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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12143-0.txt b/12143-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b94fe9 --- /dev/null +++ b/12143-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3235 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12143 *** + +THE THREE COMRADES + +_by Kristina Roy_ + +of Stara Tura, Slovakia. + +Translated by Charles Lukesh + +First Edition, 3,000--November, 1941 + + + + +THE THREE COMRADES + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + + +In the whole wide world there were no comrades who loved each other +better than Petrik,[1] Ondrejko,[2] and Fido. All three were orphans +and had had a hard time in the world thus far. Both parents of Petrik +had died of a malignant fever. He became a public charge and was +sent from place to place, till finally he was placed in charge of +"Bacha"[3] Filina, who was his father's uncle, and had charge of the +sheep pasturing on the mountain clearings of the estate of Lord Gemer. +There was but a poor hut, but to mistreated Petrik it was like a +paradise. Ondrejko, whom they called at home Andreas de Gemer, came +to the old "Bacha" at the order of the doctor, that he might grow +stronger in the mountain air, drinking whey and eating black bread. As +it was, Ondrejko did, and did not, have a father--at least he could +not remember him. He was but two years old when his parents separated +for ever. His mother took him with her when she left, but even then he +did not live with her. She left him with strange people whom she paid +to keep him, and went alone into the world. The people talked about +her; said that she was a famous singer, and that many went from +distant places to hear her. + +[Footnote 1: Diminutive for Peter.] + +[Footnote 2: Diminutive for Andreas.] + +[Footnote 3: "_Bacha_"--shepherd overseer.] + +Ondrejko remembered only one of her visits, and that she was very +beautiful, and brought him a box full of chocolates, a rocking-horse, +a trumpet--and who knows what more? After that he never saw her again, +and probably would never see her any more. The lady with whom he +stayed talked about a law-suit, at the conclusion of which it came +about that he belonged neither to the mother nor the father. Finally, +he came to the castle of Lord Gemer, and from there the doctor sent +him to the mountains because he was like a candle that was ready to go +out. About his father he knew only that he was somewhere far away, and +had already a second wife and two boys. It seemed to him he was as +much of an orphan as Petrik. The dog Fido didn't remember his mother +either, because he had hardly begun to run about the kennel when a +wild boar killed her. Thus it is not surprising that all three loved +each other. + +For Ondrejko they built a special room beside the shepherd's hut. +There were three large sheepfolds, and "Bacha" Filina had charge +of them all. Ondrejko had in his room a real bed, and a spare one +prepared for the doctor when he came to see him; but, because he was +rather lonesome, he preferred to sleep with Petrik on the hay, and +because Fido couldn't follow them to the loft up the ladder, he at +least guarded the ladder so nothing would happen to the boys. Bacha +Filina was a large man like a giant. His face was aged and stern; all +his teeth were still perfectly white and he had not a single gray +hair; but, strangely, his eyebrows began to get gray. But, when he +creased his forehead above his eagle-like black eyes which could see +everything far and wide, it seemed as if storm-clouds were gathering. +Not only both the boys, but everybody else was afraid of these +storm-clouds, even the herdsmen and the sheep, as well as the +longhaired, fourfooted guards of the sheepfold. Bacha Filina did not +get mad easily, but when he did, it was worthwhile. Though Ondrejko +was the son of his lord, Bacha Filina didn't let him get by with +anything. The boy had not been taught to obey; however, Filina taught +him this hard lesson without scolding him or touching him with even +one finger. When the doctor brought him to the mountains he said to +Bacha, "What this boy needs is to eat black bread and drink whey. He +has been raised on fancy foods and they do not agree with him. It +would be good for him to wash in cold water, but he is afraid to get +wet. You must not worry about him being a Lord Gemer because it is a +question of his health." + +"Oh, that!" said the Bacha, wrinkling his forehead, "I am able to +handle such a little brat"--and he was. The first few days Ondrejko +did not dare resist this big man in anything, and now he would not +even dream of it. The boys did not know a more noble man in the whole +world than Bacha Filina. He didn't bother much the whole day what they +did, but in the evening before the sheep were gathered, he sat with +them in God's beautiful nature before the cabin, and there they could, +even had, to tell him everything. They sat near him, one on the one +side, the other on the other, and Fido laid his great hairy head on +the knees of his master and looked on so wisely, that it seemed he, +too, would want to tell all that happened during the day. He was still +a young, lively fellow. You could see by his nose and ears he was not +trained very much; his fur was often quite tangled because he started +quarrels with the older dogs, Whitie and Playwell. + +The first time Bacha found the two boys sleeping together on the hay +he frowned and they were afraid of what was going to happen--but +nothing at all happened; he only ordered Ondrejko to spread his sheet +on the hay and cover himself with a blanket; so they both covered +themselves and slept very well in the fragrant hay. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + + +It was on a Sunday afternoon. The quiet of the holiday was noticeable +even on the mountains where, hand in hand, the little comrades walked. +They were nicely washed and arrayed in Sunday clothing, because Bacha +Filina would not suffer anybody to desecrate Sunday. Everyone who +could, had to go to the next town to church, though it was almost two +hours' walk. He himself seldom went; he was not able to take long +walks. Once a timber fell on his foot in the woods and from that time +on he had pains in it, but since he did not go down to church, he read +in his large old Bible. Today he had gone to church and the boys went +to meet him. They missed him very much. He ordered them to memorize +the reading of the Gospel for the day and each had to recite +separately. + +Suddenly Petrik became silent; he drew his comrade aside and pointed +with a silent nod of the head toward a cut-down tree lying in the +woods. There sat Bacha Filina with his head resting in the palms of +his hands as if something were pressing him down to the black ground. + +"Let us go up to the Bacha," advised Petrik; "he seems to be sad." + +"Truly very sad," worried Ondrejko. "Perhaps the sadness will pass +from him when we come to him." + +The crackling of dry branches under the bare feet of the boys roused +Bacha. He looked around. The children stood a short distance off. +Should they go to him--or not? + +"Where are you going?" he called to them. They came running. "Only to +meet you, Bacha." + +"Well, why did you come to meet me?" His usually rough voice seemed to +sound different. "We were lonesome without you," haltingly admitted +Ondrejko, and presently they sat on the moss carpet at the feet of +Bacha. + +"And why, Bacha, were you sitting here so sadly?" Petrik looked +surprisedly at Ondrejko, that he dared to ask. Would not Bacha be +angry? + +"Did you think that I was sad?" Bacha stroked the golden hair +surrounding the pale face of the child, which in the sunshine looked +like a halo on a saint. + +"And were you not?" The blue eyes of the boy, like two lovely blue +flowers, gazed into the black eagle-like eyes of the man. + +"Well, child, I was sad, and you have done well that you came to +meet me. While I rest a while, recite to me the Gospel that you have +learned." + +Both boys, one after the other, recited the parable of the rich man +and Lazarus. + +"May I ask you, Bacha, to tell me why the rich man did not help +Lazarus?" Petrik dared to ask. + +"Why? Because his heart was like a stone. The dogs were better than +he. Remember that, children, and never do any harm to birds or +animals; they are better than we. Now let us go." + +Bacha took Ondrejko by the hand and giving his book to Petrik they +walked through the woods toward home. High above them in the clearing +sounded the bells of the flock, and off and on the impatient barking +of Whitie and Playwell, and in between sounded the trumpet of the +youngest herdsman, Stephen. He played with such an ardor that it +seemed the notes were running over; + + "Come, come, ye gentle sheep, + Keep out of waters deep; + Pasture on meadows green + Where grass grows sweet and clean." + +How the trumpet resounded as if some one were weeping in the woods! +Even the echo seemed to answer in the same way. + +The boys liked the beautiful tune. They knew the words of this song, +but Bacha bowed down his proud head as though some great burden were +pressing him down. + +After they had finished their simple supper, they sat again as usual +in front of the hut, Bacha on a stump and the boys at his feet. They +were looking one at the other, wondering if they dare ask for some +story. He knew so many of them, and when he was in good humor he knew +very well how to tell good stories. + +"I beg, Bacha, will you not tell us something?" Ondrejko finally +asked, and looked at the same time in such a way at Bacha that he +would have to be a very hard man to refuse. + +Disturbed from his meditation, Bacha looked for a while into the +beautiful inquiring eyes, then with a deep breath he began: + +"Many years ago I was a boy like you two. I'm telling you this that +you may know what you should never become, if the Lord God is not to +be very angry at you. I will tell you today something about myself +which I have not yet told anybody on earth," began Filina. He stopped +a moment and the boys waited eagerly for him to go on. + +"When I was five years old my mother died. My father brought another +mother in the house. She was a young, beautiful woman, a widow. With +her came a son from her first marriage. We called him Stephen, and +when I look at you, Ondrejko, I always have him before me as he +entered our hut for the first time. On his head he had a hat with a +long band, a cloak thrown over his shoulder, an embroidered shirt, and +narrow trousers. He was like a picture of a saint--so beautiful and so +lovely. + +"I was my father's youngest child. The older ones died, so I never had +a brother, and suddenly he came--and was to be my brother. You love +each other--I know. That also reminds me of my childhood. I began to +love him more than I could my own brother. We were of equal age, but +I was strong and he weak; I was wild and he tame; I was ugly and he +beautiful. In spite of this we loved each other, and our parents were +well satisfied. They could leave him under my care--because they knew +I was able to defend him--and could leave me under his care, because +when he was with me I was much more tame. + +"Would that it had remained so always. But a proverb says, not in +vain, that 'Where the Devil cannot go himself he will send an old +woman.' And he sent her to us. It was your father's Aunt, your +great-aunt, Petrik. She came once to us and asked me aside if the new +mother liked me, and was sorry for me that I was a poor orphan. Said +she, 'Who has a step-mother has also a stepfather. Your father doesn't +love you as much as he does Stephen.' She didn't stay long with us. +Just as she came, so she went, but she took with her my love for +Stephen. Because I was so wild and always did something wrong, my wise +father had to punish me often; but Stephen was never punished because +he always did what was pleasing in the sight of father and mother. +From that time on I always remembered the words of the great-aunt +that I was punished and he not because they loved him, and his mother +interceded for him, and there was no one to stand by me. But my +step-mother quite often interceded for me. She was a kind woman and +never did me any harm, but I wanted her to show more love to me than +to her own boy. But that could not be. This wrong thought grew in my +heart, and my envy increased from year to year till we were about as +old as you two boys; and now comes the sad part which I never shall +forget, and that is what is pressing me to the earth unto today." + +Bacha pointed over to the mountain opposite them. + +"Do you see yonder mountain?" The boys nodded. + +"There we used to live at the foot of the mountain. Look toward the +West, where the sun is lying down to sleep; there in the valley lived +the weavers, to whom from all our homes, the wool was carried to be +woven. Two paths led to those huts; the one up and down over the +rocks--the other through the valley, easier but more dangerous, +because there was a stretch of swamp into which, if somebody fell, he +could never get out by himself. One who knew how, could get over by +jumping from rock to rock and to clumps of grass, but it seemed as if +some black power wanted to pull one down. + +"Once our parents had us carry our wool. Going, we went the upper +way, as we were told, but after we delivered the wool to the weavers, +Stephen handed me an apple, which the weaver's wife had given him, +saying he had another in his bag from his mother. Mother gave me +nothing for the journey because I didn't take leave of her, and she +didn't even see me when I grabbed my bag. And now, even the weaver's +wife had not given me anything. It made me sad. I got angry, threw the +apple away, and would rather have cried. Here was evidence, I thought, +that what the great-aunt said was true. Nobody cared for me, at home, +nor anywhere else. Everybody liked Stephen, and it always would be so. + +"I used to hear some people say that the Devil is walking on the +earth, though we do not see him, and whispers to us what we should +think and do. If it is true, I don't know, but that he was with me +that time and gave me bad, gruesome advice, is sure. Only he could +have told me that. When we left the weavers, I said to Stephen, +'Going over the mountain is too far. Let us go by the lower and more +convenient path; it is nearer.' + +"'But mother said we must go only over the hill,' objected Stephen, +'and father called also from the yard, 'Do not go by the lower way.'" + +"Well, however it was, when we came where the paths divided we went on +the lower path anyway. I claimed that my feet hurt, I had stubbed my +big toe, and had a thorn in my heel. Stephen was sorry for me, and +thought that when we explained it to mother she would see the reason, +and father also, why we took the lower path after all. + +"Truly it was fine to run there, like on carpets, till we came to the +swamp. 'You must now jump from rock to rock,' said I, and I ran ahead. +We came near the opposite side. There was only one more jump. Because +I was larger, and my feet longer I managed to jump over, but I knew +that Stephen could not jump over. There were bunches of grass and I +advised him to run over them. He listened to me, came over two or +three, but the third one began to move under him and he jumped back on +the rock. + +"'Stay there,' I called to him. 'Not far from here lives the forester; +I will run for him and he will help you.' I ran as fast as I could but +not to the forester's house. + +"'Petrik, do not leave me. I am afraid,' called Stephen after me, and +right after that followed a cry: + +"'Mother mine!' + +"Thus I have heard him day and night, as in the past years, so even +till today, and I shall perhaps in the hour of death and in the whole +of eternity. I was still a small boy, but a bad one, and at that +moment hard as a rock. 'Surely he will fall in and will drown,' I +consoled myself. 'Nobody will give him any more apples, and people +will love me and me only.' No old criminal could have felt worse than +I felt then. I began to run still faster till my legs broke down under +me and my breath failed. Yes; I ran through the woods alone, forsaken, +as once Cain did when he killed his brother and ran away from the face +of God. Suddenly a great pain gripped me that could not be expressed, +because the voice that whispered to me before, 'Drown him in that +swamp,' now whispered to me, 'You dare not go home. What will you say +when they ask you about Stephen?' Tired and hungry as I was I threw +myself on the ground and started to cry bitterly till I fell asleep. + +"At day-break the drivers passed by with their wagons for lumber. They +found me and, recognizing me, laid me sleeping on a wagon and took +me as far as our hut. There they awakened me, laid me down, and +half-sleeping I didn't realize at once what had happened the day +before. I ran to the hall and opened the door. + +"The rays of the rising sun struck our bedroom first--the same that +day. It lit up the bed of my father, and ..." Bacha stopped and tears +ran down his cheek. + +"And what, Bacha? Oh, what, Bacha?" with bitter cries both boys +exclaimed. The tears were already running down Ondrejko's pale face. + +"There on the bed in the rays of the sun like a holy picture, rested +our Stephen, sleeping. Mother sat beside the bed. There was a humming +in my ears and blackness before my eyes, and if father had not jumped +and caught me I would have fallen over. It was long before they +brought me back to consciousness." + +"So he didn't drown?" both boys were astonished and rejoicing. + +"Didn't he fall into that swamp?" + +"He fell in it, children. Oh, he fell in, and there was no man who +could have saved him. But we had a large dog called Whitie who went +around always with us, as Fido with you. When we left home we left him +behind, but he followed us, and the Lord God Himself sent him in that +moment when the stone under Stephen gave way, and he lost his balance +and fell. Whitie caught him by the hair and dragged him to the shore, +and whined and barked till the forester came. + +"He carried Stephen to the brook, washed off the mud, and revived him, +for he was almost dead, and then carried him home. I expected father +would punish me but he did not. Mother kissed me crying, and gave me +breakfast. They were afraid something had happened to me. They thought +I had been drowned because I couldn't be found anywhere. I saw clearly +that they both loved me very much, but it did not please me, I was +afraid it would become known what I had intended to do. My parents +are already in eternity, and I can not now ask them for forgiveness +because after death there is no more forgiveness. + +"Stephen never let it be known that I made him go that way, and from +that time on we loved each other as from the beginning. I was no +longer jealous of the love of father and mother to him. I knew and +felt now that they loved me also, and that I didn't deserve this love. + +"From that time I couldn't look at the dog Whitie. It was always +painful to me that he, a dog, saved Stephen, when I wanted to drown +him. But though he didn't drown that time the Holy God took him to +Himself. He must be angry at me, a sinner, to this day. Thus I say, +'Never do any harm to animals; they are much better than people; they +are God's creatures; they never do wrong things before God but obey +always.' And now, boys, run and go to sleep." + +Though the boys had many questions on their hearts they obediently +bade him "good night" and went. For a long time, lying on the hay, +they spoke together about Stephen, how he jumped over the bunches of +grass, how the rock turned under him, how he fell, and how Whitie +saved him. + +"I am very sorry for Bacha Filina," said Ondrejko. "I can never forget +it. It must pain him--could it be that God is still angry with him?" + +"But where is this Stephen?" worried Petrik. "They were the same age, +so he must be just as old now. Perhaps he will tell us some other time +about him." They were stopped from further talking by Fido. Somehow he +had managed to get to them and they were rejoiced. They told him once +more about the hero Whitie and enjoined upon him to follow him. He +wagged his tail, licked their hands and faces, whining for joy as if +he were promising it all, and when the boys slept, he slept with one +eye open because he had to stand guard over his comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + + +The following week Bacha Filina had much work to do, so he could not +look much after the boys, though they did all they could; they obeyed +him and tried to please him in every way. On Tuesday the doctor came +to look at Ondrejko. He was told where Ondrejko slept, but he only +laughed: "Good for you, boy, that will help you; though your father is +a great lord and a proud Magyar, everything serves in its time. Thus I +trust we shall live to see that the Tatra Mountains will belong to the +Slovaks and also these woods. Because your grandfather lived there as +a great Slovak, you also as a good Slovak will be living. Just learn +the language of your father and draw near to that soil which they once +cultivated." The boys didn't grasp what he meant. They only felt that +he was their friend. + +The evening came. They had to make a bed for the doctor beside +themselves on the hay. In the morning he drank the good milk and ate +the black bread with cheese. Then the boys took him as far as the "Old +Hag's Rock." On the way Ondrejko asked about his father. He learned +that he now lived in Paris and did not purpose to come that year for +the summer. The boy breathed more freely because he felt that if his +father came he would have to go to him, away from Bacha Filina and +away from Petrik. That would not please him; he did not want to go at +all. When the doctor took leave of the boys they followed him with +their eyes as long as they could see his straw hat, then they climbed +the rock to see him better, but in the meantime he had disappeared +altogether. Instead of that they saw on the other side of the "Old +Hag's Rock" a beautiful little valley, and in it a solitary house +with small windows which was made of wood and covered with shingles, +standing there by the brook. It looked like a fairy-story house set +among the springs coming out from the rocks. The herder Steve had told +the boys several times about witches who lived in solitary huts, and +it seemed to them that one of them might be living there. A large +white dog sunned himself in front of the hut. If Fido had been with +them, he surely would have started a fight with him. As the boys were +looking at the cottage the door opened, but no old woman came out, +only a boy who was a little larger than themselves, in a cape and +belt, sandals, and with a hat on his head. The dog jumped up, wagged +his broad tail, and stretched himself, yawned and barked happily. The +boy stroked him on the head and smiled at him, then both began to walk +up toward the great rock. + +The dog spied our comrades first and stopped. They could see he was +not as young as Fido, but that he was wise and did not bark uselessly +at anybody, so they knew that he must be friendly to people. Soon the +boys stood face to face, and the strange boy, whose dress indicated +that he was not from that section, greeted them in a friendly manner. +He asked them what they were doing and where they were from. They told +him that they had accompanied the doctor that far. Ondrejko dared to +ask him if he lived in that little house. + +"The hut belongs to us, but I am from Trenchin. I came only a week ago +with my father. A distant uncle of my mother died, and because there +is no nearer relative my mother inherited this hut. Father wants to +sell it, but a nice bit of woods with fine timber belongs to the hut, +which we could use very well in our business. Therefore we shall stay +here for some time, cut the wood and take it along." + +"And the dog is yours?" + +"Yes, it is our Dunaj. He did not want to stay at home; we had to take +him along, though we had to pay for him on the railroad." + +"Surely you didn't have him along in the carriage?" ventured Ondrejko. + +"Oh, no; and he did not like where they locked him up, at all. He +almost knocked me down when he regained his freedom. Isn't that so, +Dunaj?" The dog whined and cuddled down at his master's feet. + +"We too have a dog which is still young, but he also will be big when +he grows up," Ondrejko said, appraisingly. + +"And where are you going?" + +"Only up here on the rock to see what is behind it. In our country we +also have a large rock, but much higher and broader, and when you look +down from it it seems as if you look down into Sunshine Valley, as the +story goes. And after the storm a rainbow appears, like Heaven's gate +which appeared once to Jacob in a dream. Once upon a time I believed +that Heaven's gate was only there, but today I know that Heaven is +everywhere open that the Lord Jesus might come to us where and when He +wants to. Do you know Him too?" + +"Who?" wondered the boys. + +"The Son of God, the Lord Jesus. But I see already that you do not +know Him, and He surely sent me to you, so that I could tell you all +that I know. Do you have time?" + +"We can spend about an hour," said Petrik, who felt the new stranger +was very friendly and he would like to have him for a comrade. + +"Let us then sit down here on the rock, and I will tell you how it was +that I came to the Sunshine Valley the first time, and what kind of +book I found there. I have it even here with me because I could not +be without it. But tell me first your name. I am called Palko, though +they once baptized me in the name of Nicholas. But this is a long +story." + +"My name is Petrik, and he is called Ondrejko. At home they call him +Andreas de Gemer in the Magyar tongue, but Bacha Filina says, 'Why +should we break our tongues with foreign names?' Anyhow, Ondrejko is +much nicer," zealously spoke Petrik. + +"That is a nice name. It was the name of one of the disciples of the +Lord Jesus who brought to Him the boy with the loaves and fishes. I +have it beautifully written in this book." + +In the meantime the boys climbed the rock, sat down, and the new +comrade drew out a book carefully wrapped up in paper and began to +tell them the beautiful things about it. If one would want to repeat +them it would take a whole book.[A] + +[Footnote A: See first part of "Sunshine Country."] + +Among other things, he told them that whosoever takes this book into +his hands dare not read it otherwise than word for word, from the +beginning to the end, because only in this way will he get to know +the Way which leads to the true Sunshine Country, where, through the +Heaven's gates, the Lord Jesus went to prepare a place for all those +who obediently went that way. + +The boys would not have tired listening till the evening, but suddenly +Fido came, and as if he knew that with such a dog as Dunaj he mustn't +start a fight, just licked his comrades and was friendly to the +stranger. His arrival reminded the boys of Bacha, and what he would +say if they stayed too long. They rose, and Palko promised to +accompany them that they might show him where their hut was standing, +and when he had time he would come to visit them. + +He ran down to close his house and they had to wait a while. When he +returned he carried a large piece of bread which he divided equally +into five parts, and then they followed the narrow path over the +meadows to the sheepcotes. + +The newcomer told them many things on the way. They could hardly part +from him. + +When Bacha came to supper they endeavored to out-do one another in +telling him about it. He listened intently, and said he would be glad +when the strange boy, who it seemed was very decent, would visit them. +They all hoped that he would come the next Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + + +It is a true saying that, "People keep with people, and mountains +with mountains." How one person gets used to another you can scarcely +believe until you have seen it yourself. What is it that draws one +to another? Long lived our three comrades with Bacha Filina without +Palko, and nothing was lacking, but now if a day passed without seeing +him it seemed as if they could not stand it. Though it may seem +strange, Bacha Filina would have missed him most. Wherever he went, +whatever he did, he always had in mind the moment when the bushes +parted on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, and, like a picture in a +frame, stood the strange boy so clean and neat with his cape over his +shoulder, small hat in his hand, resting his hand on a shaggy white +dog. It would truly be a fine picture for a painter to paint in those +wide mountains, if he could but make it so true to nature--you could +not look at him enough. And he remembered again how Palko sat with +them in front of the hut with the Holy Book in his hand, reading word +for word, chapter for chapter. Such beautiful and good things. So must +Jesus have looked when He sat amongst the Jewish teachers. Oh, how did +he understand the Word of God! No sermon had moved old Bacha as did +the talks of Palko the boy, though he had heard many in his life. +Bacha had a whole Bible which he read sometimes on Sunday. He had also +a big book with sermons, but since the time that Palko Lesina came +every evening to them it was as if a veil had been removed from the +man's eyes. The Bible became to him the living Word of God. + +"The Lord Jesus used to walk by the Sea of Gennesaret," said the boy +seriously. "Now He walks through these mountains of yours. Sometimes +He passed through our mountains to seek us, and now He seeks you." + + * * * * * + +Again it was Sunday. Filina got the boys ready to go to church, but he +himself remained in front of his hut. Fido who was not permitted to +run with the comrades, lay at his feet. Suddenly he pricked up his +ears, jumped up, and like an arrow flew into the nearby thicket. Bacha +paid no attention. He sat with his head bowed down. He did not even +hear someone speak to the dog, nor hear any greeting; he did not +arouse himself till he heard close to him the pleasant young voice +which he loved so much. + +"Good morning, Uncle Filina. Why are you so sad and so lonely? Where +is everybody?" + +"Welcome, Palko," gladly replied the man. He held out his brown hand +to the boy. "If I had known you would come, I would not have sent the +boys to the church. Everywhere is the house of God. And I suppose you +are bringing the Bible, about which you spoke yesterday?" + +"Yes, I do. My father went away for a few days. He asks you kindly if +you will let me stay with your boys that I may not have to stay alone +in the hut. Will you take me?" + +The beautiful eyes of the boy gazed longingly on the face of the man. + +"Why, surely. We will be only too glad if you stay with us," answered +Bacha. "But why did your father go home?" + +"He went with some wood. He could not take it all at once. The balance +we shall put on a float, and so carry it to our destination. Thus I +could bring the Bible to show it to you." + +"Is that the one from Pastor Malina?" + +"Yes, Uncle, and I esteem it very much. There are many notes in Latin +which I do not understand, and also some in Slovak. When I look at the +writing I see the pastor in front of me. I would like to show you what +he wrote the last Sunday when he became so seriously ill. Do you have +time for it, Uncle?" + +"Oh, yes, my son; it is Sunday. Just read on." + +"You will understand it better than I because you are older. There +is something very good: 'I have missed very much; my whole life is +wasted,' began the boy, and his voice sounded so solemn, almost as +if he were reading the Word of God. 'Even though I would, I cannot +improve anything. It is too late; it is too late! Souls passed into +eternity--it may be I did not bring salvation to them. They never come +back that I may ask them forgiveness and love them. Oh, how glorious +are the words, 'By grace ye are saved ... it is the gift of God.' In +this holy gift I take my refuge, my holy God and Saviour. I know that +You have pardoned me and have even taken the punishment that I merited +on Yourself. I cling to Thy cross; I fall at Thy wounded feet, and +thank Thee--Oh, so thank Thee; yes, I will praise eternally Thy holy +name, O Jesus!'" read Palko. + +"Thus believed Pastor Malina ..." but the boy stopped because the +Bacha sat with his head bowed down, and cried aloud. + +"'Even if I would, I couldn't make anything good. It is too late. The +souls went on to accuse me,'" he repeated in his crying. "That is what +is pressing _me_ down to the ground, and all my good life since that +time doesn't help anything ..." + +The boy rested his curly head in the palms of his small hands. + +"Uncle, will you not tell me what is worrying you so much? It could +not be the sin that you wanted to drown your Stephen, as Petrik told +me?" + +"Stephen didn't drown. I, when something is pressing me, confess it +and feel easier at once." + +"The Apostle James says, 'Confess your sins one to another.' It is +true I am only a boy, but I know already how the soul and the heart +ache--and there is no comforter. But the Lord Jesus will grant it to +me that I may be able to understand and to help you." + +The man looked at the boy. He stroked his whiskers. "If I have to tell +somebody about it as I have wished for years, it will suit me best to +tell it to you. The Lord God gave you more wisdom than me, an old man, +just as Samuel the boy had more than the old priest Eli." + +Bacha strode over to his stump where he usually sat. Palko lay beside +him on the grass. He drew the Bible near him, and laid his hand on the +head of Fido who cuddled close beside. Thus he waited patiently. + +"Since Petrik told you what kind of a boy I was, I do not have to +retell it again," began the man presently. His whole appearance did +not fit into that beautiful Sunday morning. + +"Thus we both grew up, and I can say with a good conscience that +Stephen and I loved each other very much. I could never forget that he +did not tell our parents how I forsook him in his plight. He convinced +me that our parents loved us both. All was well now and might have +remained so always, had not mother after her sister's death brought to +us her niece, Eva. She was a small beautiful girl. From the beginning +she seemed to be afraid of me, but with Stephen she was at once, +friendly, until I once saved him from vicious dogs. From that time she +clung always to me. Thus it was as we grew up together, and after we +were grown up. You cannot understand more now, therefore I can only +tell you this much. When we became young men, there was no more +beautiful girl to us in the whole wide world. It seemed to me that her +black eyes shone brighter than all the stars, and that such lilies +and roses as were on her face did not bloom on any bush. At that time +there was a large immigration to America. Many times I wondered how +people, just for the sake of mammon, could go so far into the world +when in spite of our poverty it was so beautiful and lovely here. To +me, the woods and meadows were like a paradise and in my heart all was +song--like the heavens; but there is no paradise upon this earth and +the heavens are too high. Once when I returned from work--it was +already evening--mother and father sat in front of the house in +consultation about us children, as they often did. I did not want to +disturb them, therefore I sat down not very far away and listened." + +"Do you think, then," said mother, "that one of the children will have +to go to America?" + +"You see, my wife, there the people achieve something quicker than we +do here. We suffer bravely and yet barely live," sighed father. He was +a good man but already worn out by hard labor. + +"'And which one do you think should?' mother asked with a sigh. + +"'That we will leave for them to decide. I think thus: Let one stay at +home and take Eva for his wife, so you have some help. Let the other +one go to America for a few years, and after he has made some money +and God granting that he will return safely, then they may live +together. I would not like that after our death they should be +separated. It is well for them to be together.' + +"I noticed how mother gave a sigh of relief, but to me it seemed as if +someone stuck a dagger into me. They surely expected me to go. Stephen +would remain at home and take Eva. That night I did not sleep at home. +A similar trouble overtook me as in my childhood, only stronger and +much more terrible. Where I gathered strength to return in the morning +I do not know. Eva ran to meet me, and as soon as I saw her I told +myself that verily, I would never go to America, and Eva must never +belong to anyone else but to me. Since that hour I could hardly give a +kind look to Stephen though he gave me no reason for anger. + +"We had a meadow beyond the swamp. There I went with Eva the next day +to turn over the cut grass, and I asked her to be mine. I did not have +much luck at first, but since I pleaded so much and promised so much, +she finally promised that she would not take anyone else. + +"After the affair was settled, Eva bound up a bundle of grass, and +looking around I noticed Stephen departing along the pathway. He had +heard us without us noticing him. + +"The following week we had some work in the city and Stephen said that +he would go. Mother tried to prevent him. She had rather I should go +because Stephen did not look very well. Really he looked thin and +pale, as if after a serious illness or before one. But I insisted that +I would not go this time, and father agreed. He had some work for me. + +"'Come with me part of the way,' said Stephen the following day, after +he had taken leave of our parents and Eva. So I went. We took the +steep path to the cross above, on top of the hill. There he stopped. +We looked at each other. + +"'Mother told me what plans father had for us. One of us must go to +America,' he began. 