CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
Success on Friday
About eleven o'clock Friday morning, January 6, Nate and Pete sat in the small cooking shelter they had built on the sand. Ed was at the upper end of the beach, Roj in the center, Jim at the lower end, continuing their verbal bombardments of the jungle. At 11:15 their hearts jumped when a clear masculine voice boomed out from across the river answering Ed's call. Immediately three Aucas stepped out into the open. They were a young man and two women-one about thirty years of age, the other a girl of about sixteen-naked except for strings tied about the waist, wrists, and thighs, and large wooden plugs in distended ear lobes. The missionaries, temporarily struck dumb by the surprise appearance, finally managed to shout simultaneously, in Auca: "Puinani! ... Welcome!"
The Auca man replied with a verbal flood, pointing frequently to the girl. His language was unintelligible, but his gestures were plain. "He's offering her for trade," exclaimed Pete, "or maybe as a gift."
When it seemed that the Aucas wanted someone to come across, Jim peeled to his shorts and began wading over to them. The others cautioned him to go slow. Jim hesitated and the Aucas were slightly hesitant, but as Jim gradually approached, the girl edged toward the water and stepped off a log. The man and the other woman followed shortly. Jim seized their hands and led them across.
With broad smiles, many "puinanis" and much reference to their phrase books, the five conveyed the idea that their visitors had "come well" and need not be afraid. The Aucas' uneasiness fell from them, and they began jabbering happily to themselves and to the men, "seemingly with little idea that we didn't understand them."
Roj brought out some paring knives, which they accepted with cries of delight. Nate presented them with a machete and model airplane. The others, suddenly remembering the guns in the cook shack and tree house, went back to hide the weapons beneath their duffel. They dug out cameras and shot dozens of photos, while the women looked through a copy of Time magazine, and the man was being doused with insecticide to demonstrate civilization's way of dealing with the swarming pests. The group spontaneously began referring to him as "George."
Presently the girl-the men called her "Delilah"-drifted over toward the Piper, rubbing her body against the fabric, and imitating with her hands the plane's movement. She seemed "dreamy," wrote Pete, "while the man was natural and self-possessed, completely unafraid. They showed neither fear nor comprehension of the cameras."
Pete continued: "Soon the fellow began to show interest in the plane and we guessed from his talk that he was willing to fly over the village to call his comrades. We put a shirt on him (it's cold up high), and he climbed into the plane with no sign of any emotion except eagerness to do his part. He acted out how he was going to call and repeated the words. Nate taxied down the strip and took off while 'George' shouted all the way. After circling and shouting briefly Nate landed again, thinking to give the fellow a rest before making the flight to his village. Nothing doing! He was ready to go right then."
Up they went again, this time to circle Terminal City. What must have been the thoughts of that primitive man as he peered down at the treetops and at the green sea below him, and suddenly recognized a familiar clearing, with familiar figures in it? "George" chortled with delight, and leaned out to wave and yell at his fellow villagers. "The woman at the Old Man's house," wrote Nate, "-her jaw dropped on seeing 'George' ... expression of delight on the face of the young man on the platform."
Back on the sand strip, "George" leaped out, clapping his hands. The five men immediately gave thanks to God, with heads up to try to show their visitors that they were addressing their Heavenly Father. As Ezekiel said, "The Word was in my bones as a living fire," and for these men the drive to deliver to the Aucas the message of redemption through the blood of Jesus was blocked only by the language barrier. If only they might suddenly leap over the barrier and convey to the Indians one hint of the love of God!
The missionaries demonstrated for their guests such modern marvels as rubberbands, balloons, and a yo-yo; served them lemonade and hamburgers with mustard, which they evidently enjoyed. Then they tried to get across the idea that an invitation to visit the Auca village would not be scorned. For this notion "George" displayed no enthusiasm.
"Why is it he's so reluctant whenever we broach the subject?" one of the five demanded.
Another replied: "Maybe he lacks the authority to invite us on his own."
"At 4:15," Nate wrote, "we decide to fly again. 'George' decides to go along. We say 'no.' He puts his machete and envelope of valuables in the plane and looks at Pete as though he had already said it was okay and climbs in. On the way over we finally get Marj on the radio. Great rejoicing.
