FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH 185 
Evidently at that time his work was not yet fully done, 
his service was not yet finished. Sad and mysterious though 
it is that a life so useful should so tragically close just when 
its continuance seemed so necessary, there can be no doubt 
that the cause for which he so nobly lived has been won- 
derfully served by his death. Perhaps no other thing could 
have occurred which would so effectually have aroused pub- 
lic indignation against the iniquitous traffic that caused his 
death. 
But the full tale of sorrow is not yet told. Stephen Ta- 
roniara, one of the bishop’s Melanesian companions on that 
fateful day, died from the many arrow wounds he received. 
The poor fellow suffered much, but bore it all with great 
patience. After about a week, he passed away peacefully, 
and his name has been added to the list of Melanesian mar- 
tyrs. Mr. Atken, too, whose wound at first did not cause 
much concern (but several days after he had received his 
wound, symptoms of poisoning appeared), was numbered 
with those who should die for the cross of Christ. On the 
fifth day after being wounded, he wrote to his mother in 
Auckland, saying: 
“John (a native) is wounded in the right shoulder, and I 
in the left. We are both maimed for the time, but if it were 
not for the fear of the poison, the wounds would not be 
worth noticing. I do not expect bad consequences, but they 
are possible. What would make me cling to life more than 
anything else is the thought of you at home; but if it be 
God’s will that I am to die, I know that He will enable me 
to bear it and bring good for you out of it.” 
Even while he penned these lines the deadly poison was 
working through his system, and he died in the course of a 
few more days, in great agony, but dying as he had lived, 
in the Master’s service. 
Another has said: ““It is well that we should know what 
stuff there may be, unknown to us, in the men whom we 
meet in common life, doing their allotted work steadily and 