'It cannot be you. I saw you and Eva not long ago +on the meadow. Father wants one of us to take Eva. Now that she is +yours what should I do here any longer? Once before in childhood I was +in your way, so that you wanted to get rid of me in that black watery +grave. The second time I shall not stand in your way. It would be +difficult for mother to part with me. You must realize that, because +she has only me. So I want to spare her the leave-taking, but I want +to tell the truth to you that you may be satisfied and not begrudge me +anything more. I am really leaving everything to you: parents, home, +and Eva too. She cannot belong to both. Those were hard moments for +me on yonder meadow. If you had to bear what I went through in those +moments you could not stand it. Thus it is good that she chose you. To +me it was as if I was drowning again, only the swamp into which you +threw me this time was much deeper than the one before. Mother said I +seem to be ill. Here I shall never get well--over there far away, I +can recover sooner. I give you my hand in parting, and you give me +yours without any bitterness. Let us part like brothers.' + +"I clasped his hand silently. He took his things, then ran down along +the path into the thicket. Bending over beside the cross I tried to +see him once more--and I did. He lifted his beautiful face marked with +deep sorrow toward the valley where he could see our hut for the last +time. Suddenly tears gushed from his eyes. I wanted to make a step +forward, wanted to call him back, to leave everything to him, and I go +to America. But there was no strength in me. So I let him go for ever. +We never saw him again." + +Bacha cried aloud again, and Palko with him. + +"Uncle, tell me all, to the end," he begged after a while. "Then what +about his poor mother? How did you tell her about it?" + +"I didn't have to tell her, my boy," said Filina as he calmed down. +"He took care of all that. Mother had a distant relative who came +to us the third day and brought everything that Stephen should have +brought from the city; also a letter from him, wherein he begged our +parents not to be angry with him because he was thus leaving for +America. In that letter he again made no mention that it was I who +drowned him in the depths of sorrow. It was a very beautiful letter. +We treasured it as a keepsake, and when mother was dying the poor dear +asked me to have it placed in her coffin. I endeavored to make good to +her the son she lost. After father passed away, mother blessed me many +times for the good care she enjoyed, but it did not bring peace to my +heart. + +"The distant relative who brought to us Stephen's letter intended +to go to America himself. He had already bought the ticket, when +circumstances hindered him from going. He complained to Stephen that +he could not go, and Stephen asked him to sell the ticket to him. He +borrowed some money from him on his part of the inheritance. This we +had to repay later, because that ship never reached its goal. It sank +in a storm. Thus you see, Palko, that after all, I had drowned my +brother. If he had not run away from my presence he might have found +another girl and could have lived till today. Thus he died, and his +death accuses me before God's face for my selfishness. Verily, God's +punishment came upon me soon. I enjoyed my happiness but a short time. +From the time that the message reached us about the sinking of the +ship, Eva just pined away, and after the death of our son, she died. +In her fever, not knowing what she said, she told how she loved +Stephen, and I realized that her longing for him made her perish by my +side. Well, now they are both gone and I only am here--all alone." + +"And your son, where is he?" + +"Him also the good Lord took. When his mother died there was no one +who could give him the necessary care. He took cold, and in three days +he was also with God. Now I have told you everything, my boy. I have +confided all to you, but you do not understand." + +"Do not think that I do not understand, Uncle. I know that your heart +is sad because of the injustice Stephen suffered because of your envy. +I know that you have sinned grievously. Why could you not like +the priest, Malina, grasp the cross and the feet of Christ? You +understand, in the Spirit, by faith, and receive the gift of +God--salvation. There further is this quotation: 'Christ Jesus came +into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,' and here again +it is written, 'It seems to me I am the one, the most sinful of the +sinners, but I believe, I believe, O Lamb of God, that Thou hast died +for me also, and I am casting my heart at the foot of Thy cross, that +Thy blood pouring over me may cleanse it also.'" + +"I see there are very good things written there, Palko. Leave this +book with me for some time that I may be able to read it at leisure, +and see if also on me the Son of God will have mercy and forgive my +grievous sins. Now continue to read where we left off last time." + +"Now I will also bring the song-book and we shall have a song. This +will be our Sunday worship." Bacha brought the book and they had a +lovely time in worshiping God. Christ came to them through His Spirit +and made the Word of God living, to the young soul who walked with Him +continually like Enoch, and also to the one who could say, "I have +gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant" (Ps. 119: 176). + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + + +Verily, verily, this quotation is true, "Be not forgetful to entertain +strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews +13:2). Bacha Filina and those in his household proved it. It was just +as if God's blessing had moved to them with Palko Lesina. They all +had success in everything they undertook. The boy was ready to help +everywhere, and set the house in such order as it never had been +before. + +"You see, the Lord Jesus lives here," Palko explained sweetly. "He is +here, and we don't know when He comes and where He would like to sit +down. We would not have any place to receive Him." + +Stephen taught him how to play the shepherd's horn and he played on +it beautiful Christian songs, so that the mountains fairly resounded. +When he played tag or blind man's buff with the boys he was the +most joyful of them. But as soon as he was invited to read from his +precious Book, he obeyed at once and sat among them, as once his Lord +did among learned old men in Jerusalem. On Petrik especially he had a +good influence. Petrik was often self-willed and disobedient, so that +Bacha had to punish him. + +"Why should you make Uncle Filina cross? Just tell it to the Lord +Jesus when the Devil is tempting you, and He will deliver you, He will +help you," advised Palko. + +Ondrejko became more quiet and thoughtful. He liked the talks with +Palko very much. He believed everything, even that the Lord Jesus is +constantly present. Therefore it is necessary to be always washed and +clean and dressed decently, and also that it is necessary to give +one's heart to the Lord Jesus when He wants it, and that He takes the +heart and cleanses it. Before Palko realized it, the Lord Jesus had +one servant more. And thus His Holy Word was fulfilled; "I thank Thee, +O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things +from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" +(Matt. 11:25). No one can find out how it happens; it passes human +understanding, how the caterpillar in the dried-up cocoon takes a new +life with the arrival of Spring. Before they reached that part in +that precious Book where it begins to tell of the sufferings of and, +finally, the death of the Lord Jesus, Ondrejko felt in his heart that +all happened for him also. He could not quite explain it, and no one +expected him to, but he knew it in his heart. + +Once, when he went with Palko to his hut, he prayed that the Lord +Jesus would forgive him everything and asked Him to come into his +heart. Ondrejko thereupon believed without fail that it happened, +because it is still true today, "If thou shalt believe, thou shalt see +the glory of God." Therefore what he believed, he also had. Ondrejko +de Gemer already had suffered much on this earth. He suffered many +heart-aches for the want of a father or mother. Many nights he cried +about it when no one heard him. Very few realize how much pain a +little child may suffer from sorrow and hopelessness from lack of +love. Before Ondrejko came to Filina he often used to wonder what +would become of him, since he had nobody, although both of his parents +were living. Would he always have to live with strange people? A book +could be written of the thoughts of that forsaken little soul while +he was building castles and bridges, and when people thought he was +deeply interested in his play. Fortunately Palko Lesina arrived, +and through his daily talk made it plain to his little comrade that +Someone good and beautiful lives, and that this beautiful and good +One also loved him, little forsaken Ondrejko de Gemer, whom even his +father did not love, and He wanted to live with him always, that +Ondrejko need not feel forsaken anymore. Now he had Someone to bring +his complaints to, and he could confide everything to Him, yea, +everything. How beautiful that was! Yes, verily, the Lord Jesus now +had one servant more. + +Even the herdsmen sighed to Bacha, "How shall we ever get along +without Palko Lesina? Ever since the boy has been with us, it seems +that the sunrise looks more beautiful and the dew is richer on the +ground." + +"He is a blessed boy," admitted Filina with a sigh. Oh, how very much +he needed this boy! Therefore when, instead of Lesina, a letter came, +he was much relieved. Lesina wrote that he would not be able to come +back till six weeks later, and asked Bacha to keep Palko with him in +the meantime, that he would be useful in every way. He didn't want to +let the boy come home alone because it was so far, and he was his only +child. When that letter came, the boys jumped for joy, and Fido helped +them, but the greatest joy after all was that of Filina himself. + +In the evening of that day, while they were sitting before the hut and +Palko was blowing on the horn, suddenly Dr. H. stood before them. With +evident pleasure he noticed the strange boy. Fido wagged his bushy +tail in a friendly manner because more than once he had received a +good bacon-rind from this kind gentleman. Dunaj, stretched out by the +feet of his master, lifted his head also, but made no sound. He knew +already whom to let alone and whom not. Formerly he would have jumped +up and barked, and tested the long coat of the doctor to see if it was +made of good material or not. Today, he would rather snap at a fly +which paid with her life for daring to buzz around his nose. Well, the +dogs did not give it away and the people did not notice that they had +a listener, neither then nor even after Palko began to read in his +Book, where there was written about the great man who was the captain +of the taxgatherers, who had great riches and many friends, but did +not have peace or happiness in his heart because he did not know the +Lord Jesus. Palko read how the Lord Jesus spoke to him while he sat in +the sycamore tree and invited Himself as his guest. + +"Uncle Filina," suddenly Palko interrupted, when he came to the words +of the Lord, 'The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was +lost'--"If you simply do just like Zaccheus; and say to the Lord +Jesus, 'This day is salvation come to this house,' that would be +first, the house of your heart and then the whole hut. Uncle, I beg of +you, receive Him today. Zaccheus received Him at once with joy, and +how much greater joy did he find afterward when the Lord Jesus forgave +him all his sins." + +Surprised, the doctor looked at the strange boy and also at Bacha who +arose and without a word entered the hut. Then Petrik noticed the +guest; both the boys ran to welcome him and each one wanted to be the +first to tell him who Palko was and what he was doing among them. The +Doctor liked Palko, like everyone else who came in contact with him. +Then the boys found out why the doctor had come that day. He wanted to +find a cottage near the hut where he could place one of his patients +for a week, whom only quietness and air and sun could heal. + +"Palko, do you hear?" whispered Petrik, but so loud that all could +hear him. "That cottage of yours is empty, your father will not come +for six weeks, and you could live here with us; that would be a good +place for the lady." + +"What did you say, boy?" asked the doctor. + +Ondrejko began to explain that Lesina had a cottage at the very foot +of the "Old Hag's Rock," where the path led to town, and that at the +present it was empty. + +"Do you think, Palko," asked the doctor, "that your father would agree +to lend us the cabin, if it would suit us?" + +"Why would he not agree?" said the boy with shining eyes. "Does not +the Lord Jesus say, 'I was sick, and ye visited Me?' If the cabin +suits you I will give you the key. Just let the sick one come." + +It was too late in the evening to go to see the place; so the boys +prepared to go with the doctor early in the morning to the cottage. + +This time the doctor did not sleep with the boys in the hayloft, +because he spoke a long time with Filina. When Filina went to look at +the boys, as it was his custom to do every evening, he stood above +them a long time in deep thought, then he carefully covered Ondrejko, +and sadly stroked his forehead, gently, as if he was very sorry for +the boy. But why? Did he not look very lovely, somewhat browned from +the sun, with beautiful roses on his velvet-like cheeks, and his small +mouth as red as a poppy-flower. It was plainly noticeable how the +mountain air and plain food were strengthening and healing him. His +face also betrayed his inner happiness which the Lord Jesus had put in +his heart. Why then was Bacha sorry for him? + +During the night, a thunderstorm of short duration passed over the +mountain. The spring morning broke very beautifully, as it can only +after a storm. On the grass hung large pearls, and the leaves of the +trees were full of diamonds as the sun shone on them. Everything sang +praises to the Creator--every bird, every insect, and fly. The vapor +rose like the smoke from a great sacrifice. No wonder then that Palko, +leading their expedition, began to sing. Petrik gave a sigh, glanced +at the doctor, thinking, "What will he say to that?" Ondrejko joyfully +joined him, with his clear voice ringing like a golden bell. And thus +it sounded over the mountains: + + "Let us give thanks to God our heavenly King; + To Him who loved and kept us, let us sing. + To Him be given honor, glory, praise; + To God, Eternal, let our voices raise. + We pray, 'Be constantly with us this day + And guard us from all evil by the way, + That we may to Thy glory ever live, + And blessings to our neighbors ever give; + And when at last we reach the glory shore + We know that we shall praise Thee evermore.'" + +The doctor knew that song. He had learned it in his childhood. It made +him add his own voice to those clear notes of the children. It may +seem strange, but it is true, that nothing will refresh the mind like +such an early morning song, sung whole-heartedly on such a beautiful +morning, when all nature is joining in praises to the Creator, and at +every step man feels His holy, pure, and shining nearness. + +"Listen, Palko," the doctor said after a moment's silence when the +song was finished; "do you understand what we have sung?" + +"That song?" wondered the boy; "Isn't every word quite clear?" + +"Do you think so? Then you explain it to us," smiled the doctor +good-humoredly. + +"Explain it? Why, we know well what the good Lord sent us during the +past night, and we can walk sound and refreshed through this world, +and that He is our King. We also know that He is the everlasting God." + +"Well, that is so, but little children know that much. Go on." + +"The third verse I like very much. He is already on the earth, always +present with us, even now He goes with us, and so will protect us from +evil all day long. I am very glad to see at least a small piece of His +garment." + +"Where do you see it?" asked Ondrejko. + +"Just look how the rays of the sun shine around us. On every drop of +dew you see a piece of the rainbow. That is the hem of His garment, +and in that soft breeze, His Spirit is touching us. He is very near +to us. Verily, He is a good Father. We cannot see Him just because we +could not bear the full glory. What a man was Daniel! Yet he almost +died when he saw Him. But also this verse is beautiful, 'That we may +to Thy glory ever live.'" + +"And how do you do that, you little doctor of theology?" said the +doctor. + +"I think," said Palko, "that just what we do today is pleasing to +the Lord Jesus; we are going to look for a place for one of His sick +sheep, and if you should like the cottage we will gladly take care of +the necessary wood and flowers. It is clean already, even the windows +are washed." + +"You little wise man, and lo, surely there is that cabin of yours." + +"Yes, yes," cried the boys. And Dunaj, as if he would confirm it, ran +directly to the door. + +"Listen, boy, that cottage of yours is just as if it had been built +for that patient of mine," admitted Dr. H., after he had looked the +cottage over inside and out. "I shall have some furniture brought +here, carpets shall cover the floor, that it be not cold, and your +bed and table we will put in the kitchen, that will be for her nurse. +Though the windows are small there are three of them, so there will +be plenty of sun all day long. And what surroundings! This beautiful +valley with the background of green woods and high mountains! The +spring is close to the house, and, too bad there is no bench beside +it!" + +The three boys cried, "We shall ask Bacha, and he will send Stephen." + +"He can make a very beautiful bench," said Ondrejko. "We can go and +watch the sheep for him in the meantime." + +The doctor stroked the boy's golden hair. "I would like to see you +turn in the sheep." + +"But he would not have to do that," remarked Palko; "for that purpose +we have Whitie and Playwell. They are very wise dogs." + +"Well, now; we shall see what can be done. But the bench must be put +here. I would like to taste that water." + +Palko ran for the flowered pitcher and a cup. They all drank their +fill. The water was excellent. Then they sat beside the brook, and the +doctor pulled cheese and bread out of his pocket. Each of the boys +had his own bread--and quite a big piece at that. When Bacha cut the +bread, he counted also on the appetites of Dunaj and Fido. The doctor +divided the cheese. They ate the cheese and bread, and drank water. It +tasted good to all of them. + +Dunaj did not move his eyes from Palko, who shared with him +faithfully. Greedy Fido ran from one comrade to the other and even sat +down in front of the doctor, and not in vain. But when he came near +Palko, Dunaj growled at him, which certainly in a dog's language +meant, "Are you not ashamed?" So Fido did not try it a second time. + +The doctor saw how the children enjoyed their food and noticed that +Ondrejko also ate with a good appetite. He suddenly began to say, +"Palko, you said that you would carry wood to the cottage. That will +not be necessary. I will have a cord of wood brought and cut, but if +you would take care of bringing the flowers that would be very good. +The lady is to drink whey. As long as she is weak you could also bring +that to her every morning. As soon as she is strong enough she will +have to go to the sheepfold herself, and ask for it at the hut. Now, +what do you say? Will you help me so that she will get better soon?" + +They all heartily agreed that they would do it. + +"I will tell you what is the matter with her. For a long time she made +day out of night, but she could not change the day into night. Thus +she lacked many nights' rest. Now she would like to sleep, but she +cannot! She is a sad, unhappy person, and has lived to see much +sorrow. It will be well if you help me to cheer her up; then she will +recover sooner." + +"And does the lady understand Slovak?" fearlessly asked Palko. The +doctor smote his forehead. + +"You are a wise little fellow, boy. I didn't think of that. But wait! +I overheard when she bought oranges, she spoke in Czech. Then you will +be able to understand each other. Do you want to help me, boys?" + +"We would like to very much," said Ondrejko. + +"If Bacha will permit us," added Petrik. Palko thought that nothing +would hinder him as long as he was there. + +In good spirits the boys returned to the sheepcote. The doctor left +them at the "Old Hag's Rock." They took from him a closely-written +note for Bacha Filina, who readily enough agreed to everything. He +even sent Stephen to build the bench, and also gave permission to the +boys to carry whey and flowers to the sick lady. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + + +Again it was Sunday. That day no one from the hut went to church. Very +early in the morning they read a part of the Word of God, sang a song, +prayed, and everybody went his way. Filina had an invitation from the +manager of the Gemer estate. He had to go to the castle, and the boys +said they would go to Palko's cottage, not to enter, because the +doctor had the key, but to see if the wood had been already brought +and where the draymen had stacked it. But who can describe their +surprise when they reached the cottage. They saw all the windows open +and on the kitchen-table sat a large white cat. The fur around her +head looked like a cap. Her eyes were blue and round like those of an +owl. Her long broad tail hung out of the window. Around her neck she +had a band decorated with small pearls, and a small gilt bell was +hanging from it. When they saw her they were glad they had not brought +the dogs along. Fido went with his master and Dunaj was somewhere +roaming in the woods. + +"Someone must live here already," remarked the surprised Ondrejko. + +"Really, so it is. The cat would not be sitting there by herself," +added Palko. They walked carefully around the cottage. In the yard +they found the wood already cut and stacked. Then they took counsel +together. If the ladies had already come, they must find flowers for +them. The boys calculated that by the time they would return, the new +inhabitants of the cottage would be up. + +When they returned, in about an hour, each one had a large bouquet of +flowers and foliage. Palko arranged them for all three. He was already +a master in that work. Ondrejko carried his bouquet before him with +both hands, so that he could hardly see the path in front. Petrik +carried his bouquet over his shoulder. He was the first to notice that +the door was open and smoke was coming from the chimney. + +The next moment an elderly lady with a black dress and white cap +stepped into the doorway. Her otherwise good-looking face bore +evidence of much care, and she looked distressed, seeming to say, +"What shall I do now?" + +"She certainly needs something," said Palko, as the boys ran toward +the cottage. + +To their greeting, the lady answered in the Czech language. Her kind +face brightened as she looked at the boys and their large bouquets. + +"Are you the nurse of the sick lady?" Palko began. "We promised the +doctor that we would bring flowers, so we have brought them now. They +are wilted, but if you put them in the brook they will freshen up." + +"Thank you very kindly. My lady will be glad." + +Taking the flowers from the boys, the lady placed their ends in the +brook. + +"Since you are not familiar here, perhaps you will need something that +you cannot find in the woods," Palko said thoughtfully. "We shall be +glad to serve you; just let us know." + +"I shall be very thankful, boys, if you will help me. We have brought +everything except salt and bread, which we do not have, because the +bag in which the eatables were, must have been left in the coach. We +came late last night instead of this morning, so the doctor did not +accompany us, and my surroundings are still strange." + +"We will bring some salt and bread. Our hut is near by," Petrik cried +zealously. "Also the whey will be ready. Come on, Ondrejko." + +"Are they to bring us milk and bread from the hut?" inquired the lady. + +"That will be from us," Ondrejko assured her. "But we have to go at +once so that we can return soon." + +"I will stay with you," decided Palko, "because the cottage belongs +to my father. Although you may be used to having things arranged +differently, I may be able to show you where you can put one thing and +another." + +"So this is your cottage? Then you can advise me where to put +everything that we have brought along. What shall we call you?" + +"Palko Lesina. The other boy is Petrik Filina, and the third one is +Ondrejko de Gemer." + +"What is his name?" asked the lady, startled. + +"De Gemer. The sheepfolds belong to his father. The doctor sent +Ondrejko to Bacha Filina because he was weak. Here he thrives well. +From the time that he has lived as we live and not like a gentleman, +he has been getting well and strong. And how about your lady; could +she sleep last night?" + +"Oh, my poor lady!" sobbed the elderly woman. "If she only knew. I +don't know whether she slept in the night, but now she sleeps as she +has not slept for a long time. Come, Palko, enter softly." + +It was good that there was a hall between the bedroom and the kitchen, +for thus the sleeper was not disturbed. Palko proved to be a very good +helper. From the kitchen which looked like a county fair, they carried +away trunks, bags, coverings, raincoats, and towels, into the clean +storage room, which the lady had not yet discovered. Some things they +laid on the shelves which Lesina had already put up, and others were +hung on nails on the wall. One of the trunks, the lady emptied. In it +were the china and all the kitchen utensils. These Palko carried at +once to the new kitchen cupboard. Some things he hung up near the +stove. One of the table-cloths he spread over the table. After he had +found the broom which his father had made from the branches that he +had cut and brought, he swept the kitchen, for with the carrying in of +so many things, much dirt had accumulated. He ran with the pitcher for +water, and placing one of the bouquets in it, set it on the covered +table. Just as he had finished, his comrades came running, hot and +perspiring. Ondrejko carried the crock with a narrow neck, completely +covered with braided straw, and the covered can of milk. Petrik +carried quite a heavy bundle on his back. + +When the nurse returned from the storeroom she could hardly believe +her eyes. On the table on a wooden plate lay the black-bread, salt was +in a new wooden bowl, cheese in a dish, on a plate there was fresh +golden butter, and in a can, milk. The fire that had gone out in the +kitchen stove, was burning brightly now. The boys sat on the bench by +the window, Palko standing in front of them. + +"Are you already here, my children?" asked the nurse; "and what have +you brought?" + +"Bread and salt, as you have asked. The whey is in the crock. The milk +we brought for you, because you are not sick," explained Petrik. + +Ondrejko added, "It may be that your lady will not want to drink the +whey today, and that you will make coffee instead, for yourself." + +"For you," Petrik added, "there is also butter and cheese. Palko is +able to do this because some day all this around here will be his." + +The boys were surprised when the eyes of the nurse suddenly filled +with tears. She wiped them off and kissed the small messengers. + +"You are right, Ondrejko, today I will fix coffee, and you all will +take breakfast with me. In the meantime perhaps my lady will be up." + +Before the coffee was finished, the boys found out that the nurse's +name was Moravec and that they could call her Aunty; that she was born +in the mountains of northern Bohemia in just such a cottage as this. +She went to America with her parents, and was married there, but when +her husband died, and not having her own daughter any more, she had +served this lady ten years, and took care of her like her own child. +Before the boys realized it, each had in front of him a beautiful +cup with a golden edge, full of fragrant coffee, and a big piece of +Bohemian bun. After all, they had found the seemingly lost bag, and +really, it would have been a pity if the good Bohemian buns had been +lost! + +Just as their breakfast was finished, the sound of a silver bell was +heard from the room. Aunty ran in quickly, like a young girl. + +"Perhaps it is time for us to go," advised Petrik. Ondrejko looked at +Palko to see what he would say. He had succeeded in attracting the +beautiful cat to him. She sat beside him on the bench, and with her +front paws, like a squirrel, took the dipped bun from him. Now she was +even sitting on his knees and was purring. + +"We cannot leave these dishes thus, when they were dirtied by us. She +has no help here," said Palko. + +So he ran with a tin bucket for water, and Petrik ran to bring wood. +In the meantime Ondrejko remained alone in the kitchen, when the doors +of the bedroom opened. At first he heard the voice of Aunty--and then +another. The blood rushed to his head, the voice was so clear and +so beautiful. Oh, such mysterious recollections, as from times +so distant, very distant, as if from the secrets of long past +remembrances! What they said he did not understand. The cat wriggled +out of his hands, lifted its long tail and jumped to the door. +The door was not fully closed and she opened it with one paw and +disappeared before the eyes of the surprised boy. He was not even +aware of it. He was so fully taken up with the voice that he did not +hear any more. The boys' coming disturbed and awakened him. + +Palko washed the dishes, Petrik dried them; they put everything away, +and disappeared as quietly as they could. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + + +Seven days passed. How short! but sometimes how long seven days may +be! How much one can live through, experience, and suffer! Time +passes; you awaken, wipe your eyes, and wonder if it is true that it +has passed already. + +Even thus Ondrejko de Gemer, wandering through the woods, wondered +if all was true that had passed in the last seven days, or if it was +merely a dream. Oh, it was no dream, really. She came, the sick lady. +Truly, she lived in Palko's cottage and though Ondrejko had carried +the whey there already three times he had not seen her. Aunty always +said that she was asleep, and must sleep very much. Ah, why did she +always sleep just when he came? She had spoken already to Petrik, and +gave him a box full of candy. Palko had already read to her from his +Book, and had told her that she was almost as beautiful as his mother +at home; Ondrejko, alone, had not seen her yet. + +How much he had prayed already, especially that morning, that she +might not be asleep again when he went there, that he also might +welcome her to those woods and mountains. Formerly Ondrejko didn't +think of it, but he did now, when the herdsmen, especially Stephen, +again and again reminded him that these sheepfolds were his father's, +and therefore his also, and that he had a rightful claim to +everything. When they gave him cheese and butter for the lady, they +gave him plenty, saying, "Just take it; it is yours." This thought +seemed to appeal to him--all is ours. If Palko could say "our +cottage," why could not Ondrejko say, "our sheepfolds, our land, and +our woods? Oh, then she came to us though she lived in the cottage of +Palko. When she gets stronger she will come to us to drink whey from +our sheep." + +Lost in his meditation, the boy did not realize that he had come to +the parting of the paths, one of which turned above to the "Old Hag's +Rock," and the other, below to the cottage in the valley. The weather +was again so clear that from the green clearings in the woods you +could hear the great bells of the rams and the little ones of the +sheep. + +"There is the ringing of the bells of our sheep," smiled the happy +Ondrejko. He ran quickly to the bench, intending to sit upon it and +rest, but he did not do so for it was occupied by someone like one of +the fairies from the woods of which Stephen often told him, that on +St. John's Night came out of the "Old Hag's Rock" and danced on the +meadows. None of them could be more beautiful than the lady sitting +on the bench, with its firm back covered with a flowery blanket; a +similar cushion lay on the arm-rest, and on the cushion rested a white +arm. On the small narrow palm a forehead was resting, and beautiful +dark-gray eyes looked far away above the mountains. + +The boy set down the crock and folded his arms. + +Thus he looked at the lily-white face, and the lips which seemed as if +the Lord God had made just for song. And again his heart felt as if +someone carried him far, far away, into the land of remembrances. It +is too bad that the lady, covered with a light yellow Cashmere shawl +does not look at the boy. Is he not also good-looking? and how +beautiful! On Saturday the doctor sent him a new suit, almost the same +kind as Palko had, but the shirt was embroidered with flowers, with +broad sleeves, narrow pants, decorated sandals, a round hat with +bands, and a small embroidered bag. Petrik also received a new suit, +the kind that he used to wear. Ondrejko was very glad that now he +would be altogether like his comrades. When they were all three in the +church yesterday, the people looked around at them. + +If the lady would only look this way! Surely she never saw such a +beautiful little Slovak! But she did not look. At last, the boy came +to himself. Oh, surely, it must be she!