27. Born Again

CHAPTER 27

BORN AGAIN

          The following day, pleasant weather again prevailed and a light but steady breeze pushed the ship ahead.  Lehi stayed on deck to watch while Nephi and Hantuman worked to remove the enormous amounts of water that remained from the baptism the night before.

Hantuman was very concerned that all their supplies were ruined and that everything they had would soon be spoiled.  Without admitting it, Nephi and Lehi were also feeling anxious about their present situation.  They all hoped their losses were not too great.

          “Hey!  You’d better both come up here to see this!” Lehi shouted down to Nephi and Hantuman.  “Hurry!”

          “Oh no!  Not more giant waves coming, are there!?” Hantuman shouted back.

          “No.  Not waves.  This is a good thing!”

          “So what is it then?”  Hantuman was relieved to learn that it wasn’t another bad thing.  “Just tell us.”  He didn’t want to take any time away from trying to save the supplies if he didn’t have to.”

          “No.  I want you both to witness this for yourselves.”  Lehi definitely sounded excited.

          Hantuman followed Nephi as they both stopped what they were doing and joined Lehi on the deck.  “So what is it?” asked Hantuman.

          “See for yourself,” said Lehi as he pointed to the top of the mast.  “We have a new passenger today!”

          “Well, I’ll be.  So we do!” Hantuman’s face broke into a huge smile.

          Their new passenger was a large, white seabird.  It rested on the mast for a minute, and then it expanded its very long wings and gracefully rose into the air above them.  It circled the ship three times and swooped lower to make a pass over the deck and lo, in its mouth was a leaf on a small branch.  The seabird soon appeared to lose interest in the ship and soared higher into the air.  It flew away before them with seemingly little effort and did not return.

          “Thanks, Lehi,” Hantuman said quietly after the seabird had departed.  “I did want to see that for myself.”

Then Hantuman, unaware that he was putting himself in charge, naturally resumed his role as captain of the ship.  “All right.  Starting now we need to make sure that somebody is on watch continuously.  Day and night, no exceptions.  We also need to regularly check the depth of the sea.  I don’t want to have come this far only to get shipwrecked on some coral reef in shallow waters.”

          “Watchman at your service,” replied Lehi and he gave Hantuman a formal salute.  Both men grinned joyfully at each other.

          Nephi slipped away by himself to a private spot near the stern.  There he fell to his knees and stayed with his head bowed and eyes closed for a few moments.

After that, everybody went back to work.  Nephi and Hantuman were waist deep in flood water.  It was hard work.  Lehi wanted to help but had been strictly commanded by Hantuman to continue his watch.

Although they were back to the same chores, and the same problems still faced them after the flood, the white seabird had changed things.  The bird was the dove returning to Noah’s ark to show that the waters were abated from off the earth.  For the first time in a long time, their hope grew and their spirits were lighter.

More birds were seen each day after that.   Just one or two at a time at first.  Then dozens of them flew in large lines across the sky, coming towards them in the morning and back the other way in the evening.

Finally, in the early morning of a clear day, land!  Real land!

The first bit of land turned out to be nothing more than a small, uninhabited island.  Hantuman carefully and skillfully circled the island.  Nephi and Lehi watched to make sure the ship did not go into water that was too shallow.  The island was a simple shelf of land, practically flat, and nothing more than home to countless seabirds.

“We’d better go on,” advised Nephi.  “But we’re getting closer!”

By mid-day, Nephi was at the watch.  A low lying bank of clouds had formed which continued to linger along the horizon for the most of the morning.  The temperature had risen with the heat of the sun and the clouds began to thin.  As they did so, rising out the water ahead of them was more land.  Lots of land!

More land!  Nephi called out to Lehi and Hantuman to come and see.  He didn’t need to.  They had already noticed that the cloud bank was lifted, and in its place, the land that was directly ahead.

“Praises be to God Almighty!” Hantuman sang out loudly.

“Hallelujah!” shouted Lehi.

Nephi studied intently the scene before them.  The land ahead of them was still a considerable distance away, perhaps a half-day’s sailing unless the wind was good.  But even at this distance he could see that there were substantial cliffs, and what appeared to be rather high mountains along the coastline which extended to the right and to the left as far as he could see.  “This looks like the right place,” he stated.  “It looks exactly like the land which was shown to me in vision.  Sail on!”

The coastline gradually drew nearer and nearer as the day drew to a close.  The initially thin line of land widened into towering cliffs and hills. Before evening, they lowered the main sail and dropped an anchor.  Sunset approached.  They decided to wait until morning light before exploring further ahead.

Nephi conducted their devotional that evening.   He said that he wanted to make the devotional shorter than usual that evening since they were probably going to have a long and exciting day the next day.  He thought it would be a good idea if they all got plenty of rest ahead of time.

Nephi used the devotional to talk about the way their first father Nephi described arriving at the promised land after his long voyage across the many waters.  The description was a mere statement of fact.  “Our first father Nephi wrote: ‘And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land.’

“The point I am trying to make,” Nephi explained to Lehi and Hantuman, “is that for our first father Nephi, making it to the promised land was not the end goal.  It was a new beginning.  After they arrived in the promised land, they planted seeds and found food.  Soon after that, they found ore out of which our first father Nephi made plates upon which to write the precious and sacred things that needed to be handed down from generation to generation.  That was more important to him than a description of his excitement to finally reach the promised land.”

