“But Tiyotari, where are you going?” the chief asked.
“I’m going to teach another group of people. They are called the Aucas, and they live across the border in Ecuador,” Rachel replied.
Chief Tariri looked at Rachel with sad eyes. “But we want you here,” he said.
“I cannot stay. I must go to the Aucas and tell them about God, as I have told you and your people about Him. I would like to stay with you, but I must go,” Rachel said.
Several days before Rachel’s departure, Chief Tariri came to Rachel. He gave her a gift—a headdress made of brightly colored toucan feathers just like the one he wore. The wing feathers of the bird had been woven together in the front to form a crownlike ring, and at the back, a long tail of feathers hung down. With tears in her eyes, Rachel accepted the gift. She would miss Chief Tariri.
“When will we ever see you again?” the chief asked.
Rachel was too choked with emotion to answer.
At 6:00 am on the day of her departure, Rachel climbed into the dugout canoe for the trip down the Pushaga River to meet the airplane that would ferry her to the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ jungle base camp at Yarinacocha. Chief Tariri and his family accompanied her on the five-hour trip downriver. When they arrived at the Morona River, the Wycliffe airplane was waiting for her. After an emotional good-bye to Chief Tariri and his family, Rachel climbed aboard the small plane. Soon the aircraft was buzzing over the dense carpet of jungle on its way to Yarinacocha. Finally, at 6:00 pm, after a refueling stop for the airplane, Rachel arrived at her destination, exhausted from her day of traveling and emotional good-byes.
The following evening Rachel went to the dining room at Yarinacocha to eat dinner. Cameron Townsend and his young wife, Elaine, greeted her as she came in the door. Rachel talked with them for a minute or two and then sat down at a table with Catherine Peeke and Mary Sargent, who had been her closest missionary neighbors while she was living with the Shapras. Catherine and Mary had been working among the Záparo Indians, who lived along the Pastaza River close to the Ecuadorian border. Rachel knew the river because it flowed through Shell Mera to the north in Ecuador. As the women sat eating, Catherine casually asked Rachel, “Where are you going next?”
Rachel hesitated for a moment before she finally said, “I’m not going back to the Shapras. My new tribe is across the border.”
“In Ecuador?” Catherine asked.
Rachel nodded. “Yes, in Ecuador. I’m going to work among the Aucas.”
Catherine and Mary looked puzzled, and Rachel knew why.
“But Wycliffe isn’t working there,” Catherine finally exclaimed.
Once again Rachel nodded her head. “I know,” she said.
Still puzzled, Catherine and Mary ate on in silence.
Rachel herself was puzzled. She felt that God was leading her to the Aucas, but the very missionary organization she served with did not work in Ecuador. She had no idea how God would work the situation out. She just trusted that eventually He would.
As dinner was drawing to a close, Cameron Townsend stood up. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. The dining room quickly fell silent, and all eyes were on Uncle Cam, as everyone affectionately called him. Rachel watched as Uncle Cam held up a letter he had just received. “I would like to read to you this letter that arrived today. It is from the Ecuadorian ambassador to the United States inviting SIL to come and work in Ecuador.”
Rachel gasped. Catherine and Mary looked at her, wide-eyed. Rachel’s heart pounded. This is my opportunity, she told herself. God has opened the way for me to work with the Aucas!
Chapter 6
Hacienda Ila
Rachel could hardly contain her excitement as she stepped out of the guest house where she was staying into the bright afternoon sun that beat down on Quito, Ecuador. Beside her stood Catherine Peeke. As the two women waited for a taxi to arrive, Rachel did not feel like chatting. Her mind was elsewhere. She hardly knew which was the more thrilling event to look forward to today—meeting with a man reputed to know more about the Auca tribe than anyone else in the world or being officially introduced to the president of Ecuador.
In the days since making the move to Ecuador, Rachel had tried hard to find a way to reach the Aucas. She realized that it would be too dangerous to attempt to make contact directly with the tribe in the jungle. She hoped, though, that somewhere in Ecuador she would find an Auca Indian who had fled the tribe for some reason and who would be willing to teach her the Auca language. As a result she and Catherine had asked around Quito to see whether anyone knew of an Auca who had left the tribe. In the course of her doing this, a government official had recommended don Carlos Sevilla. “He knows more about the Aucas than anyone else,” the official had said. “He has a hacienda in the jungle near their territory, and everyone calls him the Daniel Boone of Ecuador.”
Soon a taxi arrived, and Rachel and Catherine climbed in. They gave the cab driver the address, and soon they were zooming through the narrow, bumpy streets. After a few minutes the driver brought the taxi to a halt outside a large, stuccoed house, much like the house in which Rachel had visited Dan Warburton three and a half years before. The house was don Carlos Sevilla’s town home, where he stayed for several months each year.
Rachel and Catherine eagerly strode up to the front door and knocked. A house girl opened the door and let them inside. A few moments later don Carlos strolled into the room. He made an impressive sight. He was tall, muscular, and square-shouldered. His eyes were bright blue, and his once dark hair was streaked with gray. He politely introduced himself and guided Rachel and Catherine to a courtyard at the back of the house, where they all sat down in firm, straight-backed wooden chairs around a low table. Rachel and Catherine told don Carlos a little about their backgrounds. Rachel then went on to tell him how she hoped to one day live among the Aucas and share the gospel with them. She explained that she and Catherine had been directed to him because he supposedly knew more about the Aucas than anyone else in the country.
