Hawaii - James Michener [167]
"You will never be a member of the church, Malama," Abner warned. "And when you die, you will suffer hellfire forever."
"Tell me about hellfire again, Makua Hale," Malama begged, for she desired to know exactly how much risk she was taking, and when Abner repeated his awful description of souls in eternal torment; Malama shivered and began asking specific questions while tears crept into her big eyes.
"You are sure that Kamehameha the king is in such fire."
"I am positive."
"Makua Hale, once a Catholic ship kapena came to Lahaina and spoke to me about God. Are Catholics in the fire too?"
"They are in the fire forever," Abner said with absolute conviction.
"And the same ship kapena told me about the people in India who have not heard of your god."
"Malama, don't speak of Him as my God. He is God. He is the only God."
"But when the people of India die, do they go into the fire, too?"
"Yes."
"So that the only people who escape are those who join your church?"
"Yes."
Triumphantly, she turned to Kelolo and said, "You see how terrible the fire is. If you keep that platform out there, hanging onto old gods the way you do, you will live in everlasting fire."
"Ah, no!" Kelolo resisted stubbornly. "My gods will care for me. They will never let me burn, for they will take me to their heaven, where I will live beside Kane's water of life."
"He is a foolish man!" Malama reflected sadly. "He's going to burn and he doesn't know it."
"But, Malama," Abner pointed out, "if you continue to live with Kelolo in such horrible sin, you also will live in everlasting fire."
"Oh, no!" the big woman corrected. "I believe in God. I love Jesus Christ. I am not going to live in fire at all. I will keep Kelolo nth me only until I begin to feel sick. We have agreed that before I die I will send him far away, and then I shall be saved."
Then Abner played his trump card. Pointing his finger at her, he boldly faced her and warned: "But it is your minister alone who can let you enter the church. Have you thought of that?"
Malama pondered this unexpected news and studied her tormentor. Se was a foot shorter than she, less than half her age, and weighed about a third as much. Cautiously she probed: "And it will be you who judges whether I have been a good woman or not."
"I will be the judge," Abner assured her.
"And if I haven't been . . ."
"You will not be accepted into the church."
Malama reviewed this impasse for some time, looking first at Abner and then at Kelolo, until finally she asked briskly, "But maybe you won't be here at the time, Makua Hale. Maybe there will be some other minister."
"I will be here," Abner said firmly.
Malama studied this gloomy prospect, sighed in resignation, and then changed the subject abruptly. "Tell me, Makua Hale, what things must I do if I am to be a good Alii Nui for my people?"
And Abner launched into the work which would have great political consequence in Hawaii. At first only Malama and Kelolo attended his daily instruction, but gradually the lesser alii reported, and when King Liholiho or his regent-mother Kaahumanu were in residence, they too appeared, questioning, rejecting, pondering.
Constantly, Abner reiterated a few simple ideas. "There must be no slaves," he said.
"There are slaves in America," the alii countered.
"It is wrong in America, and it is wrong here. There must be no slaves."
"There are slaves in England," his listeners insisted.
"And in both America and England good men fight against slavery. Good men should do the same here." When his moral arguments bore no fruit, he resorted to exhortation, crying, "I was afloat on the