The island of Malta has one chief official and I am he. Generally, I do not receive visitors in the middle of the winter, not because I am inhospitable, but because the winter storms interfere with travel. Yet, in the middle of the stormy season, 276 crew members and passengers of an Alexandrian ship survived being shipwrecked by a north-easter and floated ashore on our island. For three days I entertained in my home some of the shipwrecked including a miracle–worker. My father, who had been suffering from fever and dysentery, was healed by this man who had himself survived an ordinarily fatal snake-bite. Who am I?

I am an Ethiopian eunuch, an official of the royal court and living centuries before Jesus Christ lived on this earth.

There was a righteous prophet by the name of Jeremiah, who, because of his refusal to accept the party line that Jerusalem would be saved, was with the king’s approval, thrown into a cistern. I boldly protested to King Zedekiah that this was a miscarriage of justice, and that if the king did not act quickly he would be guilty of the murder of a righteous man. Surprisingly to some, the king ordered me to take thirty men and rescue the prophet. I used old rags and clothes to pad the ropes with which we pulled him out of the pit. Who am I? 

Lt. G.P. Palmer is 11ow stationed at 453 Worley St., NETC, Newpon, RI 02841