"Back on Palm Beach we held a strategy meeting; talking of going over to Auca houses if a delegation of, say, six Aucas arrive and seem happy to escort us. After that, every effort would be bent toward building an airstrip in their valley. The fellows tried to explain to 'George' how an airstrip should be cleared in his village."
At first he did not understand their word for trees. When he finally got it, he corrected their pronunciation. They stuck sticks in the sand to represent trees; then, with one of the model planes, Nate showed "George" how the airplane would crash and tumble among the trees. With the model lying on its back among the sticks in the sand, the fellows all shook their heads and moaned in evident distress. The scene was then re-enacted, only this time the fellows took machetes and cut down all the trees (sticks) and smoothed the sand carefully. The model airplane approached for a smooth landing, accompanied by great rejoicing.
As the day wore on, "Delilah" showed signs of impatience. Once when Jim Elliot left the group to climb up to the tree house, she leaped up and followed. When he then turned and rejoined the others, she acted downcast.
Later, as Nate and Pete got ready to return to Arajuno, "George" seemed to understand that he could not accompany them. Before the airplane took off the fellows carefully gathered all of the exposed film and everything that had been written to fly it out for safekeeping. If something unforeseen should happen, they did not want the record lost.
When the Aucas indicated that they might spend the night on the beach, the three musketeers hospitably offered them the small shack they had been using for cooking, motioning that it was theirs to occupy if they wished. "Delilah," however, had other ideas. She wheeled and walked off down the beach. "George" called to her, but she kept going. He followed her into the forest. The older woman stayed by the fire "talking a blue streak with Roj." She stayed on the beach most of the night. The next morning when Jim came down to start the fire, he found her gone, but the embers from her fire were still red.
The events of the next day, Saturday, January 7, were anticlimactic. The men waited hopefully, expecting the Aucas to arrive momentarily with an invitation to their village. But no one came. Around noon Jim looked at his watch.
"Okay, boys," he said. "I give them five minutes. If they don't show up, I'm going over!" Wisdom prevented him from carrying out his threat, but he did go back into the forest on a rudimentary trail he had discovered behind the tree house, hoping to find some trace of them. He found the forest floor remarkably open, and abounding in animal trails, but no human footprints.
Nate and Pete then flew over Terminal City and were disheartened to find some signs of fear. On the first trip all of the women and children ran to hide. A few men in sight seemed relieved to hear Nate call "Come, come, come!" He threw them a blanket and a pair of shorts to reassure them.
On the second flight "George" appeared with a group of men. One old man pointed toward Palm Beach, and "seemed friendly but not exuberant." The third trip showed that fear had vanished. Nate reported: "I got some good smiles from 'George' and another young man who, one can imagine, probably aspires to ride in the plane." Ed wrote a note to Marilou that afternoon:
Dearest Baby:
ft's 4:30 and no sign of our visitors yet but we believe they'll arrive, if not tonight, then early tomorrow. Thanks for the clothes and food again. We are certainly eating well. This has been a well-fed operation from start to end.
We feel now that we ought to press going over there and get the airstrip in as fast as possible-but we'll have to wait and see how God leads us, and them, too. Looks like Pete will be there to help you tomorrow morning. Give Stevie and Mikey my love and tell them I'll see them soon, and Carmela too. All for now. All of my love,
Ed.
Tossing on his bunk that night at Arajuno Nate wondered if everything possible had been done to interest the visitors and encourage them to return with their friends. Why had they been so casual? They seemed almost bored at times as he looked back on it. Jim's explanation had reassured him:
"That's Indian. If you landed him on the moon, he'd be satisfied in five minutes."
As they climbed into the Piper on Sunday morning, Pete called: "So long, girls. Pray. I believe today's the day."
At Palm Beach the fellows enjoyed the ice cream and warm blueberry muffins, fresh from the oven, Marilou had sent along. All then agreed on a visit to Terminal City. This time Nate went alone. Circling over Terminal City, he found only a handful of women and children. This sent his spirits soaring. Undoubtedly the men were at last on their way to the Curaray! And, sure enough, on the flight back he spotted a group of men "en route" to Palm Beach. As he touched his wheels down he shouted to the four, "This is it, guys! They're on the way!"
A contact with Marj in Shell Mera had been arranged for twelvethirty. Breathlessly and still using their code words, Nate told of spotting a "commission of ten" on the way from Terminal City, adding, "Looks like they'll be here for the early afternoon service. Pray for us. This is the day! Will contact you next at four-thirty."