--surely, herself! Who else +would be sitting on his bench? And she had that beautiful cat beside +her. Here she was, already up, and he was just bringing her breakfast. +He was late! Oh, he knew it was necessary for the whey to be warm. +When, then, will she eat her breakfast? + +He took courage and greeted her. The lady aroused herself, opened her +big eyes, and in surprise looked at the boy timidly drawing near. + +"Good morning," greeted Ondrejko. "I am bringing you the whey, but +surely too late. However, I have hurried quite a bit, therefore please +do not be angry at me." + +"Do you bring me my breakfast?" the lady asked astonished. She arose +and took the heavy crock out the hand of the boy. "It must be very +heavy for you." + +"It was not," said Ondrejko, more at ease, as he fastened his +beautiful eyes on the lady's face. Oh, how happy he was that finally +he too could see her, and that she talked with him and even took him +by the hand. + +"And what is your name?" + +"Ondrejko," he replied. + +"And do you live here at these sheepfolds?" + +"Yes," said he, "I live with Bacha Filina. I like it very much." + +The lady walked with the boy and he carried the crock. She was small +in stature, but every movement reminded one of a princess. + +"Why did not Petrik or Palko bring this whey?" she asked, to start a +conversation with Ondrejko. + +"We change about," said he. + +"Change about? But I have never seen you before." + +"I have carried the whey already three times, but you have always been +asleep," said Ondrejko. + +"So, I have always been asleep during your visits? Therefore I will +not leave you quickly today. You must rest with us. Look, Aunty is +already waiting." The lady stopped and almost joyfully handed the +crock to Aunty Moravec. + +"Look who brought the whey for us today, but you are already +acquainted. We have seen each other for the first time now! Please +prepare a good breakfast for my guest." The hands of Aunty shook +somewhat when she received the crock, and she hastened to heat the +whey at once. + +Who could have told Ondrejko how the Lord Jesus would answer his +prayer? Petrik saw the lady only in the kitchen, but she took him into +her room. How beautifully she had things arranged there! A plush sofa +and arm-chair, and many such things as they had in the castle de Gemer +were in the room. He was permitted to sit with her on the sofa and +look over a large book with photographs, all of beautiful lands and +cities. She pointed them out and named them. + +"And you have been in all these places?" he dared to ask. + +A sad expression clouded her face. "Yes, I have, Ondrejko, but now I +have only one wish--to remain forever in these mountains and never +again have to look at that evil, deceitful world outside." + +After a while Aunty brought breakfast. Ondrejko had to sit down at the +beautifully-covered table. He was used to praying before eating in the +hut, so he did it now also, and in the joy which overflowed his heart, +he added, "I thank Thee, dear Lord Jesus, that You have so kindly +answered me." + +The lady had already lifted the cup to her lips, but she set it down +again, and as if ashamed, bowed her head too. A tear appeared on her +golden eyelashes. When the boy had finished eating, she asked him what +he had asked Jesus Christ for. He confessed how much he had desired +to see her, and that he almost envied his comrades. Then he asked +permission to look also into the other book which lay on a small +table. It was full of photographs of people. He looked at her out of +the corner of his eye, because about ten of them were pictures of +herself, but she was dressed in all kinds of strange costumes. In one +of the pictures she had on a loose dress like a cloak and a crown on +her head. Under the picture was printed, "Mary Slavkovsky as Marie +Stuart." The boy rested his curly head on his small palms, and +thought. + +"Why do you look so much at that picture?" said the lady, stroking his +golden curls. + +"Is this really you in all these pictures? Have you perhaps played in +a theatre?" said Ondrejko. + +She was astonished. "What do you know about theatres? Have you perhaps +been in one of them?" + +"No," he shook his head. "That could not be possible. I have not +been." The boy's face saddened. + +"What do you mean, Ondrejko?" said the lady, drawing him nearer to +her. + +"Oh, my mother also is pictured in photographs, but I shall never see +her again." + +"Your mother?" said she, wonderingly. "Is she not a country woman?" + +"Oh, no!" The eyes of the boy glowed. "She is a famous singer, but I +shall not see her again, because she has forgotten me long ago--and so +I have nobody to look after me, no mother, no father, although I was +adjudged to him. I used to be very sad about it, but since Palko came +to us, and I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and received Him in my +heart, I am no more just a forsaken orphan, because He loves me, and +He it with me." The boy stopped because the lady became very pale, and +the arm with which she had caressed him, fell down and a deep sigh +escaped her lips. + +"Aunty!" cried the scared boy, and not in vain. Aunty Moravec ran into +the room. She washed the deathly-pale face of the lady with some kind +of fine-smelling water. She placed a cushion under her head and put +her feet on the sofa. After a while, the lady began to breathe better +again. Aunty took the boy by the hand and led him to the kitchen. At +his anxious questioning she told him only that the lady was still +very weak and must rest. Ondrejko repeated to her what they had been +speaking about together. At hearing this, Aunty sighed and caressed +him, and said, "It is all in vain. It had to come and the sooner the +better." She did not hinder Ondrejko from going home, but did not +allow him to carry the crock. + +"Send Palko, in the afternoon. He promised to take the lady to you. +From tomorrow on, she is to come to your sheepfold to drink the whey. +The doctor ordered that." + +"But is she not sick?" the boy said, showing some anxiety. + +"She is not sick any more, only weak, and this weakness she must +overcome by walking," responded Aunty. + +In this world there is no sweetness without bitterness. If something +strange had not happened, that boy would have returned home very proud +and happy. Thus Bacha Filina found him not far away, all in tears, +and when he took him into his strong arms like a little lamb, the boy +threw both arms around his neck and told him everything. + +"Bacha, I have surely said something bad, though I really don't know +what, and she became very sad about it," cried Ondrejko. + +"Do not cry," the man comforted him. "You said only what the Lord God +put in your mouth. Anyway, when the lady comes in the afternoon, all +will be well again." + +With these words, the Bacha carried the tired boy to his wooden hut, +laid him on the bed, and sat beside him. He stroked his arm and +forehead, and before long he had put his little charge to sleep. Then +he looked at him once more, sadly, and left. About half-an-hour +later the herdsmen found him dressed in his Sunday suit going in the +direction of the "Old Hag's Rock." They thought he was going to town, +and wondered why, because he had been there only yesterday. + +At the same time, bitter crying sounded in Palko's cottage, which +Aunty Moravec could in no way silence. There the weeping lady said, +"He was here; he, my beautiful golden-headed child, and I did not know +him. The heavy crock he brought to me himself. He wanted to see me, +but did not recognize me. How could he, when I myself did not know +him? That his own mother forgot him long ago is not true. All the +glory of the world could not replace my lost treasure. Oh, my father, +my father! If you only knew what became of your daughter! You taught +her to fold her hands in prayer, but she forgot everything--even that. +Unfortunate, betrayed wife, craven mother! If you only knew how your +warnings have been literally fulfilled!" + +The lady cried bitterly. There was no comfort for her. Usually there +is none for the son or daughter who has trampled the good advice of +his parents under his feet and after that has had to suffer everything +which has been foretold them. + +Finally Aunty went out. She heard steps in the hall. After a while she +returned asking if Bacha Filina might enter, that he would like to +speak of something important with the lady. + +In a moment Bacha was in the room. "I have come, Madame Slavkovsky, to +talk with you," he began seriously. "It is time to make an end to +the sin, which for years you have already committed as to my little +charge. The doctor told me that you are his mother, and my lord is his +father. Now is this tender, sensitive child to grow up as somebody +said: 'Whether father or mother, whether sister or brother, nobody +comes to welcome me'?" The man spoke seriously. + +The lady stretched out her hands towards him imploringly. "What can I +do? They took him away from me and adjudged him to De Gemer. My lawyer +did everything that he could, but in vain." + +"But would you love him, would you like to take care of him as it +behooves a decent mother, if my lord would return him to you?" + +"Why would I not! I deserve that you ask me that. Whether you believe +me or not, Bacha Filina, I would give everything if I could only get +him back again. I see he loves me, unworthy though I am." + +"Yes, he loves you as only forsaken children know how to do. Therefore +I came to you, lady--today or never God gives you an opportunity to +get your treasure back again. Your former husband fell deeply into +debt. His administrator received the order to sell the estate of the +De Gemer family. If you have enough money--the doctor told me that you +have--buy it out of the first hands before the Jews get hold of it. +When your lawyer writes him that you will have the estate turned over +to the boy, if Lord de Gemen will give it to you in black and white, +he will be glad to do so, I know, and will give you the boy. He always +boasted that the 'De Gemer' estate shall belong to Ondrejko, his +first-born. Everybody in the neighborhood knows about it. It would not +be such a great shame on the family, that they had to sell the family +castle, if, after all, the property remained in his son's hands. It +is a beautiful estate, and it is wisely managed. It will bring a much +larger income later on, than it does today. Even if you had to borrow +some money to purchase it, it would be worthwhile to do so." + +"Oh, Bacha Filina!" The lady took the man's hard right hand into her +small ones. "How can I thank you enough for this good and beautiful +advice? I don't know if my ready money will suffice, but I have +beautiful jewelry, and when I sell that, we will have something to +start with at least. I am not altogether so unfamiliar with managing +as you may think; I am the daughter of a farmer. But who will buy this +for me? My lawyer is not here." + +"Leave Ondrejko with the doctor. Ride to the administrator's office +and buy the estate yourself. He has orders to sell it. Do not begin to +deal about the boy before the estate is yours. At least, that is what +I think. But today let Ondrejko know that you are his mother, that the +boy may not suffer longer. Come to us in the afternoon. I will send +Palko for you." + +Filina arose. "I would not have come to you while you are still weak, +but we must hurry with the buying, and Ondrejko cared so much that he +shook all over, thinking that surely he had said something bad to +you so that you fainted. The boy is very tender. He needs not only +strengthening with me--that is only for the body--but his heart needs +a mother. The God in the heavens has become his Father. Good-bye, +then." + +"Bacha Filina," the lady stopped the man. "Do you know why I parted +with De Gemer? Or do you think that because I am a singer, I have left +him like an unfaithful wife?" + +"The doctor told me that my lord had wronged you. I do not ask more. +Everyone of us has enough of his own sins. God sees us and knows us. +Do not judge that ye be not judged." The deep voice of Filina sounded +almost gentle. He shook her hand and left. + + * * * * * + +"Uncle Filina! Did you already return from the city?" sounded a voice +from the clearing where he went to look at the flock. Palko ran to +meet him. In his hand he carried a basket full of beautiful mushrooms. + +"I was not in the city, Palko; but what are you doing here?" Filina +was cheered with Palko's presence and sat down on an old log overgrown +with moss. The boy joyfully threw himself down on the deep mossy +cushions. + +"I carried a letter to Stephen which the forester's boy brought for +him from his mother. It cheered him very much. She had been sick, but +now she writes to him herself. Praise the Lord!" + +"I am very glad of that; she is a good woman. And the son which has no +mother has no home anywhere," said Filina. "Where did you find these +mushrooms?" + +"They are beautiful, aren't they? Oh, I just happened to see them. Joe +said he would cook the stew for supper. They will fit in well." + +"Yes, they will. Pick out the best ones, and take them to the ladies +this afternoon, in your cabin. Perhaps they will like them." + +"Shall I really go for the lady? Will it not be too far for her yet?" +thoughtfully asked the boy. + +"I think not, but you must go slowly." + +"But she is still so weak, Uncle." + +"I know it; I have just left her." + +"Is that so? You saw her? And you just came from there? Did you stop +there on the way from town?" + +Bacha was silent for a moment as if deciding something. Then he +fastened his eagle eyes on the boy's face. "Palko, I am going to tell +you something. God grant that you may help me in a very difficult +thing." + +"I would love to, Uncle. Just tell me." + +"The master of these sheepfolds is Ondrejko's father. You know that; +do you not?" + +"Yes, I know it." + +"And the beautiful lady there, is his mother." + +"What did you say!" Palko jumped up at once and sat down again. "But +how is it that they are not together, and that Ondrejko is not with +them?" + +"They had parted, and he took another wife many years ago." + +"And the Lord Jesus permitted that? It seems to me that He said, 'It +should not be so.'" + +"You know, Palko, the world does many things that the Lord God +forbids--even this. I know it is a sin, but it is already that way and +it cannot be changed now. The lady, before De Gemer took her, was a +famous singer in America. She must have been very beautiful because +she is still so today. He brought her to Europe to his family. They +were displeased with him because the lady was not of noble birth. They +did not treat her well, and he did not stand by her as would have been +his duty. Because as far as I know him, he is not the man to guard his +wife against the whole world. It may also be that he has been sorry +already, that he had shut himself out of the world because of her, +while on the other hand, many noble ladies were offered him. How it +was among themselves, I do not know. I only know that once, when he +was not at home, she took the boy and fled away. Then they lived in +Budapest. She did not know how to make a living any other way--so she +gave the boy into the care of strange people, and went again to the +theatre. Then came the law suit. He charged her with leaving him, and +she did not want to return to him, so the court separated them. They +adjudged the boy to his father, and so he came to us. While Ondrejko +was with those people, where she cared for him, they told him all good +things about her, but when he came to where his father put him you can +imagine that they did not speak well of her. So the poor boy has heard +all kinds of stories about his mother, and yet he longs for her, and +so I visited the lady today. I wanted to advise her how she could +take the boy herself and acknowledge him today. Therefore I tell you, +Palko, everything, that you may tell Ondrejko who it is that is coming +to us today." + +There was silence in the mountains. Bacha looked at the boy deep in +thought. "Will you tell him, Palko?" + +"Yes, Uncle. But I must first ask the Lord Jesus for help, for that is +not a small thing. It is good that Ondrejko is already God's lamb. He +will even help his mother to find the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we will +do that part. But, Uncle Filina, when will you tell me that you have +received Him?--that you are His?" The question from the boy, put with +so much loving concern, brought the tears into the man's eyes. + +"I do not know myself, what to tell you, my boy. It is all so strange +to me. From the time that I took the Lord Jesus, like Zaccheus, +it seems to me there is no more of that great burden that always +oppressed me. Sometimes it seems to me as if the Son of God was +actually with me, and when I read the Bible it seems as though He is +living in my heart and opens my eyes. Now I don't know, my boy, what +more can I do." + +"Oh, Uncle," Palko began to jump for joy. "Really, you have already +accepted Him. He came and took away your load, and threw it behind +God's back." + +"What do you say, boy?" said the surprised man. "Is that all?" + +"Yes, that is all. We are only to believe Him. You know well how He +said, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest.' Don't you believe He means what He says?" + +"I do believe, my boy, and already believe, and even understand all +like Zaccheus. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He +came to seek even me, the lost sinner, and I let Him find me." + +When the next moment they kneeled before God, the man and the boy, +there was great joy in heaven that again a sinner had received the +Lord Jesus Christ. Because to those who receive Him, to them gave He +power to be the sons of God. Thus the angels wrote His name in the +Lamb's book of Life. They wrote that Peter Filina believed, and that +Jesus of Nazareth took his heavy burden of sin upon His cross, there +suffered for him the penalty of death, and thus it was that Filina was +forgiven all, and received the Son of God for ever and ever. So for +the first time Filina prayed with his whole heart to God as his +Father. He thanked the Lamb of God for His death, and thanked Him also +for Palko whom He had sent to those mountains. + +When they were done, the boy sighed deeply. Said he, "Since I am +finished with you, I don't have to ask the Lord Jesus any more for +you, but can ask so much better for Ondrejko's mother. Surely He will +grant to me that she will soon accept Him too." + +They went together a little way, but Bacha turned to the clearings and +Palko ran back again to the hut at the sheepfold. On the way, he sang +until the echo rang everywhere. + +There was much stirring in the hut that afternoon. The boys cleaned +and arranged everything so that no particle of dust could be found +anywhere. They brought flowers to Ondrejko that he might braid a chain +of them. It was a very long one. Bacha himself afterwards draped it +over the door. + +"Well, it is time for me to go," announced Palko. "Ondrejko, come with +me part of the way. I saw some nice flowers not far away and you can +pick them. These we will place on the table afterwards." + +"Verily it is time that you go," agreed Bacha, "and go together." + +Ondrejko obeyed very gladly. Merrily the boys went into the woods and +soon found the flowers they wanted. + +"Let us sit down a while," said Palko when they had picked the flowers +and placed them in the nearby spring. "I would like to tell you +something. Do you remember anything about your mother?" + +"About my mother?" said the surprised Ondrejko. That kind of question +he did not expect. "I remember but a little, that she was very +beautiful, and had a very fine voice." + +"And if she suddenly came for you, would you be glad?" + +"For me?" and the boy's beautiful eyes opened wide. "She cannot come +for me any more, because I do not belong to her, but to father." + +"And what did the lady where you lived formerly tell you about her?" + +"That she left father and me because she loved the theatre more than +us, and because sometimes the people hitched themselves to wagons +instead of horses, and gave her beautiful jewels." + +"And you believed it?" retorted Palko, with clouded face. + +"No, I did not believe it, because I loved her, loved her very much." + +"You are right; don't you believe it. Bacha Filina told me that she +went away because your father's family did not like her because she +was not of noble birth as themselves. But she went to the theatre only +because she could not make her living otherwise. Your father brought +her from a very great distance to which she could not return. What +could she do? What the theatre is, I do not know. Only that she sang +there beautifully. Perhaps that would not have been so bad if she had +known the Lord Jesus as we know Him. He would surely have advised and +helped her otherwise, and if that which she did was wrong, when she +once knows Jesus and asks Him to forgive her, He will do so. But we +must tell her about Him, you and I." + +"We? But she is far away, very far." + +"Do not believe it, Ondrejko. The Lord Jesus sent her back as far as +here. The lady at our cottage--that is she." + +"You say that is she?" Ondrejko jumped up. + +"Yes, yes; that is she." + +"She was just like her, and had the same kind of a voice! And so it +aroused in my heart remembrances of long ago when she spoke and when +I looked at her. It seems to me I recognized her, but she didn't know +me," sadly sighed the boy, and his eyes filled with tears. + +"But how could she have recognized you in those farmer's clothes? We +too, Petrik and I, hardly recognized you." + +"Do you think so?" Ondrejko calmed down. "Palko, take me to her; she +doesn't know that I am her Andreas. She doesn't know me." + +"She knows already. Uncle Filina was there. He told her the truth." + +"Oh, then take me with you, because I have made her very sad--till she +almost died." + +"I don't care. Come, then. Surely the Lord Jesus wants it so." + + * * * * * + +No matter how long Ondrejko Gemersky lives he will never be able to +forget how it was when the doors in the cottage opened and a beautiful +lady in a light blue dress, the color of forget-me-nots, stepped out. +In her hands she carried a broad hat, but she dropped it with a cry, +"My Ondrejko!" as she ran toward them. He flew like an arrow to meet +her. + +"Mother, my mother!"--and already held her around the neck. She, +kneeling, hugged him to her breast. They both cried, and Palko with +them. + +"Oh, mother, my mother, how I love you! Verily I am yours, and surely +you will keep me now," begged Ondrejko with tears. He stroked the +beautiful face and forehead of the lady. + +"Yes, you are mine." She jumped up. "I will not give you up any more +to anyone, anyone in the world. But no, come, my son, we have to go to +Bacha Filina. He will take care of it, that no one can take you away +from me." + +Surely Ondrejko will never forget this, nor how they walked together +to the sheepcote, how well they were received there, what a good time +they had that afternoon and evening, because Ondrejko's mother slept +together with Aunty Moravec in his hut. Bacha counted on that. He took +counsel with Aunty and sent Stephen to the cottage to bring whatever +was necessary for the lady, especially sheets, covers, etc. Thus +Ondrejko sat beside his mother in the evening when Joe roasted the +lamb over the fire, and Petrik helped Aunty to cook soup in the pot. + +Bacha told them about the life at the sheepcotes, and many interesting +things from his experiences with the flocks. Then they had supper +together, there in the open. Then they sang the evening song, prayed, +and Palko read from his Book. At Filina's request he read the 15th +chapter of the Gospel of Luke, about a good shepherd, about a woman +who lost her coin, and about a prodigal son who had a good father, but +nevertheless ran away from him, and how badly he fared in the world +until he returned to his father. During the reading Palko made many +beautiful remarks, as he usually did. They all loved to hear him. When +he closed, only the fire crackled, and the stars in the heavens were +sparkling like a multitude of eyes. The moon lit up the tops of the +mountains and woods. Often one of the sheep rang its bell in the fold. + +Bacha suddenly lifted up his bowed head, and spoke with a voice such +as they had never heard before: "That lost and found sheep am I, my +children. The gracious Lord God forgave all my sins. The Lord Jesus +sought and found me, and I have surrendered myself to Him altogether, +including our huts. Let us pray." + +He took his hat off, folded his hands, and prayed thus, "Our Father," +in such a manner, that nobody had ever heard such a prayer before. +Never will Ondrejko de Gemer forget that moment, but I think that none +of the others present there will ever be able to forget it either. + +When in the huts everything quieted down--not even the dogs barked +that night--Bacha, as his custom was, walked all around to see if +there was any danger anywhere, before he betook himself to rest. He +walked also around the wooden hut and suddenly stopped. There on +Ondrejko's little bench, under the window, wrapped up in a shawl, +Madame Slavkovsky sat in the moonlight. Her hands were twined around +her knees, and she was thoughtfully looking into the beautiful starry +night. He coughed, that she might not be startled. She turned her +head, and with a motion indicated her wish that he should take a place +beside her. He obeyed. + +"You said, Bacha Filina, that that lost and found sheep was you," she +began in her sweet, sad voice. "That woman who lost that coin is also +I. More than that even, I am the prodigal daughter." + +"What do you mean by that, lady?" asked Filina seriously. + +"When Palko explained how good that father was and how the naughty boy +left him, I thought that I did just that to my good dear father; and +therefore, from that time on, what sad experiences I have had!" She +sighed deeply. + +"Tell me all about it. I am an old man and could be your father. I +shall understand you." + +"Yes, I will tell you everything, because if you had not saved my poor +child he would not have had anybody. Did you not care for him like a +father?" + +"We lived on a beautiful farm in America," she went on. "My +grandfather and grandmother came from Bohemia as a young couple. They +bought a small farm and worked diligently, and God blessed them. They +were good people, who trusted in God. They had one son and a daughter. +Their son wanted to study, so they sent him to school. As he did not +work on the farm they had to take a helper, and he also came from the +old country. They took a liking for him at once because he fitted in +so well in the family. Once when grandfather was so seriously ill that +he thought he would die, he called his helper and asked him, since he +was single and without relatives in the land, if he would marry his +daughter. He would be more easy if he knew in whose hands he had left +his daughter and wife. That the daughter liked the good-looking and +good-hearted young man, they knew well. But the young man asked for +some time to think it over, and then told their daughter his history +from the old country. What it all was I don't know, and when she, +in spite of it all, was willing to take him, he acceded to my +grandfather's wish, and none of them were ever sorry for it. My father +was very kind to my mother. She had no reason to be sorry that she had +married him. Grandfather recovered from his illness. For many years +after that he worked together with his son-in-law and everything went +well, so that with his help the small farm became a large one. My +recollections are only of the big farm. I was their only child. My +uncle Vojta was at that time a professor in New York, was married, and +advised my parents to send me to him there, that I might go to school +and become a lady. Grandfather approved of this; thus I was at home +only in the summer, and over the winter at Uncle's in school till I +was really trained. My Uncle noticed that I had a talent for singing, +and the teachers confirmed it. Without the knowledge of my home folks +he sent me to learn to sing. I loved to sing, but loved still more the +praise showered upon me by the audiences at the school-concerts. + +"In the meantime, so great a change transpired in my home that I +hardly recognized it when they called me to grandfather's deathbed. +Our farm was not far from the mountains. In those mountains was a +mission conference for several weeks. Our whole family used to go to +listen to those speakers who held religious lectures there--and all +of them, as it was well-known about there, turned to Christ. I shall +never forget how happy grandfather died, how he blessed us all, and +with what fortitude grandmother bore her loss. For the first time I +was really glad to be able to run away from my dear parents to my +Uncle's. My beloved ones started a family altar at home. They sang +songs to the honor of the Lamb who, they claimed, had delivered them +from their sins. Well, I did not like to sing those songs. It seemed +to me as if even the walls of our house would fall down on me. + +"My splendid, kind father let me go sadly. I had half-a-year more +school to complete, and one more examination. My dear parents rejoiced +that then I would be wholly their's, because they had only me, and for +me they worked and saved. My Uncle agreed with me in everything. Like +me, he did not want to enter the narrow path which leads to glory. +With the conclusion of the school-year, my study of singing also +ended, and I returned home with the intention of persuading my parents +to permit me to enter the opera--that means, to become a singer. More +than half-a-year I fought at home with pleas and tears, but in +vain. My father was wonderfully patient and kind to me. Mother +and grandmother were often not so patient, but, like these grand +mountains, they would not move, nor could anyone move my father to +break his word that he would never give me permission to go. Well, +what he did not give me, I took myself." + +"What did you do?" compassionately asked Bacha. The lady broke out +crying. + +"I left home, leaving a letter behind saying that I loved the world, +in which and for which, I wanted to live, and I loved the glory of the +world and did not want to bury myself on the farm. I ran away to my +Uncle's. My dear father came at once for me. He begged and pled, but I +didn't want to go back with him, and did not do so. + +"'When you find out that the world is as vain as soap-bubbles, and +your heart is full of disillusionment, ready to despair, then remember +that you have a father and a home to return to,' said father. 'Until +that time you cannot count yourself one of us. We are standing on two +different paths: the one we go on is narrow and leads high; the other, +which you have chosen, is broad and will lead you from the heights to +a deep abyss. Our prayers will surround you always like a fiery wall. +I know that you will have to suffer much evil and much sorrow, but our +prayers will prevent you from sinning as grievously as you will see +others do around you.' + +"Those were his last words. Oh, Bacha Filina, I went over that broad +path. In a short time I was a famous singer. The people carried me on +their arms. Though I was a simple farmer's daughter, because of the +courses of the good schools which I had attended, the doors of high +society opened to me, and I, like the prodigal, very soon forgot my +parents, and especially my good father. Then Lord Gemer came into my +life, and I married him, being ready to leave everything for him, even +my fame. He promised me that even when I was his wife, he would agree +to my keeping on with my singing. He kept that promise while we were +in America and Italy. But in his native country it was impossible. + +"And then everything began to turn out just as my dear father +foretold. But I don't want to talk about that. I just wanted to say +that I am that prodigal son." + +"That you are, my lady, but only half-way; because the son returned, +and you haven't returned yet." + +"No, you are right. I haven't returned yet. When I had forsaken the +man who betrayed me, I was ashamed, for I was forsaken, betrayed, and +robbed of all means to return home. When I asked my uncle to help me, +though he sent me some money, he also sharply admonished me either to +return to my husband or to go back to my parents and do penance, but +this I did not want to do. It seemed to me that all sinned against me, +and I only was innocent. I had to live. And so I began to sing again, +though with a broken heart. In a short time I had the world again +lying at my feet, but, being so forsaken, I soon recognized its whole +rottenness. How right my father was; I could not sin as I saw others +around me doing. Therefore I had to suffer much till I could go on no +longer. Since my health broke down, I cancelled my contract and betook +myself to search for my son. I wanted to see him, at least once more, +before I died. That is all." + +"That is not everything," said Filina kindly with a smile as he +rose. "The end will be only when the daughter returns, first to her +heavenly, and then also to her earthly father. He that received me, +will surely receive you too. But now come and go to rest, and think +how perhaps in a distant land your father is praying just now for you, +and that the heavenly Father loved us so much that He gave His only +Son for us. Goodnight!" + +In a little while the stars shone down upon a quiet place while the +people slept. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + + +The doctor came the next day, just as Bacha Filina had expected him. +He came in his coach as far as the sheepcotes, and before Ondrejko +realized it, he carried away his mother, and also Bacha Filina. Before +they went they arranged for Ondrejko to remain longer with Bacha, and +he would go to his mother only for visits. + +"Palko, take the boys," commanded Bacha, "and go with them somewhere +in the woods where nobody will interfere, and pray that the Lord God +may help us to successfully arrange for what we have before us." + +So they prayed, and believed that the Lord Jesus heard them. + +Late in the evening, Bacha returned. The boys were already asleep. In +the morning he told them that everything that could be done yesterday +was carried out successfully, but that there was another matter which +would take about a week before they could know how it would turn out, +so they must keep on praying. + +And what a week it was! The boys never lived through another like it. +Sometimes they were with Ondrejko at his mother's. Again she came to +the sheepcotes, and when she remained till the evening she loved to +spend the night in the wooden hut. Aunty used to return before the +evening in the company of Petrik. He loved to do this, because he +always got a very good supper there. Then Ondrejko slept with his +mother. How beautiful that was! She sat on his bed, told him many good +things, petted, and kissed him till he fell asleep. In the morning +again, he woke her up early. He jumped from his bed, threw his arms +around her neck and timidly kissed her beautiful lips. What beautiful +moments these were! Ondrejko was allowed to accompany his mother even +when Bacha Filina took her to show her all three sheepfolds. They +walked together over the clearings, looked at the herds of sheep, and +spoke with the herdsmen. She was so friendly and kind to them. On the +other hand, this helped to improve her health. After such a walk +she ate and slept very well. Ondrejko was glad that she liked Bacha +Filina. He treated her very nicely, just like a lady, as if she were +his own daughter. On Saturday Ondrejko went with his mother to the +cottage. There he was to have dinner with her. Both of his comrades +were invited for the afternoon, and with them, of course, came Dunaj +and Fido, but the cat was not afraid of them, and when they saw this +they let her alone. + +The boy ran joyfully into the room, but on the doorstep he halted, +because his beautiful mother sat at a table. In her hand she held a +long letter ready for the mail, and she cried. Oh, how bitterly she +cried! She was cheered up when he ran to her and began to hug and kiss +her; she returned his kisses but did not stop crying. "Why do you cry +so much, my mother?" he said sadly. "What is it about?" + +"About myself, my loved one, because I am very bad." + +Ondrejko would not admit that. To him, a mother seemed like an angel, +but Palko had read only yesterday the saying: "THEY ALL HAVE SINNED +AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD," and added that so long as one +does not realize this and thinks himself good enough, the Lord Jesus +cannot save him, because only sick ones need a doctor; and Bacha +Filina had added that only the Holy Spirit can bring a soul to such +conviction. It must be then, that the Holy Spirit had begun to teach +his mother also. Surely the Lord Jesus would soon find her! + +"Why do you think, mother, that you are bad?" the boy timidly asked. + +"Because I have a very good father, and have grieved him very much. +Look, Ondrejko; I have written now for the first time in many years." + +"And surely you have asked his forgiveness? Have you not?" + +"Yes, I did; but is it possible to forgive such a sinner?" + +"The father forgave his prodigal son because he loved him," the boy +said seriously. "Did your father love you also, my mother?" + +The lady sighed sadly, but did not cry any more. + +"He would surely receive you if you would return home." + +"I will see if he will answer me, and what he will say." + +"Mother, was not your father my grandfather?" + +"Yes, my darling; and if the good Lord grant that I may be able to +count you all my own, and you will be only mine, then we will go +together, and you will help me to ask him. He will surely not refuse +you; you will understand one another better, because you both love the +Lord Jesus and you are His sheep." + +The boy rejoiced. The grandfather loved the Lord Jesus! "How glad I +am! Oh, then he will surely forgive you." + +They could not continue their talk because Aunty Moravec called them +to dinner, which was very good. Joe came after dinner; he was carrying +cheese to town and stopped to ask if there was anything to be mailed. +The lady gave him her letter, and Aunty a slip and money to buy +various things at the stores, with a big piece of cake to eat on the +way. From the lady he received money to buy cherries for himself and +the boys, if there were any good ones. + +That afternoon it was quite jolly in and about the cottage when the +comrades came. Ondrejko was glad that his mother was so joyful. She +taught them all kinds of nice games. She even went with them on the +"Old Hag's Rock," and there Palko had to tell her also how he found +his Sunshine Country. That interested her very much. He recalled +twice, how he was lost as a small child and grew up with strange +people, and how the Lord Jesus took care that he came again to his +parents. A whole book could be written about how he fared in the +world.