This record of being in a terrible storm is copied from Percy's writings. The missionaries had just left a meeting at the Esperanza Hospital and were on board the Messenger III.

"It was then that the storm struck! Fiercely, unbelievably, the wind shrieked and howled. Our boat, powerful, and strong as she is, was thrown about like a chip. While she was moored at the floats...she broke one large hawser, and we were forced to lay out several new lines to hold ourselves from being hurled on to the shore. That night, as we pulled out into the darkness, and the heaving sea, the whole heavens were pitch black. I could not see one thing alow or aloft. The skipper said, "What time is it?" "Ten-five" was my reply. "At ten twenty-seven we will raise the light at the Narrows," I was informed.

Look and strain as I would, there was no earthly sign of anything for me to see, except when the searchlight would be briefly lit, to scan the waters with its load of heaving driftwood, which was a considerable hazard. At ten twenty-five, the skipper prepared to change his course, and as we swung sharply to starboard, there came the light at the Narrows shining in through the pilothouse windows.

What a wonderful thing it is to have a good skipper at the wheel when things are dark and uncertain in this life of the sea. But what a most marvelous thing to have the Captain of our Salvation at the helm in all the dark and terrible situations which confront men and women, as they make their way from birth to death,--from time to eternity. How I wish I could send that message to every person on this Continent, and tell then that, as certain as the trials and tribulations of this life, so certain is the mercy and grace of God to those who will put their trust in the Living God."