields,
walking along the narrow dykes, and listening to the splashing sound of
the water, Mackay understood what Dr. Dickson meant, when he remarked
that only a flying horse could be of use on such Formosan cross-country
journeys.

Soon the pathway changed once more to the broader public highway. Here
there was much traffic, and many travelers carried in sedan-chairs
passed them. And many times by the roadside Mackay saw something that
reminded him forcibly of why he had come to Formosa--a heathen shrine.
The whole countryside seemed dotted with them. And as he watched the
worshipers coming and going, and heard the disdainful words from the
priests cast at the hated foreigners, he realized that he was face to
face with an awful opposing force. It was the great stone of heathenism
he had come to break, and the question was, would he be as successful as
he had been long ago in the Canadian pasture-field?

The travelers ate their dinner by the roadside under the shade of some
fir trees that made Mackay feel at home. They were soon up and off
again, and, tired with their long tramp, they arrived at a town called
Tionglek, and decided to spend the night there. The place was about the
size of Tamsui, with between four and five thousand inhabitants, and
was quite as dirty and almost as noisy. They walked down the main street
with its uneven stone pavement, its open shops, its noisy bargains, and
above all its horrible smells. With the exception of an occasional visit
from an official, foreigners scarcely ever came to Tiong-lek, and on
every side were revilings and threatenings. One yellow-faced youngster
picked up a handful of mud and threw it at the hated foreigners; and
"Black-bearded barbarian," mingled with their shouts. Mackay's bright
eyes took in everything, and he realized more and more the difficulties
of the task before him.

They stopped in front of a low one-story building made of sun-dried
bricks. This was the Tiong-lek hotel where they were to spend the
night. Like most Chinese houses it was composed of a number of buildings
arranged in the form of a square with a courtyard in the center. Dr.
Dickson asked for lodgings from the slant-eyed proprietor. He looked
askance at the foreigners, but concluded that their money was as good
as any one else's, and he led them through the deep doorway into the
courtyard.

In the center of this yard stood an earthen range, with a fire in it.
Several travelers stood about it cooking their rice. It was evidently
the hotel dining-room; a diningroom that was open to all too, for
chickens clucked and cackled and pigs grunted about the range and made
themselves quite at home. The men about the gateway scowled and muttered
"Foreign devil," as the three strangers passed them.

They crossed the courtyard and entered their room, or rather stumbled
into it, in semi-darkness. Mackay peered about him curiously. He
discovered three beds, made of planks and set on brick pillars for legs.
Each was covered with a dirty mat woven from grass and reeking with the
odor of opium smoke.

A servant came in with something evidently intended for a lamp--a
burning pith wick set in a saucer of peanut oil. It gave out only a
faint glimmer of light, but enough to enable the young missionary to see
something else in the room,--some THINGS rather, that ran and skipped
and swarmed all over the damp earthen floor and the dirty walls. There
were thousands of these brisk little creatures, all leaping about
in pleasant anticipation of the good time they would have when the
barbarians went to bed. There was no window, and only the one door that
opened into the courtyard. An old pig, evidently more friendly to the
foreigners than her masters, came waddling toward them followed by her
squealing little brood, and flopping down into the mud in the doorway
lay there uttering grunts of content.

The evil smells of the room, the stench from the pigs, and the still
more dreadful odors wafted from the queer food cooking on the range,
made the young traveler's unaccustomed senses revolt. He had a half
notion that the two older men were putting up a joke on him.

"I suppose you thought it wise to give me a strong dose of all this at
the start?" he inquired humorously, holding his nose and glancing from
the pigs at the door to the crawlers on the wall.

"A strong dose!" laughed Mr. Ritchie. "Not a bit of it, young man. Wait
till you've had some experience of the luxuries of Formosan inns. You'll
be calling this the Queen's Hotel, before you've been here long!"

And so indeed it proved later, for George Mackay had yet much to learn
of the true character of Chinese inns. Needless to say he spent a
wakeful night, on his hard plank bed, and was up early in the morning.
The travelers ate their breakfast in a room where the ducks and hens
clattered about under the table and between their legs. Fortunately the
food was taken from their own stores, and in spite of the surroundings
was quite appetizing.

They started off early, drawing in great breaths of the pure morning
air, relieved to be away from the odors of the "Queen's Hotel." Three
hundred feet above them, high against the deep blue of the morning sky,
stood Table Hill, and they started on a brisk climb up its side. The
sun had not risen, but already the farmers were out in their little
water-fields, or working in their tea plantations. The mountain with its
groves of bamboo lay reflected in the little mirrors of the rice-fields.
A steady climb brought them to the summit, and after a long descent on
the other side and a tramp through tea plantations they arrived in
the evening at a large city with a high wall around it, the city of
Tek-chham. That night in the city inn was so much worse than the one at
Tionglek that the Canadian was convinced his friends must have reserved
the "strong dose" for the second night. There were the same smells, the
same sorts of pigs and ducks and hens, the same breeds of lively nightly
companions, and each seemed to have gained a fresh force.

It was a relief to be out in the fields again after the foul odors of
the night, and the travelers were off before dawn. The country looked
more familiar to Mackay this morning, for they passed through wheat and
barley fields. It seemed so strange to wander over a man's farm by
a footpath, but it was a Chinese custom to which he soon became
accustomed.

The sun was blazing hot, and it was a great relief when they entered
the cool shade of a forest. It was a delightful place and George Mackay
reveled in its beauty. Ever since he had been able to run about his
own home farm in Ontario his eyes had always been wide open to observe
anything new. He had studied as much out of doors, all his life, as he
had done in college, and now he found this forest a perfect library of
new Things. Nearly every tree and flower was strange to his Canadian
eyes. Here and there, in sheltered valleys, grew the tree-fern, the most
beautiful object in the forest, towering away up sometimes to a height
of sixty feet, and spreading its stately fronds out to a width of
fifteen feet. There was a lovely big plant with purple stem and purple
leaves, and when Dr. Dickson told him it was the castor-oil plant, he
smiled at the remembrance of the trials that plant had caused him in
younger days. One elegant tree, straight as a pine, rose fifty feet in
height, with leaves away up at the top only.

This was the betel-nut tree.

"The nuts of that tree," said Mr. Ritchie, standing and pointing away
up to where the sunlight filtered through the far-off leaves, "are the
chewing tobacco of Formosa and all the islands about here. The Chinese
do not chew it, but the Malayans do. You will meet some of these natives
soon."

On every side grew the rattan, half tree, half vine. It started off as
a tree and grew straight up often to twenty feet in height, and then
spread itself out over the tops of other trees and plants in vine-like
fashion; some of its branches measured almost five hundred feet in
length.

The travelers paused to admire one high in the branches of the trees.

"Many a Chinaman loses his head hunting that plant," remarked Mr.
Ritchie. "These islanders export a great deal of rattan, and the
head-hunters up there in the mountains watch for the Chinese when they
are working in the forest."

Mackay listened eagerly to his friends' tales of the head-hunting
savages, living in the mountains. They were always on the lookout for
the farmers near their forest lairs. They watched for any unwary man who
went too near the woods, pounced upon him, and went off in triumph with
his head in a bag.

The young traveler's eyes brightened, "I'll visit them some day!" he
cried, looking off toward the mountainside. Mr. Ritchie glanced quickly
at the flashing eyes and the quick, alert figure of the young man as
he strode along, and some hint came to him of the dauntless young heart
which beat beneath that coat of Canadian gray.

Two days more over hill and dale, through rice and tea and
tobacco-fields, and then, in the middle of a hot afternoon, Mr. Ritchie
began to shiver and shake as though half frozen. Dr. Dickson understood,
and at the next stopping-place he ordered a sedan-chair and four coolies
to carry it. It was the old dreaded disease that hangs like a black
cloud over lovely Formosa, the malarial fever. Mr. Ritchie had been a
missionary only four years in the island, but already the scourge had
come upon him, and his system was weakened. For, once seized by malaria
in Formosa, one seldom makes his escape. They put the sick man into the
chair, now in a raging fever, and he was carried by the four coolies.

They were nearing the end of their journey and were now among a people
not Chinese. They belonged to the original Malayan race of the island.
They had been conquered by the Chinese, who in the early days came over
from China under a pirate named Koxinga. As the Chinese name every one
but themselves "barbarians," they gave this name to all the natives of
the island. They had conquered all but the dreaded head-hunters, who,
free in their mountain fastnesses, took a terrible toll of heads
from their would-be conquerors, or even from their own half-civilized
brethren.

The native Malayans who had been subdued by the Chinese were given
different names. Those who lived on the great level rice-plain
over which the missionaries were traveling, were called Pe-po-hoan,
"Barbarians of the plain." Mackay could see little difference between
them and the Chinese, except in the cast of their features, and their
long-shaped heads. They wore Chinese dress, even to the cue, worshiped
the Chinese gods, and spoke with a peculiar Malayan twang.

The travelers were journeying rather wearily over a low muddy stretch
of ground, picking their way along the narrow paths between the
rice-fields, when they saw a group of men come hurrying down the path to
meet them. They kept calling out, but the words they used were not the
familiar "foreign devil" or "ugly barbarian." Instead the people were
shouting words of joyful welcome.

Dr. Dickson hailed them with delight, and soon he and Mr. Ritchie's
sedan-chair were surrounded by a clamorous group of friends.

They had journeyed so far south that they had arrived at the borders
of the English Presbyterian mission, and the people crowding about them
were native Christians. It was all so different from their treatment
by the heathen that Mackay's heart was warmed. When the great stone of
heathenism was broken, what love and kindness were revealed!

The visitors were led in triumph to the village. There was a chapel
here, and they stayed nearly a week, preaching and teaching.

The rest did Mr. Ritchie much good, and at the end of their visit he
was once more able to start off on foot. They moved on from village to
village and everywhere the Pe-po-hoan Christians received them with the
greatest hospitality.

But at last the three friends found the time had come for them to part.
The two Englishmen had to go on through their fields to their south
Formosan home and the young Canadian must go back to fight the battle
alone in the north of the island. He had endeared himself to the two
older men, and when the farewells came they were filled with regret.

They bade him a lingering good-by, with many blessings upon his young
head, and many prayers for success in the hard fight upon which he
was entering. They walked a short way with him, and stood watching
the straight, lithe young figure, SO full of courage and hope until it
disappeared down the valley. They knew only too well the dangers and
trials ahead of him, but they knew also that he was not going into the
fight alone. For the Captain was going with his young soldier.

There was a suspicion of moisture in the eyes of the older missionaries
as they turned back to prepare for their own journey southward.

"God bless the boy!" said Dr. Dickson fervently. "We'll hear of that
young fellow yet, Ritchie. He's on fire."




CHAPTER IV. BEGINNING THE SIEGE

The news was soon noised about Tamsui that one of the three barbarians
who had so lately visited the town had returned to make the place his
home. This was most unwelcome tidings to the heathen, and the air was
filled with mutterings and threatenings, and every one was determined to
drive the foreign devil out if at all possible. So Mackay found
himself meeting every kind of opposition. He was too independent to ask
assistance from the British consul in the old Dutch fort on the bluff,
or of any other European settlers in Tamsui. He was bound to make
his own way. But it was not easy to do so in view of the forces which
opposed him. He had now been in Formosa about two months and had studied
the Chinese language every waking hour, but it was very difficult, and
he found his usually ready tongue wofully handicapped.

His first concern was to get a dwelling-place, and he went from house to
house inquiring for some place to rent. Everywhere he went he was turned
away with rough abuse, and occasionally the dogs were set upon him.

But at last he was successful. Up on the bank of the river, a little way
from the edge of the town, he found a place which the owner condescended
to rent. It was a miserable little hut, half house, half cellar,
built into the side of the hill facing the river. A military officer had
intended it for his horse-stable, and yet Mackay paid for this hovel the
sum of fifteen dollars a month. It had three rooms, one without a floor.
The road ran past the door, and a few feet beyond was the river. By
spending money rather liberally he managed to hire the coolie who had
accompanied him to south Formosa. With his servant's help Mackay had his
new establishment thoroughly cleaned and whitewashed, and then he moved
in his furniture. He laughed as he called it furniture, for it consisted
of but two packing boxes full of books and clothing. But more came
later. The British consul, Mr. Frater, lent him a chair and a bed. There
was one old Chinese, who kept a shop near by, and who seemed inclined to
be friendly to the queer barbarian with the black beard. He presented
him with an old pewter lamp, and the house was furnished complete.

Mackay sat down at his one table, the first night after he was settled.
The damp air was hot and heavy, and swarms of tormenting mosquitoes
filled the room. Through the open door came the murmur of the river, and
from far down in the village the sounds of harsh, clamorous voices. He
was alone, many, many miles from home and friends. Around him on every
side were bitter enemies.

One might have supposed he would be overcome at the thought of the
stupendous task before him, but whoever supposed that did not know
George Mackay. He lighted his pewter lamp, opened his diary, and these
are the words he wrote:

"Here I am in this house, having been led all the way from the old
homestead in Zorra by Jesus, as direct as though my boxes were labeled,
`Tamsui, Formosa, China.' Oh, the glorious privilege to lay the
foundation of Christ's Church in unbroken heathenism! God help me to
do this with the open Bible! Again I swear allegiance to thee, O King
Jesus, my Captain. So help me God!"

And now his first duty was to learn the Chinese language. He could
already speak a little, but it would be a long time, he knew, before he
could preach. And yet, how was he to learn? he asked himself. He was
a scholar without a teacher or school. But there was his servant, and
nothing daunted by the difficulties to be overcome, he set to work to
make him his teacher also.

George Mackay always went at any task with all his might and main, and
he attacked the Chinese language in the same manner. He found it a hard
stone to break, however. "Of all earthly things I know of," he remarked
once, "it is the most intricate and difficult to master."

His unwilling teacher was just about as hard to manage as his task, for
the coolie did not take kindly to giving lessons. He certainly had a
rather hard time. Day and night his master deluged him with questions.
He made him repeat phrases again and again until his pupil could say
them correctly. He asked him the name of everything inside the house and
out, until the easy-going Oriental was overcome with dismay. This wild
barbarian, with the fiery eyes and the black beard, was a terrible
creature who gave one no rest night nor day. Sometimes after Mackay had
spent hours with him, imitating sounds and repeating the names of
things over and over, his harassed teacher would back out of the room
stealthily, keeping an anxious eye on his master, and showing plainly he
had grave fears that the foreigner had gone quite mad.

Mackay realized that the pace was too hard for his servant, and that the
poor fellow was in a fair way to lose what little wits he had, if not
left alone occasionally. So one day he wandered out along the riverbank,
in search of some one who would talk with him. He turned into a path
that led up the hill behind the town. He was in hopes he might meet a
farmer who would be friendly.

When he reached the top of the bluff he found a grassy common stretching
back toward the rice-fields. Here and there over these downs strayed the
queer-looking water-buffaloes. Some of them were plunged deep in pools
of water, and lay there like pigs with only their noses out.

He heard a merry laugh and shout from another part of the common, and
there sat a crowd of frolicsome Chinese boys, in large sun hats, and
short loose trousers. There were about a dozen of them, and they were
supposed to be herding the water-buffaloes to keep them out of the
unfenced fields. But, boylike, they were flying kites, and letting their
huge-horned charges herd themselves.

Mackay walked over toward them. It was not so long since he had been a
boy himself, and these jolly lads appealed to him. But the moment one
caught sight of the stranger, he gave a shout of alarm. The rest jumped
up, and with yells of terror and cries of "Here's the foreign devil!"
"Run, or the foreign devil will get you!" away they went helter-skelter,
their big hats waving, their loose clothes flapping wildly. They all
disappeared like magic behind a big boulder, and the cause of their
terror had to walk away.

But the next day, when his servant once more showed signs of mental
exhaustion, he strolled out again upon the downs. The boys were there
and saw him coming. Though they did not actually run away this time,
they retired to a safe distance, and stood ready to fly at any sign of
the barbarian's approach. They watched him wonderingly. They noticed his
strange white face, his black beard, his hair cut off quite short, his
amazing hat, and his ridiculous clothes. And when at last he walked
away, and all danger was over, they burst into shouts of laughter.

The next day, as they scampered about the common, here again came
the absurd-looking stranger, walking slowly, as though careful not to
frighten them. The boys did not run away this time, and to their utter
astonishment he spoke to them. Mackay had practised carefully the words
he was to say to them, and the well-spoken Chinese astounded the lads
as much as if one of the monkeys that gamboled about the trees of their
forests should come down and say, "How do you do, boys?"

"Why, he speaks our words!" they all cried at once.

As they stood staring, Mackay took out his watch and held it up for them
to see. It glittered in the sun, and at the sight of it and the kind
smiling face above, they lost their fears and crowded around him. They
examined the watch in great wonder. They handled his clothes, exclaimed
over the buttons on his coat, and inquired what they were for. They felt
his hands and his fingers, and finally decided that, in spite of his
queer looks, he was after all a man.

From that day the young missionary and the herd-boys were great friends.
Every day he joined them in the buffalo pasture, and would spend from
four to five hours with them. And as they were very willing to talk,
he not only learned their language rapidly, but also learned much about
their homes, their schools, their customs, and their religion.

One day, after a lengthy lesson from his servant, the latter decided
that the barbarian was unbearable, and bundling up his clothes he
marched off, without so much as "by your leave." So Mackay fell back
entirely upon his little teachers on the common. With their assistance
in the daytime and his Chinese-English dictionary at night, he made
wonderful progress.

He was left alone now, to get his own meals and keep the swarms of flies
and the damp mold out of his hut by the riverside. He soon learned to
eat rice and water-buffalo meat, but he missed the milk and butter and
cheese of his old Canadian home. For he discovered that cows were never
milked in Formosa. There was variety of food, however, as almost every
kind of vegetable that he had ever tasted and many new kinds that he
found delicious were for sale in the open-fronted shops in the village.
Then the fruits! They were fresh at all seasons--oranges the whole year,
bananas fresh from the fields--and such pineapples! He realized that he
had never really tasted pineapples before.

Meanwhile, he was becoming acquainted. All the families of the herd-boys
learned to like him, and when others came to know him they treated him
with respect. He was a teacher, they learned, and in China a teacher is
always looked upon with something like reverence. And, besides, he had
a beard. This appendage was considered very honorable among Chinese, so
the black-bearded barbarian was respected because of this.

But there was one class that treated him with the greatest scorn. These
were the Chinese scholars. They were the literati, and were like princes
in the land. They despised every one who was not a graduate of their
schools, and most of all they despised this barbarian who dared to set
himself up as a teacher. Mackay had now learned Chinese well enough
to preach, and his sermons aroused the indignation of these proud
graduates.

Sometimes when one was passing the little hut by the river, he would
drop in, and glance around just to see what sort of place the barbarian
kept. He would pick up the Bible and other books, throw them on the
floor, and with words of contempt strut proudly out.

Mackay endured this treatment patiently, but he set himself to study
their books, for he felt sure that the day was not far distant when he
must meet these conceited literati in argument.

He went about a good deal now. The Tamsui people became accustomed to
him, and he was not troubled much. His bright eyes were always wide open
and he learned much of the lives of the people he had come to teach.
Among the poor he found a poverty of which he had never dreamed. They
could live upon what a so-called poor family in Canada would throw away.
Nothing was wasted in China. He often saw the meat and fruit tins he
threw away when they were emptied, reappearing in the market-place. He
learned that these poorer people suffered cruel wrongs at the hands
of their magistrates. He visited a yamen, or court-house, and saw the
mandarin "dispense justice," but his judgment was said to be always given
in favor of the one who paid him the highest bribe. He saw the widow
robbed, and the innocent suffering frightful tortures, and sometimes
he strode home to his little hut by the river, his blood tingling with
righteous indignation. And then he would pray with all his soul:

"O God, give me power to teach these people of thy love through Jesus
Christ!"

But of all the horrors of heathenism, and there were many, he found the
religion the most dreadful. He had read about it when on board ship, but
he found it was infinitely worse when written in men's lives than when
set down in print. He never realized what a blessing was the religion of
Jesus Christ to a nation until he lived among a people who did not know
Him.

He found almost as much difficulty in learning the Chinese religion as
the Chinese language. After he had spent days trying to understand it,
it would seem to him like some horrible nightmare filled with wicked
devils and no less wicked gods and evil spirits and ugly idols. And to
make matters worse there was not one religion, but a bewildering mixture
of three. First of all there was the ancient Chinese religion, called
Confucianism. Confucius, a wise man of China, who lived ages before, had
laid down some rules of conduct, and had been worshiped ever since.
Very good rules they were as far as they went, and if the Chinese had
followed this wise man they would not have drifted so far from the
truth. But Confucianism meant ancestor-worship. In every home was a
little tablet with the names of the family's ancestors upon it, and
every one in the house worshiped the spirits of those departed. With
this was another religion called Taoism. This taught belief in wicked
demons who lurked about people ready to do them some ill. Then,
years and years before, some people from India had brought over their
religion, Buddhism, which had become a system of idol-worship. These
three religions were so mixed up that the people themselves were not
able to distinguish between them. The names of their idols would cover
pages, and an account of their religion would fill volumes. The more
Mackay learned of it, the more he yearned to tell the people of the one
God who was Lord and Father of them all.

As soon as he had learned to write clearly, he bought a large sheet of
paper, and printed on it the ten commandments in Chinese characters.
Then he hung it on the outside of his door. People who passed read it
and made comments of various kinds. Several threw mud at it, and at
last a proud graduate, who came striding past his silk robes rustling
grandly, caught the paper and tore it down. Mackay promptly put up
another. It shared the fate of the first. Then he put up a third, and
the people let it alone. Even these heathen Chinese were beginning to
get an impression of the dauntless determination of the man with whom
they were to get much better acquainted.

And all this time, while he was studying and working and arguing with
the heathen and preaching to them, the young missionary was working just
as hard at something else; something into which he was putting as much
energy and force as he did into learning the Chinese language. With
all his might and main, day and night, he was praying--praying for one
special object. He had been praying for this long before he saw Formosa.
He was pleading with God to give him, as his first convert, a young
man of education. And so he was always on the lookout for such, as he
preached and taught, and never once did he cease praying that he might
find him.

One forenoon he was sitting at his books, near the open door, when a
visitor stopped before him. It was a fine-looking young man, well
dressed and with all the unmistakable signs of the scholar. He had none
of the graduate's proud insolence, however, for when Mackay arose, he
spoke in the most gentlemanly manner. At the missionary's invitation
he entered, and sat down, and the two chatted pleasantly. The visitor
seemed interested in the foreigner, and asked him many questions that
showed a bright, intelligent mind. When he arose to go, Mackay invited
him to come again, and he promised he would. He left his card, a strip
of pink paper about three inches by six; the name on it read Giam
Cheng Hoa. Mackay was very much interested in him, he was so bright,
so affable, and such pleasant company. He waited anxiously to see if he
would return.