[A] Madame Slavkovsky was very much interested in that. When +they later walked to the sheepcotes, all along the way she asked about +Palko's mother, who in her sorrow for the lost boy also lost her +reason till she finally found him and the Lord Jesus returned her son +to her. They did not realize how quickly they came to the huts. + +[Footnote A: See the first part of "The Sunshine Country."] + +It was a beautiful evening; the sunset covered the sky with its rosy +curtains. The sun sank behind the mountains, and as if in parting +kissed the valleys and the people, and especially seemed to kiss the +beautiful lady who sat by the open fire in deep thought. + +"If you can sing so beautifully," begged Palko, "and many people went +to hear you, we also would like you to do so. Sing for us, if you +please." + +"Oh, Palko." The lady shook her head. "You wouldn't like my song. +Besides you wouldn't understand me. I sang mostly in English, Italian, +but also in Czech, but the text of these songs would not fit in with +this sacred evening closing around us. But because I would like to +reward you, Palko, for so beautifully relating your experiences, let +me just think a moment." + +They waited; and it was so quiet around them that they could almost +hear one another breathe; and in the distance the bells of the flocks +tinkled. + +Finally, she lifted her head. "After all, I remember something, and it +is in the Slovak language. Once I learned this song about the sea, +and when I sang it, thousands of people wept. It is a ballad about a +shipwrecked vessel. Would you like to have me sing it?" + +"Yes, yes," they all cried. Bacha had just arrived and sat among them. +What a beautiful thing it is when the Creator puts such a voice in the +human throat that no bird or instrument can equal it! You can hear +everything in such a voice: the ringing of gold and silver, the +moaning in the tops of the pines when they move in the wind; the +babbling of the brooks as well as the roar of a great cataract--yes, +everything! + + "Master, the tempest is raging! + The billows are tossing high! + The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness, + No shelter or help is nigh; + + "Carest Thou not that we perish? + How canst Thou lie asleep, + When each moment so madly is threat'ning + A grave in the angry deep?" + +Sweetly, yet mysteriously and sadly, the notes of the song floated on +the evening breeze down to the valley. Once, when the lady tried the +song for the first time, thousands of people cried. Today only a small +company of listeners cried, but I think that even the woods and the +brooks and everything round wept also. Above all of them wept Bacha +Filina. Palko who sat next to him laid his arm around his neck and +cried with him. He understood him. Thus perished once the ship that +carried Stephen. It sank in the terrible depths with him. In vain they +waited, in vain they called. Uncle Filina would never see him again. + +The boys did not dream, nor the helpers of Bacha, that anything +existed as beautiful as that which was hidden in the lady's throat. +You could almost hear the crashings of the breaking ship, and feel the +hopelessness of the situation. It ended like sad, soft wailings of the +perishing ones. The lady noticed the weeping her song had awakened. +She realized that it would not be easy to stop it. Then she did +something which that very morning she would have been in doubt that +she would be able to do. She sang a song hidden in her memory from her +old home, and which she had hated with her whole heart, because she +could not forget it. + + "My faith looks up to Thee, + Thou Lamb of Calvary, + Saviour Divine! + Now hear me while I pray, + Take all my guilt away, + Oh, let me from this day + Be wholly Thine! + + "May Thy rich grace impart + Strength to my fainting heart, + My zeal inspire! + As Thou hast died for me, + Oh, may my love to Thee, + Pure, warm, and changeless be, + A living fire! + + "While life's dark maze I tread, + And griefs around me spread, + Be Thou my guide; + Bid darkness turn to day, + Wipe sorrow's tears away, + Nor let me ever stray + From Thee aside. + + "When ends life's transient dream, + When death's cold, sullen stream + Shall o'er me roll; + Blest Saviour, then, in love, + Fear and distrust remove; + Oh, bear me safe above, + A ransomed soul!" + +Perhaps nowhere and never before, were those beautiful lines sung so +impressively. When she stopped, Bacha Filina stood near her and very +seriously said, "Thank you, Madame Slavkovsky, for that precious song. +You have shown me great kindness thereby. Your beautiful ballad opened +a deep wound in my heart which was not quite healed. It almost seemed +that I must die because of it, but this holy song healed it again. God +bless you for it! But one thing I must ask you: let us write this song +down, and you must teach us the melody that we may cheer ourselves +with it in life and death." + +The lady promised, but asked that they might now read the Word of God, +as she felt tired. They did this very gladly, and in a little while a +wonderful quietness reigned. + +"Listen, Steve," said Joe to his comrade; "In the castle they said +that when the lady went home after singing in the theatre that +gentlemen unhitched the horses from her carriage, and hitched +themselves to it and thus drew her along. I am not surprised. Really, +when she sings, she can do anything with a person." + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + + +On Sunday morning the doctor brought some papers. They all had met +at breakfast in the hut. When the lady read the letters, she folded +Ondrejko in her arms, and half-crying and half-laughing said, "My dear +son, now you may really say, 'our woods,' 'our sheep,' because I have +bought it all for you, my Ondrejko, and all this ground. Only I don't +know if I dare say: 'Our Bacha Filina.' I cannot, if it were not for +you. He himself must decide if he will stay with us. Do tell him that +he must stay." + +"Do not ask, Ondrejko," smiled Bacha. "If you are at all satisfied +with me--yes, if you are satisfied with all of us--we all will be glad +to stay; isn't it so, boys?" + +"Surely we will be very glad to stay," answered the herdsmen. + +Soon it was known at all three sheepfolds that Madame Slavkovsky had +bought Lord Gemer's estate and that she would deed it to Ondrejko if +Lord Gemer would give up her son to her. No one doubted that he would +do this, and since the present manager gave notice to leave, because +he had been called to manage a different estate, the lady hoped that +she would find some other responsible man. She promised everyone a +raise in wages as soon as the change of ownership of the estate was +recorded and improvements made. Everybody rejoiced. It almost seemed +that even the sheep knew that Ondrejko had become their master. It was +lovely how they rang their bells. + +Over the sheepcotes every once in a while sounded the song which they +called the lady's: "My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary." +The boys taught it to everybody who wanted to learn it, and what +Slovak would not like to learn a new song? When Aunty Moravec noticed +how they all liked it, she confided to Palko that she still had a +whole book of such songs from America. Thereupon, Ondrejko begged his +mother to sing one of them once in a while. She made no excuses. Every +day she taught them a new one, each more beautiful than those before. +They did not realize that she taught them the very songs from which +she ran away in the home of her parents, and which she would neither +hear nor sing there. Bacha permitted the herders from the other +sheepcotes to come over to his hut. They loved to come for those +songs. They had good voices, clear as the evening bells. The lady +even taught them to sing one in four parts. When Sunday came, they +practised the whole afternoon, and sang in the evening, so that it +sounded over the mountains like a beautiful melody. + +That Sunday Palko read and explained how the Lord came from Nazareth +to live in Capernaum, since they did not want Him in Nazareth, and +that even today the Lord Jesus did not want to compel anybody, even as +He had not compelled those in Nazareth, but went away and left them +forever. Then he begged everybody not to send the Lord Jesus away, but +permit Him to live with them. "It would be very sad if our sheepcotes +would be like those of Nazareth, and if He had to forsake us and go +farther on to Capernaum. Where He is, there is heaven and there is +life. He heals every sickness. Just notice how many people He healed +in Capernaum. But where He is not, there is darkness, just as in that +song it says: 'Oh, there is no more salvation.'" + +With serious thoughts they all departed to their rest. Ondrejko slept +very soundly, but in spite of that it seemed to him that he heard his +mother crying. In the morning he saw from her eyes that she had not +slept very much. He dared not wake her up. So he stole out on tiptoe +with his suit and dressed outside. + +Once when Joe brought things from the city and Aunty Moravec gave him +a good meal, he began to praise his new lady and asked sincerely, "But +why did Lord de Gemer part with her? He will not find another like her +in the world." + +"He did not part with her, but she parted with him," said the old +nurse with clouded face. "He is a bad, unfaithful man. The poor woman +loved him so much and believed everything. When she took him, she had +much money; and he just lived on her money and wasted it. He played +cards and did all kinds of evil things. By the time we came to +Budapest she was robbed of everything. He wanted her to continue to +sing there. She had beautiful jewels; he told her he would deposit +them in a bank, but he pawned them, because at the horse-races he had +lost a big bet and needed much money. When he said that I warned her +not to let everything go out of her power, through false accusation he +separated me from her, accusing me of causing trouble between them. +When there was no one else to defend her and she was robbed of +everything, they began to look down upon her--his mother, his sisters, +and he himself. She was born in America; there they treat women +differently. In spite of it she suffered a whole year because she +loved him very much. Once she saw her jewelry on another lady, and +asked where she had bought them. Thus she found out that they were +pawned and had been sold for the charges on them. There were many +evil-minded people around her; they opened her eyes after that to what +kind of a husband she had, how he fooled and robbed her, that he loved +only her money. That was most insulting to her. Not an hour more would +she stay with him under the same roof. She got together the last +things she had--above all her little son--and went to Vienna. There +I found her dangerously sick. She asked her husband to send her her +things, for she was sick. He again asked for the boy but she would not +give him up. In order that they might not take him away, I, myself, +took him to northern Bohemia, to my own family, where it was well with +him. In the meantime the lawsuit ended, and they took him away from +her because he was assigned to his father. Because she did not give +the boy up at once, he sent her, from her clothing and laundry, only +what was old and shabby. His relatives divided her beautiful, valuable +garments among themselves. Thus they dealt with her because nobody +would protect her. In those hard days, her uncle from America, who had +arranged for her training in singing, helped her. Thus she could pay +for the upkeep of the boy, and we went first to Berlin, then to Rome +and Paris. She sang to make her living, but also that she might regain +the honor of which Lord Gemer wanted to rob her, when he had parted +with her and had told all kinds of evil about her, which he could not +prove. Later we went to England, and finally to Russia. There she +fared the best. There she might have become a rich princess, but she +would not look at any man again. How glad the gentlemen there would +have been if she would have spoken to them as kindly as she speaks +here with you. But the purer the life she led, the more they bothered +her, and the more she did not want to live. She said she wanted to see +her boy once more before she died. For a long time we could not find +out where the boy was. Finally, she got sick on the railroad, and by +God's direction Dr. H. helped her. From him she learned all the truth, +and after that he brought her here. And now you know why she left the +Lord de Gemer." + +"That robber, that gypsy, that deceiver, how he fooled and robbed her! +If one of us steals a chicken or the like he is put at once behind the +bars. Such a gentleman can do everything, but if she would just go to +law he would have to return her everything," said Joe angrily. + +"Yes, he would have to, but she doesn't want to. She is not concerned +about mammon. All she wants is to have peace from him forever. But +that he should not make any trouble about the child, I wrote to our +lawyer who was to make the arrangements for her, to threaten him with +a lawsuit for the jewelry and money if he would not give up the boy +willingly. My lady will never know what I did. Our lawyer is a good +friend, and a decent and honest man, not such an one as we had +before." + +That Joe did not keep this news to himself is true. Thus Filina's +helpers found out what kind of a master they had only after he ceased +to be their lord. To the last one all took the lady's part. All were +sorry for her and wished her to have the record very soon in black and +white, that the boy was hers only, and the father had no more claims +on him. Everyone greeted her very respectfully wherever they met her. +She walked sadly and in deep contemplation. Only among the boys was +she cheerful. + +In the sheepcotes also they were once in a while in sad contemplation. +They counted the days before Lesina would come for Palko and take +him away. When Ondrejko with tears in his eyes confided this to his +mother, her cheeks turned pale with fright. It had never occurred +to her that Palko would leave, and she could not even imagine those +surroundings without him. One day he accompanied her to the cottage. +She had promised him a nice song; he had come in to get it. + +"Palko, do you want to go away from us?" she began suddenly, and took +the boy by the hand. + +"Verily, even next week my father is coming," he said seriously. "Then +we will have about five days' more work with the timber, and then we +shall leave." + +"But you will be glad to go home; will you not?" + +"Really very glad," he confessed sincerely. "Since I have not seen my +mother for weeks, nor grandfather nor grandmother and all, nor have +they seen me. They will be glad when I come, and I more than they all, +because we all will be together again." + +"And will you not be sorry for your comrades? They will miss you +sadly." + +"Yes, indeed; I will be very lonesome without them and Uncle Filina. +I love him very much, like my old pastor Malina. I am thankful to the +Lord Jesus that Uncle is healthy and will not yet die, but will tell +his helpers about the Lord Jesus, and everybody else. Only one thing +worries me; it is that when I go away, I shall not find out what you, +lady, will do with the Lord Jesus. You taught us such beautiful songs; +till my death I shall be thankful to you for them. You have sung so +beautifully for us, like an angel from heaven; but you do not believe +what you have been singing. I am sorry for that, and the Lord Jesus is +sorry also. Yesterday you taught us the song: + + "Safe in the arms of Jesus, + Safe on His gentle breast, + There by His love o'ershadowed, + Safely my soul shall rest." + +"It would fit you so beautifully if you would give yourself in His +hands just as the shepherd carries the lost sheep. It would be so good +for you in His arms; I know that best of all. While here among you, +more than once homesickness for my mother threatened to overcome me; +but when I considered that He is with me, it was well with me at once, +and I was right at home. You have met already much evil in the world +and more than once you were sad, were you not? But He would console +you. However, if you would let Him go away like the people of +Nazareth, He will go on, but you would remain alone. Ondrejko told me +that you have a very good father, that your father already belongs to +the Lord Jesus. Ondrejko belongs to Him also; sometime they both will +go to Him, and you will be left alone," and Palko broke out crying. + +"Do not cry," said the lady in a peculiar voice. "I don't want to be +like the people at Nazareth. I would like to go on that narrow path, +but I cannot find it. I am too full of sin for God to receive me. So +long as my earthly father does not forgive me, I cannot seek the face +of God." + +Their talk was broken off when they came to the bench, because Aunty +Moravec came to meet them, all pale, "A special messenger brought a +telegram. Please sign here." + +The lady's knees began to tremble. She sat on the bench, signed the +paper, and handed it to Aunty, then quickly she opened the telegram +and read. Dark spots formed before her eyes. Unable to see, she handed +the telegram to the boy. "Palko, read me that," and Palko read: + +"New York. I am embarking. Coming to see you. Your loving father." + +"Is it really so, Palko?" + +"It is." + +"Oh, my father, my father! He is coming to us. He still loves and +forgives. Palko, pray for me, for something will happen to me," +bitterly crying, the lady fell on her knees. + +Palko prayed, "Thank Thee, Lord Jesus, that her father is coming, that +he has forgiven her, though he is still far away, yet Thou art here. +If she will just ask Thee, Thou wilt forgive her, because Thou dost +love her so much, I know. Amen." + +Life and death is in the power of the tongue. In the words of Palko +there was life. The lady believed that the Good Shepherd was really +there, that He came to meet her. Once she had run away from Him; today +she did not want to run away. Today she confessed her transgressions +to Him. She knew well that it was against Him she had sinned most, +that she had gone from Him, to her own destruction. She had despised +Him when He had stretched out His pierced hands to her, though they +had been nailed on the cross for her sake. She had not wanted to sing +to His honor and glory; and had hated the songs of the Lamb. She had +wanted to sing for the people and had--but they had repaid her by +breaking her heart. But He, whom she despised, had followed her here. +She had not wanted to hear famous preachers; but He had sent a +child along her path that he might lead her to the feet of the Good +Shepherd. The Good Shepherd did not despise her; at last He had +received her. Palko did not understand what the lady prayed, for she +prayed in English, but he understood the tone. The Lord Jesus was +with her and she knew it and talked with Him. Palko rose silently and +respectfully, and left the place which now belonged to the lady and +the Good Shepherd. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + + +"Boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what the day may +bring forth," says the Word of God, and that truly. Even at the +sheepfolds they did not dream what the next day would bring to them, +the serious illness of Ondrejko's mother. The doctor, very much +worried, said that the unexpected message about the arrival of her +beloved father, whom she had not seen for years, shocked her so much, +that she fell into a nervous illness, which he had wanted to prevent +by bringing her here to the mountains. Only Palko and Bacha Filina +knew that there was something more which overcame her. They spoke +about it only between themselves and prayed for the lady very much. +She seemed to recognize no one. She lay in her bed like a beautiful +flower broken from its stem. In vain did Ondrejko whisper to her, and +stroke and kiss her. She looked at him but did not answer. Only one +thing consoled her poor child, that she had an expression, whether +she slept or not, as though she were very happy. At times she sang +beautiful songs to the honor of the Lamb; other times again, a sea +ballad, and after that always the song, "My faith looks up to Thee." +Thus two weeks passed by without any change. + +In the meantime Lesina came; he finished what was necessary and +went away, but did not take Palko with him. He could not do that to +Ondrejko, who nestled to his comrade like a little bird driven out of +its nest. The doctor said Ondrejko would surely be sick if his comrade +left him just at this time. Bacha promised Lesina that he himself +would take Palko home when the lady got better, because he believed +that the lady would get well, although the doctor gave no hope that +she would not die or that she would not lose her mind. For this reason +also, Lesina could not take Palko away, for it seemed that the sick +lady knew him. When he read in his Book she looked at him as if she +listened, and though she did not say anything, she was always so quiet +and happy. + +In the meantime the answer came from Paris, and the unfortunate lady +did not know that the boy who sat beside her bed so pale, now belonged +only to her, and that no one else had any right to him. Neither did +she know about another message--yes, even two; one coming from Hamburg +in which her father announced that he had arrived safely; the other +announcing his coming on Saturday evening to the nearest railway +station. The Bacha very sadly stood at the foot of the lady's bed with +both messages in his hands, and Aunty Moravec cried bitterly. + +"What shall we do, Bacha Filina? He is coming from such a distance and +knows nothing. How will he take it, when he finds her thus, and +will hear that because of his telegram this sickness overcame her? +Previously, in Russia, the doctors had told her that some day her +nerves might give way. Oh, what will the poor father say? He wanted to +give her joy, and it has turned out like this." + +"What God does and permits, is always good," Filina said, nodding his +head. "Do not worry; I am going for her father, and on the way will +prepare him for what he will find here." + +"Bacha Filina, take me along to meet Grandfather," begged Ondrejko, +when Bacha was getting ready in the afternoon. + +"I am going on foot; that would be too far for you, my boy," said +Bacha, stroking the boy's head. "You just remain with your mother +and wait for your grandfather here. At the station I shall take a +carriage; I think that in the evening, about eight o'clock, we shall +be here." + +Bacha kissed the boy, though he usually did not do so, and in a moment +his giant-like figure disappeared in the thicket by the clearing. He +picked the shortest way over paths well-known to him, but still it +took about two hours before he reached the main road leading to J----. +There he suddenly stopped. He turned to the east, where on a steep +rock stood an old, recently repaired cross. Oh, human memory, how +strange thou art! Bacha needed only to look at the cross, and at once, +as if the years flew back, it seemed to him as if he was standing +there like a nineteen-year-old youth. A desire overtook him to go up +to the cross, bend over its side and look again on the path on which, +on that summer morning, his brother, Stephen, had left, never to +return again. He went on that "breaking" ship to a "cold grave." Bacha +Filina could not resist that desire. For about a quarter of an hour +he kneeled at the cross, and rested his forehead on the stone step. +Inexpressible sorrow shook him. It wanted to rob him of his assurance +of forgiveness, but in and around him it was suddenly as if somebody +sang: + + "My faith looks up to Thee, + Thou Lamb of Calvary, + Saviour Divine! + Now hear me while I pray, + Take all my guilt away; + Oh, let me from this day, + Be wholly Thine!" + +His heavy load of sin had been cleansed by that precious blood! The +Lord Jesus took his guilt with Him on the cross and the Holy God had +forgiven him! But what was he doing here now? What had he come here +for? What did he waste the time here for? Yonder in the cottage, +Ondrejko's mother was half-alive and half-dead, and from afar her +father from beyond the ocean was coming to his child. If he, Filina, +would delay here, they might miss each other at the station. + +Bacha stood up, dusted off his Sunday clothes, put his firm arm around +the cross and bent over, as once many years ago! It was good that the +cross was firm and also the arm that clung to it. Bacha saw on the +sloping path a man of slim figure, in a gentleman's suit, drawing +near. Just then he stopped. He turned round; he took his hat from his +head and looked in the direction where once stood Filina's hut. All +that marked the place were a few half-burned timbers, now overgrown +with weeds. Oh, that face! There was only one like it, never +forgotten, younger--but nevertheless! + +Bacha closed his eagle eyes that they might not fool him. He opened +them only when the steps drew nearer to him from below. He let go the +cross and crossed his arms on his chest. Looking up he stood face to +face with the stranger. + +"Good evening," said he. + +"Oh, Stephen!" It came out of the chest of Bacha. Half cry, half +terror. + +"Peter! Is it you!" Two arms twined around Filina's neck. + +"Stephen! You live? Really? It is not possible!" + +"I live, Peter, and at last, I am coming. It is rather late, it's +true, but I did not know before that the loved one who once separated +us, had passed away long ago, and that you and I would not have any +more heartaches. I am coming to you for my treasures, which are in +your care." + +"Your treasures?" Bacha was surprised still, not knowing whether it +was a beautiful, but impossible dream. He could not get enough of the +voice that was speaking to him. The face was older, changed, but the +voice was the same. It always sounded to Peter Filina like music. And +so it was today. + +"We are expecting the father of Madame Slavkovsky today, and I am +going to meet him." + +"I am that father." + +"You, Stephen?" Bacha released the stranger. "I do not understand +that." + +"I believe you, my Peter. Well, how you have changed, how strong you +have gotten, how giantlike, like the beautiful mountains all around! +I would not have recognized you, if it were not for the voice--no one +has called me thus since--and by your eagle eyes under those heavy +eyebrows." + +"Stephen, tell me, how is it possible that you live? Was not that ship +wrecked?" + +"Yes, Peter, she went to the bottom of the sea; but I was among the +few immigrants which another ship saved. God does not want the death +of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live; so He saved me. +The first steady work that I had in America was on the farm of Mr. +Slavkovsky. My daughter wrote me that she told you everything about +us. Thus you know what Slavkovsky asked of me and that I agreed to do +as he wished. When he heard from me that I did not want you to know +that I still lived, he advised me to adopt his name and thus disappear +forever from this world. His wife and son, and even my good wife, +agreed with it. Thus Stephen Pribylinsky died and only Stephen +Slavkovsky remained. I could not return home and live with you, as our +father planned. Eva was your wife and I loved her. I did not really +know God and the Lord Jesus then, nor understood His Holy Law; but +this much I knew, that it would have been a constant and a great +temptation for us all. Thus, I chose to die to you." + +Slavkovsky finished, and out of Bacha's breast came a deep sigh. "You +died for us, and until recently I worried very much about it, that I +had become a murderer and was like Cain." + +"You? And why?" + +"Did I not drown you the second time in that swamp, by driving you to +America? Eva loved you more. Had it not been for me, you could have +lived as happily as in Paradise. You would have been mated much +better. At my side, she perished of sorrow. My father did not live +long; I took care of mother, but could not replace her son to her. See +yonder the burnt remains of our hut, where we once lived so happily. +Years ago, when I took up this service which I have held ever since, I +rented it to a neighbor. He did not take good care and it burned down. +I could, but would not rebuild it. What would it have been good for to +me? I was forsaken in the world, like a stick." + +Sudden quietness prevailed on the step at the foot of the cross, where +both men sat. It seemed that the popular song could be applied to +them: + + "Mountain, green mountain, Ahoy! + My heart is hurting, sadly I cry! + Painful, so painful is my woe, + My heart is fainting, my joy is gone." + +"Forgive me, Peter," suddenly said Stephen Slavkovsky. "It was not +right that I hid myself from you. I have caused you much sorrow. While +I imagined that you were living with Eva in our mountains, which I +never could forget, perhaps surrounded with children, and our parents +were happy with you--you have lived alone for years. It was not good +that I did not let you know about myself. Once some one from this +neighborhood came to America but did not know me and told me that +father died. I had already written a letter to mother, to send her my +love, but I did not send it. I thought how good I was to you, but that +heart of ours is deceitful and perverse, full of self-righteousness +and pride. I have done wrong both to mother and to you, but I was +repaid when my only child forsook me, and after ten years I must come +as far as here to find her." + +Bacha roused himself, "Come, Stephen, let us delay no longer; but if +we go on foot we shall arrive very late." + +They both arose. "I am on foot. I have a coach; however, I told the +driver to feed the horses a bit. Now I hear them; they will be ready. +Let us go; on the way we can tell one another more." + +Thus among the Slovak mountains rode two brothers, who had grown up +among them, and were so closely united to them, that one of them in +a distant land almost died of home-sickness, and the other could not +have lived without them at all. Now they did not think about the +beauty around them, because Stephen Slavkovsky found out his child +was waiting for him, and that only the Heavenly Doctor could save His +sheep which had returned to Him. + +The proverb says that bad luck does not wander among the mountains but +among the people. Now it was among the mountains. Who can describe the +moment when the father stopped at the bed of his only child and saw +her so broken and read on her beautiful face the confirmation of all +of which he had once warned her. The setting sun shone upon the broken +flower and on the man who was kneeling at her bed, his head laid on +his crossed arms. No one dared to disturb him in his sadness and +prayer. Suddenly the lady opened her eyes; she turned them to the +window and began to sing softly the song which she had recently taught +the boys: + + "Jesus, Lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly, + While the billows o'er me roll, + While the tempest still is high; + Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, + Till the storm of life be past; + Safe into the haven guide; + Oh, receive my soul at last." + +Her father cried silently and the others with him. But she sang on, +and as Joe said sometime ago, "She could do anything with them when +she sang." The weeping stopped, and the small room seemed to be full +of the presence of Him who is the King of Glory, the Prince of Peace, +and the only Healer. + + "Other refuge have I none, + Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; + Leave, oh, leave me not alone, + Still support and comfort me: + All my trust on Thee is stayed, + All my help from Thee I bring; + Cover my defenceless head + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +Palko believed and felt that his Lord was there, and the lady sang on: + + "Thou, O Christ, art all I want; + More than all in Thee I find; + Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, + Heal the sick and lead the blind: + Just and holy is Thy name, + I am all unrighteousness; + Vile and full of sin I am, + Thou art full of truth and grace. + + "Plenteous grace with Thee is found-- + Grace to cover all my sin; + Let the healing streams abound, + Make and keep me pure within; + Thou of life the fountain art, + Freely let me take of Thee; + Spring Thou up within my heart, + Rise to all eternity." + +The song concluded. A silence followed during which the lady turned +her look away from the window and fastened it upon the face of the man +who bent over her. + +"Mary, dear, my golden darling, do you not recognize me?" asked the +trembling lips of the man, so tenderly, as only a good father can +speak to his only child. For a moment the beautiful eyes of the lady +fastened themselves on the man's eyes. The doctor entering the room at +that moment, with a quick movement of his hand tried to hinder this +critical situation, but it was too late. The lady's pale face glowed +suddenly, as after the dark night the day breaks over the mountains. + +"My father! Oh, my father!" + +She sat up, stretched out her arms and would have sunk back, had not +her father's arms clasped her; her head was resting on his breast, her +arms twined around his neck, and the lady clung closely to him like +a little chick pursued by the hawk, when the hen spreads over it her +protecting wings. + +"Did you come? Did you forgive? Do you love? Oh, at home, home! No +more in a strange land. I am not fleeing any more--the Lord Jesus was +merciful, He received me.... Now I can die!" Thus whispered the lady, +crying softly, returning her father's kisses. + +"Indeed not! Who would die now?" the doctor interrupted at this tender +moment. "You haven't even shown Ondrejko to your father, and the poor +boy can hardly wait any longer." It was as if a new life had been +poured into her. + +"My Ondrejko!" She stretched out her hand to the boy, still crouching +beside her. "Just look! Grandfather has come, and you don't have to +beg him any more. Just welcome him!" + +Ondrejko found himself in the arms of his grandfather and was very +surprised. He had expected to see an old man with a gray beard, but +grandfather was without beard and still quite young and handsome. +The boy felt, what he had never known before, what a joy it is to be +kissed and hugged by a father. His saddened heart rejoiced, and he was +filled with a feeling of protection and safety. