‘Own ship!’ They gaped at the stranger in amazement.

Meanwhile, more people had gathered near him. They jostled with each other to get closer to the man. Ho Han came and stood at the back of the crowd and craned his neck to see what was happening. Ho Yen stood behind him indifferently, as if he was waiting for an order from his master. For him, Ho Han was his master now.

The man was speaking in a loud voice, as though he was delivering a lecture. The gathering looked at him in awe and kept nodding. The man wore chains of gold and pearls round his neck. He carried a pouch full of silver in his hand. His healthy appearance reflected his prosperity.

‘What is not there in that country? You can say gold is lying on the streets and with just a little toil one can live there like a king. What do we have in this country? Do we even have enough to eat after toiling day in and day out? Can we live in happiness? No, we cannot. Today if it’s the floods, tomorrow it will be the drought. As soon as the crops are almost ready for harvesting, there is a locust attack. We are all dying of hunger. We all know what famine means,’ he said exasperatedly. He paused for a moment and then said, ‘There is suffering in this land. Lots of suffering! We still live here because we love this country. We tolerate our suffering. But if we had the option of going to a country which is beautiful in every way, what would we do? Think. Think for yourself.’ The man stopped.

‘What would I do? What indeed?’ Ho Han thought.

The man resumed, ‘We would go away to that land, surely we would. I left this country after getting such an opportunity. My father was a farmer and I worked with him. Having two square meals a day was a big thing for me. But one day I met a saviour.’

He paused abruptly; the people surrounding him had started to whisper amongst themselves. After the rumbling ceased, the man started once again.

‘At the time, there were a few friends with me,’ he continued. ‘The messiah told us that he lived abroad and had come to his old village for a few days. He wanted to show his village folk how to be rich. I asked him where he lived and that’s when he told me about Prince of Wales Island. There were very few people, but plenty of jobs. A day’s earning there is what we earn in six months here! His life had completely changed after going there. Thereafter, he took his brothers. After working for some time, his brothers had returned with enough money to last a lifetime. With nothing to do for himself, he came back to take a few of his poor countrymen, so that they too could live the good life. We asked him what we had to do in order to go there. He told us that we had to sign an agreement to work there for seven years. After which we would have the option either to return, or to start our own business there. Even if we returned home, we would have earned so much money that we could spend the rest of our lives without lifting a finger.’