At the appointed hour the visitor was at the door, and the missionary
welcomed him warmly. The second visit was even more pleasant than the
first. And Mackay told his guest why he had come to Formosa, and of
Jesus Christ who was both God and man and who had come to the earth to
save mankind.

The young man's bright eyes were fixed steadily upon the missionary as
he talked, and when he went away his face was very thoughtful. Mackay
sat thinking about him long after he had left.

He had met many graduates, but none had impressed him as had this youth,
with his frank face and his kind, genial manner. There was something
too about the young fellow, he felt, that marked him as superior to his
companions. And then a sudden divine inspiration flashed into the lonely
young missionary's heart. THIS WAS HIS MAN! This was the man for whom he
had been praying. The stranger had as yet shown no sign of conversion,
but Mackay could not get away from that inspired thought. And that night
he could not sleep for joy.

In a day or two the young man returned. With him was a noted graduate,
who asked many questions about the new religion. The next day he came
again with six graduates, who argued and discussed.

When they were gone Mackay paced up and down the room and faced the
serious situation which he realized he was in. He saw plainly that the
educated men of the town were banded together to beat him in argument.
And with all his energy and desperate determination he set to work to be
ready for them.

His first task was to gain a thorough knowledge of the Chinese
religions. He had already learned much about them, both from books on
shipboard and since he had come to the island. But now he spent long
hours of the night, poring over the books of Confucianism, Buddhism,
and Taoism, by the light of his smoky little pewter lamp. And before
the next visit of his enemies he knew almost more of their jumble of
religions than they did themselves.

It was well he was prepared, for his opponents came down upon him in
full force. Every day a band of college graduates, always headed by Giam
Cheng Hoa, came up from the town to the missionary's little hut by
the river, and for hours they would sit arguing and talking. They were
always the most noted scholars the place could produce, but in spite of
all their cleverness the barbarian teacher silenced them every time. He
fairly took the wind out of their sails by showing he knew quite as
much about Chinese religions as they did. If they quoted Confucius to
contradict the Bible, he would quote Confucius to contradict them.
He confounded them by proving that they were not really followers of
Confucius, for they did not keep his sayings. And with unanswerable
arguments he went on to show that the religion taught by Jesus Christ
was the one and only religion to make man good and noble.

Each day the group of visitors grew larger, and at last one morning, as
Mackay looked out of his door, he saw quite a crowd approaching. They
were led, as usual, by the friendly young scholar. By his side walked,
or rather, swaggered a man of whom the missionary had often heard. He
was a scholar of high degree and was famed all over Formosa for his
great learning. Behind him came about twenty men, and Mackay could see
by their dress and appearance that they were all literary graduates.
They were coming in great force this time, to crush the barbarian
with their combined knowledge. He met them at the door with his usual
politeness and hospitality. He was always courteous to these proud
literati, but he always treated them as equals, and showed none of the
deference they felt he owed them. The crowd seated itself on improvised
benches and the argument opened.

This time Mackay led the attack. He carried the war right into the
enemy's camp. Instead of letting them put questions to him, he asked
them question after question concerning Confucianism, Buddhism, and
Taoism. They were questions that sometimes they could not answer, and
to their chagrin they had to hear "the barbarian" answer for them. There
were other questions, still more humiliating, which, when they answered,
only served to show their religion as false and degrading. Their
spokesman, the great learned man, became at last so entangled that there
was nothing for him but flight. He arose and stalked angrily away, and
in a little while they all left. Mackay looked wistfully at young Giam
as he went out, wondering what effect these words had upon him.

He was not left long in doubt. Not half an hour after a shadow fell
across the open Bible the missionary was studying. He glanced up. There
he stood! His bright face was very serious. He looked gravely at the
other young man, and his eyes shone as he spoke.

"I brought all those graduates and teachers here," he confessed, "to
silence you or be silenced. And now I am convinced that the doctrines
you teach are true. I am determined to become a Christian, even though I
suffer death for it."

Mackay rose from his seat, his face alight with an overwhelming joy. The
man he had prayed for! He took the young fellow's hand--speechless. And
together the only missionary of north Formosa and his first convert fell
upon their knees before the true God and poured out their hearts in joy
and thanksgiving.




CHAPTER V. SOLDIERS TWO

And now a new day dawned for the lonely young missionary. He had
not a convert but a helper and a delightful companion. His new friend
was of a bright, joyous nature, the sort that everybody loves. Giam was
his surname, but almost every one called him by his given name, Hoa, and
those who knew him best called him A Hoa. Mackay used this more familiar
boyish name, for Giam was the younger by a few years.

To A Hoa his new friend was always Pastor Mackay, or as the Chinese put
it, Mackay Pastor, Kai Bok-su was the real Chinese of it, and Kai Bok-su
soon became a name known all over the island of Formosa.

A Hoa needed all his kind new friend's help in the first days after his
conversion. For family, relatives, and friends turned upon him with the
bitterest hatred for taking up the barbarian's religion. So, driven from
his friends, he came to live in the little hut by the river with Mackay.
While at home these two read, sang, and studied together all the day
long. It would have been hard for an observer to guess who was teacher
and who pupil. For at one time A Hoa was receiving Bible instruction
and the next time Mackay was being drilled in the Chinese of the
educated classes. Each teacher was as eager to instruct as each pupil
was eager to learn.

The Bible was, of course, the chief textbook, but they studied other
things, astronomy, geology, history, and similar subjects. One day
the Canadian took out a map of the world, and the Chinese gazed with
amazement at the sight of the many large countries outside China. A
Hoa had been private secretary to a mandarin, and had traveled much in
China, and once spent six months in Peking. His idea had been that China
was everything, that all countries outside it were but insignificant
barbarian places. His geography lessons were like revelations.

His progress was simply astonishing, as was also Mackay's. The two
seemed possessed with the spirit of hard work. But a superstitious old
man who lived near believed they were possessed with a demon. He often
listened to the two singing, drilling, and repeating words as they
marched up and down, either in the house or in front of it, and he
became alarmed. He was a kindly old fellow, and, though a heathen, felt
well disposed toward the missionary and A Hoa. So one day, very much
afraid, he slipped over to the little house with two small cups of
strong tea. He came to the door and proffered them with a polite bow. He
hoped they might prove soothing to the disturbed nerves of the patients,
he said. He suggested, also, that a visit to the nearest temple might
help them.

The two affected ones received his advice politely, but the humor of it
struck them both, and when their visitor was gone they laughed so hard
the tea nearly choked them.

The missionary was soon able to speak so fluently that he preached
almost every day, either in the little house by the river, or on the
street in some open square. There were other things he did, too. On
every side he saw great suffering from disease. The chief malady was the
terrible malaria, and the native doctors with their ridiculous remedies
only made the poor sufferers worse. Mackay had studied medicine for a
short time while in college, and now found his knowledge very useful.
He gave some simple remedies to several victims of malaria which proved
effective. The news of the cures spread far and wide. The barbarian was
kind, he had a good heart, the people declared. Many more came to
him for medicine, and day by day the circle of his friends grew. And
wherever he went, curing disease, teaching, or preaching, A Hoa went
with him, and shared with him the taunts of their heathen enemies.

But the gospel was gradually making its way. Not long after A Hoa's
conversion a second man confessed Christ. He had previously disturbed
the meetings by throwing stones into the doorway whenever he passed. But
his sister was cured of malaria by the missionary's medicine, and soon
both sister and mother became Christians, and finally the stone-thrower
himself. And so, gradually, the lines of the enemy were falling back,
and at every sign of retreat the little army of two advanced. A little
army? No! For was there not the whole host of heaven moving with them?
And Mackay was learning that his boyish dreams of glory were truly to
be fulfilled. He had wanted always to be a soldier like his grandfather,
and fight a great Waterloo, and here he was right in the midst of the
battle with the victory and the glory sure.

The two missionaries often went on short trips here and there into
the country around Tamsui, and Mackay determined that when the intense
summer heat had lessened they would make a long tour to some of
the large cities. The heat of August was almost overpowering to the
Canadian. Flies and mosquitoes and insect pests of all kinds made his
life miserable, too, and prevented his studying as hard as he wished.

One oppressive day he and A Hoa returned from a preaching tour in
the country to find their home in a state of siege. Right across the
threshold lay a monster serpent, eight feet in length. A Hoa shouted
a warning, and seized a long pole, and the two managed to kill it.
But their troubles were not yet over. The next morning, Mackay stepped
outside the door and sprang back just in time to escape another, the
mate of the one killed. This one was even larger than the first, and was
very fierce. But they finished it with sticks and stones.

When September came the days grew clearer, and the many pests of summer
were not so numerous. The mosquitoes and flies that had been such
torments disappeared, and there was some relief from the damp oppressive
heat. But he had only begun to enjoy the refreshing breaths of cool
air, and had remarked to A Hoa that the days reminded him of Canadian
summers, when the weather gave him to understand that every Formosan
season has its drawbacks. September brought tropical storms and typhoons
that were terrible, and he saw from his little house on the hillside big
trees torn up by the root, buildings swept away like chaff, and out in
the harbor great ships lifted from their anchorage and whirled away to
destruction. And then he was sometimes thankful that his little hut was
built into the hillside, solid and secure.

But the fierce storms cleared away the heavy dampness that had made
the heat of the summer so unbearable, and October and November brought
delightful days. The weather was still warm of course, but the nights
were cool and pleasant.

So early one October morning, Mackay and A Hoa started off on a tour to
the cities.

"We shall go to Kelung first," said the missionary. Kelung was a seaport
city on the northern coast, straight east across the island from Tamsui.
A coolie to carry food and clothing was hired, and early in the morning,
while the stars were still shining, they passed through the sleeping
town and out on the little paths between the rice-fields. Though it was
yet scarcely daylight, the farmers were already in their fields. It was
harvest-time--the second harvest of the year--and the little rice-fields
were no longer like mirrors, but were filled with high rustling grain
ready for the sickle. The water had been drained off and the reaper
and thrasher were going through the fields before dawn. There was no
machinery like that used at home. The reaper was a short sickle, the
thrashing-machine a kind of portable tub, and Mackay looked at them with
some amusement, and described to A Hoa how they took off the great wheat
crops in western Canada.

The two were in high spirits, ready for any sort of adventure and they
met some. Toward evening they reached a place called Sek-khau, and went
to the little brick inn to get a sleeping-place. The landlord came to
the door and was about to bid A Hoa enter, when the light fell upon
Mackay's face. With a shout, "Black-bearded barbarian!" he slammed the
door in their faces. They turned away, but already a crowd had begun
to gather. "The black-bearded barbarian is here! The foreign devil
from Tamsui has come!" was the cry. The mob followed the two down
the streets, shouting curses. Some one threw a broken piece of brick,
another a stone. Mackay turned and faced them, and for a few moments
they seemed cowed. But the crowd was increasing, and he deemed it wise
to move on. So the two marched out of the town followed by stones and
curses. And, as they went, Mackay reminded A Hoa of what they had been
reading the night before.

"Yes," said A Hoa brightly. "The Lord was driven out of his own town in
Galilee."

"Yes, and Paul--you remember how he  was stoned. Our Master
counts us worthy to suffer for him." But where to go was the question.
Before they could decide, night came down upon them, and it came in that
sudden tropical way to which Mackay, all his life accustomed to the long
mellow twilights of his northern home, could never grow accustomed.
They each took a torch out of the carrier's bag, lighted it, and marched
bravely on. The path led along the Kelung river, through tall grass.
They were not sure where it led to, but thought it wise to follow the
river; they would surely come to Kelung some time. Mackay was ahead, A
Hoa right at his heels, and behind them the basketbearer. At a sudden
turn in the path A Hoa gave a shout of warning, and the next instant,
a band of robbers leaped from the long reeds and grass, and brandished
their spears in the travelers' faces. The torchlight shone on their
fierce evil eyes and their long knives, making a horrible picture. The
young Canadian Scot did not flinch for a second. He looked the wild
leader straight in the face.

"We have no money, so you cannot rob us," he said steadily, "and you
must let us pass at once. I am a teacher and--"

"A TEACHER!" he was interrupted by a dismayed exclamation from several
of the wild band. "A teacher!" As if with one accord they turned and
fled into the darkness. For even a highwayman in China respects a man
of learning. The travelers went on again, with something of relief and
something of the exultation that youth feels in having faced danger. But
a second trouble was upon them. One of those terrible storms that still
raged occasionally had been brewing all evening, and now it opened its
artillery. Great howling gusts came down from the mountain, carrying
sheets of driving rain. Their torches went out like matches, and they
were left to stagger along in the black darkness. What were they to do?
They could not go back. They could not stay there. They scarcely dared
go on. For they did not know the way, and any moment a fresh blast of
wind or a misstep might hurl them into the river. But they decided that
they must go on, and on they went, stumbling, slipping, sprawling, and
falling outright. Now there would be an exclamation from Mackay as he
sank to the knees in the mud of a rice-field, now a groan from A Hoa as
he fell over a boulder and bruised and scratched himself, and oftenest
a yell from the poor coolie, as he slipped, baskets and all, into some
rocky crevice, and was sure he was tumbling into the river; but they
staggered on, Mackay secure in his faith in God. His Father knew and
his Father would keep him safely. And behind him came brave young A
Hoa, buoyed up by his new growing faith, and learning the lesson that
sometimes the Captain asks his soldier to march into hard encounters,
but that the soldier must never flinch.

The "everlasting arms" were around them, for by midnight they reached
Kelung. They were drenched, breathless, and worn out, and they spent the
night in a damp hovel, glad of any shelter from the wind and rain.

But the next morning, young soldier A Hoa had a fiercer battle to fight
than any with robbers or storms. As soon as the city was astir, Mackay
and he went out to find a good place to preach. They passed down the
main thoroughfare, and everywhere they attracted attention. Cries of
"Ugly barbarian!" and oftenest "Black-bearded barbarian" were heard
on all sides. A Hoa was known in Kelung and contempt and ridicule was
heaped upon him by his old college acquaintances. He was consorting
with the barbarian! He was a friend of this foreigner! They poured more
insults upon him than they did upon the barbarian himself. Some took
the stranger as a joke, and laughed and made funny remarks upon his
appearance. Here and there an old woman, peeping through the doorway,
would utter a loud cackling laugh, and pointing a wizened finger at the
missionary would cry: "Eh, eh, look at him! Tee hee! He's got a wash
basin on for a hat!" A Hoa was distressed at these remarks, but Mackay
was highly amused.

"We're drawing a crowd, anyway," he remarked cheerfully, "and that's
what we want."

Soon they came to an open square in front of a heathen temple. The
building had several large stone steps leading up to the door. Mackay
mounted them and stood facing the buzzing crowd, with A Hoa at his side.
They started a hymn.

All people that on earth do dwell Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

The open square in front of them began to fill rapidly. The people
jostled each other in their endeavors to get a view of the barbarian.
Every one was curious, but every one was angry and indignant, so
sometimes the sound of the singing was lost in the shouts of derision.

When the hymn was finished, Mackay had a sudden inspiration. "They
will surely listen to one of their own people," he said to himself, and
turned to A Hoa.

"Speak to them," he said. "Tell them about the true God."

That was a hard moment for the young convert. He had been a Christian
only a few months and had never yet spoken in public for Christ. He
looked desperately over the sea of mocking faces beneath him. He opened
his mouth, as though to speak, and hesitated. Just then came a rough
and bitter taunt from one of his old companions. It was too much. A Hoa
turned away and hung his head.

The young missionary said nothing. But he did the very wisest thing
he could have done. He had some time before taught A Hoa a grand old
Scottish paraphrase, and they had often sung it together:

I'm not ashamed to own my Lord Or to defend his cause, Maintain the
glory of his cross And honor all his laws.

Mackay's voice, loud and clear, burst into this fine old hymn. A Hoa
raised his head. He joined in the hymn and sang it to the end. It put
mettle into him. It was the battle-song that brought back the young
recruit's courage. Almost before the last note sounded he began to
speak. His voice rang out bold and unafraid over the crowd of angry
heathen.

"I am a Christian!" he said distinctly. "I worship the true God. I
cannot worship idols," with a gesture toward the temple door, "that rats
can destroy. I am not afraid. I love Jesus. He is my Savior and Friend."

No, A Hoa was not "ashamed" any more. His testing time had come, and he
had not failed after all. And his brave, true words sent a thrill of joy
through the more seasoned soldier at his side.

That was not the only difficult situation he met on that journey.
The two soldiers of the cross had many trials, but the thrill of that
victory before the Kelung temple never left them.

When they returned to Tamsui they held daily services in their house,
and A Hoa often spoke to the people who gathered there.

One Sunday they noticed an old woman present, who had come down the
river in a boat. Women as a rule did not come out to the meetings, but
this old lady continued to come every Sunday. She showed great interest
in the missionary's words, and, at the close of one meeting, he spoke to
her. She told him she was a poor widow, that her name was Thah-so, and
that she had come down the river from Go-ko-khi to hear him preach.
Then she added, "I have passed through many trials in this world, and my
idols never gave me any comfort." Then her eyes shone, "But I like your
teaching very much," she went on. "I believe the God you tell about will
give me peace.. I will come again, and bring others."

Next Sunday she was there with several other women. And after that
she came every Sunday, bringing more each time, until at last a whole
boat-load would come down to the service.

These people were so interested that they asked the missionary if
he would not visit them. So one day he and A Hoa boarded one of the
queer-looking flat-bottomed river-boats and were pulled up the rapids
to Go ko-khi. Every village in Formosa had its headman, who is virtually
the ruler of the place. When the boat landed, many of the villagers were
at the shore to meet their visitors and took them at once to their
mayor's house, the best building in the village. Tan Paugh, a fine, big,
powerfully-built man, received them cordially. He frankly declared
that he was tired and sick of idols and wanted to hear more of this new
religion. An empty granary was obtained for both church and home, and
the missionary and his assistant took up their quarters there, and for
several months they remained, preaching and teaching the Bible either in
Go-ho-khi, or in the lovely surrounding valleys.




CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT KAI BOK-SU

The missionary was now becoming a familiar figure both in Tamsui and in
the surrounding country. By many he was loved, by all he was respected,
but by a large number he was bitterly hated. The scholars continued
his worst enemies. They could never forgive him for beating them so
completely in argument, in the days when A Hoa was striving for the
light, and their hatred increased as they saw other scholars becoming
Christians under his teaching. There was something about him, however,
that compelled their respect and even their admiration. Wherever they
met him--on the street, by their temples, or on the country roads--he
bore himself in such a way as to make them confess that he was their
superior both in ability and knowledge.

These Chinese literati had a custom which Mackay found very interesting.
One proud scholar marching down the street and scarcely noticing the
obsequious bows of his inferiors, would meet another equally proud
scholar. Each would salute the other in an exceedingly grand manner, and
then one would spin off a quotation from the writings of Confucius or
some other Chinese sage and say, "Now tell me where that is found."
And scholar number two had to ransack his brains to remember where the
saying was found, or else confess himself beaten. Mackay thought it
might be a good habit for the graduates of his own alma mater across the
wide sea to adopt. He wondered what some of his old college chums would
think, if, when he got back to Canada, he should buttonhole one on the
street some day, recite a quotation from Shakespeare or Macaulay, and
demand from his friend where it could be found. He had a suspicion that
the old friend would be afraid that the Oriental sun had touched George
Mackay's brain.

Nevertheless he thought the custom one he could turn to good account,
and before long he was trying it himself. He had such a wonderful memory
that he never forgot anything he had once read. So the scholars of
north Formosa soon discovered, again to their humiliation, that this Kai
Bok-su of Tamsui could beat them at their own game. They did not care
how much he might profess to know of writers and lands beyond China.
Such were only barbarians anyway. But when, right before a crowd,
he would display a surer knowledge of the Chinese classics than they
themselves, they began not only to respect but to fear him. It was
no use trying to humiliate him with a quotation. With his bright eyes
flashing, he would tell, without a moment's hesitation, where it
was found and come back at the questioner swiftly with another, most
probably one long forgotten, and reel it off as though he had studied
Chinese all his life.

He was a wonderful man certainly, they all agreed, and one whom it was
not safe to oppose. The common people liked him better every day. He was
so tactful, so kind, and always so careful not to arouse the
prejudice of the heathen. He was extremely wise in dealing with their
superstitions. No matter how absurd or childish They might be, he never
ridiculed them, but only strove to show the people how much happier they
might be if they believed in God as their Father and in Jesus Christ
as their Savior. He never made light of anything sacred to the Chinese
mind, but always tried to take whatever germ of good he could find
in their religion, and lead on from it to the greater good found in
Christianity. He discovered that the ancestral worship made the younger
people kind and respectful to older folk, and he saw that Chinese
children reverenced their parents and elders in a way that he felt many
of his young friends across the sea would do well to copy.

One day when he and A Hoa were out on a preaching tour, the wise Kai
Bok-su made use of this respect for parents in quieting a mob. He and
his comrade were standing side by side on the steps of a heathen temple
as they had done at Kelung. The angry crowd was scowling and muttering,
ready to throw stones as soon as the preacher uttered a word. Mackay
knew this, and when they had sung a hymn and the people waited, ready
for a riot, his voice rang out clear and steady, repeating the fifth
commandment "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." A silence fell over
the muttering crowd, and an old heathen whose cue was white and whose
aged hands trembled on the top of his staff, nodded his head and said,
"That is heavenly doctrine." The people were surprised and disarmed. If
the black-bearded barbarian taught such truths as this, he surely was
not so very wicked after all. And so they listened attentively as he
went on to show that they had all one great Father, even God.

He sometimes found it rather a task to treat with respect that which the
Chinese held sacred. Especially was this so when he discovered to his
amusement and to some carefully concealed disgust, that in the Chinese
family the pig was looked upon with affection, and as a young naval
officer, who visited Mackay remarked, "was treated like a gentleman."

Every Chinese house of any size was made up of three buildings joined
together so as to make three sides of an enclosure. This space was
called a court, and a door led from it to another next the street. In
this outer yard pigs and fowl were always to be found. Whenever the
missionary dropped in at a home, mother pig and all the little pigs
often followed him inside the house, quite like members of the family.
Every one was always glad to see Kai Bok-su, pigs and all, and as soon
as he appeared the order was given--"Infuse tea." And when the little
handleless cups of clear brown liquid were passed around and they all
drank and chatted, Mrs. Pig and her children strolled about as welcome
as the guest.

