"I am going to take one of your finest young men with me. If I find that
you have told me a lie, I will kill him."
Njiri's warriors captured a young man and took him along. If the villagers
had tried to rescue him, he would have been killed, and many of them would
have been killed also. They sent a man to Mary.
"Ma," said the man, "please help us. Please get Njiri to free Kolu."
"I don't like to have anything to do with Njiri. He is very wicked. But I
will go and try to get Kolu free."
Mary went to the village of Chief Njiri. She walked right up to the
chief. The warriors of Chief Njiri looked at her with angry faces. They
shook their spears at her.
"Chief Njiri," said Mary, "why have you taken this young man? He has done
you no harm. You are doing a bad thing."
"Ha, ha," laughed Chief Njiri. "Do you think I am so foolish, Ma? I know
these people put bad medicine in my path. I saw the sticks and shells which
the witch doctor took from my leg. If sickness comes, I will kill this
man."
"The village people have sworn to you that they did not put those things in
your path," said Mary.
"Perhaps they are lying."
"They are not lying, but you have lied. You promised to go home and not
harm these people. You lied to me. You have made trouble. You went to their
village and made them swear. You stole this young man. It is wrong to
lie.
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