Don Carlos listened quietly while Rachel spoke. When she had finished, he laughed nervously.
“You cannot be serious,” don Carlos exclaimed. “This would not be a wise course of action. No one lives among the Aucas. They are unpredictable and savage. You will surely be killed if you try. You are right when you say I know much about the Aucas. I have had much contact with them, but alas, this is all it has got me.”
With that, don Carlos pulled up his loose cotton shirt. His torso was a maze of scars. “I have fought hand to hand with the Aucas,” he continued, “and I am lucky to have survived to tell about it. Once I walked for eight days through the jungle to safety after being speared by an Auca warrior. So when I say these people are wild and unpredictable, I speak from experience.”
Don Carlos paused for a moment and then continued. “I went in 1914 to live in the Oriente, where I established Hacienda Capricho in the jungle along the Rio Curaray. There I grew cotton and rice. But this location was inside Auca territory, and they would not let me or my workers alone. We were constantly stalked and attacked by them. Finally, in 1918, their savagery became too much. While I was away here in Quito, the Aucas attacked Hacienda Capricho and speared to death all of my workers. That was when I decided I could no longer stay there and grow crops. So I abandoned the hacienda and established a new one, Hacienda Ila, on the banks of the Anzu River, well away from Auca territory. There I employed many people, most of them Quichua Indians. I sent groups of my workers out into the jungle to collect rubber from the trees. I gave them instructions to be as kind as possible to any Aucas they encountered, to extend the hand of friendship.”
Don Carlos shook his head. “But the Aucas do not understand friendship as you or I understand it. All they understand is killing. And over the years they have ambushed and killed many of my workers. And so you see, when I say this idea of yours—two American women living among the Aucas—is crazy and can only lead to certain death, I speak from long experience with this tribe. I urge you not to move ahead with this plan.”
Rachel sat silently for a moment before responding to what don Carlos had said. “Señor Sevilla, I thank you for your concern and warning. I am aware of the great danger that lies ahead. Be that as it may, I cannot turn back from this course because it is dangerous, when God has so clearly called me to it and arranged the circumstances for me to come to Ecuador. Yet neither do I intend to go unprepared into the jungle to find the Aucas. My plan is to first learn their language and as much about their culture as possible. To this end I was hoping that you might be able to help me. Perhaps you know of an Auca who has left the tribe and from whom I can learn as much of the Auca language as possible.”
“I have warned you. That is all I can do. I cannot stop you from following your plan,” don Carlos said, looking straight at Rachel. “As to your request, my house girl speaks Auca. Perhaps she can help you.”
Don Carlos called his house girl out to the courtyard and explained that Rachel wanted her to speak Auca words so that she could learn them.
Delighted to finally meet someone who spoke the Auca language, Rachel began by asking the house girl to speak various words in Auca and then use the words in a sentence. The house girl spoke the words, and Rachel scribbled them down phonetically in a notebook. As Rachel worked away, Catherine listened carefully to the house girl’s words. Catherine had learned the Quichua language while in Peru, and after a while she leaned over and whispered into Rachel’s ear, “She is not speaking pure Auca. She is mixing Quichua words with it.”
Rachel stopped immediately. She knew from her SIL training that it was impossible to learn a language from someone who kept mixing her native tongue with a newly acquired one. Disappointed, she turned to don Carlos. “Unfortunately we will not be able to use this girl, because she appears to be mixing Quichua and Auca words together.
Don Carlos looked surprised and impressed. “Your observation is very astute. Indeed she is Quichua. She was captured by the Aucas as a young girl and lived among them for many years, learning their language. But it is a long time now since she escaped. Perhaps you are right. She may have forgotten much of the language. She has no one to speak it with. However, if you want to learn the Auca language, I have four Aucas working for me at Hacienda Ila in the Oriente. I will be going back there in several days for an extended period of time, and you may come and stay with me there and learn the language from them, if that is what you have your heart set on.”
Rachel didn’t know what to say. This was more than she had hoped for—not one but four speakers of the Auca language. “I would very much like to take you up on your most generous offer, señor Sevilla,” Rachel replied.
After leaving don Carlos’s home, Rachel and Catherine climbed into another taxi and headed for the residence of Ecuador’s president, Velasco Ibarra. As the taxi bumped along, Rachel thought about her conversation with don Carlos; it had exceeded her wildest hopes. She silently prayed that her contact with the four Auca girls at Hacienda Ila would somehow lead her to their tribe. But as she prayed, questions swirled in her head. Why had these Aucas left their tribe in the first place? Would the tribe welcome them back? And most important, would they be willing to trust Rachel and teach her their language? These were questions Rachel knew she could not answer. Instead she quoted a Bible verse to herself. “All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” As the taxi drove through the gates to the president’s residence, Rachel told herself that indeed everything would work together for good.