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + + +Some things happen in this world at which we cannot wonder enough. +Thus it was at the sheepfolds of the Gemer estate. There still lived +people in that neighborhood who had known old Filina, the father of +Bacha, very well. They remembered how he had told them that one of his +boys had prepared to go to America, and the other one had married at +home, and when Stephen had made some money across the sea, he would +return home and they would all live together. They also remembered how +the message came that the ship was wrecked, and that Stephen would +never see his homeland again. But that did not happen! Thirty years +passed and Stephen Pribylinsky came home after all. He appeared to +them as if he had been raised from the dead, and the resurrection had +come when the sea had given up her dead and returned him. They spoke +about his coming for his daughter and grandchild. But when the +fragrance of his beloved Slovak mountains filled him, would he be able +to go again far across the sea? Will he not fear that he was like a +stranger, for years in a foreign land? He fared there very well, but +he was not at home. Only in the homeland on that black ground was +there sweet sleep. + +Who can describe the surprise of all three boys when they learned who +it was that came with Bacha Filina--that it was his Stephen. Palko, +when he heard it, could not stay with the others. He ran away to the +woods and cried there for joy. He thanked the Lord Jesus that He had +comforted Bacha Filina forever. There was still salvation possible, +even though the ship was wrecked. After all, he had lived to see his +brother, Stephen. The Lord Jesus had given him back to Bacha. + +There was something more, very good for Palko. It was not necessary +for him to read to the people out of his Book. He could himself sit +down at the feet of Uncle Stephen, whom he loved greatly, and listen +to the truth of God from his lips. That was a joy for the boy. + +Ondrejko rejoiced again that Bacha Filina belonged to his family and +Petrik also. The boys hugged each other for joy that they would not +now have to part any more till death. And who can describe the joy of +Madame Slavkovsky when they took her again for the first time to the +sheepfold. "It seemed to me at once that I was among my own, that I +had come home," she said to Bacha, "and you, Bacha Filina, I loved at +once like a daughter." + +Then she found out all about the small and big Stephen. Bacha, +himself, told her, and her father even said, "I am sorry about it, my +daughter, after considering it all, that I did not let those at home +know where I was, but now I see it all. The Lord Jesus in His love +turned all this evil for our good. For me there in America and for +Peter here at home, it is a true saying, 'He brings them to the +desired haven.'" + +Then Bacha Filina showed Ondrejko's estate to his brother. Since the +lady had already had the deed recorded, they all rode to the castle. +Petrik and Palko had to go with them also. The boys played there in +the park with the rubber balls which grandfather had brought from +America. The servants brought a folding-chair for the lady, since the +doctor ordered her to rest in the shadow of the horse-chestnuts. She +watched the play of the boys and took pleasure in their joy. Ondrejko +left his comrades once in a while, ran to her, laid his curly head +beside hers, kissed his mother, and on receiving her kiss, ran again +with a loud "hallo" after his ball. Who could understand how much joy +now filled the once-forsaken heart? + +In the meantime the assistant manager showed the lady's father all the +buildings and those cattle which were not in the pasture. He noticed +that Mr. Slavkovsky understood the affairs of the estate, and when he +pointed out one thing and another that should have been different, Mr. +Slavkovsky said seriously, "I see it." Finally he spoke up, "There +will have to be a different management from the bottom up, in order +that everything may prosper." + +In the meantime the cook prepared a splendid repast for the new +owners. She set it outside under the horse-chestnuts, so the lady +would not have to enter the house. The castle had been bought with all +its furnishings. If the proud Lady de Gemer, the grandmother of +the last lord, could have awakened from the dead and seen how her +porcelain dishes and table-covers were spread before the despised +Slovaks, she would have turned over in her beautiful casket. But now +that could not be helped. Bacha Filina arranged his matters with the +housekeeper. At the repast he ate very little because he could not +take his eyes from the boys, how they ate, and how Ondrejko urged his +comrades to eat. The lady also rejoiced very much over them. Even the +doctor laughed heartily about it, but at the same time took care that +his patient did not forget to eat. He did not urge her to take the +various sweets served, but he did the fruit. Only Mr. Slavkovsky +was somewhat buried in thought. They almost had to force him into +conversation. + +After their meal the boys again began to play, and asked the two boys +of the assistant manager to help them. Mr. Slavkovsky walked along the +lane till, from a turn in it, he could overlook the beautiful, but now +neglected garden. Suddenly he took off his hat and prayed. By the time +he ended, Bacha stood beside him. + +"Is there something which does not suit you, my brother?" he asked +thoughtfully. "Do you think we have paid too much for the estate, +since everything is so neglected?" + +"I do not think so, Peter. It is really cheaply bought in spite of all +its neglect." He smiled kindly on his brother. + +"Nevertheless you seem to be troubled by something." + +"Certain cares trouble me. Just now I laid them all at the feet of our +heavenly Father. Now I do not worry more about anything. He surely +will arrange everything. I will tell you, my brother, what it was. +But for the time, keep it to yourself. I cannot take my daughter to +America now, since she is so weak. Here in our homeland she will get +well sooner. My beloved grandchild I need not take there, since he has +enough here to live on. Now when my daughter takes this estate over, +she needs a manager. It is hard to find one that would not cheat her. +Then I thought, why does she need a manager, if she still has a father +young enough, and who knows how to run a farm in Europe?" + +"Oh, Stephen!" Filina was astonished. + +"But, you know, there is a great hindrance. My farm is deeded to me. +My brother-in-law I can settle with, and thus that would not hinder +me. But my beloved wife was born in America. Will she want to leave +her home and go to a foreign land? I would not like to constrain her +in anything. I will first have to write to her about all that has +happened, and if I see from her answer that it would not be too great +a sacrifice for her, I will go for her. I will then sell the farm and +deposit the money, because I would not want to add to this estate. It +is big enough for us to make a living, and I could earn, as a manager, +bread for myself and my wife, and she could rest; she has worked +enough." + +"Day and night will I ask the Lord Jesus about it," said Filina, +"that He will lead your wife to agree, because round about us is only +darkness. No one cares for these souls. They do not know the Lord +Jesus. I have not been able to imagine how we could live here when the +boy would leave us. But you could take his place." + +"That hardly, Peter. The Lord Jesus has in Palko a faithful servant. +That measure of the Holy Spirit that this child has, I do not have. +But instead I have experiences with my Lord. The last ten years +of suffering united me very closely to Him who saves. I know your +sorrows. Considering the situation, I long to be the witness of God's +grace here in my homeland, where there is no one else. That also draws +me here to my beautiful homeland. Therefore I hope that my Agnes will +agree that we shall come, and it will happen after all as your father +used to say to the people; 'When Stephen shall have made some money +beyond the sea and comes back again, we shall live together.' Now +there is no more all of us, only we two. And if the Lord grants me to +come again, do you know what is the first thing that I will do?" + +"I do not." + +"I will rebuild our hut. It shall lay waste no longer. I will prepare +it for Petrik. You shall raise him and give him the ground and the +fields. So if he lives, we can take care of him together." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + + +Sometimes the days pass as quickly as a thought, and the weeks like a +dream. In the following weeks which just flew by, Bacha Filina took +Palko to his home. He became acquainted with his family. Just then +Juriga's son and daughter-in-law came from America, and Lesina had to +find a place to move to. They all rejoiced in Palko. His mother and +grandmother could hardly stop caressing him. Old Juriga had a good cry +when the boy hugged him. + +Lesina complained to Bacha that he was worrying about his wife +living with the wife of Juriga's son. Juriga's daughter-in-law was +a gossiping, noisy person, and had two small children who were +disobedient cry-babies. It was because of those two little ones that +Juriga's son had returned to the home country. His older children had +been dying one after the other. Here was Filina's opportunity to give +Lesina good advice, namely, to take his wife, her mother, and Palko, +and move before the winter to his cottage in the Gemer mountains. He +told him also that Madame Slavkovsky meant to give him some trees from +a piece of land that needed to be replanted. In the meantime he could +find some other place where he would like to stay. All they would +have to take with them would be their clothing and small belongings, +because any other things needed they would find in the castle: +bedsteads, tables, chairs, and all that was necessary for the kitchen. +They were all very thankful for this good advice. + +In those weeks that had passed so quickly, Madame Slavkovsky moved +with her father and Aunty Moravec to the castle. Every morning she +rode to the sheepcotes and remained till the evening. Once in a while +she also stayed overnight in Ondrejko's hut. At other times, she took +the boys along. In the castle under the supervision of Mr. Slavkovsky, +many changes were made, and when the gardener had the means at his +disposal and the advice of his master, he went joyfully to work. In +two weeks you would not have recognized the garden nor the castle. The +masons repaired broken places, the painters painted everything, the +joiners repaired doors, window-frames, and hardwood floors. In the +course of the repairs, chairs, bedsteads, and tables, and more that +was necessary in the cottage of Palko, was set aside, in order that +when the Lesinas came they might have plenty on hand to settle and +feel at home. Even for Dunaj they fixed a nice dog-kennel, so he +wouldn't have to suffer in rainy weather. + + * * * * * + +It was again a beautiful summer evening. In front of the sheepcotes +everything was ready for a big bonfire. Bacha Filina called all his +helpers and told them they would have a celebration such as none +of them had seen before. Through the woods in the direction of the +cottage wandered Petrik, Ondrejko, and between them, Palko. Ahead of +them, chasing one another, ran Dunaj and Fido. They also rejoiced to +see each other. The boys returned from a visit at Lesina's and carried +with them all kinds of gifts. A water-gun, by which you could squirt +the water to the top of the highest trees; singing tops which could +spin almost a quarter of an hour. From Palko's mother they got a whole +box full of prunes filled with nuts, which Ondrejko thought were +better than figs and dates. + +"My mother is very glad today!" Ondrejko told Palko, "because a letter +came at last from my grandmother in America. They gave me a letter +written especially for me, in which grandmother writes very nicely. I +will show it to you afterwards, Petrik." + +"They even sent greetings for me," said the comrade. + +"What they wrote to mother, I don't know, but mother ran to +grandfather, threw herself into his arms and cried and laughed. I am +sure they did not want me to understand, because they spoke English, +but they will tell us all about it. Bacha Filina said we shall have a +celebration." + +"We also have a song, such a beautiful one, and that will be sung +tonight, and I am sure your parents will like it," said Petrik. + +It really was a beautiful celebration. First of all, on two spits they +roasted two lambs. Bacha Filina portioned out large pieces of the best +kind of cheese to everybody. Madame Slavkovsky handed out pears and +large plums. Stephen brought two large crocks of mineral water to wash +down the roasted mutton. Aunty Moravec divided rolls and cookies among +all. They all served Palko's quiet, lovely mother, and his good old +grandmother, and his father as well. Then they sat around the bonfire. +Mr. Slavkovsky prayed, opened the Holy Writ, read Psalm 103, and spoke +very nicely about the great forgiving love of God. Then they sang the +beautiful songs which the lady had brought. But Palko also had to +read in his Book. He read about Cornelius who, with his whole house, +received the Lord Jesus. Palko spoke so beautifully about how sad it +was that in the house of the great man, though he often prayed and did +much good, he did not know the way to the true Sunshine Country, since +he did not know the Lord Jesus. How happy he was afterwards, when he +and his devout knights and his obedient soldiers welcomed the Apostle +Peter there, and with him also, the Lord Jesus, whom they forever +received in their house and heart. Then on a sign from the lady they +started a beautiful song which Palko had not heard before, but which +was very fitting to his story. + + "I heard the voice of Jesus say, + 'Come unto Me and rest; + Lay down, thou weary one, lay down + Thy head upon My breast,' + I came to Jesus as I was, + Weary and worn and sad, + I found in Him a resting-place, + And He has made me glad." + +As that song sounded over the woods, it was noticeable from the faces +of the hearers around the camp fire, that they all had experienced it, +but especially from the serious face of Filina. Then it was so silent +that you could hear the distant bells of the sheep. Though the sky was +covered with storm-clouds, and the lightning was to be seen in the +west once in a while, and in the distance the rolling of the thunder +was heard, the storm was nevertheless very far away, and would not yet +come there. + +Suddenly Bacha Filina arose, and after he had first thanked the Lord +Jesus in an audible prayer that He came and also sought and saved that +which was lost, he began to explain what they were celebrating, and +which pleased him most--not only Madame Slavkovsky, but her father +also was remaining in the Gemer mountains. He said, "Tomorrow Mr. +Slavkovsky will leave for America to bring his wife here. When he has +sold his farm there, he will at once return to his birthplace to leave +it no more." Bacha's eyes were full of tears when he gave the message, +but added, "Is not that very joyful news?" + +Who can describe the joy that prevailed after that? Ondrejko hugged +his mother and grandfather and nestled next to Bacha Filina. "We shall +all stay at home, at home with Bacha Filina. We shall not go into the +distant foreign world. Oh, we remain in our mountains. Even Palko will +be here with us," he said. + +"Yes, my son." The grandfather drew the boy close to him. "We shall +remain at home. We shall live here together with the Lord Jesus and He +with us." + +After a while the campfire began to die down. The voices subsided. +Only in the distance the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, but +above the sheepcotes shone the clear stars. Around the buildings Bacha +Filina made his rounds, watching that no danger threatened anywhere, +and again at the bench--as once long ago--he stopped. This time, the +father and daughter sat there together; no longer a prodigal, she had +returned first to the heavenly, and then to the earthly father. She +had come home and was accepted. He wanted to step aside, but they had +been waiting for him. + +"We knew that you would pass by," said Slavkovsky, and made room for +his brother beside himself. "Mary has a request to make of you." + +"Me?" Bacha was surprised. + +"Yes, you, my dear Uncle. Cease to be 'Bacha.' Come among us. You +shall have the supervision of things; be one family with us," the lady +begged with her whole heart, but Bacha shook his head. + +"I thank you, my daughter," he spoke, deeply moved, "I would love to +make one family with you because you are all very dear to me; but do +not take me away from my calling. Once I started as an unhappy man, +and this occupation cheered me in my sorrow. I grew up with the sheep, +with the work and with nature about me. Now when the heavens have +opened above me, leave me at this heaven's gate. Do not let it vex you +that you have a rich estate and I am but a poor 'Bacha.' All that I +need for my living, I shall earn honestly. I have somewhere to live, +and you love me; I am no more alone. You will come to visit me and +I will visit you, especially when you, my brother, return. Only one +thing I ask of you, if you have more than you need for your living, +send Palko to school. His father grieves that he is not able to do it +for him. God has given him what no school can supply, but if people +with such faith could stand in the pulpits there would be a real +awakening in our nation." + +"Oh, Bacha Filina, I thank you. I have been thinking about the same +thing, only did not dare to speak with Lesina about it." The lady +grasped Bacha's hard hand in hers. "Believe me, we will gladly do +anything for Palko. He brought us life and salvation; let him in the +future carry it to thousands." + +The quiet mysterious night settled upon the world, its silence broken +only by the soft sound of the shepherd's flute. Stephen had the night +watch and thus he played to himself: + + "If I but knew where she abides, + Where to the night so quickly glides, + I would like an arrow run, + And thus compel it to return." + +But the night was passing, never more to return; but what about it? +After it a new morning will arise, and with it the fresh grace of God +for those who receive the Lord Jesus, and to whom He gives the right +to be the sons and daughters of God. + +Would that all souls would receive Him! + + +--THE END-- + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Comrades, by Kristina Roy + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12143 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..833d4b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12143 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12143) diff --git a/old/12143.txt b/old/12143.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bde66c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12143.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3661 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Comrades, by Kristina Roy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Three Comrades + +Author: Kristina Roy + +Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12143] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE COMRADES *** + + + + +Produced by Joel Erickson, Martin Agren, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE THREE COMRADES + +_by Kristina Roy_ + +of Stara Tura, Slovakia. + +Translated by Charles Lukesh + +First Edition, 3,000--November, 1941 + + + + +THE THREE COMRADES + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + + +In the whole wide world there were no comrades who loved each other +better than Petrik,[1] Ondrejko,[2] and Fido. All three were orphans +and had had a hard time in the world thus far. Both parents of Petrik +had died of a malignant fever. He became a public charge and was +sent from place to place, till finally he was placed in charge of +"Bacha"[3] Filina, who was his father's uncle, and had charge of the +sheep pasturing on the mountain clearings of the estate of Lord Gemer. +There was but a poor hut, but to mistreated Petrik it was like a +paradise. Ondrejko, whom they called at home Andreas de Gemer, came +to the old "Bacha" at the order of the doctor, that he might grow +stronger in the mountain air, drinking whey and eating black bread. As +it was, Ondrejko did, and did not, have a father--at least he could +not remember him. He was but two years old when his parents separated +for ever. His mother took him with her when she left, but even then he +did not live with her. She left him with strange people whom she paid +to keep him, and went alone into the world. The people talked about +her; said that she was a famous singer, and that many went from +distant places to hear her. + +[Footnote 1: Diminutive for Peter.] + +[Footnote 2: Diminutive for Andreas.] + +[Footnote 3: "_Bacha_"--shepherd overseer.] + +Ondrejko remembered only one of her visits, and that she was very +beautiful, and brought him a box full of chocolates, a rocking-horse, +a trumpet--and who knows what more? After that he never saw her again, +and probably would never see her any more. The lady with whom he +stayed talked about a law-suit, at the conclusion of which it came +about that he belonged neither to the mother nor the father. Finally, +he came to the castle of Lord Gemer, and from there the doctor sent +him to the mountains because he was like a candle that was ready to go +out. About his father he knew only that he was somewhere far away, and +had already a second wife and two boys. It seemed to him he was as +much of an orphan as Petrik. The dog Fido didn't remember his mother +either, because he had hardly begun to run about the kennel when a +wild boar killed her. Thus it is not surprising that all three loved +each other. + +For Ondrejko they built a special room beside the shepherd's hut. +There were three large sheepfolds, and "Bacha" Filina had charge +of them all. Ondrejko had in his room a real bed, and a spare one +prepared for the doctor when he came to see him; but, because he was +rather lonesome, he preferred to sleep with Petrik on the hay, and +because Fido couldn't follow them to the loft up the ladder, he at +least guarded the ladder so nothing would happen to the boys. Bacha +Filina was a large man like a giant. His face was aged and stern; all +his teeth were still perfectly white and he had not a single gray +hair; but, strangely, his eyebrows began to get gray. But, when he +creased his forehead above his eagle-like black eyes which could see +everything far and wide, it seemed as if storm-clouds were gathering. +Not only both the boys, but everybody else was afraid of these +storm-clouds, even the herdsmen and the sheep, as well as the +longhaired, fourfooted guards of the sheepfold. Bacha Filina did not +get mad easily, but when he did, it was worthwhile. Though Ondrejko +was the son of his lord, Bacha Filina didn't let him get by with +anything. The boy had not been taught to obey; however, Filina taught +him this hard lesson without scolding him or touching him with even +one finger. When the doctor brought him to the mountains he said to +Bacha, "What this boy needs is to eat black bread and drink whey. He +has been raised on fancy foods and they do not agree with him. It +would be good for him to wash in cold water, but he is afraid to get +wet. You must not worry about him being a Lord Gemer because it is a +question of his health." + +"Oh, that!" said the Bacha, wrinkling his forehead, "I am able to +handle such a little brat"--and he was. The first few days Ondrejko +did not dare resist this big man in anything, and now he would not +even dream of it. The boys did not know a more noble man in the whole +world than Bacha Filina. He didn't bother much the whole day what they +did, but in the evening before the sheep were gathered, he sat with +them in God's beautiful nature before the cabin, and there they could, +even had, to tell him everything. They sat near him, one on the one +side, the other on the other, and Fido laid his great hairy head on +the knees of his master and looked on so wisely, that it seemed he, +too, would want to tell all that happened during the day. He was still +a young, lively fellow. You could see by his nose and ears he was not +trained very much; his fur was often quite tangled because he started +quarrels with the older dogs, Whitie and Playwell. + +The first time Bacha found the two boys sleeping together on the hay +he frowned and they were afraid of what was going to happen--but +nothing at all happened; he only ordered Ondrejko to spread his sheet +on the hay and cover himself with a blanket; so they both covered +themselves and slept very well in the fragrant hay. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + + +It was on a Sunday afternoon. The quiet of the holiday was noticeable +even on the mountains where, hand in hand, the little comrades walked. +They were nicely washed and arrayed in Sunday clothing, because Bacha +Filina would not suffer anybody to desecrate Sunday. Everyone who +could, had to go to the next town to church, though it was almost two +hours' walk. He himself seldom went; he was not able to take long +walks. Once a timber fell on his foot in the woods and from that time +on he had pains in it, but since he did not go down to church, he read +in his large old Bible. Today he had gone to church and the boys went +to meet him. They missed him very much. He ordered them to memorize +the reading of the Gospel for the day and each had to recite +separately. + +Suddenly Petrik became silent; he drew his comrade aside and pointed +with a silent nod of the head toward a cut-down tree lying in the +woods. There sat Bacha Filina with his head resting in the palms of +his hands as if something were pressing him down to the black ground. + +"Let us go up to the Bacha," advised Petrik; "he seems to be sad." + +"Truly very sad," worried Ondrejko. "Perhaps the sadness will pass +from him when we come to him." + +The crackling of dry branches under the bare feet of the boys roused +Bacha. He looked around. The children stood a short distance off. +Should they go to him--or not? + +"Where are you going?" he called to them. They came running. "Only to +meet you, Bacha." + +"Well, why did you come to meet me?" His usually rough voice seemed to +sound different. "We were lonesome without you," haltingly admitted +Ondrejko, and presently they sat on the moss carpet at the feet of +Bacha. + +"And why, Bacha, were you sitting here so sadly?" Petrik looked +surprisedly at Ondrejko, that he dared to ask. Would not Bacha be +angry? + +"Did you think that I was sad?" Bacha stroked the golden hair +surrounding the pale face of the child, which in the sunshine looked +like a halo on a saint. + +"And were you not?" The blue eyes of the boy, like two lovely blue +flowers, gazed into the black eagle-like eyes of the man. + +"Well, child, I was sad, and you have done well that you came to +meet me. While I rest a while, recite to me the Gospel that you have +learned." + +Both boys, one after the other, recited the parable of the rich man +and Lazarus. + +"May I ask you, Bacha, to tell me why the rich man did not help +Lazarus?" Petrik dared to ask. + +"Why? Because his heart was like a stone. The dogs were better than +he. Remember that, children, and never do any harm to birds or +animals; they are better than we. Now let us go." + +Bacha took Ondrejko by the hand and giving his book to Petrik they +walked through the woods toward home. High above them in the clearing +sounded the bells of the flock, and off and on the impatient barking +of Whitie and Playwell, and in between sounded the trumpet of the +youngest herdsman, Stephen. He played with such an ardor that it +seemed the notes were running over; + + "Come, come, ye gentle sheep, + Keep out of waters deep; + Pasture on meadows green + Where grass grows sweet and clean." + +How the trumpet resounded as if some one were weeping in the woods! +Even the echo seemed to answer in the same way. + +The boys liked the beautiful tune. They knew the words of this song, +but Bacha bowed down his proud head as though some great burden were +pressing him down. + +After they had finished their simple supper, they sat again as usual +in front of the hut, Bacha on a stump and the boys at his feet. They +were looking one at the other, wondering if they dare ask for some +story. He knew so many of them, and when he was in good humor he knew +very well how to tell good stories. + +"I beg, Bacha, will you not tell us something?" Ondrejko finally +asked, and looked at the same time in such a way at Bacha that he +would have to be a very hard man to refuse. + +Disturbed from his meditation, Bacha looked for a while into the +beautiful inquiring eyes, then with a deep breath he began: + +"Many years ago I was a boy like you two. I'm telling you this that +you may know what you should never become, if the Lord God is not to +be very angry at you. I will tell you today something about myself +which I have not yet told anybody on earth," began Filina. He stopped +a moment and the boys waited eagerly for him to go on. + +"When I was five years old my mother died. My father brought another +mother in the house. She was a young, beautiful woman, a widow. With +her came a son from her first marriage. We called him Stephen, and +when I look at you, Ondrejko, I always have him before me as he +entered our hut for the first time. On his head he had a hat with a +long band, a cloak thrown over his shoulder, an embroidered shirt, and +narrow trousers. He was like a picture of a saint--so beautiful and so +lovely. + +"I was my father's youngest child. The older ones died, so I never had +a brother, and suddenly he came--and was to be my brother. You love +each other--I know. That also reminds me of my childhood. I began to +love him more than I could my own brother. We were of equal age, but +I was strong and he weak; I was wild and he tame; I was ugly and he +beautiful. In spite of this we loved each other, and our parents were +well satisfied. They could leave him under my care--because they knew +I was able to defend him--and could leave me under his care, because +when he was with me I was much more tame. + +"Would that it had remained so always. But a proverb says, not in +vain, that 'Where the Devil cannot go himself he will send an old +woman.' And he sent her to us. It was your father's Aunt, your +great-aunt, Petrik. She came once to us and asked me aside if the new +mother liked me, and was sorry for me that I was a poor orphan. Said +she, 'Who has a step-mother has also a stepfather. Your father doesn't +love you as much as he does Stephen.' She didn't stay long with us. +Just as she came, so she went, but she took with her my love for +Stephen. Because I was so wild and always did something wrong, my wise +father had to punish me often; but Stephen was never punished because +he always did what was pleasing in the sight of father and mother. +From that time on I always remembered the words of the great-aunt +that I was punished and he not because they loved him, and his mother +interceded for him, and there was no one to stand by me. But my +step-mother quite often interceded for me. She was a kind woman and +never did me any harm, but I wanted her to show more love to me than +to her own boy. But that could not be. This wrong thought grew in my +heart, and my envy increased from year to year till we were about as +old as you two boys; and now comes the sad part which I never shall +forget, and that is what is pressing me to the earth unto today." + +Bacha pointed over to the mountain opposite them. + +"Do you see yonder mountain?" The boys nodded. + +"There we used to live at the foot of the mountain. Look toward the +West, where the sun is lying down to sleep; there in the valley lived +the weavers, to whom from all our homes, the wool was carried to be +woven. Two paths led to those huts; the one up and down over the +rocks--the other through the valley, easier but more dangerous, +because there was a stretch of swamp into which, if somebody fell, he +could never get out by himself. One who knew how, could get over by +jumping from rock to rock and to clumps of grass, but it seemed as if +some black power wanted to pull one down. + +"Once our parents had us carry our wool. Going, we went the upper +way, as we were told, but after we delivered the wool to the weavers, +Stephen handed me an apple, which the weaver's wife had given him, +saying he had another in his bag from his mother. Mother gave me +nothing for the journey because I didn't take leave of her, and she +didn't even see me when I grabbed my bag. And now, even the weaver's +wife had not given me anything. It made me sad. I got angry, threw the +apple away, and would rather have cried. Here was evidence, I thought, +that what the great-aunt said was true. Nobody cared for me, at home, +nor anywhere else. Everybody liked Stephen, and it always would be so. + +"I used to hear some people say that the Devil is walking on the +earth, though we do not see him, and whispers to us what we should +think and do. If it is true, I don't know, but that he was with me +that time and gave me bad, gruesome advice, is sure. Only he could +have told me that. When we left the weavers, I said to Stephen, +'Going over the mountain is too far. Let us go by the lower and more +convenient path; it is nearer.' + +"'But mother said we must go only over the hill,' objected Stephen, +'and father called also from the yard, 'Do not go by the lower way.'" + +"Well, however it was, when we came where the paths divided we went on +the lower path anyway. I claimed that my feet hurt, I had stubbed my +big toe, and had a thorn in my heel. Stephen was sorry for me, and +thought that when we explained it to mother she would see the reason, +and father also, why we took the lower path after all. + +"Truly it was fine to run there, like on carpets, till we came to the +swamp. 'You must now jump from rock to rock,' said I, and I ran ahead. +We came near the opposite side. There was only one more jump. Because +I was larger, and my feet longer I managed to jump over, but I knew +that Stephen could not jump over. There were bunches of grass and I +advised him to run over them. He listened to me, came over two or +three, but the third one began to move under him and he jumped back on +the rock. + +"'Stay there,' I called to him. 'Not far from here lives the forester; +I will run for him and he will help you.' I ran as fast as I could but +not to the forester's house. + +"'Petrik, do not leave me. I am afraid,' called Stephen after me, and +right after that followed a cry: + +"'Mother mine!' + +"Thus I have heard him day and night, as in the past years, so even +till today, and I shall perhaps in the hour of death and in the whole +of eternity. I was still a small boy, but a bad one, and at that +moment hard as a rock. 'Surely he will fall in and will drown,' I +consoled myself. 