The Chinese would allow no one to hurt their pigs, either. One day as
Mackay sat in his rooms facing the river, battling with some new
Chinese characters, he heard a great hubbub coming up the street. The
threatening mobs that used to surround his house had long ago ceased to
trouble him. He arose in some surprise and went to the door to see what
was the matter. A very unusual sight for Tamsui met his gaze. Coming
up the street at a wild run were some half-dozen English sailors, their
loose blue blouses and trousers flapping madly. They were evidently from
a ship which Mackay had seen lying in the harbor that morning.

"Give us a gun!" roared the foremost as soon as he saw the missionary.

Mackay did not possess a gun, and would not have given the enraged
bluejacket one had he owned a dozen. But the Chinese mob, roaring with
fury, were coming up the street after the men and he swiftly pointed out
a narrow alley that led down to the river. "Run down there!" he shouted
to the sailors. "You can get to your boats before they find you."

They were gone in an instant, and the next moment the crowd of
pursuers were storming about the door demanding whither the enemy had
disappeared.

"What is all this disturbance about?" demanded Kai Bok-su calmly, glad
of an opportunity to gain time for the fleeing sailors.

The aggrieved Chinese gathered about him, each telling the story as
loud as his voice would permit. Those barbarians of the sea had come
swaggering along the streets waving their big sticks. And they had
dared--yes actually DARED--to hit the pet pigs belonging to every house
as they passed. The poor pigs who lay sunning themselves at the door!

This was indeed a serious offense. Mackay could picture the rollicking
sailor-lads gaily whacking the lazy porkers with their canes as they
passed, happily unconscious of the trouble they were raising. But there
was no amusement in Kai Bok-su's grave face. He spoke kindly, and
soothingly, and promised that if the offenders misbehaved again he would
complain to the authorities. That made it all right. Heathen though they
were, they knew Kai Bok-su's promise would not be broken, and away they
went quite satisfied.

One day he learned, quite by accident, a new and very useful way of
helping his people. He and A Hoa and several other young men who had
become Christians, went on a missionary tour to Tek-chham, a large city
which he had visited once before.

On the day they left the place, Kai Boksu's preaching had drawn such
crowds that the authorities of the city became afraid of him. And
when the little party left, a dozen soldiers were sent to follow the
dangerous barbarian and his students and see that they did not bewitch
the people on the road.

The soldiers tramped along after the missionary party, and with his
usual ability to make use of any situation, Mackay stepped back and
chatted with his spies. He found one poor fellow in agony with the
toothache. This malady was very common in north Formosa, partly owing
to the habit of chewing the betel-nut. He examined the aching tooth and
found it badly decayed. "There is a worm in it," the soldier said,
for the Formosan doctors had taught the people this was the cause of
toothache.

Mackay had no forceps, but he knew how to pull a tooth, and he was not
the sort to be daunted by the lack of tools. He got a piece of hard
wood, whittled it into shape and with it pried out the tooth. The
relief from pain was so great that the soldier almost wept for joy and
overwhelmed the tooth-puller with gratitude. And for the remainder of
the journey the guards sent to spy on the missionary's doings were his
warmest friends.

After this, dentistry became a part of this many-sided missionary's
work. He went to a native blacksmith and had a pair of forceps hammered
out of iron. It was a rather clumsy instrument, but it proved of great
value, and later he sent for a complete set of the best instruments made
in New York.

So with forceps in one hand and the Bible in the other, Mackay found
himself doubly equipped. Every second person seemed to be suffering from
toothache, and when the pain was relieved by the missionary, the patient
was in a state of mind to receive his teaching kindly. The cruel methods
by which the native doctors extracted teeth often caused more suffering
than the toothache, and sometimes even resulted in death through
blood-poisoning.

A Hoa and some of the other young converts learned from their teacher
how to pull a tooth, and they, too, became experts in the art.

Whenever they visited a town or city after this, they had a program
which they always followed. First they would place themselves in front
of an idol temple or in an open square. Here they would sing a hymn
which always attracted a crowd. Next, any one who wanted a tooth pulled
was invited to come forward. Many accepted the invitation gladly and
sometimes a long line of twenty or thirty would be waiting, each his
turn. The Chinese had considerable nerve, the Canadian discovered, and
stood the pain bravely. They literally "stood" it, too, for there was
no dentist's chair and every man stood up for his operation, very much
pleased and very grateful when it was over. Then there were quinine and
other simple remedies for malaria handed round, for in a Formosan crowd
there were often many shaking in the grip of this terrible disease.
And now, having opened the people's hearts by his kindness, Kai Bok-su
brought forth his cure for souls. He would mount the steps of the temple
or stand on a box or stone, and tell the wonderful old story of the man
Jesus who was also God, and who said to all sick and weary and troubled
ones, "Come unto me,... and I will give you rest." And often, when he
had finished, the disease of sin in many a heart was cured by the remedy
of the gospel.

And so the autumn passed away happily and busily, and Mackay entered his
first Formosan winter. And such a winter! The young man who had felt the
clear, bright cold of a Canadian January needed all his fine courage to
bear up under its dreariness. It started about Christmas time. Just when
his own people far away in Canada were gathering about the blazing fire
or jingling over the crisp snow in sleighs and cutters, the great winter
rains commenced. Christmas day--his first Christmas in a land that did
not know its beautiful meaning--was one long dreary downpour. It rained
steadily all Christmas week. It poured on Newyear's day and for a week
after. It came down in torrents all January. February set in and still
it rained and rained, with only a short interval each afternoon. Day and
night, week in, week out, it poured, until Mackay forgot what sunlight
looked like, his house grew damp, his clothes moldy. A stream broke
out up in the hill behind and one morning he awoke to find a cascade
tumbling into his kitchen, and rushing across the floor out into the
river beyond. And still it poured and the wind blew and everything was
damp and cold and dreary.

He caught an occasional glimpse of snow, only a very far-off view, for
it lay away up on the top of a mountain, but it made his heart long for
just one breath of good dry Canadian air, just one whiff of the keen,
cutting frost.

But Kai Bok-su was not the sort to spend these dismal days repining.
Indeed he had no time, even had he been so inclined. His work filled
up every minute of every rainy day and hours of the drenched night. If
there was no sunshine outside there was plenty in his brave heart, and A
Hoa's whole nature radiated brightness.

And there were many reasons for being happy after all. On the second
Sabbath of February, 1873, just one year after his arrival in Tamsui,
the missionary announced, at the close of one of his Sabbath services,
that he would receive a number into the Christian church. There was
instantly a commotion among the heathen who were in the house, and yells
and jeers from those crowding about the door outside.

"We'll stop him," they shouted. "Let us beat the converts," was another
cry.

But Mackay went quietly on with the beautiful ceremony in spite of the
disturbance. Five young men, with A Hoa at their head, came and were
baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


When the next Sabbath came these five with their missionary sat down for
the first time to partake of the Lord's Supper. It was a very impressive
ceremony. One young fellow broke down, declaring he was not worthy.
Mackay took him alone into his little room and they prayed together, and
the young man came out to the Lord's Supper comforted, knowing that all
might be worthy in Jesus Christ.

Spring came at last, bright and clear, and Mackay announced to A Hoa
that they must go up the river and visit their friends at Goko-khi. The
two did not go alone this time. Three other young men who wanted to be
missionaries were now spending their days with their teacher, learning
with A Hoa how to preach the gospel. So it was quite a little band
of disciples that walked along the river bank up to Go-ko-khi. Mackay
preached at all the villages along the route, and visited the homes of
Christians.

One day, as they passed a yamen or Chinese court-house where a mandarin
was trying some cases, they stepped in to see what was going on. At
one end of the room sat the mandarin who was judge. He was dressed in
magnificent silks and looked down very haughtily upon the lesser people
and the retinue of servants who were gathered about him. On either side
of the room stood a row of constables and near them the executioners.
The rest of the room was filled with friends of the people on trial and
by the rabble from the street. The missionaries mixed with the former
and stood watching proceedings. There were no lawyers, no jury. The
mandarin's decision was law.

The first case was one of theft. Whether the man had really committed
the crime or not was a question freely discussed among the onlookers
around Mackay. But there seemed no doubt as to his punishment being
swift and heavy. "He has not paid the mandarin," a friend explained to
the missionary. "He will be punished."

"The mandarin eats cash," remarked another with a shrug. It was a saying
to which Mackay had become accustomed. For it was one of the shameless
proverbs of poor, oppressed Formosa.

The case was soon finished. Nothing was definitely proven against the
man. But the mandarin pronounced the sentence of death. The victim
was hurried out, shrieking his innocence, and praying for mercy. Case
followed case, each one becoming more revolting than the last to the
eyes of the young man accustomed to British justice. Imprisonment and
torture were meted out to prisoners, and even witnesses were laid hold
of and beaten on the face by the executioners if their tale did not suit
the mandarin. Men who were plainly guilty but who had given their judge
a liberal bribe were let off, while innocent men were made to pay heavy
fines or were thrown into prison. The young missionary went out and
on his way sickened by the sights he had witnessed. And as he went,
he raised his eyes to heaven and prayed fervently that he might be a
faithful preacher of the gospel, and that one day Formosa would be a
Christian land and injustice and oppression be done away.


The next scene was a happier one. There was an earnest little band of
Christians in Go-ko-khi, and two of the young people were about to be
married. It was the first Christian marriage in the place and Kai Bok-su
was called upon to officiate. There was a great deal of opposition
raised among the heathen, but after seeing the ceremony, they all voted
a Christian wedding everything that was beautiful and good.




CHAPTER VII. BESIEGING HEAD-HUNTERS

When they returned from their trip, Mackay and A Hoa with the assistance
of some of their Christian friends set about looking for a new house in
a more wholesome district. It was much easier for the missionary to rent
a place now, and he managed to secure a comfortable home upon the bluff
above the town. It was a dryer situation and much more healthful. Here
one room was used as a study and every morning when not away on a tour a
party of young men gathered in it for lessons. Sometimes, what with
traveling, preaching, training his students, visiting the sick, and
pulling teeth, Mackay had scarcely time to eat, and very little to
sleep. But always as he came and went on his travels, his eyes would
wander to the mountains where the savages lived, and with all his heart
he would wish that he might visit them also.

His Chinese friends held up their hands in dismay when he broached the
subject. To the mountains where the Chhi-hoan lived! Did Kai Bok-su not
know that every man of them was a practised head-hunter, and that behind
every rock and tree and in the darkness of the forests they lay in wait
for any one who went beyond the settled districts? Yes, Kai Bok-su knew
all that, but he could not quite explain that it was just that which
made the thought of a visit to them seem so alluring, just that which
made him so anxious to tell them of Jesus Christ, who wished all men to
live as brothers. A Hoa and a few others who had caught the spirit of
the true soldier of the cross understood. For they had learned that one
who follows Jesus must be ready to dare anything, death included, to
carry the news of his salvation to the dark corners of the world.

But the days were so filled with preaching, teaching, and touring,
that for some time Mackay had no opportunity for a trip into the
head-hunters' territory. And then one day, quite unexpectedly, his
chance came. There sailed into Tamsui harbor, one hot afternoon, a
British man-of-war, named The Dwarf. Captain Bax from this vessel
visited Tamsui, and expressed a desire to see something of the life of
the savages in the mountains. This was Mackay's opportunity, and in
spite of protests from his friends he offered to accompany the captain.
So together they started off, the sailor-soldier of England and the
soldier of the cross, each with the same place in view but each with a
very different object.

It took three days journey from Tamsui across rice-fields and up
hillsides to reach even the foot of the mountains. Here there lived a
village of natives, closely related to the savages. But they were not
given to head-hunting and were quite friendly with the people about
them. Mackay had met some of these people on a former trip inland, and
now he and Captain Bax hired their chief and a party of his men to guide
them up into savage territory.

The travelers slept that night in the village, and before dawn were up
and ready to start on their dangerous undertaking. Before them in the
gray dawn rose hill upon hill, each loftier than the last, till they
melted into the mountains, the territory of the dreaded head-hunters.
They started off on a steady tramp, up hills, down valleys, and across
streams, until at last they came to the foot of the first mountain.

Before them rose its sheer side, towering thirty-five hundred feet above
their heads. It was literally covered with rank growth of all kinds,
through which it was impossible to move. So a plan of march had to be
decided upon. In front went a line of men with long sharp knives. With
these they cut away the creepers and tangled scrub or undergrowth. Next
came the coolies with the baggage, and last the two travelers. It was
slow work, and sometimes the climb was so steep they held their breath,
as they crept over a sheer ledge and saw the depth below to which they
might easily be hurled. The chief of the guides himself collapsed in one
terrible climb, and his men tied rattan ropes about him and hauled him
up over the steepest places.

During this wearisome ascent the most untiring one was the missionary;
and the sailor often looked at him in amazement. His lithe, wiry frame
never seemed to grow weary. He was often in the advance line, cutting
his way through the tangle, and here on that first afternoon he met with
an unpleasant adventure.

The natives had warned the two strangers to be on the lookout for
poisonous snakes, and Mackay's year in Formosa had taught him to be
wary. But he had forgotten all danger in the toilsome climb. He was soon
reminded of it. They were passing up a slope covered with long dense
grass when a rustling at his side made the young missionary pause. The
next moment a huge cobra sprang out from a clump of grass and struck at
him. Mackay sprang aside just in time to escape its deadly fangs. The
guides rushed up with their spears only to see its horrible scaly length
disappear in the long grass.

That was not the only escape of the young adventurer, for there were
wild animals as well as poisonous snakes along the line of march, and
the man in the front was always in danger. But at the front Mackay must
be in spite of all warning. Nobody moved fast enough for him.

At last they reached the summit of the range. They were now on the
dividing line between Chinese ground and savage territory, and the men
who dared go a step farther went at terrible risk. The head-hunters
would very likely see that they did not return.

But Mackay was all for pushing forward, and Captain Bax was no less
eager. So they spent a night in the forest and the next day marched on
up another and higher range. As they journeyed, the travelers could not
but burst into exclamations of delight at the loveliness about them.
Behind those great trees and in those tangles of vines might lurk the
head-hunters, but for all that the beauty of the place made them forget
the dangers. The great banyan trees whose branches came down and took
root in the earth, making a wonderful round leafy tent, grew on every
side. Camphor trees towered far above them and then spread out great
branches sixty or seventy feet from the ground. Then there was the
rattan creeping out over the tops of the other trees and making a thick
canopy through which the hot tropical sun-rays could not penetrate.

 And the flowers! Sometimes Mackay and Bax would stand amazed at
their beauty. They came one afternoon to an open glade in the cool
green dimness of the forest. On all sides the stately tree-ferns rose up
thirty or forty feet above them, and underneath grew a tangle of lovely
green undergrowth.

And upon this green carpet it seemed to their dazzled eyes that
thousands of butterflies of the loveliest form and color had just
alighted. And not only butterflies, but birds and huge insects and all
sorts of winged creatures, pink and gold and green and scarlet and blue,
and all variegated hues. But the lovely things sat motionless, sending
out such a delightful perfume that there could be no doubt that they
were flowers,--the wonderful orchids of Formosa! Mackay was a keen
scientist, always highly interested in botany, and he was charmed with
this sight. There were many such in the forest, and often he would stop
spellbound before a blaze of flowers hanging from tree or vine or shrub.
Then he would look up at the tangled growths of the bamboo, the palm,
and the elegant tree-fern, standing there all silent and beautiful, and
he would be struck by the harmony between God's work and Word. "I can't
keep from studying the flora of Formosa," he said to Captain Bax. "What
missionary would not be a better man, the bearer of a richer gospel,
what convert would not be a more enduring Christian from becoming
acquainted with such wonderful works of the Creator?"

At last they stood on the summit of the second range and saw before them
still more mountains, clothed from summit to base with trees. They were
now right in savage territory and their guide clambered out upon a spur
of rock and announced that there was a party of head-hunters in the
valley below. He gave a long halloo. From away down in the valley came
an answering call, ringing through the forest. Then far down through the
thicket Mackay's sharp eyes descried the party coming up to meet them.
Just then their own guide gave the signal to move on, and the missionary
and Captain Bax walked down the hill--the first white men who had ever
come out to meet those savages.

Half-way down the slope the two parties came face to face. The
head-hunters were a wild, uncouth-looking company, armed to the teeth.
They all carried guns, spears, and knives and some had also bows and
arrows slung over their backs. Their faces were hideously tattooed in a
regular pattern, while they wore no more clothes than were necessary.
A sort of sack of coarse linen with holes in the sides for their arms,
served as the chief garment, and generally the only one. Every one wore
a broad belt of woven rattan in which was stuck his crooked pointed
knife. Some of the younger men had their coats ornamented with bright
red and blue threads woven into the texture. They had brass rings on
their arms and legs too, and even sported big earrings. These were
ugly looking things made of bamboo sticks. The head-hunters were all
barefooted, but most of them wore caps--queer-looking things, made of
rattan. From many of them hung bits of skin of the boar or other wild
animals they had killed. They stood staring suspiciously at the two
strangers. Never before had they seen a white man, and the appearance of
the naval officer and the missionary, so different from themselves, and
yet so different from their hated enemies, the Chinese, filled them with
amazement and a good deal of suspicion. After a little talk with the
guides, however, the visitors were allowed to pass on. As soon as they
began to move, the savages fell into line behind them and followed
closely. The two white men, walking calmly onward, could not help
thinking how easy it would be for one of those fierce-looking tattooed
braves to win applause by springing upon both of them and carrying their
heads in triumph to the next village.

As they came down farther into the valley, they passed the place where
the savages had their camp. Here naked children and tattooed women
crept out of the dense woods to stare at the queer-looking Chinamen who
had white faces and wore no cue.

The march through this valley, even without the head-hunters at their
heels, would not have been easy. The visitors clambered over huge trunks
blown across the path, and tore their clothes and hands scrambling
through the thorny bushes. The sun was still shining on the
mountain-peaks far above them, but away down here in the valley it was
rapidly growing dark and very cold. They had almost decided to stop and
wait for morning when a light ahead encouraged them to go on. They soon
came upon a big camp-fire and round it were squatted several hundred
savages. The firelight gleaming upon the dark, fierce faces of the
head-hunters and on their spears and knives, made a startling picture.

They were round the visitors immediately, staring at the two white men
in amazement. The party of savages who had escorted them seemed to be
making some explanation of their appearance, for they all subsided at
last and once more sat round their fire.

The newcomers started a fire of their own, and their servants cooked
their food. The white men were in momentary danger of their lives. But
they sat on the ground before the fire and quietly ate their supper
while hundreds of savage eyes were fixed upon them in suspicious,
watchful silence.

The meal over the servants prepared a place for the travelers to sleep,
and while they were so doing, the young missionary was not idle. He
longed to speak to these poor, darkened heathen, but they could not
understand Chinese. However, he found several poor fellows lying
prostrate on the ground, overcome with malaria, and he got his guide to
ask if he might not give the sick ones medicine. Being allowed to do
so, he gave each one a dose of quinine. The poor creatures tried to look
their gratitude when the terrible chills left them, and soon they were
able to sink into sleep.

Before he retired to his own bed of boughs, the young missionary
sang that grand old anthem which these lonely woods and their savage
inhabitants had never yet heard:

     All people that on earth do dwell,
     Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

But these poor people could not "sing to the Lord," for they had never
yet so much as heard his name.

All night the missionary lay on the ground, finding the chill mountain
air too cold for sleep, and whenever he looked out from his shelter of
boughs he saw hundreds of savage eyes, gleaming in the firelight, still
wide open and fixed upon him.

Day broke late in the valley, but the travelers were astir in the
morning twilight. The mountain-tops were touched with rosy light even
while it was dark down in these forest depths.

The chilled white men were glad to get up and exercise their stiffened
limbs. There were several of their party who could speak both Chinese
and the dialect of these mountaineers, and through them Mackay persuaded
the chief of the tribe to take them to visit his village.

He seemed reluctant at first and there was much discussion with his
braves. Evidently they were more anxious to go on a head-hunt than to
act the part of hosts. However, after a great deal of chatter,
they consented, and the chief and his son with thirty men separated
themselves from the rest of the band and led the way out of the valley
up the mountainside. The travelers had to stop often, for, besides the
natural difficulties of the way, the chief proved a new obstacle. Every
mile or so he would apparently repent of his hospitality. He would stop,
gather his tattooed braves about him and confer with them, while his
would-be visitors sat on the ground or a fallen tree-trunk to await his
pleasure. Finally he would start off again, the travelers following,
but no sooner were they under way than again their uncertain guide would
stop. Once he and his men stood motionless, listening. Away up in
the boughs of a camphor tree a little tailor-bird was twittering. The
savages listened as though to the voice of an oracle.

"What are they doing?" Mackay asked of one of his men, when the
head-hunters stopped a second time and stared earnestly at the boughs
above.

"Bird-listening," explained the guide. A few more questions drew from
him the fact that the savages believed the little birds would tell
them whether or not they should bring these strangers home. They
always consulted the birds when starting out on a head-hunt, he further
explained. If the birds gave a certain kind of chirp and flew in a
certain direction, then all was well, and the hunters would go happily
forward. But if the birds acted in the opposite way, nothing in the
world could persuade the chief to go on. Evidently the birds gave their
permission to bring the travelers home, for in spite of many halts, the
savages still moved forward.

They had been struggling for some miles through underbrush and prickly
rattan and the white men's clothes were torn and their hands scratched.
Now, however, they came upon a well-beaten path, winding up the
mountainside, and it proved a great relief to the weary travelers. But
here occurred another delay. The savages all stopped, and the chief
approached Mackay and spoke to him through the interpreter. Would the
white man join him in a head-hunting expedition, was his modest request.
There were some Chinese not so far below them, cutting out rattan, and
he was sure they could secure one or more heads. He shook the big net
head-bag that hung over his shoulder and grinned savagely as he made his
proposal. If the white men and their party would come at the enemy from
one side, he and his men would attack them from the other, he said,
and they would be sure to get them all. The incongruity of a Christian
missionary being invited on a head-hunt struck Captain Bax as rather
funny in spite of its gruesomeness. This was a delicate situation to
handle, but Mackay put a bold front on it. He answered indignantly that
he and his friend had come in peace to visit the chief, and that he was
neither kind nor honorable in trying to get his visitors to fight his
battles.

The interpreter translated and for a moment several pairs of savage
eyes gleamed angrily at the bold white man. But second thoughts proved
calmer. After another council the savages moved on.

