"Now," she said, "choose two or three men to speak for you. We shall have a
palaver. In that way we will settle this thing."
The four men met and talked with one another while Mary ate breakfast.
"Why do you want to fight and kill because one drunken man wounded your
young chief?" Mary asked the men from the fighting tribe. "Let the tribe
of the drunken youth pay a fine."
A long talk followed. Sometimes it became very exciting. The arguing grew
loud. The father of the young man wanted to have the man who had shot him
punished hard. When the men became angry, Mary would stop them.
"Let us pray about this," Mary would say. After she had prayed they would
settle the point. Finally Mary and her God won out.
The fighting tribe at last agreed to be satisfied with a fine. The village
paid the fine. They did not use money. So the fine was paid in barrels and
bottles of trade gin. Now Mary was worried. What should she do? She knew
the warriors would drink the gin right away. She knew this would make them
fight after all in spite of their promises. A quick thought came to
her. According to the law of these people, clothes thrown over anything
gave it the protection of your body. No one else could touch it. Mary
snatched off her skirt. She took off all the clothes she could spare. She
spread them over the barrels and bottles. Now no one could touch them.
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