WINNING THE WILD REWANS 55 
And so in the midst of heathen cruelty and cannibal feast- 
ing the gospel of Christ advanced at Rewa. Side by side 
with the works of grace that were now becoming more and 
more evident were the works of darkness in this place; yet 
the light was advancing, and the darkness was receding. 
Even Ratu Nggara, the bitterest of all men to the “wor- 
ship,” was becoming influenced by the work and life of the 
missionaries. Having greatly offended his brother the king, 
this wicked chief was forced to flee to Mbau in exile from 
his own people. After a time he was permitted to return 
to his own tribe, but the king remained unreconciled to him. 
As Ratu Nggara was a dreadful man, and possessed wide 
influence, it was feared that civil war would surely follow. 
Just then the missionary approached the king to intercede 
for this enemy of the church. He offered the usual gift of 
a whale’s tooth, and prayed that the king’s brother might be 
forgiven and war avoided. The king graciously accepted 
the whale’s tooth, but said, “I will not drink . .. with him 
yet. He is a bad man. He was a party to the stealing of 
goods when the missionaries first came; he is an enemy to 
the worship; he has no soul; he is like a bird or a beast, 
or like the Englishmen who come hither because they will 
not worship in their own land. When he is humbled, truly 
humbled, I will forgive him.” 
The king of Mbau, too, sent a messenger with gifts to 
the king of Rewa, beseeching the forgiveness of the king’s 
brother. This messenger was a heathen priest. The king 
of Rewa, however, refused the messenger’s request, and 
would not accept his gift. This threw the messenger into 
a rage, and he required the king to say why he had received 
favorably the missionary when he had come for the same 
purpose, and now rejected the overtures of his royal master 
of Mbau. 
To this the king replied: “I know that they [the mission- 
aries] are come out of love to me, and that their words are 
true. They speak like friends, and desire good. They do 