They were now at the top of a range, and every one was ordered to halt
and remain silent. Mackay thought that advice was again to be asked of
some troublesome little birds, but instead the savages raised a
peculiar long-drawn shout. It was answered at once from the opposite
mountain-top, and immediately the whole party moved on down the slope.

Here was the same lovely tangle of vines and ferns and beautiful
flowers. Monkeys sported in the trees and chattered and scolded the
intruders. Down one range and up another they scrambled and at last they
came upon the village of the head-hunters.

It lay in a valley in an open space where the forest trees had been
cleared away. It consisted of some half-dozen houses or huts made of
bamboo or wickerwork, and the place seemed literally swarming with women
and children and noisy yelping dogs. But even these could not account
for the terrible din that seemed to fill the valley. Such unearthly
yells and screeches the white men had never heard before.

"What is it?" asked Captain Bax. "Has the whole village gone mad?"

Mackay turned to one of his guides, and the man explained that the noise
came from a village a little farther down the valley. A young hunter had
returned with a Chinaman's head, and his friends were rejoicing over it.
The merrymaking sounded to the visitors more like the howling of a pack
of fiends, for it bore no resemblance to any human sounds they had ever
heard.

Fortunately they were invited to stop at the nearer village and were not
compelled to take part in the horrible celebration. They were taken at
once to the chief's house. It was the best in the village, and boasted
of a floor, made of rattan ropes half an inch thick. All along the
outside wall, under the eaves, hung a row of gruesome ornaments, heads
of the boar and deer and other wild animals killed in the chase, and
here and there mingled with them the skulls of Chinamen. The house held
one large room, and, as it was a cold evening, a fire burned at either
end of it. At one end the men stood chatting, at the other the women
squatted. The visitors were invited to sit by the men's fire. There
were several beds along the wall, two of which were offered to the
strangers. But they were not prepared to remain for the night, and had
decided to start back before the shadows fell.

The whole village came to the chief's house and crowded round the
newcomers, men first, women and children on the outskirts, and dogs
still farther back. Several men came forward and claimed Mackay as a
friend. They touched their own breasts and then his, in salutation,
grinning in a most friendly manner. The young missionary was at first
puzzled, then smiled delightedly. They were some of the poor fellows to
whom he had given quinine the evening before in the valley.

This greeting seemed to encourage the others. They became more friendly
and suddenly one man who had been circling round the visitors touched
the back of Mackay's head and exclaimed, "They do not wear the cue! They
are our kinsmen." From that moment they were treated with far
greater kindness, and on several other visits that Mackay made to the
head-hunters, they always spoke with interest of him as kinsman.

But all danger was not over. The savages were still suspicious, and at
any moment the newcomers might excite them. So they decided to start
back at once, while every one was in a friendly mood. They made presents
to the chief and some of his leading men; and left with expressions of
good-will on both sides.

By evening they had reached the valley where they had first met the
savages and here they prepared to spend the night. They had no sooner
kindled their fires than from the darkness on every side shadowy forms
silently emerged,--the savages come to visit them! They glided out of
the black forest into the ring of firelight and squatted upon the ground
until fully five hundred dusky faces looked out at the travelers from
the gloom. It was rather an unpleasant situation, there in the depths of
the forest, but Mackay turned it to good account. First he and Captain
Bax made presents to the headmen and they were as pleased as children to
receive the gay ornaments and bright cloth the travelers gave them.
And then Mackay called their interpreter to his side and they stood
up together, facing the crowd. Speaking through his interpreter, the
missionary said he wished to tell them a story. These mountain savages
were veritable children in their love for a story, as they were in so
many other ways, and their eyes gleamed with delight.

It was a wonderful story he told them, the like of which they had never
heard before. It was about the great God, who had made the earth and
the people on it, and was the Father of them all. He told how God loved
everybody, because they were his children. Chinese, white men beyond the
sea like himself and Captain Bax, the people of the mountains,--all were
God's children. And so all men were brothers, and should love God their
Father and each other. And because God loved his children so, he sent
his Son, Jesus Christ, to live among men and to die for them. He told
the story simply and beautifully, just as he would to little children,
and these children of the forest listened and their savage eyes grew
less fierce as they heard for the first time of the story of the Savior.

The next day, after a toilsome journey, the travelers reached the
plain below. They had made their dangerous trip and had escaped the
head-hunters, but as fierce an enemy was lying in wait for both, an
enemy that in Formosa devours native and foreigner alike. Captain Bax
was the first to be attacked. All day, as they descended the mountain,
the rain came down in torrents, a real Formosan rain that is like the
floodgates opening. The travelers were drenched and chilly, and just as
they emerged from the forest Captain Bax succumbed to the enemy. Malaria
had smitten him.

Shaking with chills and then burning with fever, he was placed in a
sedan-chair and carried the remainder of the way, three days' journey,
to the coast, where the medical attendants on board his ship cured him.
Mackay was feeling desperately ill all the way across the plain, but
with his usual determination he refused to give in until he almost
staggered across the threshold of his home.

The house had been closed in his absence. It was now damp and chilly and
everything was covered with mold. He lay down in his bed, alternately
shivering with cold and burning with fever. In the next room A Hoa,
who had gone to bed also, heard his teeth chattering and came to him at
once. It was a terrible thing to the young fellow to see his dauntless
Kai Bok-su overcome by any kind of force. It seemed impossible that he
who had cured so many should become a victim himself. A Hoa proved a
kind nurse. He stayed by the bedside all night, doing everything in his
power to allay the fever. His efforts proved successful, and in a few
days the patient was well. But never again was he quite free from the
dreaded disease, and all the rest of his life he was subject to the most
violent attacks of malaria, a terrible memento by which he was always to
remember his first visit to the headhunters.





CHAPTER VIII. CITIES CAPTURED AND FORTS BUILT

Up the river to Go-ko-khi! That was always a joy, and whenever Mackay
could take a day from his many duties, with A Hoa and one or more other
students, he would go up and visit old Thah-so and the kindly people of
this little village.

One day, after they had preached in the empty granary and the rain had
come in, Mr. Tan, the headman, walked up the village street with them,
and he made them an offer. They might have the plot of ground opposite
his house for a chapel-site. This was grand news. A chapel in north
Formosa! Mackay could hardly believe it, but it seemed that there really
was to be one. There were many Christians in Go-ko-khi now, and each
one was ready for work. Some collected stones, others prepared sun-dried
bricks, others dug the foundation, and the first church in north Formosa
was commenced.

Now Go-ko-khi was, unfortunately, near the great city of Bang-kah. This
was the most hostile and wicked place in all that country, and A Hoa
and Mackay had been stoned out of it on their visit there. The people in
Bang-kah learned of the new church building, and one day, when the brick
walls were about three feet high, there arose a tramp of feet, beating
of drums, and loud shouts, and up marched a detachment of soldiers sent
with orders from the prefect of Bang-kah to stop the building of the
chapel. Their officers went straight to the house of the headman with
his commands. Mr. Tan was six feet two and he rose to his full height
and towered above his visitor majestically. The "mayor" of Go-ko-khi was
a Christian now, and on the wall of his house was pasted a large sheet
of paper with the ten commandments printed on it. He pointed to this and
said: "I am determined to abide by these." The officer was taken aback.
He was scarcely prepared to defy the headman, and he went away to stir
up the villagers. But everywhere the soldiers met with opposition. There
seemed no one who would take their part. The officer knew he and his men
were scarcely within their rights in what they were doing; so,
fearing trouble, he marched back to the city, reporting there that the
black-bearded barbarian had bewitched the villagers with some magic art.

The prefect of Bang-kah next sent a message to the British consul. The
missionary was building a fort at Go-ko-khi, he declared in great alarm,
and would probably bring guns up the river at night. He was a very bad
man indeed, and if the British consul desired peace he should stop this
wicked Kai Bok-su at once. And the British consul down in his old Dutch
fort at Tamsui laughed heartily over the letter, knowing all about Kai
Bok-su and the sort of fort he was building.

So, in spite of all opposition, the little church rose steadily up
and up until it was crowned with a tiled roof and was ready for the
worshipers.

That was a great day for north Formosa and its young missionary, the day
the first church was opened. The place was packed to the doors, and many
stood outside listening at the windows. And of that crowd one hundred
and fifty arose and declared that from henceforth they would cast away
their idols and worship only the one and true God. Standing up there in
his first pulpit and looking down upon the crowd of upturned faces, and
seeing the new light in them which the blessed good news of Jesus and
his love had brought, Kai Bok-su's heart swelled with joy.

He stayed with them some time after this, for, though so many people
had become Christians, they were like little children and needed much
careful teaching. Especially they must learn how to live as Jesus Christ
would have his followers live. Many heathen as well as the Christians
came to his meetings and listened eagerly. At first the people found
it almost impossible to sit quiet and still during a service. They
had never been accustomed to such a task, and some of the missionary's
experiences were very funny. When they had sung a hymn and had settled
down to listen to the address, the preacher would no sooner start than
out would come one long pipe after another, pieces of flint would strike
on steel, and in a few minutes the smoke would begin to ascend. Mackay
would pause and gently tell them that as this was a Christian service
they must not do anything that might disturb it. They were anxious to do
just as he bade, so the pipes would disappear, and nodding their heads
politely they would say, "Oh, yes, we must be quiet; oh, yes, indeed."

One day when the congregation was very still and their young pastor was
speaking earnest words to them, one man less attentive than the others
happened to glance out of the window. Instantly he sprang to his feet
shouting, "Buffaloes in the rice-fields! Buffaloes in the rice-fields!"
and away he went with a good fraction of the congregation helter-skelter
at his heels.

The missionary spoke again upon the necessity of quiet, and his hearers
nodded agreeably and murmured, "Yes, yes, we must be quiet."

They were very good for the next few minutes and the minister had
reached a very important point in his address, when there was a great
disturbance at the door. An old woman came hobbling up on her small feet
and poking her head in at the church door screamed, "My pig has gone!
Pig has gone!" and away went another portion of the congregation to help
find the truant porker.

But, in spite of many interruptions, the congregation at Go-ko-khi
learned much of the beautiful truth of their new religion. Their
indulgent pastor never blamed his restless hearers, but before the
church was two months old he had trained them so well that there was
not a more orderly and attentive congregation even in his own Christian
Canada than that which gathered in the first chapel in north Formosa.

But the day came at last when he had to leave them, and the question was
who should be left over them. The answer seemed very plain,--A Hoa.
The first convert placed as pastor over the first church! It was
very fitting. Some months before, down in Tamsui, when A Hoa had been
baptized and had taken his first communion, he had vowed to give his
life more fully to his Master's service. So here was his field of labor,
and here he began his work. He was so utterly sincere and lovable, so
bright and jovial, so firm of purpose and yet so kindly, that he was
soon beloved by all the Christians and respected by the heathen. And one
of his greatest helpers was widow Thah-so, who had been instrumental in
bringing the missionary with his glad tidings to her village.

Mackay missed A Hoa sorely at first, but he had his other students about
him, and often when bent upon a long journey would send for his first
convert, and together they would travel here and there over the island,
making new recruits everywhere for the army of their great Captain.

The little church at Go-ko-khi was but the first of many. Like the
hepaticas that used to peep forth in the missionary's home woods,
telling that spring had arrived, here and there they came up, showing
that the long cruel winter of heathenism in north Formosa was drawing to
an end.

Away up the Tamsui river, nestled at the foot of the mountains, stood
a busy town called Sin-tiam. A young man from this place sailed down to
Tamsui on business one day and there heard the great Kai Bok-su preach
of the new Jehovah-God, he went home full of the wonderful news, and so
much did he talk about it that a large number of people in Sin-tiam were
very anxious to hear the barbarian themselves. So one day a delegation
came down the river to the house on the bluff above Tamsui. They made
this request known to the missionary as he sat teaching his students in
the study. Would he not come and tell the people of Sin-tiam the story
about this Jesus-God who loved all men? Would he go? Kai Bok-su was on
the road almost before the slow-going Orientals had finished delivering
the message.

It was the season of a feast to their idols in Sin-tiam when the
missionary and his party arrived. Great crowds thronged the streets,
and the barbarian with his white face and his black beard and his queer
clothes attracted unusual attention. The familiar cry, "Foreign devil,"
was mingled with "Kill the barbarian," "Down with the foreigner." The
crowd began to surge closer around the missionary party, and affairs
looked very serious. Suddenly a little boy right in Mackay's path was
struck on the head by a brick intended for the missionary. He was picked
up, and Mackay, pressing through the crowd to where the little fellow
lay, took out his surgical instruments and dressed the wound. All about
him the cries of "Kill the foreign devil" changed to cries of "Good
heart! Good heart!" The crowd became friendly at once, and Mackay passed
on, having had once more a narrow escape from death.

The work of preaching to these people was carried on vigorously, and
before many months had passed the Christians met together and declared
they must build a chapel for the worship of the true God. So, close
by the riverside, in a most picturesque spot, the walls of the second
chapel of north Formosa began to rise. It was not without opposition
of course. One rabid idol-worshiper stopped before the half-finished
building with its busy workmen, and, picking up a large stone, declared
that he would smash the head of the black-bearded barbarian if the work
was not stopped that moment. Needless to say, the missionary, standing
within a good stone's throw of his enemy, ordered the workers to
continue. George Mackay was not to be stopped by all the stones in north
Formosa.

This stone was never thrown, however, and at last the chapel was
finished. Once more a preacher was ready to be its pastor. Tan He, a
young man who had been studying earnestly under his leader for some
time, was placed over this second congregation, and once more there
blossomed out a sure sign that the spring had indeed come to north
Formosa.

Tek-chham, a walled city of over forty thousand inhabitants, was the
next place to be attacked by this little army of the King's soldiers.
The first visit of the missionary caused a riot, but before long
Tek-chham had a chapel with some of the rioters for its best members,
and a once proud graduate and worshiper of Confucius installed in it as
its pastor.

Ten miles from Tek-chham stood a little village called Geh-bai. The
missionary-soldiers visited it, and to their delight found a church
building ready for them. It was quite a wonderful place, capable of
holding fully a thousand people without much crowding. Its roof was the
boughs of the great banyan tree; its one pillar the trunk, and its walls
the branches that bent down to enter the ground and take root. It made a
delightful shelter from the broiling sun. And here Kai Bok-su preached.
But a banyan does not give perfect shelter in all kinds of weather, so
when a number of people had declared themselves followers of the Lord
Jesus, a large house was rented and fitted up as a chapel, with another
native pastor over it.

Away over at Kelung a church was founded through a man who had carried
the gospel home from one of the missionary's sermons. Here and there the
hepaticas were springing up. From all sides came invitations to preach
the great news of the true God, and the young missionary gave himself
scarcely time to eat or sleep. He worked like a giant himself, and he
inspired the same spirit in the students that accompanied him. He was
like a Napoleon among his soldiers. Wherever he went they would go,
even though it would surely mean abuse and might mean death. And,
wherever they went, they brought such a wonderful, glad change to
people's hearts that they were like slave-liberators setting captives
free.

The most lawless and dangerous region in all north Formosa was that
surrounding the small town of Sa-kak-eng. In the mountains near by lived
a band of robbers who kept the people in a constant state of dread by
their terrible deeds of plunder and murder. Sometimes the frightened
townspeople would help the highwaymen just to gain their good-will, and
such treatment only made them bolder. Bands of them would even come down
into the town and march through the streets, frightening every one into
flight. They would shout and sing, and their favorite song was one that
showed how little they cared for the laws of the land.

You trust the mandarins, We trust the mountains.

So the song went, and when the missionary heard it first he could not
help confessing that after all it was a sorry job trusting the mandarins
for protection.

The first time he visited the place with A Hoa they were stoned and
driven out. But the missionaries came back, and at last were allowed to
preach. And then converts came and a church was established. The
robber bands received no more assistance from the people, and were
soon scattered by the officers of the law. And Sa-kak-eng was in peace
because the missionary had come.

But there was one place Mackay had so far scarcely dared to enter. Even
the robber-infested Sa-kak-eng would yield, but Bang-kah defied all
efforts. To the missionary it was the Gibraltar of heathen Formosa, and
he longed to storm it. North, south, east, and west of this great wicked
city churches had been planted, some only within a few miles of its
walls. But Bang-kah still stood frowning and unyielding. It had always
been very bitter against outsiders of all kinds. No foreign merchant was
allowed to do business in Bang-kah, so no wonder the foreign missionary
was driven out.

Mackay had dared to enter the place, being of the sort that would dare
anything. It was soon after he had settled in Formosa and A Hoa had
accompanied him. The result had been a riot. The streets had immediately
filled with a yelling, cursing mob that pelted the two missionaries with
stones and rotten eggs and filth, and drove them from the city.

But "Mackay never knew when he was beaten," as a fellow worker of his
once said, and though he was taking desperate chances, he went once more
inside the walls of Bangkah. This time he barely escaped with his life,
and the city authorities forbade every one, on pain of death, to
lease or sell property to him or in any way accommodate the barbarian
missionary.

But meanwhile Kai Bok-su was keeping his eye on Bang-kah, and when the
territory around had been possessed, he went up to Go-ko--khi and made
the daring proposition to A Hoa. Should they go up again and storm the
citadel of heathenism? And A Hoa answered promptly and bravely, "Let us
go."

So one day early in December, when the winter rains had commenced to
pour down, these two marched across the plain and into Bang-kah. By
keeping quiet and avoiding the main thoroughfare, they managed to rent
a house. It was a low, mean hovel in a dirty, narrow street, but it was
inside the forbidden city, and that was something. The two daring young
men then procured a large sheet of paper, printed on it in Chinese
characters "Jesus' Temple," and pasted it on the door. This announced
what they had come for, and they awaited results.

Presently there came the heavy tramp, tramp of feet on the stone
pavement. Mackay and A Hoa looked out. A party of soldiers, armed with
spears and swords, were returning from camp. They stopped before the hut
and read the inscription. They shouted loud threats and tramped away to
report the affair to headquarters.

In a short time, with a great noise and tramping, once more soldiers
were at the door. Mackay waked out and faced them quietly. The general
had given orders that the barbarian must leave this house immediately,
the soldier declared in a loud voice. The place belonged to the military
authorities.

"Show me your proof," said Mackay calmly. His bold behavior demanded
respectful treatment, so the soldier produced the deed for the property.

"I respect your law," said Mackay after he examined it, "and my
companion and I will vacate. But I have paid rent for this place,
therefore I am entitled to remain for the night. I will not go out until
morning."

His firm words and fearless manner had their effect both on the soldiers
and the noisy mob waiting for him outside, and the men, muttering
angrily, turned away. That night Mackay and A Hoa lay on a dirty grass
mat on the mud floor. The place was damp and filthy, but even had it
been comfortable they would have had little sleep. For, far into the
night, angry soldiers paraded the street. Often their voices rose to a
clamor and they would make a rush for the frail door of the little hut.
Many times the two young fellows arose, believing their last hour had
come. But the long night passed and they found that they were still left
untouched.

They rose early and started out. Already a great mob filled the space
in front of the house. Even the low roofs of the surrounding houses were
covered with people all out early to see the barbarian and his despised
companion driven from Bang-kah, and perhaps have the added pleasure of
witnessing their death.

The two walked bravely down the street. Curses were showered upon them
from all sides; broken tiles, stones, and filth were thrown at them, but
they moved on steadily. The mob hampered them so that they were hours
walking the short distance to the river. Here they entered a boat and
went down a few miles to a point where a chapel stood, and where some of
Mackay's students awaited them.

But the man who "did not know when he was beaten" had not turned his
back on the enemy. He gathered the group of students around him in the
little room attached to the chapel. Here they all knelt and the young
missionary laid their trouble before the great Captain who had said,
"All power is given unto me." "Give us an entrance to Bang-kah," was the
burden of the missionary 's prayer. They arose from their knees, and he
turned to A Hoa with that quick challenging movement his students had
learned to know so well.

"Come," he said, "we are going back to Bang-kah."

And A Hoa, whose habit it was to walk into all danger with a smile,
answered with all his heart:

"It is well, Kai Bok-su; we go back to Bang-kah."

And straight back to this Gibraltar the little army of two marched.
It was quite dark by the time they entered. A Formosan city is not the
blaze of electricity to which Westerners are accustomed, and only
here and there in the narrow streets shone a dim light. The travelers
stumbled along, scarcely knowing whither they were going. As they turned
a dark corner and plunged into another black street they met an old man
hobbling with the aid of a staff over the uneven stones of the pavement.
Mackay spoke to him politely and asked if he could tell him of any one
who would rent a house. "We want to do mission work," he added, feeling
that he must not get anything under false pretenses.

The old man nodded. "Yes, I can rent you my place," he answered readily.
"Come with me."

Full of amazement and gratitude the two adventurers groped their way
after him, stumbling over stones and heaps of rubbish. They could not
help realizing, as they got farther into the city, that should the old
man prove false and give an alarm the whole murderous populace of that
district would be around them instantly like a swarm of hornets. But
whether he was leading them into a trap or not their only course was to
follow.

At last he paused at a low door opening into the back part of a house.
The old man lighted a lamp, a pith wick in a saucer of peanut oil, and
the visitors looked around. The room was damp and dirty and infested
with the crawling creatures that fairly swarm in the Chinese houses of
the lower order. Rain dripped from the low ceiling on the mud floor, and
the meager furniture was dirty and sticky.

But the two young men who had found it were delighted. They felt like
the advance guard of an army that has taken the enemy's first outpost.
They were established in Bang-kah! They set to work at once to draw out
a rental paper. A Hoa sat at the table and wrote it out so that they
might be within the law which said that no foreigner must hold property
in Bang-kah. When the paper was signed and the money paid, the old man
crept stealthily away. He had his money, but he was too wary to let his
fellow citizens find how he had earned it.

As soon as morning came the little army in the midst of the hostile camp
hoisted its banner. When the citizens of Bang-kah awoke, they found on
the door of the hut the hated sign, in large Chinese characters, "Jesus'
Temple."

In less than an hour the street in front of it was thronged with a
shouting crowd. Before the day was past the news spread, and the whole
city was in an uproar. By the next afternoon the excitement had reached
white heat, and a wild crowd of men came roaring down the street.
They hurled themselves at the little house where the missionaries were
waiting and literally tore it to splinters. The screams of rage and
triumph were so horrible that they reminded Mackay of the savage yells
of the head-hunters.

When the mob leaped upon the roof and tore it off, the two hunted men
slipped out through a side door, and across the street into an inn. The
crowd instantly attacked it, smashing doors, ripping the tiles off the
roof, and uttering such bloodthirsty howls that they resembled wild
beasts far more than human beings. The landlord ordered the missionaries
out to where the mob was waiting to tear them limb from limb.

