ABSTRACT
OUR return home was none too SOOD, for mission boys inan exhausted condition arrived with the sacramental vessels of Bishop Maples. Laying theln at nlY feet,
they burst into tears, crying: "Baba! Baba! Askofu!"" (Father! Bishop!)
" 'Vhere is he ?.,., I ask ed. "Drowned with Padre Willialns in the lake, sir! ,., It was a great shock to me, for I had kno,vn lVlaples for
years as one of the lnost able and progressive lnissionaries in Nyasaland. I was ilnpatient with their tantalising delay in telling me more, and cried, ""Thcre-when-ho,v?"" 1."'hen followed a description of how they started from the south with a strong fair wind at night. A naval officer 'yarned thenl not to attempt such a dangerous passage whilst the wind ,vas so strong, but the Bishop was anxious to get to his station. As they made their way up the lake, every nlile exposed them to heavier seas, and the native captain begged to be allo\ved to run for shelter; but to this the Bishop would not consent. 1.'hey ran on under a mizen and mainsail, when suddenly, out of the darkness, high rocks appeared right ahead. Every seaman kno,vs what happened. The hellIl was suddenly jammed hard alee, the mizen caught the full ",-eight of the wind, and, as she broached to, the next following sea capsized her and threw them into the lake. Williams was asleep in a small cabin and sank with the boat. 'l"he captain, in his evidence before me at the inquest over the Bishop"s body, which was found some days subsequently, said:
" l\fter the boat capsi~ed the Bishop scrambled on to a tin
box, but it filled and sank. We begged him to remove his cassock, but he refused, saying, 'Never luincl me; I feel my hour to die has conle, you swim on shore and tell the Europeans of our death." His cassock filled with water and he sank.")'
What a tragic ending to a splendid life devoted to the good of Africans! I could not help recalling that wild night on 'l"anganyika, when the squall strnck us and, nlomentarily blinded by lightning, we ,verc hurled in a sinlilar manner into the \vaves. But I ,vas not encumbered with a cassock; otherwise this ,vould never have been written.
