CHAPTER 28
THE RESCUE
When he first regained consciousness, Nephi did not
remember his monumental fall. The sail
covered his eyes so he did not know where he was or how he got there. Little by little, memories of crossing the
many waters, coming under attack, and crashing to the ground came back to him.
He was thankful that as far as he could tell, he was
not seriously hurt. He was alive! He wiggled and squirmed and managed to unbury
himself from the sand which covered him from head to toe. He found an opening in the sail and crawled through. He looked around in wonder at his new land
which was actually the old land, the land where his forefathers once lived. Now that he had arrived, the reception was
definitely different than anything he had previously imagined.
Lehi was next to crawl out from
beneath the sail, followed shortly afterward by Hantuman. All three men appeared to be fine physically.
But their hearts were broken to see the thieves from
the pirate ships in the process of pillaging and destroying their own beloved ship.
The pirates apparently did not find what they were
looking for in the wreckage. Some
thieves came up to Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman and yelled out threats and curses
in a language that Nephi did not understand.
Nephi tried to calm them down and spoke to them in his language, but
that only made them angrier.
The enraged men shouted even louder. Then impatiently, three of the pirates rushed
up and grabbed Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman from behind. They tore their robes away from their
bodies. A devilish-looking pirate made a
swift gesture and each of the three pirates simultaneously delivered a single,
hard blow with a heavy club to the back of the head of Nephi, Lehi, and
Hantuman. The trio of travelers collapsed
on the ground unconscious.
The pirates did not stay very long at
the wreckage and left disappointed because the foreigners had nothing of value
for them to steal. They returned to
their swift ships and were soon departed leaving Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman on
the shore, half-dead.
Two men from a nearby coastal village
happened to notice the shipwreck as they traveled by near the end of the day.
The first man looked through the
wreckage and took a few things he thought might be useful. Then he discovered Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman
left for dead on the shore. He noticed
they were still alive; but he could do nothing to help them, so he went his way
and did nothing.
Likewise, the second man, upon finding
Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman in the sand, went around on the other side of the
sand dune to avoid helping them.
But after that, a merchant who had
traveled from Samaria came to the coast.
He journeyed frequently to this land for his business in the trade of
incenses and perfumes made from frankincense and other fragrant spices. He had seen the pirate ships from a distant
hill. This merchant was all too familiar
with the many dangers that often befall travelers in this particular
country. Therefore, he was constantly on
the alert to guard against the thieves and pirates that made this trade route a
very risky adventure. When he saw the
shipwreck, he knew somebody was probably hurt.
So he came on his camel to the shore and saw
that Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman were indeed seriously injured, but not beyond
his ability to assist. And when he saw
them, he had compassion on them and wanted to help them. So he went to them and awakened them by
dripping refreshing water on their faces.
He gave them wine to drink and poured aromatic, soothing oil on them to
take away most of the pain from their many bumps and bruises.
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