It was an awful moment. To go out was instant death, to remain merely
put off the end a few moments. Mackay, knowing his source of help, sent
up a desperate prayer to his Father in heaven.

Suddenly there was a strange lull in the street outside. The yells
ceased, the crashing of tiles stopped. The door opened, and there in his
sedan-chair of state surrounded by his bodyguard, appeared the Chinese
mandarin. And just behind him--blessed sight to the eyes of Kai
Bok-su--Mr. Scott, the British consul of Tamsui!

Without a word the two British-born clasped hands. It was not an
occasion for words. There was immediately a council of war. The mandarin
urged the British consul to send the missionary out of the city.

"I have no authority to give such an order," retorted Mr. Scott quickly.
"On the other hand you must protect him while he is here. He is a
British subject."

Mackay's heart swelled with pride. And he thanked God that his Empire
had such a worthy representative.

Having again impressed upon the mandarin that the missionary must be
protected or there would be trouble, Mr. Scott set off for his home.
Mackay accompanied him to the city gate. Then he turned and walked back
through the muttering crowds straight to the inn he had left. He stopped
occasionally to pull a tooth or give medicine for malaria, for even in
Bang-kah he had a few friends.

The mandarin was now as much afraid of the missionary as if he had been
the plague. He knew he dared not allow him to be touched, and he also
knew he had very little power over a mob. He was responsible, too,
to men in higher office, for the control of the people, and would be
severely punished if there was a riot, he was indeed in a very bad way
when he heard that the troublesome missionary had come back, and he
followed him to the inn to try to induce him to leave.

He found Mackay with A Hoa, quietly seated in their room. First he
commanded, then he tried to bribe, and then he even descended to beg the
"foreign devil" to leave the city. But Mackay was immovable.

"I cannot leave," he said, touched by the man's distress. "I cannot quit
this city until I have preached the gospel here." He held up his forceps
and his Bible. "See! I use these to relieve pain of the body, and this
gives relief from sin,--the disease of the soul. I cannot go until I
have given your people the benefit of them."

The mandarin went away enraged and baffled. He could not persuade the
man to go; he dared not drive him out. He left a squad of soldiers to
guard the place, however, remembering the British consul's warning.

In a few days the excitement subsided. People became accustomed to
seeing the barbarian teacher and his companion go about the streets.
Many were relieved of much pain by him too, and a large number listened
with some interest to the new doctrine he taught concerning one God.

He had been there a week when some prominent citizens came to him with
a polite offer. They would give him free a piece of ground outside the
city on which to build a church. Kai Bok-su's flashing black eyes at
once saw the bribe. They wanted to coax him out when they could not
drive him. He refused politely but firmly.

"I own that property," he declared, pointing to the heap of ruins into
which his house had been turned, "and there I will build a church."

They did everything in their power to prevent him, but one day, many
months after, right on the site where they had literally torn the roof
from above him, arose a pretty little stone church, and that was the
beginning of great things in Bang-kah.

And so Gibraltar was taken,--taken by an army of two,--a Canadian
missionary and a Chinese soldier of the King, for behind them stood all
the army of the Lord of hosts, and he led them to victory!




CHAPTER IX. OTHER CONQUESTS.

Away over on the east of the island ran a range of beautiful mountains.
And between these mountains and the sea stretched a low rice plain.
Here lived many Pe-po-hoan,--"Barbarians of the plain." Mackay had never
visited this place, for the Kap-tsu-lan plain, as it was called, was
very hard to reach on account of the mountains; but this only made the
dauntless missionary all the more anxious to visit it.

So one day he suggested to his students, as they studied in his house
on the bluff, that they make a journey to tell the people of Kap-tsu-lan
the story of Jesus. Of course, the young fellows were delighted. To go
off with Kai Bok-su was merely transferring their school from his house
to the big beautiful outdoors. For he always taught them by the way, and
besides they were all eager to go with him and help spread the good news
that had made such a difference in their lives. So when Kai Bok-su piled
his books upon a shelf and said, "Let us go to Kaptsu-lan," the young
fellows ran and made their preparations joyfully. A Hoa was in Tamsui
at the time, and Mackay suggested that he come too, for a trip without A
Hoa was robbed of half its enjoyment.

Mackay had just recovered from one of those violent attacks of malaria
from which he suffered so often now, and he was still looking pale and
weak. So Sun-a, a bright young student-lad, came to the study door with
the suggestion, "Let us take Lu-a for Kai Bok-su to ride."

There was a laugh from the other students and an indulgent smile from
Kai Bok-su himself. Lu-a was a small, rather stubborn-looking donkey
with meek eyes and a little rat tail. He was a present to the missionary
from the English commissioner of customs at Tamsui, when that gentleman
was leaving the island. Donkeys were commonly used on the mainland of
China, and though an animal was scarcely ever ridden in Formosa, horses
being almost unknown, the commissioner did not see why his Canadian
friend, who was an introducer of so many new things, should not
introduce donkey-riding. So he sent him Lu-a as a farewell present and
leaving this token of his good-will departed for home.

Up to this time Lu-a had served only as a pet and a joke among the
students, and high times they had with him in the grassy field behind
the missionary's house when lessons were over. In great glee they
brought him round to the door now, "all saddled and bridled" and ready
for the trip. The missionary mounted, and Lu-a trotted meekly along the
road that wound down the bluff toward Kelung. The students followed in
high spirits. The sight of their teacher astride the donkey was such a
novel one to them, and Lu-a was such a joke at any time, that they were
filled with merriment. All went well until they left the road and turned
into a path that led across the buffalo common. At the end of it they
came to a ravine about fifteen feet deep. Over this stretched a plank
bridge not more than three feet wide. Here Lu-a came to a sudden
stop. He had no mind to risk his small but precious body on that shaky
structure. His rider bade him "go on," but the command only made Lu-a
put back his ears, plant his fore feet well forward and stand stock
still. In fact he looked much more settled and immovable than the bridge
over which he was being urged. The students gathered round him and
petted and coaxed. They called him "Good Lu-a" and "Honorable Lu-a" and
every other flattering title calculated to move his donkeyship, but
Lu-a flattened his ears back so he could not hear and would not move.
So Mackay dismounted and tried the plan of pulling him forward by the
bridle while some of the boys pushed him from behind. Lu-a resented
this treatment, especially that from the rear, and up went his heels,
scattering students in every direction; and to discomfit the enemy in
front he opened his mouth and gave forth such loud resonant brays that
the ravine fairly rang with his music.

A balking donkey is rather amusing to boys of any country, but to these
Formosan lads who had had no experience with one the sound of Lu-a's
harsh voice and the sight of his flying heels brought convulsions of
merriment. "He's pounding rice! He's pounding rice!" shouted the wag of
the party, and his companions flung themselves upon the grass and rolled
about laughing themselves sick.

With his followers rendered helpless and his steed continuing stubborn,
Mackay saw the struggle was useless. He could not compete alone with
Lu-a's firmness, so he gave orders that the obstinate little obstructer
of their journey be trotted back to his pasture.

"And to think that any one of us might have carried the little rascal
over!" he cried as he watched the donkey meekly depart. His students
looked at the little beast with something like respect. Lu-a had beaten
the dauntless Kai Bok-su who had never before been beaten by anything.
He was indeed a marvelous donkey!

So the journey to the Kap-tsu-lan plain was made on foot. It was a very
wearisome one and often dangerous. The mountain paths were steep and
difficult and the travelers knew that often the head-hunters lurked
near. But the way was wonderfully beautiful nevertheless. Standing on a
mountain height one morning and looking away down over wooded hills and
valleys and the lake-like terraces of the rice-fields, Mackay repeated
to his students a line of the old hymn:

Every prospect pleases and only man is vile.


Around them the stately tree-fern lifted its lovely fronds and the
orchids dotted the green earth like a flock of gorgeous butterflies just
settled. Tropical birds of brilliant plumage flashed among the
trees. Beside them a great tree raised itself, fairly covered with
morning-glories, and over at their right a mountainside gleamed like
snow in the sunlight, clothed from top to bottom with white lilies.

But the way had its dangers as well as its beauties. They were passing
the mouth of a ravine when they were stopped by yells and screams of
terror coming from farther up the mountainside. In a few minutes a
Chinaman darted out of the woods toward them. His face was distorted
with terror and he could scarcely get breath to tell his horrible story.
He and his four companions had been chipping the camphor trees up in the
woods; suddenly the armed savages had leaped out upon them and he alone
of the five had escaped.

At last they left the dangerous mountain and came down into the
Kap-tsu-lan plain. On every side was rice-field after rice-field, with
the water pouring from one terrace to another. The plain was low and
damp and the paths and roads lay deep in mud. They had a long toilsome
walk between the ricefields until they came to the first village
of these barbarians of the plain. It was very much like a Chinese
village,--dirty, noisy, and swarming with wild-looking children and
wolfish dogs.

The visitors were received with the utmost disdain. The Chinese students
were of course well known, for these aborigines had long ago adopted
their customs and language. But the Chinese visitors were in company
with the foreigners, and all foreigners were outcaste in this eastern
plain. The men shouted the familiar "foreign devil" and walked
contemptuously away. The dirty women and children fled into their grass
huts and set the dogs upon the strangers. They tried by all sorts of
kindnesses to gain a hearing, but all to no effect. So they gave it
up, and plodded through the mud and water a mile farther on to the next
village. But village number two received them in exactly the same way.
Only rough words and the barks of cruel dogs met them. The next village
was no better, the fourth a little worse. And so on they went up and
down the Kap-tsu-lan plain, sleeping at night in some poor empty hut or
in the shadow of a rice strawstack, eating their meals of cold rice and
buffalo-meat by the wayside, and being driven from village to village,
and receiving never a word of welcome.

And all through those wearisome days the young men looked at their
leader in vain for any smallest sign of discouragement or inclination
to retreat. There was no slightest look of dismay on the face of Kai
Bok-su, for how was it possible for a man who did not know when he was
beaten to feel discouraged? So still undaunted in the face of defeat,
he led them here and there over the plain, hoping that some one would
surely relent and give them a hearing.

One night, footsore and worn out, they slept on the damp mud floor of a
miserable hut where the rain dripped in upon their faces. In the morning
prospects looked rather discouraging to the younger members of the
party. They were wet and cold and weary, and there seemed no use in
going again and again to a village only to be turned away. But
Kai Bok-su's mouth was as firm as ever, and his dark eyes flashed
resolutely, as once more he gave the order to march. It was a lovely
morning, the sun was rising gloriously out of the sea and the heavy
mists were melting from above the little rice-fields. Here and there
fairy lakes gleamed out from the rosy haze that rolled back toward
the mountains. They walked along the shore in the pink dawn-light and
marched up toward a fishing village. They had visited it before and had
been driven away, but Kai Bok-su was determined to try again. They were
surprised as they came nearer to see three men come out to meet them
with a friendly expression on their faces.

The foremost was an old man who had been nicknamed "Black-face," because
of his dark skin. The second was a middleaged man, and the third was a
young fellow about the age of the students. They saluted the travelers
pleasantly, and the old man addressed the missionary.

"You have been going through and through our plain and no one has
received you," he said politely. "Come to our village, and we will now
be ready to listen to you."

The door of Kap-tsu-lan had opened at last! The missionary's eyes
gleamed with joy and gratitude as he accepted the invitation. The
delegation led the visitors straight to the house of the headman. For
the Pepo-hoan governed their communities in the Chinese style and had a
headman for each village. The missionary party sat down in front of the
hut on some large flat stones and talked over the matter with the chief
and other important men. And while they talked "Black-face" slipped
away. He returned in a few moments with a breakfast of rice and fish for
the visitors.

The result of the conference was that the villagers decided to give
the barbarian a chance. All he wanted it seemed was to tell of this new
Jehovah-religion which he believed, and surely there could be no great
harm in listening to him talk.

In the evening the headman with the help of some friends set to work
to construct a meeting-house. A tent was erected, made from boat sails.
Several flat stones laid at one end and a plank placed upon them made
a pulpit. And that was the first church on the Kap-tsu-lan plain! There
was a "church bell" too, to call the people to worship. In the village
were some huge marine shells with the ends broken off. In the old days
these were used by the chiefs as trumpets by which they called their men
together whenever they were starting out on the war-path. But now the
trumpet-shell was used to call the people to follow the King. Just at
dark a man took one, and walking up and down the straggling village
street blew loudly--the first "church bell" in east Formosa.

The loud roar brought the villagers flocking down to the tent-church
by the shore. For the most part they brought their pews with them. They
came hurrying out of their huts carrying benches, and arranging them in
rows they seated themselves to listen.

Mackay and the students sang and the people listened eagerly. The
Pe-po-hoan by nature were more musical than the Chinese, and the singing
delighted them. Then the missionary arose and addressed them. He told
clearly and simply why he had come and preached to them of the true
God. Afterward the congregation was allowed to ask questions, and they
learned much of this God and of his love in his Son Jesus Christ.

The wonder of the great news shone in the eyes upturned to the preacher.
In the gloom of the half-lighted tent their dark faces took on a new
expression of half-wondering hope. Could it be possible that this was
true? Their poor, benighted minds had always been held in terror of
their gods and of the evil spirits that forever haunted their footsteps.
Could it be possible that God was a great Father who loved his children?
They asked so many eager questions, and the story of Jesus Christ had
to be told over and over so many times, that before this first church
service ended a gray gleam of dawn was spreading out over the Pacific.

It was only the next day that these newly-awakened people decided that
they must have a church building. And they went to work to get one in a
way that might have shamed a congregation of people in a Christian land.
This new wonderful hope that had been raised in their hearts by the
knowledge that God loved them set them to work with glad energy. Kai
Bok-su and his men still preached and prayed and sang and taught in the
crazy old wind-flapped tent by the seashore, and the people listened
eagerly, and then, when services were over, every one,--preacher,
assistants, and congregation,--set bravely to work to build a church.
Brave they certainly had to be, for at the very beginning they had to
risk their lives for their chapel. A party sailed down the coast and
entered savage territory for the poles to construct the building. They
were attacked and one or two were badly wounded, though they managed to
escape. But they were quite ready to go back and fight again had it been
necessary. Then they made the bricks for the walls. Rice chaff mixed
with clay were the materials, and the Kap-tsu-lan plain had an abundance
of both. The roof was made of grass, the floor of hard dried earth, and
a platform of the same at one end served as a pulpit.

When the little chapel was finished, every evening the big shell rang
out its summons through the village; and out from every house came the
people and swarmed into the chapel to hear Kai Bok-su explain more of
the wonders of God and his Son Jesus Christ.

Mackay's home during this period was a musty little room in a damp
mud-walled hut; and here every day he received donations of idols,
ancestral tablets, and all sorts of things belonging to idol-worship. He
was requested to burn them, and often in the mornings he dried his damp
clothes and moldy boots at a fire made from heathen idols.

For eight weeks the missionary party remained in this place, preaching,
teaching, and working among the people. It was a mystery to the students
how their teacher found time for the great amount of Bible study and
prayer which he managed to get. He surely worked as never man worked
before. Late at night, long after every one else was in bed, he would
be bending over his Bible, beside his peanut-oil lamp, and early in the
morning before the stars had disappeared he was up and at work again.
Four hours' sleep was all his restless, active mind could endure, and
with that he could do work that would have killed any ordinary man.

One evening some new faces looked up at him from his congregation in the
little brick church. When the last hymn was sung the missionary stepped
down from his pulpit and spoke to the strangers. They explained that
they were from the next village. They had heard rumors of this new
doctrine, and had been sent to find out more about it. They had been
charmed with the singing, for that evening over two hundred voices had
joined in a ringing praise to the new Jehovah-God. They wanted to hear
more, they said, and they wanted to know what it was all about. Would
Kai Bok-su and his students deign to visit their village too?

Would he? Why that was just what he was longing to do. He had been
driven out of that village by dogs only a few weeks before, but a little
thing like that did not matter to a man like Mackay. This village lay
but a short distance away, being connected with their own by a path
winding here and there between the rice-fields. Early the next evening
Mackay formed a procession. He placed himself at its head, with A Hoa at
his side. The students came next, and then the converts in a double row.
And thus they marched slowly along the pathway singing as they went. It
was a stirring sight. On either side the waving fields of rice, behind
them the gleam of the blue ocean, before them the great towering
mountains clothed in green. Above them shone the clear dazzling sky of
a tropical evening. And on wound the long procession of Christians in a
heathen land, and from them arose the glorious words:

O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord, And all that in me is Be stirred up
his holy name To magnify and bless.

And the heathen in the rice-fields stopped to gaze at the strange sight,
and the mountains gave back the echo of that Name which is above every
name.

And so, marching to their song, the procession came to the village.
Everybody in the place had come out to meet them at the first sound
of the singing. And now they stood staring, the men in a group by
themselves, the women and children in the background, the dogs snarling
on the outskirts of the crowd.

The congregation was there ready, and without waiting to find a place of
meeting, right out under the clear evening skies, the young missionary
told once more the great story of God and his love as shown through
Jesus Christ. The message took the village by storm. It was like water
to thirsty souls. The next day five hundred of them brought their idols
to the missionary to be burned.

And now Mackay went up and down the Kap-tsu-lan plain from village to
village as he had done before, but this time it was a triumphal march.
And everywhere he went throngs threw away their idols and declared
themselves followers of the true God.

He was overcome with joy. It was so glorious he wished he could stay
there the rest of his life and lead these willing people to a higher
life. But Tamsui was waiting; Sin-tiam, Bang-kah, Kelung, Go-ko-khi,
they must all be visited; and finally he tore himself away, leaving some
of his students to care for these people of Kap-tsu-lan.

But he came back many times, until at last nineteen chapels dotted the
plain, and in them nineteen native preachers told the story of Jesus and
his love. Sometimes, in later years, when Mackay was with them, tears
would roll down the people's faces as they recalled how badly they had
used him on his first visit.

It was while on his third visit here that he had a narrow escape
from the head-hunters. He was staying at a village called "South Wind
Harbor," which was near the border of savage territory. Mackay often
walked on the shore in the evening just before the meeting, always with
a book in his hand. One night he was strolling along in deep meditation
when he noticed some extremely large turtle tracks in the sand. He
followed them, for he liked to watch the big clumsy creatures. These
green turtles were from four to five feet in length. They would
come waddling up from the sea, scratch a hole in the sand with their
flippers, lay their eggs, cover them carefully, and with head erect and
neck out-thrust waddle back. Mackay was intensely interested in all
the animal life of the island and made a study of it whenever he had
a chance. He knew the savages killed and ate these turtles, but he
supposed he was as yet too near the village to be molested by them. So
he followed the tracks and was nearing the edge of the forest, when he
heard a shout behind him. As he turned, one of his village friends came
running out of his hut waving to him frantically to come back. Thinking
some one must be ill, Mackay hurried toward the man, to find that it was
he himself who was in danger. The man explained breathlessly that it
was the habit of the wily savages to make marks in the sand resembling
turtle tracks to lure people into the forest. If Kai Bok-su had entered
the woods, his head would certainly have been lost.

It was always hard to say farewell to Kaptsu-lan, the people were so
warm-hearted, so kind, and so anxious for him to stay. One morning just
before leaving after his third visit, Mackay had an experience that
brought him the greatest joy.

He had stayed all night at the little fishing village where the first
chapel had been built. As usual he was up with the dawn, and after his
breakfast of cold boiled rice and pork he walked down to the shore for
a farewell look at the village. As he passed along the little crooked
street he could see old women sitting on the mud floors of their huts,
by the open door, weaving. They were all poor, wrinkled, toothless old
folk with faces seamed by years of hard heathen experience. But in their
eyes shone a new light, the reflection of the glory that they had seen
when the missionary showed them Jesus their Savior. And as they threw
their thread their quavering voices crooned the sweet words:

There is a happy land Far, far away.

And their old weary faces were lighted up with a hope and happiness that
had never been there in youth.

Kai Bok-su smiled as he passed their doors and his eyes were misty with
tender tears.

Just before him, playing on the sand with "jacks" or tops, just as he
had played not so very long ago away back in Canada, were the village
boys. And as they played they too were singing, their little piping
voices, sweet as birds, thrilling the morning air. And the words they
sang were:

Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so.

They nodded and smiled to Kai Bok-su as he passed. He went down to the
shore where the wide Pacific flung long rollers away up the hard-packed
sand. The fishermen were going out to sea in the rosy morning light,
and as they stood up in their fishing-smacks, and swept their long oars
through the surf, they kept time to the motion with singing. And their
strong, brave voices rang out above the roar of the breakers:

I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend his cause.

And standing there on the sunlit shore the young missionary raised his
face to the gleaming blue heavens with an emotion of unutterable joy and
thanksgiving. And in that moment he knew what was that glory for which
he had so vaguely longed in childish years. It was the glory of work
accomplished for his Master's sake, and he was realizing it to the full.




CHAPTER X. REENFORCEMENTS

Some of Mackay's happiest days were spent with his students. He was such
a wonder of a man for work himself that he inspired every one else to
do his best, so the young men made rapid strides with their lessons. No
matter how busy he was, and he was surely one of the busiest men that
ever lived, he somehow found time for them.

Sometimes in his house, sometimes on the road, by the seashore, under
a banyan tree, here and there and everywhere, the missionary and his
pupils held their classes. If he went on a journey, they accompanied him
and studied by the way. And it was a familiar sight on north Formosan
roads or field paths to see Mackay, always with his book in one hand and
his big ebony stick under his arm, walking along surrounded by a group
of young men.

Sometimes there were as many as twenty in the student-band, but
somewhere in the country a new church would open, and the brightest of
the class would be called away to be its minister. But just as often a
young Christian would come to the missionary and ask if he too might not
be trained to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Whether at home or abroad, pupils and teacher had to resort to all sorts
of means to get away for an uninterrupted hour together. For Kai Bok-su
was always in demand to visit the sick or sad or troubled.

There was a little kitchen separate from the house on the bluff, and
over this Mackay with his students built a second story. And here they
would often slip away for a little quiet time together. One night, about
eleven o'clock, Mackay was here alone poring over his books. The young
men had gone home to bed except two or three who were in the kitchen
below. Some papers had been dropped over a pipe-hole in the floor of the
room where Mackay was studying, and for some time he had been disturbed
by a rustling among them. At last without looking up, he called to his
boys below: "I think there are rats up here among my papers!"

Koa Kau, one of the younger of the students, ran lightly up the stairs
to give battle to the intruders. What was his horror when he saw fully
three feet of a monster serpent sticking up through the pipe-hole and
waving its horrible head in the air just a little distance from Kai
Bok-su's chair.