To conclude the devotional, and prior to their individual prayers of gratitude, Nephi chose a different psalm to sing.

“Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,

and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

“And let them sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and declare his works with rejoicing.

“They that go down to the sea in ships,

that do business in great waters;

“These see the works of the Lord,

and his wonders in the deep.

“For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind,

which lifteth up the waves thereof.

“They mount up to the heaven,

they go down again to the depths:

their soul is melted because of trouble.

“They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,

and are at their wits’ end.

“Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,

and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

“He maketh the storm a calm,

so that the waves thereof are still.

“Then are they glad because they be quiet;

so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”

          They were all up and eager to get going early the next morning.  Lehi had volunteered for the longest watch during the night, but even he wasn’t feeling a bit tired.

Hantuman kept the ship at a safe distance from the shore line.  He did not want to venture too close to the cliffs in case there were hidden rocks or reefs just under the surface of the water.  He was unfamiliar with this land and the waters surrounding it.  He worried that unfamiliar currents could cause problems.  What other dangers might be secretly hiding just out of sight?

At Hantuman’s suggestion, and with Nephi’s approval, they sailed up the coastline to look for an inlet, a bay or a cove, or any suitable harbor where it would be safer for them to come onto the land.

          Shortly after mid-day, Hantuman spotted a promising location.  The rocky cliffs opened up to a spot where a peaceful bay welcomed them.  A river of fresh water originating in the distant mountains of the interior fed into the bay.  The sand dunes on the beach gradually changed into rolling hills farther away from the water.  Tall palm trees grew among the dunes and along the river delta.  No strong currents or other signs of danger could be seen.

          “We’re going to land in there,” Hantuman called out to Nephi and Lehi, pointing at the bay.  “We have a good wind that should take us all the way in.  The way looks clear ahead, and the water is calm so I don’t think we should have any trouble before reaching the shore.

“We’ve done it!  We’ve looked forward to this moment for a long time, and today we begin life in a new world.

          “Somewhere I read, maybe these aren’t the exact words, but God asked Job --- Where were you when the foundations of the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?  Well, Job, today is another day to shout for joy!  Welcome to the land of your forefathers, Nephi and Lehi!”

          “Today is the day I’ve anticipated for a long time,” said Nephi joyfully.

          “Me too,” agreed Lehi.  “And, was anybody told that we were coming today?  --- Because it looks like we have company!”

          Lehi pointed back behind them and to the left from where they had come.  A square yellow sail on top of a long and narrow canoe-like ship was rapidly approaching them from behind.  Another ship, identical to the first, was swiftly coming towards them in the rear from the right.

The greeting ships reduced the distances between them at an amazing pace.  They were moving fast!  At the rate they were traveling, they caught up to Hantuman’s ship in no time.  As they approached, Hantuman was astounded that each ship had a row of long oars on both sides.  The oars worked in unison.  With each stroke of the oars, the ships would glide through the water at tremendous speed.  He tried to count the number of oars.  Five, ten, twenty on each side.  No wonder those ships were so fast!

One curious ship closed in on the left, and the other ship squeezed in at the right.  Several men, at least twenty, maybe twenty-five, could now be seen standing on the decks of each of the new ships.  At least twice that many had to be below the deck manning the oars.  They were well within shouting distance of each other when the strange ships slowed down and drew up alongside Hantuman’s ship.

Lehi waved both of his arms over his head in greeting to the strangers.

          Nobody on the other ships waved back.

          “Is it just me, or do those guys appear to be not very friendly?” Lehi cried the alarm --- but it was too late!

Red and yellow flags were hoisted on the other ships.  The flags had pictures of snakes, crosses, and other strange symbols on them.   A partition dropped which had hidden from view a cache of bows and arrows, and swords and shields.

          “Not only are they definitely NOT friendly,” yelled Hantuman, “they’re terrible seamen!  They’ve left me no room whatsoever to maneuver.  We’re heading straight for the shore and the ship is going to hit land much harder than she should.  Get ready to brace yourselves!”

          A volley of arrows was launched simultaneously from both of the strange vessels.  A rain of about two dozen arrows started to descend down upon them.  Nephi and Lehi fled like frightened rabbits trying to find cover.  Hantuman stood at the wheel of the ship where he remained exposed to the falling arrows. 

          “Get away from there and shield yourself!” demanded Lehi.

          Hantuman hesitated before deciding to run for cover.  He joined Nephi and Lehi as they crouched down together in a tight doorway.  Hantuman figured there wasn’t anything he could do to save the ship from crashing at this point anyway.  After nurturing them for months on the many waters, her labor was accomplished.

More arrows struck near the three men, just missing them.  They curled themselves into fetal positions and made themselves as small as they could to avoid the arrows.

Then they heard and felt the inevitable crash as the ship ran aground.  The hull was torn open, leaving a gaping hole.  This was accompanied with the sounds of crunching and snapping and popping as the ship contracted violently.  She rose up sharply, and then came crashing down with terrific force.  Water rushed in through the hole in the hull. 

          “Hang on!” Hantuman’s warning was useless.

          The crew of sea crossers could do nothing to prevent themselves from first sliding, and then falling head first from their womb.  They were caught in the gushing sea water and delivered to the top of a sand dune.

          Fortunately, the mast and other heavy debris from the shipwreck missed hitting them as it all came down beside them.  The wind lightly lifted the main sail which blew over and covered them like a veil.