Chapter 20

Benjamin sat on the beached and looked out over the ocean. It had been two days since he had been speared at the village. He was sure that it would only be a matter of time before it happened again. These natives were apparently bad people. He now wished that he had sailed with Columbus. Maybe he could have convinced the Spaniards that he meant them no harm and that he had not part in the merchant ship affair.

He saw a flock of geese flying south in the distance. He watched them until they were out of sight. A thought came to him. These were migratory birds. There must be land even further west of this island. He had seen a boat back at the village. He wondered if the villagers used the boat to get to the other land. He had no way of knowing how far the Grand Bahama Island was from the North American coast. He knew that he had to get off of this island. This heat was causing him to have nightmares every night.

It took him a day to find the village again. Apparently the villagers had come back and had resumed their life, but had left when he returned again. With much difficulty, he dragged the boat through the brush to the beach. As it was nearing dusk, he decided to wait until morning before starting out. He spent the night on the beach. The heat was not as bad as in the brush, but the nightmares came anyway.

In the morning he started out on his journey. He decided to head west, as that was the direction that Columbus had taken, and he had found land. He pushed the boat into the water. These were backward people. Even their boat is no more than a carved out log. He used the paddle that he had found laying next to the boat in the village and headed west. The sky was starting to turn dark and he knew that he was going to get wet before nightfall. The sea was fairly calm until afternoon when the size of the waves increased. By evening he was in the midst of a fierce storm.

He had no idea that it was the hurricane season in this part of the world. He was in a tiny boat in a hurricane. In a while he lost the paddle and he was trying to hold onto the boat. The storm tossed the boat like a feather in the wind and he was afraid that he would be swept back to the island that he had just left. The storm seemed to rage forever and he became exhausted trying to hold onto the boat. He became delirious and he would lose consciousness at times. When he would raise his head he thought that he saw Ahgur sitting in the front of the boat grinning at him.

When Benjamin awoke, he opened his eyes to find that he was on a beach. His cassock was in shreds. There was no sign of the boat or paddle. He knew that he was not on the island; the vegetation was unlike that of the island. The sun came out shortly and dried his clothes, but also made him aware of his thirst. He walked into the woods that came almost to the water's edge and searched for water. He found a stream and drank until his thirst was done. He needed food and wondered which of the local plants were edible.

After he had rested, he stood up and stretched. He had to find food. Suddenly two arrows came from the woods and went into his chest. Again the pain was almost unbearable. He fell against a tree and tried to keep from collapsing to the ground. From the amount of blood that was coming from his chest, he knew that one arrow had pierced his heart. He grabbed the arrows and with a great effort pulled them out of his chest. The pain was so great that he fell to his knees. He saw two scantily clad natives come out of the woods and approach him warily. As the pain subsided he got up and approached the natives. They started to back away with their eyes wide. They were so afraid that they could not move. He grabbed one of them. He ripped his cassock open and let the native watch as both wounds healed until there was no indication that he had been wounded.

The natives dropped their arms. They wanted to run, but they did not know this creature's powers. Benjamin sat down and motioned for them to sit next to him. They hesitated and then sat down a good distance from him. He got up and went to them and sat close to them. They handed him their bows and looked into his eyes. They both knew that they would die today at the hands of this creature.

He examined the bows. Although they were backward weapons compared to English weapons, he could see that great care was taken in their manufacture. The arrowheads were made of stone instead of metal. Suddenly he realized that they had made him a gift of the bows. He pulled the dagger from his belt and handed it to the native close to him. The native took it and examined it closely. He showed it to the other native and pointed at the metal blade with much interest. When he tried to give it back, Benjamin shook his head and gently pushed it back to him and pointed at the native.

Benjamin motioned that he needed food and one of the men took some dried meat from a pouch on his hip and gave it to him. The native made sure that he didn't touch the strange man that arrows couldn't kill. Several times Benjamin caught himself talking to the men and realized that they didn't understand a word he said. He picked up a stick and drew stick figures of several people, trying to get them to take him to their village. It was a long time before he made them understand. They hesitantly rose and headed for the village.

They walked along a path through the woods for hours until they came to a clearing. At the edge of the clearing, the two natives made him understand that they wanted him to stay where he was until they had talked to the village. The two natives called out to the people in the huts and the huts slowly emptied. There was much talking and screaming and shaking of fists. A man that seemed to be the leader sat on the ground and listened, occasionally asking questions. After about thirty minutes, the two natives that had shot their arrows into him came to the edge of the woods and took Benjamin's arm. They led him to the center of the crowd.

Several of the women ran to their huts and peeked out through the animal hide that served as a door. The leader of the village rose as he neared. He took out a stone knife and walked to Benjamin and with a quick movement drew the knife across his forearm, slicing his forearm open. The cut was deep and the blood started to shoot from the cut. Benjamin held his arm out so that all could see. Within a minute the cut started to heal and when the cut had fully healed, there was nothing on his skin to show that he had ever been cut.

Several of the women ran screaming to their huts and the men backed away from him with fear in their eyes. Benjamin walked to the leader of the village and took his hand and shook the leader's hand. The man tried to pull his hand away, fearful that Benjamin would do something to his hand, possibly even make it disappear. Benjamin held his hand and smiled. The man finally joined in and shook his hand. He thought to himself that this was probably the way Gods greeted each other. Obviously this man that could not die was a God.

Benjamin patted his stomach and pointed to his mouth to let the leader know that he needed food. The native barked an order to the women in the huts and soon some of the women shoved trays of dried fish and roasted deer and vegetables out of the huts. They refused to come out of the hut to face the new God.

Benjamin ate most of what they brought. The men gathered around him while he ate, amazed that the Gods ate like humans. The men talked constantly throughout his meal. Several of them got brave enough to touch him to see if Gods felt different than humans.

Benjamin saw the leader of the village lean to another man and tell him something. The man got up and ran down a path, away from the village. Little did he know that the runner was spreading the news of the great white God who could not be killed to all of the tribes that traded with the people this village. Within a year, one tribe would tell another and his arrival would be talked about around every campfire from coast to coast. Many stories would be told about his exploits and many people claimed that he had saved them from a bear or other calamity. Stories were told about him carrying a bear under each arm to feed the village and moving rivers closer to the village so the women would not have to carry water so far.

Chapter 21