The boy gave a shout, darted down the stair, and with a sharp stick,
pinned the body of the snake to the wall below. The creature became
terribly violent, but Koa Kau held on valiantly and Mackay seized an
old Chinese spear that happened to be in the room above and pierced
the serpent through the head. They pulled its dead body down into the
kitchen below and spread it out. It measured nine feet. The students
would not rest until it was buried, and the remembrance of the horrible
creature's visit for some time spoiled the charm of the little upper
room.

The rocks at Kelung harbor were another favorite spot for this little
traveling university to hold its classes. Sometimes they would take
their dinner and row out in a little sampan to the rocks outside the
harbor and there, undisturbed, they would study the whole day long.

They always began the day's work with a prayer and a hymn of praise, and
no matter what subjects they might study, most of the time was spent on
the greatest of books. After a hard morning's work each one would gather
sticks, make a fire, and they would have their dinner of vegetables,
rice, and pork or buffalo-meat. Then there were oysters, taken fresh off
the rocks, to add to their bill of fare.

At five in the afternoon, when the strain of study was beginning to
tell, they would vary the program. One or two of the boys would take
a plunge into the sea and bring up a subject for study,--a shell, some
living coral, sea-weed, sea-urchins, or some such treasure. They would
examine it, and Kai Bok-su, always delighted when on a scientific
subject, would give them a lesson in natural history. And he saw with
joy how the wonders of the sea and land opened these young men's minds
to understand what a great and wonderful God was theirs, who had made
"the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is."

When they visited a chapel in the country, they had a daily program
which they tried hard to follow. They studied until four o'clock every
afternoon and all were trained in speaking and preaching. After four
they made visits together to Christians or heathen, speaking always a
word for their Master. Every evening a public service was held at which
Mackay preached. These sermons were an important part of the young men's
training, for he always treated the gospel in a new way. A Hoa, who was
Mackay's companion for the greater part of sixteen years, stated that he
had never heard Kai Bok-su preach the same sermon twice.

On the whole the students liked their college best when it was moving.
For on the road, while their principal gave much time to the Bible and
how to present the gospel, he would enliven their walks by conversing
about everything by the way and making it full of interest. The
structure of a wayside flower, the geological formation of an
overhanging rock, the composition of the soil of the tea plantations,
the stars that shone in the sky when night came down upon them;--all
these made the traveling college a delight.

Although his days were crammed with work, Mackay found time to make
friends among the European population of the island. They all liked and
admired him, and many of them tried to help the man who was giving his
life and strength so completely to others. They were familiar with his
quick, alert figure passing through the streets of Tamsui, with his
inevitable book and his big ebony cane. And they would smile and say,
"There goes Mackay; he's the busiest man in China." (*)

     * See CHAPTER XIII, Formosa becomes Japanese territory.

The British consul in the old Dutch fort and the English commissioner
of customs proved true and loyal friends. The representatives of foreign
business firms, too, were always ready to lend him a helping hand where
possible. His most useful friends were the foreign medical men. They
helped him very much. They not only did all they could for his own
recovery when malaria attacked him, but they helped also to cure his
patients. Traveling scientists always gave him a visit to get his help
and advice. He had friends that were shipcaptains, officers, engineers,
merchants, and British consuls. Everybody knew the wonderful Kai Bok-su.
"Whirlwind Mackay," some of them called him, and they knew and admired
him with the true admiration that only a brave man can inspire.

The friends to whom he turned for help of the best kind were the English
Presbyterians in south Formosa. They, more than any others, knew his
trials and difficulties. They alone could enter with true sympathy into
all his triumphs. At one time Dr. Campbell, one of the south Formosan
missionaries, paid him a visit. He proved a delightful companion, and
together the two made a tour of the mission stations. Dr. Campbell
preached wherever they went and was a great inspiration to the people,
as well as to the students and to the missionary himself.

One evening, when they were in Kelung, Mackay, with his insatiable
desire to use every moment, suggested that they spend ten days without
speaking English, so that they might improve their Chinese. Dr. Campbell
agreed, and they started their "Chinese only." Next morning from the
first early call of "Liong tsong khi lai," "All, all, up come," not one
word of their native tongue did they speak. They had a long tramp that
morning and there was much to talk about and the conversation was all in
Chinese, according to the bargain. Dr. Campbell was ahead, and after
an hour's talk he suddenly turned upon his companion: "Mackay!" he
exclaimed, "this jabbering in Chinese is ridiculous, and two Scotchmen
should have more sense; let us return to our mother tongue." Which
advice Mackay gladly followed.

His next visitor was the Rev. Mr. Ritchie from south Formosa, one of the
friends who had first introduced him to his work. Every day of his visit
was a joy. With nine of Mackay's students, the two missionaries set out
on a trip through the north Formosa mission that lasted many weeks.

But the more pleasant and helpful such companionship was the more alone
Mackay felt when it was over. His task was becoming too much for one
man. He was wanted on the northern coast, at the southern boundary of
his mission field, and away on the Kap-tsu-lan plain all at once. He
was crowded day and night with work. What with preaching, dentistry,
attending the sick, training his students, and encouraging the new
churches, he had enough on his hands for a dozen missionaries.

But now at last the Church at home, in far-away Canada, bestirred
herself to help him. They had been hearing something of the wonderful
mission in Formosa, but they had heard only hints of it, for Mackay
would not confess how he was toiling day and night and how the work
had grown until he was not able to overtake it alone. But the Church
understood something of his need, and they now sent him the best present
they could possibly give,--an assistant. Just three years after Mackay
had landed in Formosa, the Rev. J. B. Fraser, M. D., and his wife and
little ones arrived. He was a young man, too, vigorous and ready for
work. Besides being an ordained minister, he was a physician as well,
just exactly what the north Formosan mission needed.

Along with the missionary, the Church had sent funds for a house for him
and also one for Mackay. So the poor old Chinese house on the bluff was
replaced by a modern, comfortable dwelling, and by its side another was
built for the new missionary and his family. One room of Mackay's house
was used as a study for his students.

After the houses were built and the new doctor was able to use the
language, he began to fill a long-felt want. Mackay had always done a
little medical work, and the foreign doctor of Tamsui had been most kind
in giving his aid, but a doctor of his own, a missionary doctor, was
exactly what Kai Bok-su wanted. Soon the sick began to hear of the
wonders the missionary doctor could perform, and they flocked to him to
be cured.

It must not be supposed that there were not already doctors in north
Formosa. There were many in Tamsui alone, and very indignant they were
at this new barbarian's success. But the native doctors were about the
worst trouble that the people had to bear. Their medical knowledge, like
their religion, was a mixture of ignorance and superstition, and some
of their practises would have been inexcusable except for the fact that
they themselves knew no better. There were two classes of medical men;
those who treated internal diseases and those who professed to cure
external maladies. It was hard to judge which class did the more
mischief, but perhaps the "inside doctors" killed more of their
patients. Dog's flesh was prescribed as a cure for dyspepsia, a chip
taken from a coffin and boiled and the water drunk was a remedy
for catarrh, and an apology made to the moon was a specific for
wind-roughened skin. For the dreaded malaria, the scourge of Formosa,
the young Canadian doctor found many and amazing remedies prescribed,
some worse than the disease itself. The native doctors believed malaria
to be caused by two devils in a patient, one causing the chills, the
other the fever. One of the commonest remedies, and one that was quite
as sensible as any of the rest, was to tie seven hairs plucked from a
black dog around the sick one's wrist.

But when the barbarian doctor opened his dispensary in Tamsui, a new
era dawned for the poor sick folk of north Formosa. The work went on
wonderfully well and Mackay found so much more time to travel in the
country that the gospel spread rapidly.

But just when prospects were looking so fair and every one was happy
and hopeful, a sad event darkened the bright outlook of the two
missionaries. The young doctor had cured scores of cases, and had
brought health and happiness to many homes, but he was powerless to keep
death from his own door.

And one day, a sad day for the mission of north Formosa, the mother
was called from husband and little ones to her home and her reward in
heaven.

So the home on the bluff, the beautiful Christian home, which was
a pattern for all the Chinese, was broken up. The young doctor was
compelled to leave his patients, and taking his motherless children he
returned with them to Canada.

The church at home sent out another helper. The Rev. Kenneth Junor
arrived one year later, and once more the work received a fresh impetus.
And then, just about two years after Mr. Junor's arrival, Kai Bok-su
found an assistant of his own right in Formosa, and one who was destined
to become a wonderful help to him. And so one bright day, there was a
wedding in the chapel of the old Dutch fort, where the British consul
married George Leslie Mackay to a Formosan lady. Tui Chhang Mai, her
name had been. She was of a beautiful Christian character and for a long
time she had been a great help in the church. But as Mrs. Mackay she
proved a marvelous assistance to her husband.

It had long been a great grief to the missionary that, while the men
would come in crowds to his meetings, the poor women had to be left at
home. Sometimes in a congregation of two hundred there would be only two
or three women. Chinese custom made it impossible for a man missionary
to preach to the women. Only a few of the older ones came out. So the
mothers of the little children did not hear about Jesus and so could not
teach their little ones about him.

But now everything was changed for them. They had a lady-missionary, and
one of their own people too. The Mackays went on a wedding-trip through
the country. Kai Bok-su walked, as usual, and his wife rode in a
sedan-chair. The wedding-trip was really a missionary tour; for they
visited all the chapels, and the women came to the meetings in crowds,
because they wanted to hear and see the lady who had married Kai Bok-su.
Often, after the regular meetings when the men had gone away, the women
would crowd in and gather round Mrs. Mackay and she would tell them the
story of Jesus and his love.

It was a wonderful wedding-journey and it brought a double blessing
wherever the two went. Their experiences were not all pleasant. One
day they traveled over a sand plain so hot that Mackay's feet were
blistered. Another time they were drenched with rain. One afternoon
there came up a terrific wind storm. It blew Mrs. Mackay's sedan-chair
over and sent her and the carriers flying into the mud by the roadside.
At another place they all barely escaped drowning when crossing a
stream. But the brave young pair went through it all dauntlessly. The
wife had caught something of her husband's great spirit of sacrifice,
and he was always the man on fire, utterly forgetful of self.

For two years they worked happily together and at last a great day came
to Kai Bok-su. He had been nearly eight years in Formosa. It was time he
came home, the Church in Canada said, for a little rest and to tell the
people at home something of his great work.

And so he and his Formosan wife said good-by, amid tears and regrets on
all sides, and leaving Mr. Junor in charge with A Hoa to help, they
set sail for Canada. It was just a little over seven years since he had
settled in that little hut by the river, despised and hated by every one
about him; and now he left behind him twenty chapels, each with a native
preacher over it, and hundreds of warm friends scattered over all north
Formosa.

He was not quite the same Mackay who had stood on the deck of the
America seven years before. His eyes were as bright and daring as ever
and his alert figure as full of energy, but his face showed that his
life had been a hard one. And no wonder, for he had endured every kind
of hardship and privation in those seven years. He had been mobbed times
without number. He had faced death often, and day and night since his
first year on the island his footsteps had been dogged by the torturing
malaria.

But he was still the great, brave Mackay and his home-coming was like
the return of a hero from battle. He went through Canada preaching in
the churches, and his words were like a call to arms. He swept over the
country like one of his own Formosan winds, carrying all before him.
Wherever he preached hearts were touched by his thrilling tales, and
purses opened to help in his work. Queen's University made him a Doctor
of Divinity; Mrs. Mackay, a lady of Detroit, gave him money enough to
build a hospital; and his home county, Oxford, presented him with $6,215
with which to build a college.

He visited his old home and had many long talks of his childhood
days with his loved ones. And he was reminded of the big stone in the
pasture-field which he was so determined to break. And he thanked his
heavenly Father for allowing him to break the great rock of heathenism
in north Formosa.

He returned to his mission work more on fire than ever. If he had been
received with acclaim in his native land, his Formosan friends' welcome
was not less warm. Crowds of converts, all his students who were not
too far inland, and among them, Mr. Junor, his face all smiles, were
thronging the dock, many of them weeping for joy. It was as if a
long-absent father had come back to his children.

The work went forward now by leaps and bounds. Mackay's first thought,
after a hurried visit to the chapels and their congregations, was to see
that the hospital and college were built.

All day long the sound of the builders could be heard up on the bluff
near the missionaries' houses, and in a wonderfully short time there
arose two beautiful, stately buildings. Mackay hospital they called one,
not for Kai Bok-su--he did not like things named for him--but in memory
of the husband of the kind lady who had furnished the money for it. The
school for training young men in the ministry was called Oxford College,
in honor of the county whose people had made it possible.

Oxford College stood just overlooking the Tamsui river, two hundred feet
above its waters. The building was 116 feet long and 67 feet wide, and
was built of small red bricks brought from across the Formosa Channel.
A wide, airy hall ran down the middle of the building, and was used as
a lecture-room. On either side were rooms capable of accommodating fifty
students and apartments for two teachers and their families. There
were, besides, two smaller lecture-rooms, a museum filled with treasures
collected from all over Formosa by Dr. Mackay and his students, a
library, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

The grounds about the college and hospital were very beautiful. Nature
had given one of the finest situations to be found about Tamsui, and Kai
Bok-su did the rest. The climate helped him, for it was no great task to
have a luxurious garden in north Formosa. So, in a few years there were
magnificent trees and hedges, and always glorious flower beds abloom all
the time around the missionary premises.

But all this was not accomplished without great toil, and Kai Bok-su
appeared never to rest in those building days. It seemed impossible
that one man should work so hard, he was in Tamsui superintending the
hospital building to-day, and away off miles in the country preaching
to-morrow. He never seemed to get time to eat, and he certainly slept
less than his allotted four hours.

A great disappointment was pending, however, and one he saw coming
nearer every day. The trying Formosan climate was proving too much for
his young assistant, and one sad day he stood on the dock and saw Mr.
Junor, pale and weak and broken in health, sail away back to Canada.

But there was always a brave soldier waiting to step into the breach, and
the next year Kai Bok-su had the joy of welcoming two new helpers, when
the Rev. Mr. Jamieson and his wife came out from Canada and settled in
the empty house on the bluff. Yes, and in time there came to his own
house other helpers--very little and helpless at first they were--but
they soon made the house ring with happy noise and filled the hearts of
their parents with joy.

There were two ladies now to lead in the work for girls and women. Their
sisters in Canada came to their help too. The young men had a school in
Formosa, and why should there not be a school for women and girls? they
asked. And so the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of Canada sent to
Dr. Mackay money to build one. It took only two months to erect it.
It stood just a few rods from Oxford College, and was a fine, airy
building. Here a native preacher and his wife took up their abode and
with the help of Mrs. Mackay and two other native Christian women
they strove to teach the girls of north Formosa how to make beautiful
Christian homes.

And now to the two missionaries every prospect seemed bright. The
college, the girls' school, the hospital, were all in splendid working
order. Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson were giving their best assistance. A Hoa
and the other native pastors were working faithfully. God's blessing
seemed to be showering down upon the work and on every side were signs
of growth. And then, right from this shining sky, there fell a storm
of such fierceness that it threatened to wipe out completely the whole
north Formosan mission.




CHAPTER XI. UNEXPECTED BOMBARDMENT

An enemy's battle-ships off the coast of Formosa! During all the spring
rumors of trouble had been coming across the channel from the mainland.
France (*) and China had been quarreling over a boundaryline in Tongking.
The affair had been settled but not in a way that pleased France. So,
without even waiting to declare war, she sent a fleet to the China Sea
and bombarded some of her enemy's ports. Formosa, of course, came in for
her share of the trouble, and it was early in the summer that the French
battle-ships appeared. They hove in sight, sailing down the Formosa
Channel or Strait one hot day, and instantly all Formosa was in an
uproar of alarm and rage. The rage was greater than the alarm, for China
cordially despised all peoples beyond her own border, and felt that the
barbarians would probably be too feeble to do them any harm. But that
the barbarians should dare to approach their coast with a war-vessel!
That was a terrible insult, and the fierce indignation of the people
knew no bounds. Their rage broke out against all foreigners. They did
not distinguish between the missionary from British soil and the French
soldiers on their enemy's vessels. They were all barbarians alike, the
Chinese declared, and as such were the deadly foe of China. This Kai
Bok-su was in league with the French, and the native Christians all over
Formosa were in league with him, and all deserved death!

     * War in 1844.

So hard days came for the Christians of north Formosa. Wherever there
was a house containing converts, there was riot and disorder. For bands
of enraged heathen, armed with knives and swords, would parade the
streets about them and threaten all with a violent death the moment the
French fired a shot.

In some places near the coast the Christian people dared not leave their
houses, and whenever they sent out their children to buy food, often a
heathen neighbor would catch them, brandish knives over the terrified
little ones' heads and declare they would all be cut to pieces when the
barbarian ships came into port.

Every hour of the day and often in the night, letters came from all
parts of the country to Dr. Mackay. They were brought by runners
who came at great peril of their lives, and were sent by the poor
Christians. Each letter told the same tale; the lives and property of
all the converts were in grave danger if the enemy did not leave. And
they all asked Kai Bok-su to do something to help them.

Now Kai Bok-su was a man with great power and influence both in Formosa
and in his far-off Canada, but he had no means of bringing that power
to bear on the French. And indeed his own life was in as great danger as
any one's.

He wrote to the Christians comforting them and enthusing them with his
own spirit. He bade them all be brave, and no matter what came, danger
or torture or death itself, they must be true to Jesus Christ. He went
about his work in the college or hospital just as usual, though he knew
that any day the angry mob from the town below might come raging up to
destroy and kill.

The French had entered Kelung harbor and the danger was growing more
serious every day when Mackay found it necessary to go to Palm Island,
a pretty islet in the mouth of the Kelung river. It was almost courting
death to go, but he had been sent for, and he went. He found the place
right under the French guns and in the midst of raging Chinese. Some of
the faithful students were there, and they were overcome with joy and
hope at the sight of him. He gathered them about him in a mission
house for prayer and a word of encouragement. Outside the Chinese
soldiers paraded up and down. Sometimes indeed they would burst into the
room and threaten the inmates with violence should the French fire.
Kai Bok-su went on quietly talking to his students. He urged them to be
faithful and reminded them of what their Master suffered at the hands of
a mob for their sake. But, in spite of their brave spirits, the little
company could not help listening for the boom of the French guns. It was
fully expected that the enemy would soon fire, and when they did, the
Christians well knew there would be little chance for them to escape.

But God had prepared a way out of the difficulty. The meeting was
scarcely over when a messenger came in, asking for the missionary. A
Christian on the mainland was very ill and wanted Kai Bok-su to visit
him. Mackay with his students left the island at once and went to the
home of the sick man.

They had been gone but a short time when the thunder of the French
cannon broke over the harbor. The guns from the Chinese fort answered,
and had the missionary been on Palm Island he and his converts would
surely have been killed.

The Chinese were no match for the French gunners. The bombardment
destroyed the fort and killed every soldier who did not manage to get
away. A great shell crashed into the magazine of the fort, and the
explosion hurled masses of the concrete walls an incredible distance.
The city about the fort was completely deserted, for the people fled at
the first sound of the guns.

As soon as the firing was over, the rabble broke loose and a perfect
reign of terror prevailed. The mob carried black flags and swept over
town and country, plundering and murdering. The Christians were of
course the first object of attack, and to tear down a church was the
mob's fiercest joy. Seven of the most beautiful chapels were completely
destroyed and many others injured.

In the town of Toa-liong-pong was the home of Koa Kau, one of Kai
Bok-su's most devoted students. Here was a lovely chapel built at great
expense. The crowd tore it to pieces from roof to foundation. Then, out
of the bricks of the ruin they erected a huge pile, eight feet high;
they plastered it over with mud, and on the face of it, next the highway
where every one might see it, they wrote in large Chinese characters:

     MACKAY, THE BLACK-BEARDED BARBARIAN,
     LIES HERE. HIS WORK IS ENDED.

They knew that the first was not true, but they firmly believed the
latter statement, for they understood little of the power of the gospel.

At Sin-tiam the crowd of ruffians smashed the doors and windows of the
church. Then they took the communion roll and read aloud the names of
the Christians who had been baptized. As each name was announced, some
of the murderers would rush off toward the home of the one mentioned.
Here they would torture and often kill the members of the family. The
native preacher and his family barely escaped with their lives. One good
old Christian man with his wife, both over sixty, were dragged out into
the deep water of the Sin-tiam river. Here they were given a choice.
If they gave up Jesus Christ, their lives would be saved. If they still
remained Christians, they would be drowned right there and then. The
brave old couple refused to accept life at such a cost.

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord," was a hymn Kai Bok-su had taught them,
and They had meant every word as they had sung it many times in the
pretty chapel by the river. And so they were "not ashamed" now. They
were led deeper and deeper into the water, and at every few feet the way
of escape was offered, but they steadily refused, and were at last flung
into the river--faithful martyrs who certainly won a crown of life.

These were only two among many brave Christians who died for their
Master's sake. Some were put to tortures too horrible to tell to make
them give up their faith. Some were hung by their hair to trees, some
were kicked or beaten to death, many were slashed with knives until
death relieved their pain. And on every side the most noble Christian
heroism was shown. In all ages there have been those who died for their
faith in Jesus Christ; and these Formosan followers of their Master
proved themselves no less faithful than the martyrs of old.

And where was Kai Bok-su while the mob raged over the country? Going
about his work in Tamsui as of old. Only now he worked both night and
day, and the anxiety for his poor converts kept him awake in the few
hours when he might have snatched some sleep. He was here, there,
everywhere at once, it seemed, writing letters to encourage the
Christians in distress, visiting those who were wavering to strengthen
their faith, teaching his students, praying, preaching, night and day,
he never ceased; and always the mob surged about him threatening his
life.

The French ships now sailed out of Kelung harbor and took up
their position opposite Tamsui. Every one knew this probably meant
bombardment, and Dr. Mackay and Mr. Jamieson, standing on the bluff
before their houses, looked at each other and each knew the other's
thought. Bombardment would mean that the mob would come raging up and
destroy both life and property on the hill.

But just as they expected the roar of guns to open, there sailed into
Tamsui harbor a vessel that flew a different flag from the French.
Mackay, looking at her through a glass, made out with joy the crosses
on the red banner of Britain! England had nothing to do with this
Chinese-French war, but as a British vessel can be found lying around
almost any port in the wide world, there of course happened to be one
near Tamsui. She gained a passport into the harbor and sailed in with a
very kindly mission; it was to protect the lives of foreigners, not only
from the French guns, but from the Chinese mobs.