'Nobody will give him any more apples, and people +will love me and me only.' No old criminal could have felt worse than +I felt then. I began to run still faster till my legs broke down under +me and my breath failed. Yes; I ran through the woods alone, forsaken, +as once Cain did when he killed his brother and ran away from the face +of God. Suddenly a great pain gripped me that could not be expressed, +because the voice that whispered to me before, 'Drown him in that +swamp,' now whispered to me, 'You dare not go home. What will you say +when they ask you about Stephen?' Tired and hungry as I was I threw +myself on the ground and started to cry bitterly till I fell asleep. + +"At day-break the drivers passed by with their wagons for lumber. They +found me and, recognizing me, laid me sleeping on a wagon and took +me as far as our hut. There they awakened me, laid me down, and +half-sleeping I didn't realize at once what had happened the day +before. I ran to the hall and opened the door. + +"The rays of the rising sun struck our bedroom first--the same that +day. It lit up the bed of my father, and ..." Bacha stopped and tears +ran down his cheek. + +"And what, Bacha? Oh, what, Bacha?" with bitter cries both boys +exclaimed. The tears were already running down Ondrejko's pale face. + +"There on the bed in the rays of the sun like a holy picture, rested +our Stephen, sleeping. Mother sat beside the bed. There was a humming +in my ears and blackness before my eyes, and if father had not jumped +and caught me I would have fallen over. It was long before they +brought me back to consciousness." + +"So he didn't drown?" both boys were astonished and rejoicing. + +"Didn't he fall into that swamp?" + +"He fell in it, children. Oh, he fell in, and there was no man who +could have saved him. But we had a large dog called Whitie who went +around always with us, as Fido with you. When we left home we left him +behind, but he followed us, and the Lord God Himself sent him in that +moment when the stone under Stephen gave way, and he lost his balance +and fell. Whitie caught him by the hair and dragged him to the shore, +and whined and barked till the forester came. + +"He carried Stephen to the brook, washed off the mud, and revived him, +for he was almost dead, and then carried him home. I expected father +would punish me but he did not. Mother kissed me crying, and gave me +breakfast. They were afraid something had happened to me. They thought +I had been drowned because I couldn't be found anywhere. I saw clearly +that they both loved me very much, but it did not please me, I was +afraid it would become known what I had intended to do. My parents +are already in eternity, and I can not now ask them for forgiveness +because after death there is no more forgiveness. + +"Stephen never let it be known that I made him go that way, and from +that time on we loved each other as from the beginning. I was no +longer jealous of the love of father and mother to him. I knew and +felt now that they loved me also, and that I didn't deserve this love. + +"From that time I couldn't look at the dog Whitie. It was always +painful to me that he, a dog, saved Stephen, when I wanted to drown +him. But though he didn't drown that time the Holy God took him to +Himself. He must be angry at me, a sinner, to this day. Thus I say, +'Never do any harm to animals; they are much better than people; they +are God's creatures; they never do wrong things before God but obey +always.' And now, boys, run and go to sleep." + +Though the boys had many questions on their hearts they obediently +bade him "good night" and went. For a long time, lying on the hay, +they spoke together about Stephen, how he jumped over the bunches of +grass, how the rock turned under him, how he fell, and how Whitie +saved him. + +"I am very sorry for Bacha Filina," said Ondrejko. "I can never forget +it. It must pain him--could it be that God is still angry with him?" + +"But where is this Stephen?" worried Petrik. "They were the same age, +so he must be just as old now. Perhaps he will tell us some other time +about him." They were stopped from further talking by Fido. Somehow he +had managed to get to them and they were rejoiced. They told him once +more about the hero Whitie and enjoined upon him to follow him. He +wagged his tail, licked their hands and faces, whining for joy as if +he were promising it all, and when the boys slept, he slept with one +eye open because he had to stand guard over his comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + + +The following week Bacha Filina had much work to do, so he could not +look much after the boys, though they did all they could; they obeyed +him and tried to please him in every way. On Tuesday the doctor came +to look at Ondrejko. He was told where Ondrejko slept, but he only +laughed: "Good for you, boy, that will help you; though your father is +a great lord and a proud Magyar, everything serves in its time. Thus I +trust we shall live to see that the Tatra Mountains will belong to the +Slovaks and also these woods. Because your grandfather lived there as +a great Slovak, you also as a good Slovak will be living. Just learn +the language of your father and draw near to that soil which they once +cultivated." The boys didn't grasp what he meant. They only felt that +he was their friend. + +The evening came. They had to make a bed for the doctor beside +themselves on the hay. In the morning he drank the good milk and ate +the black bread with cheese. Then the boys took him as far as the "Old +Hag's Rock." On the way Ondrejko asked about his father. He learned +that he now lived in Paris and did not purpose to come that year for +the summer. The boy breathed more freely because he felt that if his +father came he would have to go to him, away from Bacha Filina and +away from Petrik. That would not please him; he did not want to go at +all. When the doctor took leave of the boys they followed him with +their eyes as long as they could see his straw hat, then they climbed +the rock to see him better, but in the meantime he had disappeared +altogether. Instead of that they saw on the other side of the "Old +Hag's Rock" a beautiful little valley, and in it a solitary house +with small windows which was made of wood and covered with shingles, +standing there by the brook. It looked like a fairy-story house set +among the springs coming out from the rocks. The herder Steve had told +the boys several times about witches who lived in solitary huts, and +it seemed to them that one of them might be living there. A large +white dog sunned himself in front of the hut. If Fido had been with +them, he surely would have started a fight with him. As the boys were +looking at the cottage the door opened, but no old woman came out, +only a boy who was a little larger than themselves, in a cape and +belt, sandals, and with a hat on his head. The dog jumped up, wagged +his broad tail, and stretched himself, yawned and barked happily. The +boy stroked him on the head and smiled at him, then both began to walk +up toward the great rock. + +The dog spied our comrades first and stopped. They could see he was +not as young as Fido, but that he was wise and did not bark uselessly +at anybody, so they knew that he must be friendly to people. Soon the +boys stood face to face, and the strange boy, whose dress indicated +that he was not from that section, greeted them in a friendly manner. +He asked them what they were doing and where they were from. They told +him that they had accompanied the doctor that far. Ondrejko dared to +ask him if he lived in that little house. + +"The hut belongs to us, but I am from Trenchin. I came only a week ago +with my father. A distant uncle of my mother died, and because there +is no nearer relative my mother inherited this hut. Father wants to +sell it, but a nice bit of woods with fine timber belongs to the hut, +which we could use very well in our business. Therefore we shall stay +here for some time, cut the wood and take it along." + +"And the dog is yours?" + +"Yes, it is our Dunaj. He did not want to stay at home; we had to take +him along, though we had to pay for him on the railroad." + +"Surely you didn't have him along in the carriage?" ventured Ondrejko. + +"Oh, no; and he did not like where they locked him up, at all. He +almost knocked me down when he regained his freedom. Isn't that so, +Dunaj?" The dog whined and cuddled down at his master's feet. + +"We too have a dog which is still young, but he also will be big when +he grows up," Ondrejko said, appraisingly. + +"And where are you going?" + +"Only up here on the rock to see what is behind it. In our country we +also have a large rock, but much higher and broader, and when you look +down from it it seems as if you look down into Sunshine Valley, as the +story goes. And after the storm a rainbow appears, like Heaven's gate +which appeared once to Jacob in a dream. Once upon a time I believed +that Heaven's gate was only there, but today I know that Heaven is +everywhere open that the Lord Jesus might come to us where and when He +wants to. Do you know Him too?" + +"Who?" wondered the boys. + +"The Son of God, the Lord Jesus. But I see already that you do not +know Him, and He surely sent me to you, so that I could tell you all +that I know. Do you have time?" + +"We can spend about an hour," said Petrik, who felt the new stranger +was very friendly and he would like to have him for a comrade. + +"Let us then sit down here on the rock, and I will tell you how it was +that I came to the Sunshine Valley the first time, and what kind of +book I found there. I have it even here with me because I could not +be without it. But tell me first your name. I am called Palko, though +they once baptized me in the name of Nicholas. But this is a long +story." + +"My name is Petrik, and he is called Ondrejko. At home they call him +Andreas de Gemer in the Magyar tongue, but Bacha Filina says, 'Why +should we break our tongues with foreign names?' Anyhow, Ondrejko is +much nicer," zealously spoke Petrik. + +"That is a nice name. It was the name of one of the disciples of the +Lord Jesus who brought to Him the boy with the loaves and fishes. I +have it beautifully written in this book." + +In the meantime the boys climbed the rock, sat down, and the new +comrade drew out a book carefully wrapped up in paper and began to +tell them the beautiful things about it. If one would want to repeat +them it would take a whole book.[A] + +[Footnote A: See first part of "Sunshine Country."] + +Among other things, he told them that whosoever takes this book into +his hands dare not read it otherwise than word for word, from the +beginning to the end, because only in this way will he get to know +the Way which leads to the true Sunshine Country, where, through the +Heaven's gates, the Lord Jesus went to prepare a place for all those +who obediently went that way. + +The boys would not have tired listening till the evening, but suddenly +Fido came, and as if he knew that with such a dog as Dunaj he mustn't +start a fight, just licked his comrades and was friendly to the +stranger. His arrival reminded the boys of Bacha, and what he would +say if they stayed too long. They rose, and Palko promised to +accompany them that they might show him where their hut was standing, +and when he had time he would come to visit them. + +He ran down to close his house and they had to wait a while. When he +returned he carried a large piece of bread which he divided equally +into five parts, and then they followed the narrow path over the +meadows to the sheepcotes. + +The newcomer told them many things on the way. They could hardly part +from him. + +When Bacha came to supper they endeavored to out-do one another in +telling him about it. He listened intently, and said he would be glad +when the strange boy, who it seemed was very decent, would visit them. +They all hoped that he would come the next Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + + +It is a true saying that, "People keep with people, and mountains +with mountains." How one person gets used to another you can scarcely +believe until you have seen it yourself. What is it that draws one +to another? Long lived our three comrades with Bacha Filina without +Palko, and nothing was lacking, but now if a day passed without seeing +him it seemed as if they could not stand it. Though it may seem +strange, Bacha Filina would have missed him most. Wherever he went, +whatever he did, he always had in mind the moment when the bushes +parted on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, and, like a picture in a +frame, stood the strange boy so clean and neat with his cape over his +shoulder, small hat in his hand, resting his hand on a shaggy white +dog. It would truly be a fine picture for a painter to paint in those +wide mountains, if he could but make it so true to nature--you could +not look at him enough. And he remembered again how Palko sat with +them in front of the hut with the Holy Book in his hand, reading word +for word, chapter for chapter. Such beautiful and good things. So must +Jesus have looked when He sat amongst the Jewish teachers. Oh, how did +he understand the Word of God! No sermon had moved old Bacha as did +the talks of Palko the boy, though he had heard many in his life. +Bacha had a whole Bible which he read sometimes on Sunday. He had also +a big book with sermons, but since the time that Palko Lesina came +every evening to them it was as if a veil had been removed from the +man's eyes. The Bible became to him the living Word of God. + +"The Lord Jesus used to walk by the Sea of Gennesaret," said the boy +seriously. "Now He walks through these mountains of yours. Sometimes +He passed through our mountains to seek us, and now He seeks you." + + * * * * * + +Again it was Sunday. Filina got the boys ready to go to church, but he +himself remained in front of his hut. Fido who was not permitted to +run with the comrades, lay at his feet. Suddenly he pricked up his +ears, jumped up, and like an arrow flew into the nearby thicket. Bacha +paid no attention. He sat with his head bowed down. He did not even +hear someone speak to the dog, nor hear any greeting; he did not +arouse himself till he heard close to him the pleasant young voice +which he loved so much. + +"Good morning, Uncle Filina. Why are you so sad and so lonely? Where +is everybody?" + +"Welcome, Palko," gladly replied the man. He held out his brown hand +to the boy. "If I had known you would come, I would not have sent the +boys to the church. Everywhere is the house of God. And I suppose you +are bringing the Bible, about which you spoke yesterday?" + +"Yes, I do. My father went away for a few days. He asks you kindly if +you will let me stay with your boys that I may not have to stay alone +in the hut. Will you take me?" + +The beautiful eyes of the boy gazed longingly on the face of the man. + +"Why, surely. We will be only too glad if you stay with us," answered +Bacha. "But why did your father go home?" + +"He went with some wood. He could not take it all at once. The balance +we shall put on a float, and so carry it to our destination. Thus I +could bring the Bible to show it to you." + +"Is that the one from Pastor Malina?" + +"Yes, Uncle, and I esteem it very much. There are many notes in Latin +which I do not understand, and also some in Slovak. When I look at the +writing I see the pastor in front of me. I would like to show you what +he wrote the last Sunday when he became so seriously ill. Do you have +time for it, Uncle?" + +"Oh, yes, my son; it is Sunday. Just read on." + +"You will understand it better than I because you are older. There +is something very good: 'I have missed very much; my whole life is +wasted,' began the boy, and his voice sounded so solemn, almost as +if he were reading the Word of God. 'Even though I would, I cannot +improve anything. It is too late; it is too late! Souls passed into +eternity--it may be I did not bring salvation to them. They never come +back that I may ask them forgiveness and love them. Oh, how glorious +are the words, 'By grace ye are saved ... it is the gift of God.' In +this holy gift I take my refuge, my holy God and Saviour. I know that +You have pardoned me and have even taken the punishment that I merited +on Yourself. I cling to Thy cross; I fall at Thy wounded feet, and +thank Thee--Oh, so thank Thee; yes, I will praise eternally Thy holy +name, O Jesus!'" read Palko. + +"Thus believed Pastor Malina ..." but the boy stopped because the +Bacha sat with his head bowed down, and cried aloud. + +"'Even if I would, I couldn't make anything good. It is too late. The +souls went on to accuse me,'" he repeated in his crying. "That is what +is pressing _me_ down to the ground, and all my good life since that +time doesn't help anything ..." + +The boy rested his curly head in the palms of his small hands. + +"Uncle, will you not tell me what is worrying you so much? It could +not be the sin that you wanted to drown your Stephen, as Petrik told +me?" + +"Stephen didn't drown. I, when something is pressing me, confess it +and feel easier at once." + +"The Apostle James says, 'Confess your sins one to another.' It is +true I am only a boy, but I know already how the soul and the heart +ache--and there is no comforter. But the Lord Jesus will grant it to +me that I may be able to understand and to help you." + +The man looked at the boy. He stroked his whiskers. "If I have to tell +somebody about it as I have wished for years, it will suit me best to +tell it to you. The Lord God gave you more wisdom than me, an old man, +just as Samuel the boy had more than the old priest Eli." + +Bacha strode over to his stump where he usually sat. Palko lay beside +him on the grass. He drew the Bible near him, and laid his hand on the +head of Fido who cuddled close beside. Thus he waited patiently. + +"Since Petrik told you what kind of a boy I was, I do not have to +retell it again," began the man presently. His whole appearance did +not fit into that beautiful Sunday morning. + +"Thus we both grew up, and I can say with a good conscience that +Stephen and I loved each other very much. I could never forget that he +did not tell our parents how I forsook him in his plight. He convinced +me that our parents loved us both. All was well now and might have +remained so always, had not mother after her sister's death brought to +us her niece, Eva. She was a small beautiful girl. From the beginning +she seemed to be afraid of me, but with Stephen she was at once, +friendly, until I once saved him from vicious dogs. From that time she +clung always to me. Thus it was as we grew up together, and after we +were grown up. You cannot understand more now, therefore I can only +tell you this much. When we became young men, there was no more +beautiful girl to us in the whole wide world. It seemed to me that her +black eyes shone brighter than all the stars, and that such lilies +and roses as were on her face did not bloom on any bush. At that time +there was a large immigration to America. Many times I wondered how +people, just for the sake of mammon, could go so far into the world +when in spite of our poverty it was so beautiful and lovely here. To +me, the woods and meadows were like a paradise and in my heart all was +song--like the heavens; but there is no paradise upon this earth and +the heavens are too high. Once when I returned from work--it was +already evening--mother and father sat in front of the house in +consultation about us children, as they often did. I did not want to +disturb them, therefore I sat down not very far away and listened." + +"Do you think, then," said mother, "that one of the children will have +to go to America?" + +"You see, my wife, there the people achieve something quicker than we +do here. We suffer bravely and yet barely live," sighed father. He was +a good man but already worn out by hard labor. + +"'And which one do you think should?' mother asked with a sigh. + +"'That we will leave for them to decide. I think thus: Let one stay at +home and take Eva for his wife, so you have some help. Let the other +one go to America for a few years, and after he has made some money +and God granting that he will return safely, then they may live +together. I would not like that after our death they should be +separated. It is well for them to be together.' + +"I noticed how mother gave a sigh of relief, but to me it seemed as if +someone stuck a dagger into me. They surely expected me to go. Stephen +would remain at home and take Eva. That night I did not sleep at home. +A similar trouble overtook me as in my childhood, only stronger and +much more terrible. Where I gathered strength to return in the morning +I do not know. Eva ran to meet me, and as soon as I saw her I told +myself that verily, I would never go to America, and Eva must never +belong to anyone else but to me. Since that hour I could hardly give a +kind look to Stephen though he gave me no reason for anger. + +"We had a meadow beyond the swamp. There I went with Eva the next day +to turn over the cut grass, and I asked her to be mine. I did not have +much luck at first, but since I pleaded so much and promised so much, +she finally promised that she would not take anyone else. + +"After the affair was settled, Eva bound up a bundle of grass, and +looking around I noticed Stephen departing along the pathway. He had +heard us without us noticing him. + +"The following week we had some work in the city and Stephen said that +he would go. Mother tried to prevent him. She had rather I should go +because Stephen did not look very well. Really he looked thin and +pale, as if after a serious illness or before one. But I insisted that +I would not go this time, and father agreed. He had some work for me. + +"'Come with me part of the way,' said Stephen the following day, after +he had taken leave of our parents and Eva. So I went. We took the +steep path to the cross above, on top of the hill. There he stopped. +We looked at each other. + +"'Mother told me what plans father had for us. One of us must go to +America,' he began. 'It cannot be you. I saw you and Eva not long ago +on the meadow. Father wants one of us to take Eva. Now that she is +yours what should I do here any longer? Once before in childhood I was +in your way, so that you wanted to get rid of me in that black watery +grave. The second time I shall not stand in your way. It would be +difficult for mother to part with me. You must realize that, because +she has only me. So I want to spare her the leave-taking, but I want +to tell the truth to you that you may be satisfied and not begrudge me +anything more. I am really leaving everything to you: parents, home, +and Eva too. She cannot belong to both. Those were hard moments for +me on yonder meadow. If you had to bear what I went through in those +moments you could not stand it. Thus it is good that she chose you. To +me it was as if I was drowning again, only the swamp into which you +threw me this time was much deeper than the one before. Mother said I +seem to be ill. Here I shall never get well--over there far away, I +can recover sooner. I give you my hand in parting, and you give me +yours without any bitterness. Let us part like brothers.' + +"I clasped his hand silently. He took his things, then ran down along +the path into the thicket. Bending over beside the cross I tried to +see him once more--and I did. He lifted his beautiful face marked with +deep sorrow toward the valley where he could see our hut for the last +time. Suddenly tears gushed from his eyes. I wanted to make a step +forward, wanted to call him back, to leave everything to him, and I go +to America. But there was no strength in me. So I let him go for ever. +We never saw him again." + +Bacha cried aloud again, and Palko with him. + +"Uncle, tell me all, to the end," he begged after a while. "Then what +about his poor mother? How did you tell her about it?" + +"I didn't have to tell her, my boy," said Filina as he calmed down. +"He took care of all that. Mother had a distant relative who came +to us the third day and brought everything that Stephen should have +brought from the city; also a letter from him, wherein he begged our +parents not to be angry with him because he was thus leaving for +America. In that letter he again made no mention that it was I who +drowned him in the depths of sorrow. It was a very beautiful letter. +We treasured it as a keepsake, and when mother was dying the poor dear +asked me to have it placed in her coffin. I endeavored to make good to +her the son she lost. After father passed away, mother blessed me many +times for the good care she enjoyed, but it did not bring peace to my +heart. + +"The distant relative who brought to us Stephen's letter intended +to go to America himself. He had already bought the ticket, when +circumstances hindered him from going. He complained to Stephen that +he could not go, and Stephen asked him to sell the ticket to him. He +borrowed some money from him on his part of the inheritance. This we +had to repay later, because that ship never reached its goal. It sank +in a storm. Thus you see, Palko, that after all, I had drowned my +brother. If he had not run away from my presence he might have found +another girl and could have lived till today. Thus he died, and his +death accuses me before God's face for my selfishness. Verily, God's +punishment came upon me soon. I enjoyed my happiness but a short time. +From the time that the message reached us about the sinking of the +ship, Eva just pined away, and after the death of our son, she died. +In her fever, not knowing what she said, she told how she loved +Stephen, and I realized that her longing for him made her perish by my +side. Well, now they are both gone and I only am here--all alone." + +"And your son, where is he?" + +"Him also the good Lord took. When his mother died there was no one +who could give him the necessary care. He took cold, and in three days +he was also with God. Now I have told you everything, my boy. I have +confided all to you, but you do not understand." + +"Do not think that I do not understand, Uncle. I know that your heart +is sad because of the injustice Stephen suffered because of your envy. +I know that you have sinned grievously. Why could you not like +the priest, Malina, grasp the cross and the feet of Christ? You +understand, in the Spirit, by faith, and receive the gift of +God--salvation. There further is this quotation: 'Christ Jesus came +into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,' and here again +it is written, 'It seems to me I am the one, the most sinful of the +sinners, but I believe, I believe, O Lamb of God, that Thou hast died +for me also, and I am casting my heart at the foot of Thy cross, that +Thy blood pouring over me may cleanse it also.'" + +"I see there are very good things written there, Palko. Leave this +book with me for some time that I may be able to read it at leisure, +and see if also on me the Son of God will have mercy and forgive my +grievous sins. Now continue to read where we left off last time." + +"Now I will also bring the song-book and we shall have a song. This +will be our Sunday worship." Bacha brought the book and they had a +lovely time in worshiping God. Christ came to them through His Spirit +and made the Word of God living, to the young soul who walked with Him +continually like Enoch, and also to the one who could say, "I have +gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant" (Ps. 119: 176). + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + + +Verily, verily, this quotation is true, "Be not forgetful to entertain +strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews +13:2). Bacha Filina and those in his household proved it. It was just +as if God's blessing had moved to them with Palko Lesina. They all +had success in everything they undertook. The boy was ready to help +everywhere, and set the house in such order as it never had been +before. + +"You see, the Lord Jesus lives here," Palko explained sweetly. "He is +here, and we don't know when He comes and where He would like to sit +down. We would not have any place to receive Him." + +Stephen taught him how to play the shepherd's horn and he played on +it beautiful Christian songs, so that the mountains fairly resounded. +When he played tag or blind man's buff with the boys he was the +most joyful of them. But as soon as he was invited to read from his +precious Book, he obeyed at once and sat among them, as once his Lord +did among learned old men in Jerusalem. On Petrik especially he had a +good influence. Petrik was often self-willed and disobedient, so that +Bacha had to punish him. + +"Why should you make Uncle Filina cross? Just tell it to the Lord +Jesus when the Devil is tempting you, and He will deliver you, He will +help you," advised Palko. + +Ondrejko became more quiet and thoughtful. He liked the talks with +Palko very much. He believed everything, even that the Lord Jesus is +constantly present. Therefore it is necessary to be always washed and +clean and dressed decently, and also that it is necessary to give +one's heart to the Lord Jesus when He wants it, and that He takes the +heart and cleanses it. Before Palko realized it, the Lord Jesus had +one servant more. And thus His Holy Word was fulfilled; "I thank Thee, +O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things +from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" +(Matt. 11:25). No one can find out how it happens; it passes human +understanding, how the caterpillar in the dried-up cocoon takes a new +life with the arrival of Spring. Before they reached that part in +that precious Book where it begins to tell of the sufferings of and, +finally, the death of the Lord Jesus, Ondrejko felt in his heart that +all happened for him also. He could not quite explain it, and no one +expected him to, but he knew it in his heart. + +Once, when he went with Palko to his hut, he prayed that the Lord +Jesus would forgive him everything and asked Him to come into his +heart. Ondrejko thereupon believed without fail that it happened, +because it is still true today, "If thou shalt believe, thou shalt see +the glory of God." Therefore what he believed, he also had. Ondrejko +de Gemer already had suffered much on this earth. He suffered many +heart-aches for the want of a father or mother. Many nights he cried +about it when no one heard him. Very few realize how much pain a +little child may suffer from sorrow and hopelessness from lack of +love. Before Ondrejko came to Filina he often used to wonder what +would become of him, since he had nobody, although both of his parents +were living. Would he always have to live with strange people? A book +could be written of the thoughts of that forsaken little soul while +he was building castles and bridges, and when people thought he was +deeply interested in his play. Fortunately Palko Lesina arrived, +and through his daily talk made it plain to his little comrade that +Someone good and beautiful lives, and that this beautiful and good +One also loved him, little forsaken Ondrejko de Gemer, whom even his +father did not love, and He wanted to live with him always, that +Ondrejko need not feel forsaken anymore. Now he had Someone to bring +his complaints to, and he could confide everything to Him, yea, +everything. How beautiful that was! Yes, verily, the Lord Jesus now +had one servant more. + +Even the herdsmen sighed to Bacha, "How shall we ever get along +without Palko Lesina? Ever since the boy has been with us, it seems +that the sunrise looks more beautiful and the dew is richer on the +ground." + +"He is a blessed boy," admitted Filina with a sigh. Oh, how very much +he needed this boy! Therefore when, instead of Lesina, a letter came, +he was much relieved. Lesina wrote that he would not be able to come +back till six weeks later, and asked Bacha to keep Palko with him in +the meantime, that he would be useful in every way. He didn't want to +let the boy come home alone because it was so far, and he was his only +child. When that letter came, the boys jumped for joy, and Fido helped +them, but the greatest joy after all was that of Filina himself. + +In the evening of that day, while they were sitting before the hut and +Palko was blowing on the horn, suddenly Dr. H. stood before them. With +evident pleasure he noticed the strange boy. Fido wagged his bushy +tail in a friendly manner because more than once he had received a +good bacon-rind from this kind gentleman. Dunaj, stretched out by the +feet of his master, lifted his head also, but made no sound. He knew +already whom to let alone and whom not. Formerly he would have jumped +up and barked, and tested the long coat of the doctor to see if it was +made of good material or not. Today, he would rather snap at a fly +which paid with her life for daring to buzz around his nose. Well, the +dogs did not give it away and the people did not notice that they had +a listener, neither then nor even after Palko began to read in his +Book, where there was written about the great man who was the captain +of the taxgatherers, who had great riches and many friends, but did +not have peace or happiness in his heart because he did not know the +Lord Jesus. Palko read how the Lord Jesus spoke to him while he sat in +the sycamore tree and invited Himself as his guest. + +"Uncle Filina," suddenly Palko interrupted, when he came to the words +of the Lord, 'The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was +lost'--"If you simply do just like Zaccheus; and say to the Lord +Jesus, 'This day is salvation come to this house,' that would be +first, the house of your heart and then the whole hut. Uncle, I beg of +you, receive Him today. Zaccheus received Him at once with joy, and +how much greater joy did he find afterward when the Lord Jesus forgave +him all his sins." + +Surprised, the doctor looked at the strange boy and also at Bacha who +arose and without a word entered the hut. Then Petrik noticed the +guest; both the boys ran to welcome him and each one wanted to be the +first to tell him who Palko was and what he was doing among them. The +Doctor liked Palko, like everyone else who came in contact with him. +Then the boys found out why the doctor had come that day. He wanted to +find a cottage near the hut where he could place one of his patients +for a week, whom only quietness and air and sun could heal. + +"Palko, do you hear?" whispered Petrik, but so loud that all could +hear him. "That cottage of yours is empty, your father will not come +for six weeks, and you could live here with us; that would be a good +place for the lady." + +"What did you say, boy?" asked the doctor. + +Ondrejko began to explain that Lesina had a cottage at the very foot +of the "Old Hag's Rock," where the path led to town, and that at the +present it was empty. + +"Do you think, Palko," asked the doctor, "that your father would agree +to lend us the cabin, if it would suit us?" + +"Why would he not agree?" said the boy with shining eyes. "Does not +the Lord Jesus say, 'I was sick, and ye visited Me?' If the cabin +suits you I will give you the key. Just let the sick one come." + +It was too late in the evening to go to see the place; so the boys +prepared to go with the doctor early in the morning to the cottage. + +This time the doctor did not sleep with the boys in the hayloft, +because he spoke a long time with Filina. When Filina went to look at +the boys, as it was his custom to do every evening, he stood above +them a long time in deep thought, then he carefully covered Ondrejko, +and sadly stroked his forehead, gently, as if he was very sorry for +the boy. But why? Did he not look very lovely, somewhat browned from +the sun, with beautiful roses on his velvet-like cheeks, and his small +mouth as red as a poppy-flower. It was plainly noticeable how the +mountain air and plain food were strengthening and healing him. His +face also betrayed his inner happiness which the Lord Jesus had put in +his heart. Why then was Bacha sorry for him? + +During the night, a thunderstorm of short duration passed over the +mountain. The spring morning broke very beautifully, as it can only +after a storm. On the grass hung large pearls, and the leaves of the +trees were full of diamonds as the sun shone on them. Everything sang +praises to the Creator--every bird, every insect, and fly. The vapor +rose like the smoke from a great sacrifice. No wonder then that Palko, +leading their expedition, began to sing. Petrik gave a sigh, glanced +at the doctor, thinking, "What will he say to that?" Ondrejko joyfully +joined him, with his clear voice ringing like a golden bell. And thus +it sounded over the mountains: + + "Let us give thanks to God our heavenly King; + To Him who loved and kept us, let us sing. + To Him be given honor, glory, praise; + To God, Eternal, let our voices raise. + We pray, 'Be constantly with us this day + And guard us from all evil by the way, + That we may to Thy glory ever live, + And blessings to our neighbors ever give; + And when at last we reach the glory shore + We know that we shall praise Thee evermore.'" + +The doctor knew that song. He had learned it in his childhood. It made +him add his own voice to those clear notes of the children. It may +seem strange, but it is true, that nothing will refresh the mind like +such an early morning song, sung whole-heartedly on such a beautiful +morning, when all nature is joining in praises to the Creator, and at +every step man feels His holy, pure, and shining nearness. + +"Listen, Palko," the doctor said after a moment's silence when the +song was finished; "do you understand what we have sung?" + +"That song?" wondered the boy; "Isn't every word quite clear?" + +"Do you think so? Then you explain it to us," smiled the doctor +good-humoredly. + +"Explain it? Why, we know well what the good Lord sent us during the +past night, and we can walk sound and refreshed through this world, +and that He is our King. We also know that He is the everlasting God." + +"Well, that is so, but little children know that much. Go on." + +"The third verse I like very much. He is already on the earth, always +present with us, even now He goes with us, and so will protect us from +evil all day long. I am very glad to see at least a small piece of His +garment." + +"Where do you see it?" asked Ondrejko. + +"Just look how the rays of the sun shine around us. On every drop of +dew you see a piece of the rainbow. That is the hem of His garment, +and in that soft breeze, His Spirit is touching us. He is very near +to us. Verily, He is a good Father. We cannot see Him just because we +could not bear the full glory. What a man was Daniel! Yet he almost +died when he saw Him. But also this verse is beautiful, 'That we may +to Thy glory ever live.'" + +"And how do you do that, you little doctor of theology?" said the +doctor. + +"I think," said Palko, "that just what we do today is pleasing to +the Lord Jesus; we are going to look for a place for one of His sick +sheep, and if you should like the cottage we will gladly take care of +the necessary wood and flowers. It is clean already, even the windows +are washed." + +"You little wise man, and lo, surely there is that cabin of yours." + +"Yes, yes," cried the boys. And Dunaj, as if he would confirm it, ran +directly to the door. + +"Listen, boy, that cottage of yours is just as if it had been built +for that patient of mine," admitted Dr. H., after he had looked the +cottage over inside and out. "I shall have some furniture brought +here, carpets shall cover the floor, that it be not cold, and your +bed and table we will put in the kitchen, that will be for her nurse. +Though the windows are small there are three of them, so there will +be plenty of sun all day long. And what surroundings! This beautiful +valley with the background of green woods and high mountains! The +spring is close to the house, and, too bad there is no bench beside +it!" + +The three boys cried, "We shall ask Bacha, and he will send Stephen." + +"He can make a very beautiful bench," said Ondrejko. "We can go and +watch the sheep for him in the meantime." + +The doctor stroked the boy's golden hair. "I would like to see you +turn in the sheep." + +"But he would not have to do that," remarked Palko; "for that purpose +we have Whitie and Playwell. They are very wise dogs." + +"Well, now; we shall see what can be done. But the bench must be put +here. I would like to taste that water." + +Palko ran for the flowered pitcher and a cup. They all drank their +fill. The water was excellent. Then they sat beside the brook, and the +doctor pulled cheese and bread out of his pocket. Each of the boys +had his own bread--and quite a big piece at that. When Bacha cut the +bread, he counted also on the appetites of Dunaj and Fido. The doctor +divided the cheese. They ate the cheese and bread, and drank water. It +tasted good to all of them. + +Dunaj did not move his eyes from Palko, who shared with him +faithfully. Greedy Fido ran from one comrade to the other and even sat +down in front of the doctor, and not in vain. But when he came near +Palko, Dunaj growled at him, which certainly in a dog's language +meant, "Are you not ashamed?" So Fido did not try it a second time. + +The doctor saw how the children enjoyed their food and noticed that +Ondrejko also ate with a good appetite. He suddenly began to say, +"Palko, you said that you would carry wood to the cottage. That will +not be necessary. I will have a cord of wood brought and cut, but if +you would take care of bringing the flowers that would be very good. +The lady is to drink whey. As long as she is weak you could also bring +that to her every morning. As soon as she is strong enough she will +have to go to the sheepfold herself, and ask for it at the hut. Now, +what do you say? Will you help me so that she will get better soon?" + +They all heartily agreed that they would do it. + +"I will tell you what is the matter with her. For a long time she made +day out of night, but she could not change the day into night. Thus +she lacked many nights' rest. Now she would like to sleep, but she +cannot! She is a sad, unhappy person, and has lived to see much +sorrow. It will be well if you help me to cheer her up; then she will +recover sooner." + +"And does the lady understand Slovak?" fearlessly asked Palko. The +doctor smote his forehead. + +"You are a wise little fellow, boy. I didn't think of that. But wait! +I overheard when she bought oranges, she spoke in Czech. Then you will +be able to understand each other. Do you want to help me, boys?" + +"We would like to very much," said Ondrejko. + +"If Bacha will permit us," added Petrik. Palko thought that nothing +would hinder him as long as he was there. + +In good spirits the boys returned to the sheepcote. The doctor left +them at the "Old Hag's Rock." They took from him a closely-written +note for Bacha Filina, who readily enough agreed to everything. He +even sent Stephen to build the bench, and also gave permission to the +boys to carry whey and flowers to the sick lady. