One day she received a secret message that two tribes far away were about to go war. A man in one village had wounded a chief in another. Mary said, “I must go and stop it else much blood will be spilt”. Her friends pointed out that she had been ill and could scarcely walk. Yet Mary set out through darkness accompanied by two men with lanterns. She came to one of the villages and asked a chief if they would beat drums as she advanced to one of the villages. This was to warn them that a protected person was traveling.
When she got to the area she heard war drums and yelling … she ran as fast as she could and demanded the warriors desist from fighting. Stunned by her courage they hesitated. She walked boldly toward the other regiment of warriors and she shouted her intent to settle the matter. An old chief came out from the warriors toward her and knelt down at her feet. To her amazement it was the chief she had treated previously. “Ma”, he said, “we are glad you came. We admit that one of our drunken men wounded the chief over there. It was an act in which the rest of us had no part. We are glad for you to speak with our enemy and help make peace.” There was peace.
Though stricken with fever and dysentery she and other diseases many times Mary toiled in Calabar for 40 years. Her house was always filled with orphans.
Mary Slessor, the “Queen of Calabar was constrained to offer to her Lord her very best, and with gladness she broke the alabaster box of her consecrated life and gave the precious ointment to Him for the redemption of many in Africa.