The ship had been in the harbor but a short time when a young English
naval officer, carrying the British flag, came up the path to the houses
on the bluff. Dr. Mackay was in the library of Oxford College, lecturing
to his students, when the visitor entered.

The missionary made the sailor welcome and the young man told his
errand. Dr. Mackay was invited to bring his family and his valuables
and come on board the vessel to be the guest of the captain until the
disturbance was over.

It was a most kindly invitation and Dr. Mackay shook his visitor's hand
warmly as he thanked him. He turned and translated the message to his
students, and their hearts stood still with dismay. If Kai Bok-su, their
stay and support, were to be taken away, what would become of them? But
Kai Bok-su had not changed with the changing circumstances. He was still
as brave and undaunted as though trouble had never come to his island.

He turned to the officer again with a smile. "My family would not be
hard to move," he said, "but my valuables--I am afraid I could not take
them." He made a gesture toward the students standing about him. "These
young men and many more converts scattered all over north Formosa, are
my valuables. Many of them have faced death unflinchingly for my sake.
They are my valuables, and I cannot leave them."

It was bravely said, just as Kai Bok-su might be expected to speak, and
the English officer's eyes kindled with appreciation. The words found
a ready response in his heart. They were the words of a true soldier of
the King. The officer went back to his captain with Mackay's message and
with a deep admiration in his heart for the man who would rather face
death than leave his friends.

So the British man-of-war drew off, leaving the missionaries in the
midst of danger. And almost immediately, with a great bursting roar, the
bombardment from the French ships opened. Sometimes the shells flew
high over the town and up to the bluff, so Dr. and Mrs. Mackay put their
three little ones in a safe corner under the house; but they themselves
as well as Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson, went in and out to and from the
college, and the girls' school as though nothing were happening.

Every day Mackay's work grew heavier and his anxiety for the persecuted
Christians grew deeper. He ate very little, and he scarcely slept at
all. It was not the noise of the carnage about him that kept him awake.
He would have fallen asleep peacefully amidst bursting shells, but he
had no opportunity. The whole burden of the young Church, harassed by
persecution on all sides, seemed to rest upon his spirit. Anxiety
for the Christians in the inland stations from whom he could not hear
weighed on him night and day, and his brave spirit was put to the
severest test.

Only his great strong faith in God kept him up and kept up the spirits
of the converts who looked to him for an example. And a brave pattern
he showed them. Often he and A Hoa paced the lawn in front of the
house while shot and shell whizzed around them. During the worst of the
bombardment they came and went between the college and the house as
if they had charmed lives. One day there was a great roar and a shell
struck Oxford College, shaking it to its foundations. The smoke from
fort and ships had scarcely cleared away when, crash! and the girls'
school was struck by a bursting shell. Next moment there was a fearful
bang and a great stone that stood in front of the Mackays' house went up
into the air in a thousand fragments.

But when the firing was hottest, Kai Bok-su would repeat to his students
the comforting Psalm:

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow
that flieth by day."

But in spite of his brave demeanor, the strain on the shepherd of this
harassed flock was beginning to tell. And when the bombardment ceased
and the intense anxiety for his loved ones was over, Kai Bok-su suddenly
collapsed. Dr. Johnsen, the foreign physician of Tamsui, came hurriedly
up to the mission house to see him. His verdict sent a thrill of dismay
through every heart that loved him, from the anxious little wife by the
patient's side, to the poorest convert in the town below. Their beloved
Kai Bok-su had brain fever.

"Too much anxiety and too little sleep," said the medical man. "He must
sleep now," he added, "or he will die." But now that Kai Bok-su had a
chance to rest, he could not. Sleep had been chased away too long to
stay with him. Night and day he tossed about, wide awake and burning
with fever. His temperature was never less than 102 during those days,
and all the doctor's efforts could not lower it. The awful heat of
September was on, and the great typhoons that would soon sweep across
the country and clear the air had not yet come. The glaring sun and the
stifling damp heat were all against the patient. At last one day the
doctor saw a crisis was approaching. He stood looking down at the hot,
flushed face, at the burning eyes, and the restless hands that were
never still, and he said to himself, "If the fever does not go down
to-day, he will die."

The doctor went along "College Road" toward his home, answering the
eager, anxious questions that met him on all sides with only a shake of
his head.

A Hoa followed him, his drawn face full of pleading. Was he no better?
he asked with quivering lips. It was the question poor A Hoa asked many,
many times a day, for he never left the house when not away on duty. The
doctor's face was full of sympathy and his own heart weighed down as he
sadly answered, "No."

"If I only had some ice," he muttered, knowing well he had none. "If
there was only one bit of ice in Tamsui, I'd save him yet."

Over in the British consulate Dr. Johnsen had another patient. Mr. Dodd
lay sick there, though not nearly as ill as the missionary, and the
physician's next visit was to him. When he entered he found a servant
carrying a tray with some ice on it to the sick room.

"Ice!" cried the doctor, overjoyed. "Where did it come from?"

The servant explained that the steamship Hailoong had just arrived in
Tamsui harbor with it that morning. The doctor entered Mr. Dodd's room.
Would he give him that ice to save Mackay's life? was the question he
asked. To save such a life as Mackay's! That was an absurd question, Mr.
Dodd declared, and he immediately ordered that every bit of ice he had
should be sent at once to the missionary's house.

The doctor hurried back up the hill with the precious remedy. He broke
up a piece and laid it like a little cushion on poor Kai Bok-su's hot
forehead; that forehead beneath which the busy brain, resting neither
day nor night, was burning up. It had not been there a great while
before the restless eyes lost their fire, the eyelids drooped and,
wonderful sight, Kai Bok-su sank into a sleep! The doctor hardly dared
to breathe If he could only be kept asleep now, he had a chance. Dr.
Mackay had never been a sleeper, he well knew. He was too restless, too
energetic, to allow himself even proper rest. When Dr. Fraser, his first
assistant, had been with him, he had struggled to persuade him to stay
in bed at least six hours every night, but not always with success. But
now he was to show what he could do in the matter of sleeping. All
that night he lay, breathing peacefully, the next day he slept on from
morning till night, and little by little the ice melted away on his
forehead. He did not move all the next night, and A Hoa and Mrs. Mackay
and the doctor took turns at his bedside watching that the precious
ice was always there. Morning came and it was all finished. The patient
opened his eyes. He had slept thirty-six hours, and a thrill of joy went
through every Christian heart in Tamsui, for their Kai Bok-su was saved!

But though the crisis was over, he was still very weak, and such was the
state of affairs through the country that he was in no condition to cope
with them. Riot and plunder was the order of the day. News of churches
being destroyed, of faithful Christians being tortured or put to death,
were still coming to the mission house, and no one could tell what day
would bring Kai Boksu's turn.

And now came an order from the British consul which the missionaries
could not disobey. He commanded that their families must be moved at
once from Formosa, as he could not answer for their protection. So at
once preparations for their departure were made, and Mr. Jamieson took
his wife and Mrs. Mackay and her three little ones and sailed away for
Hongkong.

But once more Kai Bok-su stayed behind. It cost him bitter pain to part
with his loved ones, knowing he might never see them again; he was weak
and spent with fever, and his poor body was worn to a shadow, but
he stubbornly refused to leave the men who had stood by him in every
danger. The consul commanded, the doctor pleaded, but no, Kai Bok-su
would not go. If the danger had grown greater, then all the more reason
why he should stay and comfort his people. And if God were pleased to
send death, then they would all die together.

But he was so weak and sick that the doctor feared that if he remained
there would be little chance for the mob to kill him: death would come
sooner. So he came to his stubborn patient with a new proposition. The
Fukien, a merchant steamship, was now lying in Tamsui harbor. She was to
run to Hongkong and back directly. If Mackay would only take that trip,
his physician urged, the sea air would make him new again, and he would
return in a short time and be ready to take up his work once more.

It was that promise that moved Mackay's resolution. His utter weakness
held him down from work, and he longed with all his soul to go out
through the country to help the poor, suffering churches. So he finally
consented to take the short journey and pay a visit to his dear ones in
Hongkong.

He did not get back quite as soon as he intended, for the French
blockade delayed his vessel. But at last he stepped out upon the Tamsui
dock into a crowd of preachers, students, and converts who were weeping
for joy about him and exclaiming over his improved looks.

The voyage had certainly done wonders for him, and at once he declared
he must take a trip into the country and visit those who were left of
the churches.

It was a desperate undertaking, for French soldiers were now scattered
through the country, guarding the larger towns and cities and everywhere
mobs of furious Chinese were ready to torture or kill every foreigner.
But it would take even greater difficulties than these to stop Kai
Bok-su, and he began at once to lay plans for going on a tour.

He first went to the British consul and came back in high spirits with a
folded paper in his hand. He spread it out on the library table before A
Hoa and Sun-a, who were to go with him, and this is what it said:

British Consulate, Tamsui,

May 27th, 1885.

To THE OFFICER IN CHIEF COMMAND OF THE FRENCH FORCES AT KELUNG:

The bearer of this paper, the Rev. George Leslie Mackay, D.D., a British
subject, missionary in Formosa, wishes to enter Kelung, to visit his
chapel and his house there, and to proceed through Kelung to Kap-tsu-lan
on the east coast of Formosa to visit his converts there. Wherefore I,
the undersigned, consul for Great Britain at Tamsui, do beg the officer
in chief command of the French forces in Kelung to grant the said George
Leslie Mackay entry into, and a free and safe passage through, Kelung.
He will be accompanied by two Chinese followers, belonging to his
mission, named, respectively, Giam Chheng Hoa, and Iap Sun. A. FRATER,
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Tamsui.

They had all the power of the British Empire behind them so long as they
held that paper. Then they hired a burdenbearer to carry their food,
and Mackay cut a bamboo pole, fully twenty feet long, and on it tied
the British flag. With this floating over them, the little army marched
through the rice-fields down to Kelung.

It was an adventurous journey. But, wonderful though it seemed, they
came through it safely. Poor Kai Bok-su's heart was torn as he saw the
ravages the mob had made on his churches. But what a cheer his heart
received when he found that persecution had strengthened the converts
that were left and everywhere the heathen marveled that men should
die for the faith the barbarian missionary had taught. They were taken
prisoners once for German spies, and led far out of their way. But
they came back to Tamsui safely, having greatly cheered the faithful
Christians who still were true to their Master, Jesus Christ. It was
early in June, just one year from the opening of the war, that the
French sailed away. They were disgusted with the whole affair, the
commander of one vessel told Dr. Mackay, and they were all very glad it
was over.

Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson and Dr. Mackay's family returned to their homes on
the bluff, and work started up again with its old vigor.

But everywhere the heathen were in great glee. Christianity had been
destroyed with the chapels, they were sure. Wherever Mackay went, shouts
of derision followed him, and everywhere he could hear the joyful cry
"Long-tsong bo-khi!" which meant "The mission is wiped out!"

But strange though it may seem, the mission had never been stronger, and
it soon began to assert itself. Dr. Mackay went at the work of repairing
the lost buildings with all the force of his nature. First, he and Mr.
Jamieson and A Hoa sat down and prepared a statement of their losses.
This they sent to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese forces, who had
been responsible for law and order. Without any delay or questioning
of the missionaries' rights, the general sent Dr. Mackay the sum asked
for--ten thousand Mexican dollars. (*)

     *About $5000.

The next thing was to plan the new chapels and see to the building of
them. And before the shouts of "Long-tsong bo-khi" had well started,
they began to be contradicted by walls of brick or stone that rose up
strong and sure to show that the mission had not been wiped out. Three
of the chapels were commenced all at once--at Sintiam, at Bang-kah and
at Sek-khau. Before anything was done Dr. Mackay and a party of his
students went up to Sin-tiam to look over the site. They stood up on the
pile of ruins, surrounded by the Christians, and a crowd of heathen came
around gleefully to watch them in the hopes of seeing their despair.

But to their amazement the little company of Christians led by the
wonderful Kai Bok-su, suddenly burst into a hymn of praise to God who
had brought them safely through all their troubles:

Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, And not forgetful be Of all his
gracious benefits He hath bestowed on thee!

The heathen listened in wonder to the words of praise where they had
expected lamentation, and they asked each other what was this strange
power that made men so strong and brave.

And their amazement grew as the chapels, the lovely new chapels of stone
or brick, began to rise from the ruins of the old ones. And not only did
the old ones reappear, new and more beautiful, but as Dr. Mackay and
his native preachers went here and there over the country others peeped
forth like the hepaticas of springtime, until there were not only the
forty original chapels, but in a few years the number had increased to
sixty.

The triumphant shout that the mission had been wiped out ceased
completely, and the people declared that they had been fools to try
to destroy the chapels, for the result had been only bigger and better
ones.

"Look now," said one old heathen, pointing a withered finger to the
handsome spire of the Bang-kah chapel, that lifted itself toward the
sky, "Look now, the chapel towers above our temple. It is larger than
the one we destroyed."

His neighbors crowding about him and gazing up with superstitious awe at
the spire, agreed.

"If we touch this one he will build another and a bigger one," remarked
another man.

"We cannot stop the barbarian missionary," said the old heathen with an
air of conviction.

"No, no one can stop the great Kai Boksu," they finally agreed, and so
they left off all opposition in despair.

Yes, the cry of "Long-tsong bo-khi" had died, and the answer to it was
inscribed on the front of the splendid chapels that sprang up all over
north Formosa. For, just above the main entrance to each, worked out
in stucco plaster, was a picture of the burning bush, and around it in
Chinese the grand old motto:

"Nec tamen consumebatur" ("Yet it was not consumed.")




CHAPTER XII. TRIUMPHAL MARCH

Up and down the length and breadth of north Formosa, seeming to be
in two or three places at once, went Kai Bok-su, during this time of
reviving after the war. He would be in Kelung to-day superintending
the new chapel building, in Tamsui at Oxford College the next day, in
Bangkah preaching a short while after, and no one could tell just
where the next day.

But every one did know that wherever he went, Christians grew stronger
and heathen gave up their idols. The Kap-tsu-lan plain, away on the
eastern coast, seemed to be a sort of pet among all his mission fields,
and he was always turning his steps thither. For the Pe-pohoan who lived
there, while they were simple and warm-hearted and easily moved by the
gospel story, were not such strong characters as the Chinese. So the
missionary felt he must visit them often to help steady their faith.

Not long after the close of the war, he set off on a trip to the
Kap-tsu-lan plain. Besides his students, he was accompanied by a young
German scientist Dr. Warburg had come from Germany to Formosa to collect
peculiar plants and flowers and to find any old weapons or relics of
interest belonging to the savage tribes. All these were for the use of
the university in Germany which had sent him out.

The young scientist was delighted with Dr. Mackay and found in him a
very interesting companion. They met in Kelung, and when Dr. Warburg
found that Dr. Mackay was going to visit the Kap-tsu-lan plain, he
joined his party. The stranger found many rare specimens of orchids on
that trip and several peculiar spear and arrow heads to be taken back as
curios to Germany. But he found something rarer and more wonderful and
something for which he had not come to search.

He saw in one place three hundred people gather about their missionary
and raise a ringing hymn of praise to the God of heaven, of whom they
had not so much as heard but a few short years before. He visited
sixteen little chapels and heard clever, brightfaced young Chinese
preachers stand up in them and tell the old, old story of Jesus and his
love. And he realized that these things were far more wonderful than the
rarest curios he could find in all Formosa.

When he bade good-by to Dr. Mackay, he said: "I never saw anything like
this before. If scientific skeptics had traveled with a missionary as
I have and witnessed what I have witnessed on this plain, they would
assume a different attitude toward the heralds of the cross."

Not many months later Dr. Mackay again went down the eastern coast. This
time he took three of his closest friends, all preacher students, Tan
be, Sun-a, and Koa Kau. With a coolie to carry provisions, their
Bibles, their forceps, and some malaria medicine, they started off fully
equipped.

By steam launch to Bang-kah, by a queer little railway train to
Tsui-tng-kha and by foot to Kelung was the first part of the journey.
The next part was a tramp over the mountains to Kap-tsu-lan.

The road now grew rough and dangerous. Overhead hung loose rocks, huge
enough to crush the whole party should they fall. Underneath were wet,
slippery stones which might easily make one go sliding down into the
chasm below.

As usual on this trip they had many hairbreadth escapes, for there were
savages too hiding up in the dense forest and waiting an opportunity to
spring out upon the travelers. Dr. Mackay was almost caught in a small
avalanche also. He leaped over a narrow stream-bed, and as he did so,
he dislodged a loose mass of rock above him. It came down with a fearful
crash, scattering the smaller pieces right upon his heels; but they
passed all dangers safely and toward evening reached the shore where
the great long Pacific billows rolled upon the sand. They were in the
Kap-tsu-lan plain.

Their journey through the plain was like a triumphal march. Wherever a
chapel had been erected, there were converts to be examined; wherever
there was no chapel, the people gathered about the missionary and
pleaded for one. They often recalled the first visit of Kai Bok-su when
"No room for barbarians" were the only words that met him.

But Dr. Mackay wished to go farther on this journey than he had ever
gone. Some distance south of Kap-tsu-lan lay another district called the
Ki-lai plain. The people here were also aborigines of the island who had
been conquered by the Chinese like the Pepo-hoan. But the inhabitants of
Ki-lai were called Lam-si-hoan, which means "Barbarians of the south."
Dr. Mackay had never been among them, but they had heard the gospel. A
missionary from Oxford College had journeyed away down there to tell the
people about Jesus and had been working among them for some years. He
was not a graduate, not even a student--but only the cook! For Oxford
College was such a place of inspiration under Kai Bok-su, that even the
servants in the kitchen wanted to go out and preach the gospel. So the
cook had gone away to the Ki-lai plain, and, ever since he had left, Dr.
Mackay had longed to go and see how his work was prospering.

So at one of the most southerly points of the Kap-tsu-lan plain he
secured a boat for the voyage south. The best he could get was a small
craft quite open, only twelve feet long. It was not a very fine vessel
with which to brave the Pacific Ocean, but where was the crazy craft
in which Kai Bok-su would not embark to go and tell the gospel to the
heathen? The boat was manned by six Pe-po-hoan rowers, all Christians,
and at five o'clock in the evening they pushed out into the surf of So
Bay. A crowd of converts came down to the shore to bid them farewell. As
the boat shoved off the friends on the beach started a hymn. The rowers
and the missionaries caught it up and the two groups joined, the
sound of each growing fainter and fainter to the other as the distance
widened.

All lands to God in joyful sounds Aloft your voices raise, Sing forth
the honor of his name, And glorious make his praise!

And the land and the sea, answering each other, joined in praise to him
who was the Maker of both.

And so the rowers pulled away in time to the swing of the Psalm, the
boat rounded a point, and the beloved figure of Kai Bok-su disappeared
from sight.

Away down the coast the oarsmen pulled, and the four missionaries
squeezed themselves into as small a space as possible to be out of the
way of the oars. All the evening they rowed steadily, and as they still
swept along night came down suddenly. They kept close to the shore,
where to their right arose great mountains straight up from the water's
edge. They were covered with forest, and here and there in the blackness
fires twinkled.

"Head-hunters!" said the helmsman, pointing toward them.

Away to the left stretched the Pacific Ocean, and above shone the stars
in the deep blue dome. It was a still, hot tropical night. From the land
came the heavy scent of flowers. The only sound that broke the stillness
was the regular thud, thud of the oars or the cry of some wild animal
floating out from the jungle. As they passed on through the warm
darkness, the sea took on that wonderful fiery glow that so often
burns on the oceans of the tropics. Every wave became a blaze of
phosphorescence. Every ripple from the oars ran away in many-colored
flames--red, green, blue, and orange. Kai Bok-su, sitting amazed at the
glory to which the Pe-po-hoan boatmen had become accustomed, was silent
with awe. He had seen the phosphorescent lights often before, but never
anything like this. He put his hand down into the molten sea and scooped
up handfuls of what seemed drops of liquid fire. And as his fingers
dipped into the water they shone like rods of red-hot iron. Over the
gleaming iridescent surface, sparks of fire darted like lightning, and
from the little boat's sides flashed out flames of gold and rose and
amber. It was grand. And no wonder they all joined--Chinese, Malayan,
and Canadian--in making the dark cliffs and the gleaming sea echo to the
strains of praise to the One who had created all this glory.

     O come let us sing to the Lord,
     To him our voices raise With joyful noise,
     Let us the rock Of our salvation praise.
     To him the spacious sea belongs,
     For he the same did make;
     The dry land also from his hand
     Its form at first did take.

Dawn came up out of the Pacific with a new glory of light and color that
dispelled the wonders of the night. It showed the voyagers that they
were very near a low shore where it would be possible to land. But the
helmsman shook his head at the proposal. He pointed out huts along the
line of forest and figures on the shore. And then with a common
impulse, the rowers swung round and pulled straight out to sea; for with
Pe-po-hoan experience they saw at once that here was a savage village,
and not long would their heads remain on their shoulders should they
touch land.

The scorching sun soon poured its hot rays upon the tired rowers, but
they pulled steadily. They too, like Kai Bok-su, were anxious to take
this great good news of Jesus Christ to those who had not yet learned of
him. When safely out of reach of the headhunters, they once more turned
south, and, about noon, tired and hot, at last approached the first port
of the Ki-lai plain. Every one drew a sigh of relief, for the men had
been rowing steadily all night and half the day. As they drew near
Dr. Mackay looked eagerly at the queer village. It appeared to be half
Chinese and half Lam-si-hoan. It consisted of two rows of small thatched
houses with a street between nearly two hundred feet wide.

The rowers ran the boat up on the sloping pebbly beach and all stepped
out with much relief to stretch their stiffened limbs. They had scarcely
done so when a military officer came down the shore and approaching Dr.
Mackay made him welcome with the greatest warmth. There was a military
encampment here, and this was the officer as well as the headman of the
village. He invited Dr. Mackay and his friends to take dinner with him.
Dr. Mackay accepted with pleased surprise. This was far better than
he had expected. He was still more surprised to hear his name on every
hand.

"It is the great Kai Bok-su," could be heard in tones of deepest respect
from fishermen at their nets and old women by the door and children
playing with their kites in the wide street.

"How do they know me?" he asked, as he was greeted by a rice-seller,
sitting at the open front of his shop.

"Ah, we have heard of you and your work in the north, Pastor Mackay,"
said his host, smiling, "and our people want to hear of this new
Jehovah-religion too."