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + + +Again it was Sunday. That day no one from the hut went to church. Very +early in the morning they read a part of the Word of God, sang a song, +prayed, and everybody went his way. Filina had an invitation from the +manager of the Gemer estate. He had to go to the castle, and the boys +said they would go to Palko's cottage, not to enter, because the +doctor had the key, but to see if the wood had been already brought +and where the draymen had stacked it. But who can describe their +surprise when they reached the cottage. They saw all the windows open +and on the kitchen-table sat a large white cat. The fur around her +head looked like a cap. Her eyes were blue and round like those of an +owl. Her long broad tail hung out of the window. Around her neck she +had a band decorated with small pearls, and a small gilt bell was +hanging from it. When they saw her they were glad they had not brought +the dogs along. Fido went with his master and Dunaj was somewhere +roaming in the woods. + +"Someone must live here already," remarked the surprised Ondrejko. + +"Really, so it is. The cat would not be sitting there by herself," +added Palko. They walked carefully around the cottage. In the yard +they found the wood already cut and stacked. Then they took counsel +together. If the ladies had already come, they must find flowers for +them. The boys calculated that by the time they would return, the new +inhabitants of the cottage would be up. + +When they returned, in about an hour, each one had a large bouquet of +flowers and foliage. Palko arranged them for all three. He was already +a master in that work. Ondrejko carried his bouquet before him with +both hands, so that he could hardly see the path in front. Petrik +carried his bouquet over his shoulder. He was the first to notice that +the door was open and smoke was coming from the chimney. + +The next moment an elderly lady with a black dress and white cap +stepped into the doorway. Her otherwise good-looking face bore +evidence of much care, and she looked distressed, seeming to say, +"What shall I do now?" + +"She certainly needs something," said Palko, as the boys ran toward +the cottage. + +To their greeting, the lady answered in the Czech language. Her kind +face brightened as she looked at the boys and their large bouquets. + +"Are you the nurse of the sick lady?" Palko began. "We promised the +doctor that we would bring flowers, so we have brought them now. They +are wilted, but if you put them in the brook they will freshen up." + +"Thank you very kindly. My lady will be glad." + +Taking the flowers from the boys, the lady placed their ends in the +brook. + +"Since you are not familiar here, perhaps you will need something that +you cannot find in the woods," Palko said thoughtfully. "We shall be +glad to serve you; just let us know." + +"I shall be very thankful, boys, if you will help me. We have brought +everything except salt and bread, which we do not have, because the +bag in which the eatables were, must have been left in the coach. We +came late last night instead of this morning, so the doctor did not +accompany us, and my surroundings are still strange." + +"We will bring some salt and bread. Our hut is near by," Petrik cried +zealously. "Also the whey will be ready. Come on, Ondrejko." + +"Are they to bring us milk and bread from the hut?" inquired the lady. + +"That will be from us," Ondrejko assured her. "But we have to go at +once so that we can return soon." + +"I will stay with you," decided Palko, "because the cottage belongs +to my father. Although you may be used to having things arranged +differently, I may be able to show you where you can put one thing and +another." + +"So this is your cottage? Then you can advise me where to put +everything that we have brought along. What shall we call you?" + +"Palko Lesina. The other boy is Petrik Filina, and the third one is +Ondrejko de Gemer." + +"What is his name?" asked the lady, startled. + +"De Gemer. The sheepfolds belong to his father. The doctor sent +Ondrejko to Bacha Filina because he was weak. Here he thrives well. +From the time that he has lived as we live and not like a gentleman, +he has been getting well and strong. And how about your lady; could +she sleep last night?" + +"Oh, my poor lady!" sobbed the elderly woman. "If she only knew. I +don't know whether she slept in the night, but now she sleeps as she +has not slept for a long time. Come, Palko, enter softly." + +It was good that there was a hall between the bedroom and the kitchen, +for thus the sleeper was not disturbed. Palko proved to be a very good +helper. From the kitchen which looked like a county fair, they carried +away trunks, bags, coverings, raincoats, and towels, into the clean +storage room, which the lady had not yet discovered. Some things they +laid on the shelves which Lesina had already put up, and others were +hung on nails on the wall. One of the trunks, the lady emptied. In it +were the china and all the kitchen utensils. These Palko carried at +once to the new kitchen cupboard. Some things he hung up near the +stove. One of the table-cloths he spread over the table. After he had +found the broom which his father had made from the branches that he +had cut and brought, he swept the kitchen, for with the carrying in of +so many things, much dirt had accumulated. He ran with the pitcher for +water, and placing one of the bouquets in it, set it on the covered +table. Just as he had finished, his comrades came running, hot and +perspiring. Ondrejko carried the crock with a narrow neck, completely +covered with braided straw, and the covered can of milk. Petrik +carried quite a heavy bundle on his back. + +When the nurse returned from the storeroom she could hardly believe +her eyes. On the table on a wooden plate lay the black-bread, salt was +in a new wooden bowl, cheese in a dish, on a plate there was fresh +golden butter, and in a can, milk. The fire that had gone out in the +kitchen stove, was burning brightly now. The boys sat on the bench by +the window, Palko standing in front of them. + +"Are you already here, my children?" asked the nurse; "and what have +you brought?" + +"Bread and salt, as you have asked. The whey is in the crock. The milk +we brought for you, because you are not sick," explained Petrik. + +Ondrejko added, "It may be that your lady will not want to drink the +whey today, and that you will make coffee instead, for yourself." + +"For you," Petrik added, "there is also butter and cheese. Palko is +able to do this because some day all this around here will be his." + +The boys were surprised when the eyes of the nurse suddenly filled +with tears. She wiped them off and kissed the small messengers. + +"You are right, Ondrejko, today I will fix coffee, and you all will +take breakfast with me. In the meantime perhaps my lady will be up." + +Before the coffee was finished, the boys found out that the nurse's +name was Moravec and that they could call her Aunty; that she was born +in the mountains of northern Bohemia in just such a cottage as this. +She went to America with her parents, and was married there, but when +her husband died, and not having her own daughter any more, she had +served this lady ten years, and took care of her like her own child. +Before the boys realized it, each had in front of him a beautiful +cup with a golden edge, full of fragrant coffee, and a big piece of +Bohemian bun. After all, they had found the seemingly lost bag, and +really, it would have been a pity if the good Bohemian buns had been +lost! + +Just as their breakfast was finished, the sound of a silver bell was +heard from the room. Aunty ran in quickly, like a young girl. + +"Perhaps it is time for us to go," advised Petrik. Ondrejko looked at +Palko to see what he would say. He had succeeded in attracting the +beautiful cat to him. She sat beside him on the bench, and with her +front paws, like a squirrel, took the dipped bun from him. Now she was +even sitting on his knees and was purring. + +"We cannot leave these dishes thus, when they were dirtied by us. She +has no help here," said Palko. + +So he ran with a tin bucket for water, and Petrik ran to bring wood. +In the meantime Ondrejko remained alone in the kitchen, when the doors +of the bedroom opened. At first he heard the voice of Aunty--and then +another. The blood rushed to his head, the voice was so clear and +so beautiful. Oh, such mysterious recollections, as from times +so distant, very distant, as if from the secrets of long past +remembrances! What they said he did not understand. The cat wriggled +out of his hands, lifted its long tail and jumped to the door. +The door was not fully closed and she opened it with one paw and +disappeared before the eyes of the surprised boy. He was not even +aware of it. He was so fully taken up with the voice that he did not +hear any more. The boys' coming disturbed and awakened him. + +Palko washed the dishes, Petrik dried them; they put everything away, +and disappeared as quietly as they could. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + + +Seven days passed. How short! but sometimes how long seven days may +be! How much one can live through, experience, and suffer! Time +passes; you awaken, wipe your eyes, and wonder if it is true that it +has passed already. + +Even thus Ondrejko de Gemer, wandering through the woods, wondered +if all was true that had passed in the last seven days, or if it was +merely a dream. Oh, it was no dream, really. She came, the sick lady. +Truly, she lived in Palko's cottage and though Ondrejko had carried +the whey there already three times he had not seen her. Aunty always +said that she was asleep, and must sleep very much. Ah, why did she +always sleep just when he came? She had spoken already to Petrik, and +gave him a box full of candy. Palko had already read to her from his +Book, and had told her that she was almost as beautiful as his mother +at home; Ondrejko, alone, had not seen her yet. + +How much he had prayed already, especially that morning, that she +might not be asleep again when he went there, that he also might +welcome her to those woods and mountains. Formerly Ondrejko didn't +think of it, but he did now, when the herdsmen, especially Stephen, +again and again reminded him that these sheepfolds were his father's, +and therefore his also, and that he had a rightful claim to +everything. When they gave him cheese and butter for the lady, they +gave him plenty, saying, "Just take it; it is yours." This thought +seemed to appeal to him--all is ours. If Palko could say "our +cottage," why could not Ondrejko say, "our sheepfolds, our land, and +our woods? Oh, then she came to us though she lived in the cottage of +Palko. When she gets stronger she will come to us to drink whey from +our sheep." + +Lost in his meditation, the boy did not realize that he had come to +the parting of the paths, one of which turned above to the "Old Hag's +Rock," and the other, below to the cottage in the valley. The weather +was again so clear that from the green clearings in the woods you +could hear the great bells of the rams and the little ones of the +sheep. + +"There is the ringing of the bells of our sheep," smiled the happy +Ondrejko. He ran quickly to the bench, intending to sit upon it and +rest, but he did not do so for it was occupied by someone like one of +the fairies from the woods of which Stephen often told him, that on +St. John's Night came out of the "Old Hag's Rock" and danced on the +meadows. None of them could be more beautiful than the lady sitting +on the bench, with its firm back covered with a flowery blanket; a +similar cushion lay on the arm-rest, and on the cushion rested a white +arm. On the small narrow palm a forehead was resting, and beautiful +dark-gray eyes looked far away above the mountains. + +The boy set down the crock and folded his arms. + +Thus he looked at the lily-white face, and the lips which seemed as if +the Lord God had made just for song. And again his heart felt as if +someone carried him far, far away, into the land of remembrances. It +is too bad that the lady, covered with a light yellow Cashmere shawl +does not look at the boy. Is he not also good-looking? and how +beautiful! On Saturday the doctor sent him a new suit, almost the same +kind as Palko had, but the shirt was embroidered with flowers, with +broad sleeves, narrow pants, decorated sandals, a round hat with +bands, and a small embroidered bag. Petrik also received a new suit, +the kind that he used to wear. Ondrejko was very glad that now he +would be altogether like his comrades. When they were all three in the +church yesterday, the people looked around at them. + +If the lady would only look this way! Surely she never saw such a +beautiful little Slovak! But she did not look. At last, the boy came +to himself. Oh, surely, it must be she!--surely, herself! Who else +would be sitting on his bench? And she had that beautiful cat beside +her. Here she was, already up, and he was just bringing her breakfast. +He was late! Oh, he knew it was necessary for the whey to be warm. +When, then, will she eat her breakfast? + +He took courage and greeted her. The lady aroused herself, opened her +big eyes, and in surprise looked at the boy timidly drawing near. + +"Good morning," greeted Ondrejko. "I am bringing you the whey, but +surely too late. However, I have hurried quite a bit, therefore please +do not be angry at me." + +"Do you bring me my breakfast?" the lady asked astonished. She arose +and took the heavy crock out the hand of the boy. "It must be very +heavy for you." + +"It was not," said Ondrejko, more at ease, as he fastened his +beautiful eyes on the lady's face. Oh, how happy he was that finally +he too could see her, and that she talked with him and even took him +by the hand. + +"And what is your name?" + +"Ondrejko," he replied. + +"And do you live here at these sheepfolds?" + +"Yes," said he, "I live with Bacha Filina. I like it very much." + +The lady walked with the boy and he carried the crock. She was small +in stature, but every movement reminded one of a princess. + +"Why did not Petrik or Palko bring this whey?" she asked, to start a +conversation with Ondrejko. + +"We change about," said he. + +"Change about? But I have never seen you before." + +"I have carried the whey already three times, but you have always been +asleep," said Ondrejko. + +"So, I have always been asleep during your visits? Therefore I will +not leave you quickly today. You must rest with us. Look, Aunty is +already waiting." The lady stopped and almost joyfully handed the +crock to Aunty Moravec. + +"Look who brought the whey for us today, but you are already +acquainted. We have seen each other for the first time now! Please +prepare a good breakfast for my guest." The hands of Aunty shook +somewhat when she received the crock, and she hastened to heat the +whey at once. + +Who could have told Ondrejko how the Lord Jesus would answer his +prayer? Petrik saw the lady only in the kitchen, but she took him into +her room. How beautifully she had things arranged there! A plush sofa +and arm-chair, and many such things as they had in the castle de Gemer +were in the room. He was permitted to sit with her on the sofa and +look over a large book with photographs, all of beautiful lands and +cities. She pointed them out and named them. + +"And you have been in all these places?" he dared to ask. + +A sad expression clouded her face. "Yes, I have, Ondrejko, but now I +have only one wish--to remain forever in these mountains and never +again have to look at that evil, deceitful world outside." + +After a while Aunty brought breakfast. Ondrejko had to sit down at the +beautifully-covered table. He was used to praying before eating in the +hut, so he did it now also, and in the joy which overflowed his heart, +he added, "I thank Thee, dear Lord Jesus, that You have so kindly +answered me." + +The lady had already lifted the cup to her lips, but she set it down +again, and as if ashamed, bowed her head too. A tear appeared on her +golden eyelashes. When the boy had finished eating, she asked him what +he had asked Jesus Christ for. He confessed how much he had desired +to see her, and that he almost envied his comrades. Then he asked +permission to look also into the other book which lay on a small +table. It was full of photographs of people. He looked at her out of +the corner of his eye, because about ten of them were pictures of +herself, but she was dressed in all kinds of strange costumes. In one +of the pictures she had on a loose dress like a cloak and a crown on +her head. Under the picture was printed, "Mary Slavkovsky as Marie +Stuart." The boy rested his curly head on his small palms, and +thought. + +"Why do you look so much at that picture?" said the lady, stroking his +golden curls. + +"Is this really you in all these pictures? Have you perhaps played in +a theatre?" said Ondrejko. + +She was astonished. "What do you know about theatres? Have you perhaps +been in one of them?" + +"No," he shook his head. "That could not be possible. I have not +been." The boy's face saddened. + +"What do you mean, Ondrejko?" said the lady, drawing him nearer to +her. + +"Oh, my mother also is pictured in photographs, but I shall never see +her again." + +"Your mother?" said she, wonderingly. "Is she not a country woman?" + +"Oh, no!" The eyes of the boy glowed. "She is a famous singer, but I +shall not see her again, because she has forgotten me long ago--and so +I have nobody to look after me, no mother, no father, although I was +adjudged to him. I used to be very sad about it, but since Palko came +to us, and I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and received Him in my +heart, I am no more just a forsaken orphan, because He loves me, and +He it with me." The boy stopped because the lady became very pale, and +the arm with which she had caressed him, fell down and a deep sigh +escaped her lips. + +"Aunty!" cried the scared boy, and not in vain. Aunty Moravec ran into +the room. She washed the deathly-pale face of the lady with some kind +of fine-smelling water. She placed a cushion under her head and put +her feet on the sofa. After a while, the lady began to breathe better +again. Aunty took the boy by the hand and led him to the kitchen. At +his anxious questioning she told him only that the lady was still +very weak and must rest. Ondrejko repeated to her what they had been +speaking about together. At hearing this, Aunty sighed and caressed +him, and said, "It is all in vain. It had to come and the sooner the +better." She did not hinder Ondrejko from going home, but did not +allow him to carry the crock. + +"Send Palko, in the afternoon. He promised to take the lady to you. +From tomorrow on, she is to come to your sheepfold to drink the whey. +The doctor ordered that." + +"But is she not sick?" the boy said, showing some anxiety. + +"She is not sick any more, only weak, and this weakness she must +overcome by walking," responded Aunty. + +In this world there is no sweetness without bitterness. If something +strange had not happened, that boy would have returned home very proud +and happy. Thus Bacha Filina found him not far away, all in tears, +and when he took him into his strong arms like a little lamb, the boy +threw both arms around his neck and told him everything. + +"Bacha, I have surely said something bad, though I really don't know +what, and she became very sad about it," cried Ondrejko. + +"Do not cry," the man comforted him. "You said only what the Lord God +put in your mouth. Anyway, when the lady comes in the afternoon, all +will be well again." + +With these words, the Bacha carried the tired boy to his wooden hut, +laid him on the bed, and sat beside him. He stroked his arm and +forehead, and before long he had put his little charge to sleep. Then +he looked at him once more, sadly, and left. About half-an-hour +later the herdsmen found him dressed in his Sunday suit going in the +direction of the "Old Hag's Rock." They thought he was going to town, +and wondered why, because he had been there only yesterday. + +At the same time, bitter crying sounded in Palko's cottage, which +Aunty Moravec could in no way silence. There the weeping lady said, +"He was here; he, my beautiful golden-headed child, and I did not know +him. The heavy crock he brought to me himself. He wanted to see me, +but did not recognize me. How could he, when I myself did not know +him? That his own mother forgot him long ago is not true. All the +glory of the world could not replace my lost treasure. Oh, my father, +my father! If you only knew what became of your daughter! You taught +her to fold her hands in prayer, but she forgot everything--even that. +Unfortunate, betrayed wife, craven mother! If you only knew how your +warnings have been literally fulfilled!" + +The lady cried bitterly. There was no comfort for her. Usually there +is none for the son or daughter who has trampled the good advice of +his parents under his feet and after that has had to suffer everything +which has been foretold them. + +Finally Aunty went out. She heard steps in the hall. After a while she +returned asking if Bacha Filina might enter, that he would like to +speak of something important with the lady. + +In a moment Bacha was in the room. "I have come, Madame Slavkovsky, to +talk with you," he began seriously. "It is time to make an end to +the sin, which for years you have already committed as to my little +charge. The doctor told me that you are his mother, and my lord is his +father. Now is this tender, sensitive child to grow up as somebody +said: 'Whether father or mother, whether sister or brother, nobody +comes to welcome me'?" The man spoke seriously. + +The lady stretched out her hands towards him imploringly. "What can I +do? They took him away from me and adjudged him to De Gemer. My lawyer +did everything that he could, but in vain." + +"But would you love him, would you like to take care of him as it +behooves a decent mother, if my lord would return him to you?" + +"Why would I not! I deserve that you ask me that. Whether you believe +me or not, Bacha Filina, I would give everything if I could only get +him back again. I see he loves me, unworthy though I am." + +"Yes, he loves you as only forsaken children know how to do. Therefore +I came to you, lady--today or never God gives you an opportunity to +get your treasure back again. Your former husband fell deeply into +debt. His administrator received the order to sell the estate of the +De Gemer family. If you have enough money--the doctor told me that you +have--buy it out of the first hands before the Jews get hold of it. +When your lawyer writes him that you will have the estate turned over +to the boy, if Lord de Gemen will give it to you in black and white, +he will be glad to do so, I know, and will give you the boy. He always +boasted that the 'De Gemer' estate shall belong to Ondrejko, his +first-born. Everybody in the neighborhood knows about it. It would not +be such a great shame on the family, that they had to sell the family +castle, if, after all, the property remained in his son's hands. It +is a beautiful estate, and it is wisely managed. It will bring a much +larger income later on, than it does today. Even if you had to borrow +some money to purchase it, it would be worthwhile to do so." + +"Oh, Bacha Filina!" The lady took the man's hard right hand into her +small ones. "How can I thank you enough for this good and beautiful +advice? I don't know if my ready money will suffice, but I have +beautiful jewelry, and when I sell that, we will have something to +start with at least. I am not altogether so unfamiliar with managing +as you may think; I am the daughter of a farmer. But who will buy this +for me? My lawyer is not here." + +"Leave Ondrejko with the doctor. Ride to the administrator's office +and buy the estate yourself. He has orders to sell it. Do not begin to +deal about the boy before the estate is yours. At least, that is what +I think. But today let Ondrejko know that you are his mother, that the +boy may not suffer longer. Come to us in the afternoon. I will send +Palko for you." + +Filina arose. "I would not have come to you while you are still weak, +but we must hurry with the buying, and Ondrejko cared so much that he +shook all over, thinking that surely he had said something bad to +you so that you fainted. The boy is very tender. He needs not only +strengthening with me--that is only for the body--but his heart needs +a mother. The God in the heavens has become his Father. Good-bye, +then." + +"Bacha Filina," the lady stopped the man. "Do you know why I parted +with De Gemer? Or do you think that because I am a singer, I have left +him like an unfaithful wife?" + +"The doctor told me that my lord had wronged you. I do not ask more. +Everyone of us has enough of his own sins. God sees us and knows us. +Do not judge that ye be not judged." The deep voice of Filina sounded +almost gentle. He shook her hand and left. + + * * * * * + +"Uncle Filina! Did you already return from the city?" sounded a voice +from the clearing where he went to look at the flock. Palko ran to +meet him. In his hand he carried a basket full of beautiful mushrooms. + +"I was not in the city, Palko; but what are you doing here?" Filina +was cheered with Palko's presence and sat down on an old log overgrown +with moss. The boy joyfully threw himself down on the deep mossy +cushions. + +"I carried a letter to Stephen which the forester's boy brought for +him from his mother. It cheered him very much. She had been sick, but +now she writes to him herself. Praise the Lord!" + +"I am very glad of that; she is a good woman. And the son which has no +mother has no home anywhere," said Filina. "Where did you find these +mushrooms?" + +"They are beautiful, aren't they? Oh, I just happened to see them. Joe +said he would cook the stew for supper. They will fit in well." + +"Yes, they will. Pick out the best ones, and take them to the ladies +this afternoon, in your cabin. Perhaps they will like them." + +"Shall I really go for the lady? Will it not be too far for her yet?" +thoughtfully asked the boy. + +"I think not, but you must go slowly." + +"But she is still so weak, Uncle." + +"I know it; I have just left her." + +"Is that so? You saw her? And you just came from there? Did you stop +there on the way from town?" + +Bacha was silent for a moment as if deciding something. Then he +fastened his eagle eyes on the boy's face. "Palko, I am going to tell +you something. God grant that you may help me in a very difficult +thing." + +"I would love to, Uncle. Just tell me." + +"The master of these sheepfolds is Ondrejko's father. You know that; +do you not?" + +"Yes, I know it." + +"And the beautiful lady there, is his mother." + +"What did you say!" Palko jumped up at once and sat down again. "But +how is it that they are not together, and that Ondrejko is not with +them?" + +"They had parted, and he took another wife many years ago." + +"And the Lord Jesus permitted that? It seems to me that He said, 'It +should not be so.'" + +"You know, Palko, the world does many things that the Lord God +forbids--even this. I know it is a sin, but it is already that way and +it cannot be changed now. The lady, before De Gemer took her, was a +famous singer in America. She must have been very beautiful because +she is still so today. He brought her to Europe to his family. They +were displeased with him because the lady was not of noble birth. They +did not treat her well, and he did not stand by her as would have been +his duty. Because as far as I know him, he is not the man to guard his +wife against the whole world. It may also be that he has been sorry +already, that he had shut himself out of the world because of her, +while on the other hand, many noble ladies were offered him. How it +was among themselves, I do not know. I only know that once, when he +was not at home, she took the boy and fled away. Then they lived in +Budapest. She did not know how to make a living any other way--so she +gave the boy into the care of strange people, and went again to the +theatre. Then came the law suit. He charged her with leaving him, and +she did not want to return to him, so the court separated them. They +adjudged the boy to his father, and so he came to us. While Ondrejko +was with those people, where she cared for him, they told him all good +things about her, but when he came to where his father put him you can +imagine that they did not speak well of her. So the poor boy has heard +all kinds of stories about his mother, and yet he longs for her, and +so I visited the lady today. I wanted to advise her how she could +take the boy herself and acknowledge him today. Therefore I tell you, +Palko, everything, that you may tell Ondrejko who it is that is coming +to us today." + +There was silence in the mountains. Bacha looked at the boy deep in +thought. "Will you tell him, Palko?" + +"Yes, Uncle. But I must first ask the Lord Jesus for help, for that is +not a small thing. It is good that Ondrejko is already God's lamb. He +will even help his mother to find the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we will +do that part. But, Uncle Filina, when will you tell me that you have +received Him?--that you are His?" The question from the boy, put with +so much loving concern, brought the tears into the man's eyes. + +"I do not know myself, what to tell you, my boy. It is all so strange +to me. From the time that I took the Lord Jesus, like Zaccheus, +it seems to me there is no more of that great burden that always +oppressed me. Sometimes it seems to me as if the Son of God was +actually with me, and when I read the Bible it seems as though He is +living in my heart and opens my eyes. Now I don't know, my boy, what +more can I do." + +"Oh, Uncle," Palko began to jump for joy. "Really, you have already +accepted Him. He came and took away your load, and threw it behind +God's back." + +"What do you say, boy?" said the surprised man. "Is that all?" + +"Yes, that is all. We are only to believe Him. You know well how He +said, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest.' Don't you believe He means what He says?" + +"I do believe, my boy, and already believe, and even understand all +like Zaccheus. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He +came to seek even me, the lost sinner, and I let Him find me." + +When the next moment they kneeled before God, the man and the boy, +there was great joy in heaven that again a sinner had received the +Lord Jesus Christ. Because to those who receive Him, to them gave He +power to be the sons of God. Thus the angels wrote His name in the +Lamb's book of Life. They wrote that Peter Filina believed, and that +Jesus of Nazareth took his heavy burden of sin upon His cross, there +suffered for him the penalty of death, and thus it was that Filina was +forgiven all, and received the Son of God for ever and ever. So for +the first time Filina prayed with his whole heart to God as his +Father. He thanked the Lamb of God for His death, and thanked Him also +for Palko whom He had sent to those mountains. + +When they were done, the boy sighed deeply. Said he, "Since I am +finished with you, I don't have to ask the Lord Jesus any more for +you, but can ask so much better for Ondrejko's mother. Surely He will +grant to me that she will soon accept Him too." + +They went together a little way, but Bacha turned to the clearings and +Palko ran back again to the hut at the sheepfold. On the way, he sang +until the echo rang everywhere. + +There was much stirring in the hut that afternoon. The boys cleaned +and arranged everything so that no particle of dust could be found +anywhere. They brought flowers to Ondrejko that he might braid a chain +of them. It was a very long one. Bacha himself afterwards draped it +over the door. + +"Well, it is time for me to go," announced Palko. "Ondrejko, come with +me part of the way. I saw some nice flowers not far away and you can +pick them. These we will place on the table afterwards." + +"Verily it is time that you go," agreed Bacha, "and go together." + +Ondrejko obeyed very gladly. Merrily the boys went into the woods and +soon found the flowers they wanted. + +"Let us sit down a while," said Palko when they had picked the flowers +and placed them in the nearby spring. "I would like to tell you +something. Do you remember anything about your mother?" + +"About my mother?" said the surprised Ondrejko. That kind of question +he did not expect. "I remember but a little, that she was very +beautiful, and had a very fine voice." + +"And if she suddenly came for you, would you be glad?" + +"For me?" and the boy's beautiful eyes opened wide. "She cannot come +for me any more, because I do not belong to her, but to father." + +"And what did the lady where you lived formerly tell you about her?" + +"That she left father and me because she loved the theatre more than +us, and because sometimes the people hitched themselves to wagons +instead of horses, and gave her beautiful jewels." + +"And you believed it?" retorted Palko, with clouded face. + +"No, I did not believe it, because I loved her, loved her very much." + +"You are right; don't you believe it. Bacha Filina told me that she +went away because your father's family did not like her because she +was not of noble birth as themselves. But she went to the theatre only +because she could not make her living otherwise. Your father brought +her from a very great distance to which she could not return. What +could she do? What the theatre is, I do not know. Only that she sang +there beautifully. Perhaps that would not have been so bad if she had +known the Lord Jesus as we know Him. He would surely have advised and +helped her otherwise, and if that which she did was wrong, when she +once knows Jesus and asks Him to forgive her, He will do so. But we +must tell her about Him, you and I." + +"We? But she is far away, very far." + +"Do not believe it, Ondrejko. The Lord Jesus sent her back as far as +here. The lady at our cottage--that is she." + +"You say that is she?" Ondrejko jumped up. + +"Yes, yes; that is she." + +"She was just like her, and had the same kind of a voice! And so it +aroused in my heart remembrances of long ago when she spoke and when +I looked at her. It seems to me I recognized her, but she didn't know +me," sadly sighed the boy, and his eyes filled with tears. + +"But how could she have recognized you in those farmer's clothes? We +too, Petrik and I, hardly recognized you." + +"Do you think so?" Ondrejko calmed down. "Palko, take me to her; she +doesn't know that I am her Andreas. She doesn't know me." + +"She knows already. Uncle Filina was there. He told her the truth." + +"Oh, then take me with you, because I have made her very sad--till she +almost died." + +"I don't care. Come, then. Surely the Lord Jesus wants it so." + + * * * * * + +No matter how long Ondrejko Gemersky lives he will never be able to +forget how it was when the doors in the cottage opened and a beautiful +lady in a light blue dress, the color of forget-me-nots, stepped out. +In her hands she carried a broad hat, but she dropped it with a cry, +"My Ondrejko!" as she ran toward them. He flew like an arrow to meet +her. + +"Mother, my mother!"