The cook-missionary had evidently spread wonderful reports of Kai
Bok-su and his gospel and so prepared the way. He was preaching just
then in a place called Ka-le-oan, farther inland. When the officer
learned that Dr. Mackay wanted to visit him he turned to his servant
with a most surprising order. It was to saddle his pony and bring him
for Kai Bok-su to ride to Ka-le-oan.

The pony came, sleek and plump and with a string of jingling bells
adorning him. A pony was a wonderful sight in Formosa, and Dr. Mackay
had not used any sort of animal in his work since that disastrous day
when he had tried in vain to ride the stubborn Lu-a. But now he gladly
mounted the sedate little steed and trotted away along the narrow
pathway between the rice-fields toward Ka-le-oan.

Darkness had almost descended when he rode into the village and stopped
before a small grass-covered bamboo dwelling where the cook-preacher
lived. For years the people here had looked for Kai Bok-su's coming, for
years they had talked of this great event, and for years their preacher
had been writing and saying as he received his reply from the eager
missionary in Tamsui, "He may come soon."

And now he was really here! The sound of his horse's bells had scarcely
stopped before the preacher's house, when the news began to spread
like fire through the village. The preacher, who had worked so hard
and waited so long, wept for joy, and before he could make Dr. Mackay
welcome in a proper manner the room was filled with men, all wildly
eager for a sight of the great Kai Bok-su, while outside a crowd
gathered about the door striving to get even a glimpse of him. The
ex-cook of Oxford College had preached so faithfully that many were
already converted to Christianity, many more knew a good deal of the
gospel, and crowds were ready to throw away their idols. They were
weary of their heathen rites and superstitions. They were longing for
something better, they scarcely knew what. "But the mandarin will not
let them become Christians," said the preacher anxiously. "It is he who
is keeping them from decision. He has said that they must continue in
idolatry, as a token of loyalty to China."

"Are you sure that is true?" cried Dr. Mackay.

The converts nodded. They had "heard" it said at least.

But Kai Bok-su was not the man to accept mere hearsay. He was always
wisely careful to avoid any collision with the authorities. But
remembering the kindness shown him back in Hoe-lien-kang, he could not
quite believe that the mandarin who had been so kind to him could be
hostile to the religion of Jesus Christ.

To think was to act, and early the next morning, he was riding back to
the seacoast, to inquire how much of this rumor was true.

His reception was very warm. It was all right, the officer declared.
Whatever had been said or done in the past must be forgotten. Kai Bok-su
might go where he pleased and preach his Jehovah-religion to whomsoever
he would.

It was a very light-hearted rider the pony carried as he galloped back
along the narrow paths, with the good news for the villagers. The word
went round as soon as he arrived. Kai Bok-su wanted to know how many
were for the true God. All who would worship him were at once to clear
their houses of idols and declare that they would serve Jehovah and him
only. At dark a great crowd gathered in an open space in the village.
Representatives from five villages were there, chiefs were shouting to
their people, and when Dr. Mackay and his students arrived, the place
was all noise and confusion. He was puzzled. It almost looked as if
there was to be a riot, though the voices did not sound angry.

He climbed up on a pile of rubbish and his face shone clear in the light
of the flaring torches. His voice rang out loud and commanding above the
tumult.

"What is this noise about?" he cried. "Is there a difference of opinion
among you as to whether you shall worship these poor toys of wood and
stone, or the true God who is your Father?"

He paused and as if from one man came back the answer in a mighty shout:

"No, we will worship the true God!"

The tumult had been one of enthusiasm and not of dispute!

Kai Bok-su's heart gave a great bound. For a moment he could not speak.
He who had so often stood up fearless and bold before a raging heathen
mob, now faltered before this sea of eager faces, upturned to him.
It seemed too good to be true that all this crowd, representing five
villages, was anxious to become followers of the God of heaven. His
voice grew steady at last, and standing up there in the flickering
torchlight he told those children of the plain what it meant to be a
follower of Jesus Christ. It was a late hour when the meeting broke up,
but even then Dr. Mackay could not go to bed. Never since the day that A
Hoa, his first convert, had accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, had
he felt such joy, and all night he walked up and down in front of the
preacher's house, unable to sleep for the thankfulness to God that
surged in his heart.

Morning brought a wonderful day for the Ki-lai plain. It was like a day
when freedom from slavery was announced. Had there been bells in the
village they would certainly have been rung. But joy bells were ringing
in every heart. Nobody could work all day. The rice-fields and the shops
and the pottery works lay idle. There was but one business to do that
day, and that was to get rid of their idols.

Early in the morning the mayor of the place, or the headman as he was
called, came to the house to invite the missionary and his party to join
him. Behind him walked four big boys, carrying two large wicker baskets,
hanging from poles across their shoulders; and behind them came the
whole village, men, women, and children, their faces shining with a new
joy. The procession moved along from house to house. At every place it
stopped and out from the home were carried idols, ancestral tablets,
mock-money, flags, incense sticks, and all the stuff used in idol
worship. These were all emptied into the baskets carried by the boys.
When even the temple had been ransacked and the work of clearing out the
idols in the village was finished, the procession moved on to the next
hamlet. The villages were very near each other, so the journey was not
wearisome; and at last when every vestige of the old idolatrous life had
been taken from the homes of five villages, the happy crowd marched back
to the first village. There was a large courtyard near the temple and
here the procession halted. The boys dropped their well-filled baskets,
and their contents were piled in the center of the court. The people
gathered about the heap and with shouts of joy set fire to these signs
of their lifelong slavery. Soon the pile was blazing and crackling, and
all the people, even the chiefs of the villages, vied with each other in
burning up the idols they had so lately besought for blessings.

And then they turned toward the heathen temple and delivered it over to
Kai Bok-su for a chapel in which he and his students might preach the
gospel.

And so the temple was lighted up for a new kind of worship. It had been
used for worship many, many times before, but oh, how different it was
this time! Instead of coming in fear of demons, dread of their gods'
anger, and determination to cheat them if possible, these poor folk
crowded into the new-old temple with light, happy hearts, as children
coming to their Father. And was not God their Father, only they had not
known him before?

The heathen temple was dedicated to the worship of the true God by
singing the old but always new, one hundredth Psalm. The Lam-si-hoan
were not very good singers. They had not much idea of tune. They had
less idea of just when to start, and there was very little to be said
about the harmony of those hundreds of voices. But in spite of it all,
Kai Bok-su had to confess that never in the music of his homeland or in
the more finished harmonies of Europe, had he heard anything so grandly
uplifting as when those newly-freed people stood up in their idol temple
and with heart and soul and voice unitedly poured forth in thunderous
volume of praise the great command:

All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

For a whole week with his pony and groom, which were still his to do
with as he pleased, the busy missionary rode up and down this plain,
visiting the villages, preaching, and teaching the people how to live
as Jesus Christ their Savior had lived; for it was necessary to impress
upon their childlike minds that it would be of no use to burn up the
idols in their homes and temple unless they also gave up the still more
harmful idols in their hearts.

But at last the day came when the pony had to be returned to its owner
and the missionary and his helpers must leave. It was a sad day but
a joyous one--the day that great visit came to an end. Crowds of
Christians, fain to keep him, followed him down to the shore, and many
kindly but reluctant hands shoved the little boat out into the surf. And
as the rowers sent it skimming out over the great Pacific rollers, there
rose from the beach the parting hymn, the one that had dedicated the
heathen temple to the worship of the true God:

     All people that on earth do dwell,
     Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

and from the rowers and the missionaries in the boat, came back the glad
echo:

Know that the Lord is God indeed Without our aid he did us make.

They were soon out of sight. The rowers pulled hard, but a stiff
northeaster straight from Japan was blowing against them, and they made
but little headway. Night came down, and they were again skirting those
dark cliffs, where, here and there, along the narrow strip of sand,
the night-fires of the savages flamed out against the dark tangle of
foliage. All night long the rowers struggled against the wind. They were
afraid to go out far for the waves were wild, they dared not land, for,
crueler than the sea, the head-hunters waited for them on the shore. And
so all that night, taking turns with the rowers, the missionary and his
students toiled against the wind and wave. The dawn came up gray and
stormy, and they were still tossing about among the white billows. No
one had touched food for twenty-four hours. They had rice in the boat,
but there was no place where they dared land to have it cooked. There
was nothing to do but to pull, pull at the oars, and a weary task it
seemed, for the boat appeared to make little headway, and the rowers
barely succeeded in keeping her from being dashed upon the rocks.

They were becoming almost too weak to keep any control over their boat,
when about three o'clock in the afternoon they managed to round a
point. There before them curved a beautiful bay. Behind it and on both
sides arose a perpendicular wall several hundred feet high. At its
foot stretched a narrow sandy beach. It was an ideal spot, secure from
savages both by land and sea. A shout of encouragement from Kai Bok-su
was the one thing needed. Tired arms and aching backs bent to the oars
for one last effort, and when the boat swept up on the sandy beach every
one uttered a heartfelt prayer of thankfulness to the Father who had
provided this little haven in a time of such distress.

The rest of the journey was made safely, and just forty days after their
departure the four missionaries returned, worn out, to Tamsui.




CHAPTER XIII. THE LAND OCCUPIED

But Kai Bok-su had no sooner returned than he was off again. He was not
one of that sort who could settle down after an achievement, content to
rest for a little. He seemed to forget all about what had been done
and was "up and at it again." If he "did not know when he was beaten,"
neither did he seem to know when he was successful; and like Alexander
the Great he was always sighing for new worlds to conquer, yes, and
marching off and conquering them too.

But every time he returned to his work at Tamsui from one of these
tours, it was borne in upon him more forcibly every day that his
faithful assistant who was left in charge, could not long shoulder his
work. Mr. Jamieson was fighting a losing battle with ill health. The
terrible experiences during the war year, the hard work, and the trying
Formosan climate had all combined against him. His brave spirit could
not always sustain the body that was growing gradually weaker, and
one day, a dark, sad day, the devoted soul was set free from the poor
pain-racked body. He had given eight years of hard, faithful work to the
study of the language and to the service of the Master in the mission.
Mrs. Jamieson returned to Canada, and once more Dr. Mackay faced the
work, unaided except by native preachers. But he was not daunted even by
this bereavement, for he always lived in the perfect faith that God was
on his side.

And then, he had by this time three new assistants in the mission-house
on the bluff. They did not even guess that they were any help to him,
for they could never go with him on his mission tours. But by their
sweet merry ways and their joyous welcome to father, when he returned,
they did help him greatly, and made his home-comings a delight.

"How many did you baptize, father?" was baby George's inevitable
question on his father's return. For already the wise toddler had
learned something of the bitter enmity of the heathen world, and knew
that converts meant friends. Then father's home-coming meant presents
too, wonderful things, bows and arrows, rare curios for the museum in
the college, and, once, a pair of the funniest monkeys in the world,
which proved most entertaining playthings for the little boy and his two
sisters. Another time the father brought home a young bear to keep the
monkeys company, but they were not at all polite to their guest, for
they made poor bruin's life miserable by teasing him. They would torment
him until he would stamp with rage. But he was not always badly used,
for when the three children would come out to feed him, he was very
happy, and he would show his pleasure by putting his head between his
paws and rolling over and over like a big ball of fur. And he always
seemed quite proud of his performance when his three little keepers
shrieked with laughter.

The next year after Mr. Jamieson's death the empty mission-house was
once more filled. In September the Rev. Mr. William and Mrs. Gauld
sailed from Canada, and with their arrival Dr. Mackay took new heart.

The new missionaries had learned the language and their work was well
under way when the time came round once more for Dr. Mackay to go back
to Canada for a year's rest. This time there was quite a little party
went with him: his wife, their three children, and Koa Kau, one of his
students.

Among those left to assist Mr. Gauld, there was none he relied upon more
than A Hoa. Mr. Gauld, at the close of his second year's work, wrote of
this fellow worker: "The longer and better I know him, the more I can
love him, trust his honesty, and respect his judgment. He knows his
own people, from the governor of the island to the ragged opium-smoking
beggar, and has influence with them all."

There were many others besides A Hoa to render the missionary faithful
help; among them Sun-a and Tan He, the latter pastor of the church of
Sin-tiam; and just because Kai Bok-su was away they worked the harder,
that he might receive a good report of them on his return.

The separation was longer this time, for Dr. Mackay wished to send his
children to school, and he decided that they would remain in Canada
two years. He was made Moderator of the General Assembly, too, and the
Church at home needed him to stir them up to a greater desire to help
those beyond the seas.

While he was working and preaching in Canada, his heart turned always to
his beloved Formosa, and letters from the friends there were among his
greatest pleasures. A Hoa's of course, were doubly welcome. Pastor Giam,
the name by which he was now called, was Mr. Gauld's right-hand helper
in those days, and once he went alone on a tour away to the eastern
shore. While there he had an adventure of which he wrote to Kai Bok-su.

"The other morning while walking on the seashore I saw a sailing-vessel
slowly drifting shoreward and in danger of being wrecked, for there was
a fog and a heavy sea. I hastened back to the chapel and beat the
drum to call the villagers to worship. As soon as it was over I asked
converts and heathen to go in their fishing-boats as quickly as possible
and let the sailors know they need not fear savages there, and if they
wished to come ashore a chapel would be given them to stay in. The
whole crew came ashore in the boats at once. I gave your old room to the
captain, his wife and child, and other accommodation to the rest. I
then hurried away to a mandarin and asked him to send men to protect the
ship."

When Kai Bok-su read the story and remembered that, twenty-five years
earlier, the crew of that vessel would have been murdered and their ship
plundered, he exclaimed with joy, "Blessed Christianity! Surely,

     Blessings abound where'er He reigns!"

A Hoa had another tale to tell. One afternoon he had a strange
congregation in that little chapel. There were one hundred and forty-six
native converts and twenty-one Europeans. These were made up of seven
nationalities, British, American, French, Danish, Turkish, Swiss, and
Norwegian. Their ship was from America and was bound for Hongkong with
coal-oil.

They were amazed at seeing a pretty, neat chapel away in this
wild, remote place, which they had always supposed was overrun by
head-hunters, and indeed it was just that little chapel that had made
the great change. These men now entered it and joined the natives in
worshiping the true God, where, only a few years before, their blood
would have stained the sands.

A Hoa told them something of the great Kai Bok-su and the struggles
he had had with savages and other enemies, when he first came to this
region. The visitors were very much interested and did not wonder that
the name "Kai Bok-su" was held in such reverence. When they left, the
captain presented the little chapel with a bell, a lamp, and a mirror
which were on board his ship.

The long months of separation were rolling around, when something
happened that brought Kai Bok-su back to his island in great haste. Once
more war swept over Formosa. This time the trouble was between China
and Japan. The big Empire proved no match for the clever Japanese, and
everywhere China was forced to give in.

One of the places which Japan set her affections on was Formosa. She
must have the Beautiful Isle and have it at once. China was in no
position to say no, so the Chinese envoy went on board a Japanese
vessel and sailed toward Formosa. When in sight of its lovely mountains,
without any ceremony he pointed to the land and said, "There it is, take
it." And that was how Formosa became a province of Japan. At noon on May
26, 1895, the dragon flag of China was hauled down from Formosan forts
and the banner of Japan was hoisted.

Of course this was not done without a struggle. The Formosans themselves
fought hard, and in the fight the Christians came in for times of
trouble. So Kai Bok-su, hearing that his "valuables" were again in
danger, set sail for Tamsui.

When he arrived the war was practically over, but everywhere were signs
of strife. As soon as he was able, he took A Hoa and Koa Kau and visited
the chapels all over the country. Everywhere were sights to make his
heart very sad. The Japanese soldiers had used many of the chapels for
military stables, and they were in a filthy state. At one place the
native preacher was a prisoner, the Japanese believing him to be a spy.
At another village the Christians sadly led their missionary out to a
tea plantation and showed him the place where their beloved pastor had
been shot by the Japanese soldiers. Mackay stood beside his grave, his
heart heavy with sorrow.

But his courage never left him. The native Christians everywhere forgot
their woes in the great joy of seeing him once more; and he joined them
in a brave attempt to put things to rights once more. The Japanese paid
for all damages done by their soldiers and in a short time the work was
going on splendidly.

"We have no fear," wrote Dr. Mackay. "The King of kings is greater than
Emperor or Mikado. He will rule and overrule all things."

His faith was rewarded, for when the troublous time was over, the
government of Japan proved better than that of China, and on the whole
the trial proved a blessing.

Oxford College had been closed while Dr. Mackay was away, and the girls'
school had not been opened since the war commenced, for it was not
safe for the girls and women to leave their homes during such disturbed
times. But now both schools reopened, and again Kai Bok-su with his cane
and his book and his crowd of students could be seen going up to the
lecture halls, or away out on the Formosan roads.

He had conquered so often, overcome such tremendous obstacles, and faced
unflinchingly so many awful dangers for the sake of his converts, that
it was no wonder that they adored him, their feeling amounting almost
to worship. "Kai Bok-su says it must be so" was sufficient to compel any
one in the north Formosa Church to do what was required. Surely never
before was a man so wonderfully rewarded in this life. He had given
up all he possessed for the glory of his Master and he had his full
compensation.

A few happy years sped round. The time for him to go back home again was
drawing near when there came the first hint that he might soon be called
on a longer furlough than he would have in Canada.

At first, when the dread suspicion began to be whispered in the halls
of Oxford College and in the chapel gatherings throughout the country,
people refused to believe it. Kai Bok-su ill? No, no, it was only the
malaria, and he always arose from that and went about again. It could
not be serious.

But in spite of the fact that loving hearts refused to accept it, there
was no use denying the sad fact. There was something wrong with Kai
Bok-su. For months his voice had been growing weaker, the doctors had
examined his throat, and attended him, but it was all of no use. At last
he could not speak at all, but wrote his words on a slate.

And everywhere in north Formosa, converts and students and preachers
watched and waited and prayed most fervently that he might soon recover.
Those who lived in Tamsui whispered to each other in tones of dread,
as they watched him come and go with slower steps than they had been
accustomed to see.

"He will be well next month," they would say hopefully, or, "He
will look like himself when the rains dry." But little by little the
conviction grew that the beloved missionary was seriously ill, and a
great gloom settled all over north Formosa. There was a little gleam of
joy when the doctor in Tamsui advised him finally to go to Hongkong and
see a specialist He went, leaving many loving hearts waiting anxiously
between hope and fear to hear what the doctors would say. And prayers
went up night and day from those who loved him. From the heart-broken
wife in the lonely house on the bluff to the farthest-off convert on
the Ki-lai plain, every Christian on the island, even those in the south
Formosa mission, prayed that the useful life might be spared.

But God had other and greater plans for Kai Bok-su. He came back from
Hongkong, and the first look at his pale face told the dreaded truth. The
shadow of death lay on it.

Those were heart-breaking days in north Formosa. From all sides came
such messages of devotion that it seemed as if the passionate love of
his followers must hold him back. But a stronger love was calling him
on. And one bright June day, in 1901, when the green mountainsides, the
blue rivers, and the waving rice-fields of Formosa lay smiling in the
sun, Kai Bok-su heard once more that call that had brought him so far
from home. Once more he obeyed, and he opened his eyes on a new glory
greater than any of which he had ever dreamed. The task had been a hard
one. The "big stone" had been stubborn, but it had been broken, and not
long after the noontide of his life the tired worker was called home.

They laid his poor, worn body up on the hill above the river, beside
the bodies of the Christians he had loved so well. And the soft Formosan
grass grew over his grave, the winds roared about it, and the river and
the sea sang his requiem.

Gallant Kai Bok-su! As he rests up there on his wind-swept height, there
are hearts in the valleys and on the plains of his beloved Formosa and
in his far-off native land that are aching for him. And sometimes to
these last comes the question "Was it well?" Was it well that he should
wear out that splendid life in such desperate toil among heathen that
hated and reviled him? And from every part of north Formosa, sounding on
the wind, comes many an answer.

Up from the damp rice-fields, where the farmer goes to and fro in the
gray dawn, arises a song:

I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend his cause.

Far away on the mountainside, the once savage mother draws her little
one to her and teaches him, not the old lesson of bloodshed, but the
older one of love and kindness, and together they croon:

Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so.

And up from scores of chapels dotting the land, comes the sound of the
old, old story of Jesus and his love, preached by native Formosans, and
from the thousand tongues of their congregations soars upward the Psalm:

All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice!

These all unite in one great harmony, replying, "It is well!"

But is it well with the work? What of his Beautiful Island, now that Kai
Bok-su has left for a greater work in a more beautiful land? Yes, it is
well also with Formosa. The work goes on.

There are two thousand, one hundred members now in the four organized
congregations, and over fifty mission stations and outstations. But
better still there are in addition twenty-two hundred who have forsaken
their idols and are being trained to become church-members. The Formosa
Church out of its poverty gives liberally too. In 1911 they contributed
more than thirty-five hundred dollars to Christian work. "Every year,"
writes Mr. Jack, "a special collection is taken by the Church for the
work among the Ami--the aborigines of the Ki-lai plain." This is the
foreign mission of the north Formosa Church.

A Hoa lately followed his pastor to the home above, but many others
remain. Mr. Gauld and his family are still there, in the front of the
battle, and with him is a fine corps of soldiers, comprising fifty-nine
native and several Canadian missionaries, including the Rev. Dr. J. Y.
Ferguson and his wife, the Rev. Milton Jack and Mrs. Jack, the Rev. and
Mrs. Duncan MacLeod, Miss J. M. Kinney, Miss Hannah Connell, Miss Mabel
G. Clazie, and Miss Lily Adair. Miss Isabelle J. Elliott, a graduate
nurse, and deaconess, will join the staff shortly, and a few others
will be sent when secured, in order that the force may be sufficient to
evangelize the million people in north Formosa.

Mrs. Mackay and her two daughters, Helen and Mary, the latter having
married native preachers, Koa Kau and Tan He, are keeping up the work
that husband and father left. A new hospital is being built under Dr.
Ferguson, and plans are on foot for new school and college buildings.

And the latest arrived missionary? What of him? Why his name is George
Mackay, and he has just sailed from Canada as the first Mackay sailed
forty-one years earlier. He has been nine years in Canada and the United
States, at school and college, and now with his Canadian wife, has gone
back to his native land. Yes, Kai Bok-su's son has gone out to carry on
his father's work, and Formosa has welcomed him as no other missionary
has been welcomed since Kai Bok-su's day.

But these are not all. From far across the sea, in the land where Kai
Bok-su lived his boyhood days, comes a voice. It is the echo from the
hearts of other boys, who have read his noble life. And their answer is,
"We too will go out, as he went, and fight and win!"







*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK-BEARDED BARBARIAN : THE LIFE OF GEORGE LESLIE MACKAY OF FORMOSA ***


    

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