--and already held her around the neck. She, +kneeling, hugged him to her breast. They both cried, and Palko with +them. + +"Oh, mother, my mother, how I love you! Verily I am yours, and surely +you will keep me now," begged Ondrejko with tears. He stroked the +beautiful face and forehead of the lady. + +"Yes, you are mine." She jumped up. "I will not give you up any more +to anyone, anyone in the world. But no, come, my son, we have to go to +Bacha Filina. He will take care of it, that no one can take you away +from me." + +Surely Ondrejko will never forget this, nor how they walked together +to the sheepcote, how well they were received there, what a good time +they had that afternoon and evening, because Ondrejko's mother slept +together with Aunty Moravec in his hut. Bacha counted on that. He took +counsel with Aunty and sent Stephen to the cottage to bring whatever +was necessary for the lady, especially sheets, covers, etc. Thus +Ondrejko sat beside his mother in the evening when Joe roasted the +lamb over the fire, and Petrik helped Aunty to cook soup in the pot. + +Bacha told them about the life at the sheepcotes, and many interesting +things from his experiences with the flocks. Then they had supper +together, there in the open. Then they sang the evening song, prayed, +and Palko read from his Book. At Filina's request he read the 15th +chapter of the Gospel of Luke, about a good shepherd, about a woman +who lost her coin, and about a prodigal son who had a good father, but +nevertheless ran away from him, and how badly he fared in the world +until he returned to his father. During the reading Palko made many +beautiful remarks, as he usually did. They all loved to hear him. When +he closed, only the fire crackled, and the stars in the heavens were +sparkling like a multitude of eyes. The moon lit up the tops of the +mountains and woods. Often one of the sheep rang its bell in the fold. + +Bacha suddenly lifted up his bowed head, and spoke with a voice such +as they had never heard before: "That lost and found sheep am I, my +children. The gracious Lord God forgave all my sins. The Lord Jesus +sought and found me, and I have surrendered myself to Him altogether, +including our huts. Let us pray." + +He took his hat off, folded his hands, and prayed thus, "Our Father," +in such a manner, that nobody had ever heard such a prayer before. +Never will Ondrejko de Gemer forget that moment, but I think that none +of the others present there will ever be able to forget it either. + +When in the huts everything quieted down--not even the dogs barked +that night--Bacha, as his custom was, walked all around to see if +there was any danger anywhere, before he betook himself to rest. He +walked also around the wooden hut and suddenly stopped. There on +Ondrejko's little bench, under the window, wrapped up in a shawl, +Madame Slavkovsky sat in the moonlight. Her hands were twined around +her knees, and she was thoughtfully looking into the beautiful starry +night. He coughed, that she might not be startled. She turned her +head, and with a motion indicated her wish that he should take a place +beside her. He obeyed. + +"You said, Bacha Filina, that that lost and found sheep was you," she +began in her sweet, sad voice. "That woman who lost that coin is also +I. More than that even, I am the prodigal daughter." + +"What do you mean by that, lady?" asked Filina seriously. + +"When Palko explained how good that father was and how the naughty boy +left him, I thought that I did just that to my good dear father; and +therefore, from that time on, what sad experiences I have had!" She +sighed deeply. + +"Tell me all about it. I am an old man and could be your father. I +shall understand you." + +"Yes, I will tell you everything, because if you had not saved my poor +child he would not have had anybody. Did you not care for him like a +father?" + +"We lived on a beautiful farm in America," she went on. "My +grandfather and grandmother came from Bohemia as a young couple. They +bought a small farm and worked diligently, and God blessed them. They +were good people, who trusted in God. They had one son and a daughter. +Their son wanted to study, so they sent him to school. As he did not +work on the farm they had to take a helper, and he also came from the +old country. They took a liking for him at once because he fitted in +so well in the family. Once when grandfather was so seriously ill that +he thought he would die, he called his helper and asked him, since he +was single and without relatives in the land, if he would marry his +daughter. He would be more easy if he knew in whose hands he had left +his daughter and wife. That the daughter liked the good-looking and +good-hearted young man, they knew well. But the young man asked for +some time to think it over, and then told their daughter his history +from the old country. What it all was I don't know, and when she, +in spite of it all, was willing to take him, he acceded to my +grandfather's wish, and none of them were ever sorry for it. My father +was very kind to my mother. She had no reason to be sorry that she had +married him. Grandfather recovered from his illness. For many years +after that he worked together with his son-in-law and everything went +well, so that with his help the small farm became a large one. My +recollections are only of the big farm. I was their only child. My +uncle Vojta was at that time a professor in New York, was married, and +advised my parents to send me to him there, that I might go to school +and become a lady. Grandfather approved of this; thus I was at home +only in the summer, and over the winter at Uncle's in school till I +was really trained. My Uncle noticed that I had a talent for singing, +and the teachers confirmed it. Without the knowledge of my home folks +he sent me to learn to sing. I loved to sing, but loved still more the +praise showered upon me by the audiences at the school-concerts. + +"In the meantime, so great a change transpired in my home that I +hardly recognized it when they called me to grandfather's deathbed. +Our farm was not far from the mountains. In those mountains was a +mission conference for several weeks. Our whole family used to go to +listen to those speakers who held religious lectures there--and all +of them, as it was well-known about there, turned to Christ. I shall +never forget how happy grandfather died, how he blessed us all, and +with what fortitude grandmother bore her loss. For the first time I +was really glad to be able to run away from my dear parents to my +Uncle's. My beloved ones started a family altar at home. They sang +songs to the honor of the Lamb who, they claimed, had delivered them +from their sins. Well, I did not like to sing those songs. It seemed +to me as if even the walls of our house would fall down on me. + +"My splendid, kind father let me go sadly. I had half-a-year more +school to complete, and one more examination. My dear parents rejoiced +that then I would be wholly their's, because they had only me, and for +me they worked and saved. My Uncle agreed with me in everything. Like +me, he did not want to enter the narrow path which leads to glory. +With the conclusion of the school-year, my study of singing also +ended, and I returned home with the intention of persuading my parents +to permit me to enter the opera--that means, to become a singer. More +than half-a-year I fought at home with pleas and tears, but in +vain. My father was wonderfully patient and kind to me. Mother +and grandmother were often not so patient, but, like these grand +mountains, they would not move, nor could anyone move my father to +break his word that he would never give me permission to go. Well, +what he did not give me, I took myself." + +"What did you do?" compassionately asked Bacha. The lady broke out +crying. + +"I left home, leaving a letter behind saying that I loved the world, +in which and for which, I wanted to live, and I loved the glory of the +world and did not want to bury myself on the farm. I ran away to my +Uncle's. My dear father came at once for me. He begged and pled, but I +didn't want to go back with him, and did not do so. + +"'When you find out that the world is as vain as soap-bubbles, and +your heart is full of disillusionment, ready to despair, then remember +that you have a father and a home to return to,' said father. 'Until +that time you cannot count yourself one of us. We are standing on two +different paths: the one we go on is narrow and leads high; the other, +which you have chosen, is broad and will lead you from the heights to +a deep abyss. Our prayers will surround you always like a fiery wall. +I know that you will have to suffer much evil and much sorrow, but our +prayers will prevent you from sinning as grievously as you will see +others do around you.' + +"Those were his last words. Oh, Bacha Filina, I went over that broad +path. In a short time I was a famous singer. The people carried me on +their arms. Though I was a simple farmer's daughter, because of the +courses of the good schools which I had attended, the doors of high +society opened to me, and I, like the prodigal, very soon forgot my +parents, and especially my good father. Then Lord Gemer came into my +life, and I married him, being ready to leave everything for him, even +my fame. He promised me that even when I was his wife, he would agree +to my keeping on with my singing. He kept that promise while we were +in America and Italy. But in his native country it was impossible. + +"And then everything began to turn out just as my dear father +foretold. But I don't want to talk about that. I just wanted to say +that I am that prodigal son." + +"That you are, my lady, but only half-way; because the son returned, +and you haven't returned yet." + +"No, you are right. I haven't returned yet. When I had forsaken the +man who betrayed me, I was ashamed, for I was forsaken, betrayed, and +robbed of all means to return home. When I asked my uncle to help me, +though he sent me some money, he also sharply admonished me either to +return to my husband or to go back to my parents and do penance, but +this I did not want to do. It seemed to me that all sinned against me, +and I only was innocent. I had to live. And so I began to sing again, +though with a broken heart. In a short time I had the world again +lying at my feet, but, being so forsaken, I soon recognized its whole +rottenness. How right my father was; I could not sin as I saw others +around me doing. Therefore I had to suffer much till I could go on no +longer. Since my health broke down, I cancelled my contract and betook +myself to search for my son. I wanted to see him, at least once more, +before I died. That is all." + +"That is not everything," said Filina kindly with a smile as he +rose. "The end will be only when the daughter returns, first to her +heavenly, and then also to her earthly father. He that received me, +will surely receive you too. But now come and go to rest, and think +how perhaps in a distant land your father is praying just now for you, +and that the heavenly Father loved us so much that He gave His only +Son for us. Goodnight!" + +In a little while the stars shone down upon a quiet place while the +people slept. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + + +The doctor came the next day, just as Bacha Filina had expected him. +He came in his coach as far as the sheepcotes, and before Ondrejko +realized it, he carried away his mother, and also Bacha Filina. Before +they went they arranged for Ondrejko to remain longer with Bacha, and +he would go to his mother only for visits. + +"Palko, take the boys," commanded Bacha, "and go with them somewhere +in the woods where nobody will interfere, and pray that the Lord God +may help us to successfully arrange for what we have before us." + +So they prayed, and believed that the Lord Jesus heard them. + +Late in the evening, Bacha returned. The boys were already asleep. In +the morning he told them that everything that could be done yesterday +was carried out successfully, but that there was another matter which +would take about a week before they could know how it would turn out, +so they must keep on praying. + +And what a week it was! The boys never lived through another like it. +Sometimes they were with Ondrejko at his mother's. Again she came to +the sheepcotes, and when she remained till the evening she loved to +spend the night in the wooden hut. Aunty used to return before the +evening in the company of Petrik. He loved to do this, because he +always got a very good supper there. Then Ondrejko slept with his +mother. How beautiful that was! She sat on his bed, told him many good +things, petted, and kissed him till he fell asleep. In the morning +again, he woke her up early. He jumped from his bed, threw his arms +around her neck and timidly kissed her beautiful lips. What beautiful +moments these were! Ondrejko was allowed to accompany his mother even +when Bacha Filina took her to show her all three sheepfolds. They +walked together over the clearings, looked at the herds of sheep, and +spoke with the herdsmen. She was so friendly and kind to them. On the +other hand, this helped to improve her health. After such a walk +she ate and slept very well. Ondrejko was glad that she liked Bacha +Filina. He treated her very nicely, just like a lady, as if she were +his own daughter. On Saturday Ondrejko went with his mother to the +cottage. There he was to have dinner with her. Both of his comrades +were invited for the afternoon, and with them, of course, came Dunaj +and Fido, but the cat was not afraid of them, and when they saw this +they let her alone. + +The boy ran joyfully into the room, but on the doorstep he halted, +because his beautiful mother sat at a table. In her hand she held a +long letter ready for the mail, and she cried. Oh, how bitterly she +cried! She was cheered up when he ran to her and began to hug and kiss +her; she returned his kisses but did not stop crying. "Why do you cry +so much, my mother?" he said sadly. "What is it about?" + +"About myself, my loved one, because I am very bad." + +Ondrejko would not admit that. To him, a mother seemed like an angel, +but Palko had read only yesterday the saying: "THEY ALL HAVE SINNED +AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD," and added that so long as one +does not realize this and thinks himself good enough, the Lord Jesus +cannot save him, because only sick ones need a doctor; and Bacha +Filina had added that only the Holy Spirit can bring a soul to such +conviction. It must be then, that the Holy Spirit had begun to teach +his mother also. Surely the Lord Jesus would soon find her! + +"Why do you think, mother, that you are bad?" the boy timidly asked. + +"Because I have a very good father, and have grieved him very much. +Look, Ondrejko; I have written now for the first time in many years." + +"And surely you have asked his forgiveness? Have you not?" + +"Yes, I did; but is it possible to forgive such a sinner?" + +"The father forgave his prodigal son because he loved him," the boy +said seriously. "Did your father love you also, my mother?" + +The lady sighed sadly, but did not cry any more. + +"He would surely receive you if you would return home." + +"I will see if he will answer me, and what he will say." + +"Mother, was not your father my grandfather?" + +"Yes, my darling; and if the good Lord grant that I may be able to +count you all my own, and you will be only mine, then we will go +together, and you will help me to ask him. He will surely not refuse +you; you will understand one another better, because you both love the +Lord Jesus and you are His sheep." + +The boy rejoiced. The grandfather loved the Lord Jesus! "How glad I +am! Oh, then he will surely forgive you." + +They could not continue their talk because Aunty Moravec called them +to dinner, which was very good. Joe came after dinner; he was carrying +cheese to town and stopped to ask if there was anything to be mailed. +The lady gave him her letter, and Aunty a slip and money to buy +various things at the stores, with a big piece of cake to eat on the +way. From the lady he received money to buy cherries for himself and +the boys, if there were any good ones. + +That afternoon it was quite jolly in and about the cottage when the +comrades came. Ondrejko was glad that his mother was so joyful. She +taught them all kinds of nice games. She even went with them on the +"Old Hag's Rock," and there Palko had to tell her also how he found +his Sunshine Country. That interested her very much. He recalled +twice, how he was lost as a small child and grew up with strange +people, and how the Lord Jesus took care that he came again to his +parents. A whole book could be written about how he fared in the +world.[A] Madame Slavkovsky was very much interested in that. When +they later walked to the sheepcotes, all along the way she asked about +Palko's mother, who in her sorrow for the lost boy also lost her +reason till she finally found him and the Lord Jesus returned her son +to her. They did not realize how quickly they came to the huts. + +[Footnote A: See the first part of "The Sunshine Country."] + +It was a beautiful evening; the sunset covered the sky with its rosy +curtains. The sun sank behind the mountains, and as if in parting +kissed the valleys and the people, and especially seemed to kiss the +beautiful lady who sat by the open fire in deep thought. + +"If you can sing so beautifully," begged Palko, "and many people went +to hear you, we also would like you to do so. Sing for us, if you +please." + +"Oh, Palko." The lady shook her head. "You wouldn't like my song. +Besides you wouldn't understand me. I sang mostly in English, Italian, +but also in Czech, but the text of these songs would not fit in with +this sacred evening closing around us. But because I would like to +reward you, Palko, for so beautifully relating your experiences, let +me just think a moment." + +They waited; and it was so quiet around them that they could almost +hear one another breathe; and in the distance the bells of the flocks +tinkled. + +Finally, she lifted her head. "After all, I remember something, and it +is in the Slovak language. Once I learned this song about the sea, +and when I sang it, thousands of people wept. It is a ballad about a +shipwrecked vessel. Would you like to have me sing it?" + +"Yes, yes," they all cried. Bacha had just arrived and sat among them. +What a beautiful thing it is when the Creator puts such a voice in the +human throat that no bird or instrument can equal it! You can hear +everything in such a voice: the ringing of gold and silver, the +moaning in the tops of the pines when they move in the wind; the +babbling of the brooks as well as the roar of a great cataract--yes, +everything! + + "Master, the tempest is raging! + The billows are tossing high! + The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness, + No shelter or help is nigh; + + "Carest Thou not that we perish? + How canst Thou lie asleep, + When each moment so madly is threat'ning + A grave in the angry deep?" + +Sweetly, yet mysteriously and sadly, the notes of the song floated on +the evening breeze down to the valley. Once, when the lady tried the +song for the first time, thousands of people cried. Today only a small +company of listeners cried, but I think that even the woods and the +brooks and everything round wept also. Above all of them wept Bacha +Filina. Palko who sat next to him laid his arm around his neck and +cried with him. He understood him. Thus perished once the ship that +carried Stephen. It sank in the terrible depths with him. In vain they +waited, in vain they called. Uncle Filina would never see him again. + +The boys did not dream, nor the helpers of Bacha, that anything +existed as beautiful as that which was hidden in the lady's throat. +You could almost hear the crashings of the breaking ship, and feel the +hopelessness of the situation. It ended like sad, soft wailings of the +perishing ones. The lady noticed the weeping her song had awakened. +She realized that it would not be easy to stop it. Then she did +something which that very morning she would have been in doubt that +she would be able to do. She sang a song hidden in her memory from her +old home, and which she had hated with her whole heart, because she +could not forget it. + + "My faith looks up to Thee, + Thou Lamb of Calvary, + Saviour Divine! + Now hear me while I pray, + Take all my guilt away, + Oh, let me from this day + Be wholly Thine! + + "May Thy rich grace impart + Strength to my fainting heart, + My zeal inspire! + As Thou hast died for me, + Oh, may my love to Thee, + Pure, warm, and changeless be, + A living fire! + + "While life's dark maze I tread, + And griefs around me spread, + Be Thou my guide; + Bid darkness turn to day, + Wipe sorrow's tears away, + Nor let me ever stray + From Thee aside. + + "When ends life's transient dream, + When death's cold, sullen stream + Shall o'er me roll; + Blest Saviour, then, in love, + Fear and distrust remove; + Oh, bear me safe above, + A ransomed soul!" + +Perhaps nowhere and never before, were those beautiful lines sung so +impressively. When she stopped, Bacha Filina stood near her and very +seriously said, "Thank you, Madame Slavkovsky, for that precious song. +You have shown me great kindness thereby. Your beautiful ballad opened +a deep wound in my heart which was not quite healed. It almost seemed +that I must die because of it, but this holy song healed it again. God +bless you for it! But one thing I must ask you: let us write this song +down, and you must teach us the melody that we may cheer ourselves +with it in life and death." + +The lady promised, but asked that they might now read the Word of God, +as she felt tired. They did this very gladly, and in a little while a +wonderful quietness reigned. + +"Listen, Steve," said Joe to his comrade; "In the castle they said +that when the lady went home after singing in the theatre that +gentlemen unhitched the horses from her carriage, and hitched +themselves to it and thus drew her along. I am not surprised. Really, +when she sings, she can do anything with a person." + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + + +On Sunday morning the doctor brought some papers. They all had met +at breakfast in the hut. When the lady read the letters, she folded +Ondrejko in her arms, and half-crying and half-laughing said, "My dear +son, now you may really say, 'our woods,' 'our sheep,' because I have +bought it all for you, my Ondrejko, and all this ground. Only I don't +know if I dare say: 'Our Bacha Filina.' I cannot, if it were not for +you. He himself must decide if he will stay with us. Do tell him that +he must stay." + +"Do not ask, Ondrejko," smiled Bacha. "If you are at all satisfied +with me--yes, if you are satisfied with all of us--we all will be glad +to stay; isn't it so, boys?" + +"Surely we will be very glad to stay," answered the herdsmen. + +Soon it was known at all three sheepfolds that Madame Slavkovsky had +bought Lord Gemer's estate and that she would deed it to Ondrejko if +Lord Gemer would give up her son to her. No one doubted that he would +do this, and since the present manager gave notice to leave, because +he had been called to manage a different estate, the lady hoped that +she would find some other responsible man. She promised everyone a +raise in wages as soon as the change of ownership of the estate was +recorded and improvements made. Everybody rejoiced. It almost seemed +that even the sheep knew that Ondrejko had become their master. It was +lovely how they rang their bells. + +Over the sheepcotes every once in a while sounded the song which they +called the lady's: "My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary." +The boys taught it to everybody who wanted to learn it, and what +Slovak would not like to learn a new song? When Aunty Moravec noticed +how they all liked it, she confided to Palko that she still had a +whole book of such songs from America. Thereupon, Ondrejko begged his +mother to sing one of them once in a while. She made no excuses. Every +day she taught them a new one, each more beautiful than those before. +They did not realize that she taught them the very songs from which +she ran away in the home of her parents, and which she would neither +hear nor sing there. Bacha permitted the herders from the other +sheepcotes to come over to his hut. They loved to come for those +songs. They had good voices, clear as the evening bells. The lady +even taught them to sing one in four parts. When Sunday came, they +practised the whole afternoon, and sang in the evening, so that it +sounded over the mountains like a beautiful melody. + +That Sunday Palko read and explained how the Lord came from Nazareth +to live in Capernaum, since they did not want Him in Nazareth, and +that even today the Lord Jesus did not want to compel anybody, even as +He had not compelled those in Nazareth, but went away and left them +forever. Then he begged everybody not to send the Lord Jesus away, but +permit Him to live with them. "It would be very sad if our sheepcotes +would be like those of Nazareth, and if He had to forsake us and go +farther on to Capernaum. Where He is, there is heaven and there is +life. He heals every sickness. Just notice how many people He healed +in Capernaum. But where He is not, there is darkness, just as in that +song it says: 'Oh, there is no more salvation.'" + +With serious thoughts they all departed to their rest. Ondrejko slept +very soundly, but in spite of that it seemed to him that he heard his +mother crying. In the morning he saw from her eyes that she had not +slept very much. He dared not wake her up. So he stole out on tiptoe +with his suit and dressed outside. + +Once when Joe brought things from the city and Aunty Moravec gave him +a good meal, he began to praise his new lady and asked sincerely, "But +why did Lord de Gemer part with her? He will not find another like her +in the world." + +"He did not part with her, but she parted with him," said the old +nurse with clouded face. "He is a bad, unfaithful man. The poor woman +loved him so much and believed everything. When she took him, she had +much money; and he just lived on her money and wasted it. He played +cards and did all kinds of evil things. By the time we came to +Budapest she was robbed of everything. He wanted her to continue to +sing there. She had beautiful jewels; he told her he would deposit +them in a bank, but he pawned them, because at the horse-races he had +lost a big bet and needed much money. When he said that I warned her +not to let everything go out of her power, through false accusation he +separated me from her, accusing me of causing trouble between them. +When there was no one else to defend her and she was robbed of +everything, they began to look down upon her--his mother, his sisters, +and he himself. She was born in America; there they treat women +differently. In spite of it she suffered a whole year because she +loved him very much. Once she saw her jewelry on another lady, and +asked where she had bought them. Thus she found out that they were +pawned and had been sold for the charges on them. There were many +evil-minded people around her; they opened her eyes after that to what +kind of a husband she had, how he fooled and robbed her, that he loved +only her money. That was most insulting to her. Not an hour more would +she stay with him under the same roof. She got together the last +things she had--above all her little son--and went to Vienna. There +I found her dangerously sick. She asked her husband to send her her +things, for she was sick. He again asked for the boy but she would not +give him up. In order that they might not take him away, I, myself, +took him to northern Bohemia, to my own family, where it was well with +him. In the meantime the lawsuit ended, and they took him away from +her because he was assigned to his father. Because she did not give +the boy up at once, he sent her, from her clothing and laundry, only +what was old and shabby. His relatives divided her beautiful, valuable +garments among themselves. Thus they dealt with her because nobody +would protect her. In those hard days, her uncle from America, who had +arranged for her training in singing, helped her. Thus she could pay +for the upkeep of the boy, and we went first to Berlin, then to Rome +and Paris. She sang to make her living, but also that she might regain +the honor of which Lord Gemer wanted to rob her, when he had parted +with her and had told all kinds of evil about her, which he could not +prove. Later we went to England, and finally to Russia. There she +fared the best. There she might have become a rich princess, but she +would not look at any man again. How glad the gentlemen there would +have been if she would have spoken to them as kindly as she speaks +here with you. But the purer the life she led, the more they bothered +her, and the more she did not want to live. She said she wanted to see +her boy once more before she died. For a long time we could not find +out where the boy was. Finally, she got sick on the railroad, and by +God's direction Dr. H. helped her. From him she learned all the truth, +and after that he brought her here. And now you know why she left the +Lord de Gemer." + +"That robber, that gypsy, that deceiver, how he fooled and robbed her! +If one of us steals a chicken or the like he is put at once behind the +bars. Such a gentleman can do everything, but if she would just go to +law he would have to return her everything," said Joe angrily. + +"Yes, he would have to, but she doesn't want to. She is not concerned +about mammon. All she wants is to have peace from him forever. But +that he should not make any trouble about the child, I wrote to our +lawyer who was to make the arrangements for her, to threaten him with +a lawsuit for the jewelry and money if he would not give up the boy +willingly. My lady will never know what I did. Our lawyer is a good +friend, and a decent and honest man, not such an one as we had +before." + +That Joe did not keep this news to himself is true. Thus Filina's +helpers found out what kind of a master they had only after he ceased +to be their lord. To the last one all took the lady's part. All were +sorry for her and wished her to have the record very soon in black and +white, that the boy was hers only, and the father had no more claims +on him. Everyone greeted her very respectfully wherever they met her. +She walked sadly and in deep contemplation. Only among the boys was +she cheerful. + +In the sheepcotes also they were once in a while in sad contemplation. +They counted the days before Lesina would come for Palko and take +him away. When Ondrejko with tears in his eyes confided this to his +mother, her cheeks turned pale with fright. It had never occurred +to her that Palko would leave, and she could not even imagine those +surroundings without him. One day he accompanied her to the cottage. +She had promised him a nice song; he had come in to get it. + +"Palko, do you want to go away from us?" she began suddenly, and took +the boy by the hand. + +"Verily, even next week my father is coming," he said seriously. "Then +we will have about five days' more work with the timber, and then we +shall leave." + +"But you will be glad to go home; will you not?" + +"Really very glad," he confessed sincerely. "Since I have not seen my +mother for weeks, nor grandfather nor grandmother and all, nor have +they seen me. They will be glad when I come, and I more than they all, +because we all will be together again." + +"And will you not be sorry for your comrades? They will miss you +sadly." + +"Yes, indeed; I will be very lonesome without them and Uncle Filina. +I love him very much, like my old pastor Malina. I am thankful to the +Lord Jesus that Uncle is healthy and will not yet die, but will tell +his helpers about the Lord Jesus, and everybody else. Only one thing +worries me; it is that when I go away, I shall not find out what you, +lady, will do with the Lord Jesus. You taught us such beautiful songs; +till my death I shall be thankful to you for them. You have sung so +beautifully for us, like an angel from heaven; but you do not believe +what you have been singing. I am sorry for that, and the Lord Jesus is +sorry also. Yesterday you taught us the song: + + "Safe in the arms of Jesus, + Safe on His gentle breast, + There by His love o'ershadowed, + Safely my soul shall rest." + +"It would fit you so beautifully if you would give yourself in His +hands just as the shepherd carries the lost sheep. It would be so good +for you in His arms; I know that best of all. While here among you, +more than once homesickness for my mother threatened to overcome me; +but when I considered that He is with me, it was well with me at once, +and I was right at home. You have met already much evil in the world +and more than once you were sad, were you not? But He would console +you. However, if you would let Him go away like the people of +Nazareth, He will go on, but you would remain alone. Ondrejko told me +that you have a very good father, that your father already belongs to +the Lord Jesus. Ondrejko belongs to Him also; sometime they both will +go to Him, and you will be left alone," and Palko broke out crying. + +"Do not cry," said the lady in a peculiar voice. "I don't want to be +like the people at Nazareth. I would like to go on that narrow path, +but I cannot find it. I am too full of sin for God to receive me. So +long as my earthly father does not forgive me, I cannot seek the face +of God." + +Their talk was broken off when they came to the bench, because Aunty +Moravec came to meet them, all pale, "A special messenger brought a +telegram. Please sign here." + +The lady's knees began to tremble. She sat on the bench, signed the +paper, and handed it to Aunty, then quickly she opened the telegram +and read. Dark spots formed before her eyes. Unable to see, she handed +the telegram to the boy. "Palko, read me that," and Palko read: + +"New York. I am embarking. Coming to see you. Your loving father." + +"Is it really so, Palko?" + +"It is." + +"Oh, my father, my father! He is coming to us. He still loves and +forgives. Palko, pray for me, for something will happen to me," +bitterly crying, the lady fell on her knees. + +Palko prayed, "Thank Thee, Lord Jesus, that her father is coming, that +he has forgiven her, though he is still far away, yet Thou art here. +If she will just ask Thee, Thou wilt forgive her, because Thou dost +love her so much, I know. Amen." + +Life and death is in the power of the tongue. In the words of Palko +there was life. The lady believed that the Good Shepherd was really +there, that He came to meet her. Once she had run away from Him; today +she did not want to run away. Today she confessed her transgressions +to Him. She knew well that it was against Him she had sinned most, +that she had gone from Him, to her own destruction. She had despised +Him when He had stretched out His pierced hands to her, though they +had been nailed on the cross for her sake. She had not wanted to sing +to His honor and glory; and had hated the songs of the Lamb. She had +wanted to sing for the people and had--but they had repaid her by +breaking her heart. But He, whom she despised, had followed her here. +She had not wanted to hear famous preachers; but He had sent a +child along her path that he might lead her to the feet of the Good +Shepherd. The Good Shepherd did not despise her; at last He had +received her. Palko did not understand what the lady prayed, for she +prayed in English, but he understood the tone. The Lord Jesus was +with her and she knew it and talked with Him. Palko rose silently and +respectfully, and left the place which now belonged to the lady and +the Good Shepherd. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + + +"Boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what the day may +bring forth," says the Word of God, and that truly. Even at the +sheepfolds they did not dream what the next day would bring to them, +the serious illness of Ondrejko's mother. The doctor, very much +worried, said that the unexpected message about the arrival of her +beloved father, whom she had not seen for years, shocked her so much, +that she fell into a nervous illness, which he had wanted to prevent +by bringing her here to the mountains. Only Palko and Bacha Filina +knew that there was something more which overcame her. They spoke +about it only between themselves and prayed for the lady very much. +She seemed to recognize no one. She lay in her bed like a beautiful +flower broken from its stem. In vain did Ondrejko whisper to her, and +stroke and kiss her. She looked at him but did not answer. Only one +thing consoled her poor child, that she had an expression, whether +she slept or not, as though she were very happy. At times she sang +beautiful songs to the honor of the Lamb; other times again, a sea +ballad, and after that always the song, "My faith looks up to Thee." +Thus two weeks passed by without any change. + +In the meantime Lesina came; he finished what was necessary and +went away, but did not take Palko with him. He could not do that to +Ondrejko, who nestled to his comrade like a little bird driven out of +its nest. The doctor said Ondrejko would surely be sick if his comrade +left him just at this time. Bacha promised Lesina that he himself +would take Palko home when the lady got better, because he believed +that the lady would get well, although the doctor gave no hope that +she would not die or that she would not lose her mind. For this reason +also, Lesina could not take Palko away, for it seemed that the sick +lady knew him. When he read in his Book she looked at him as if she +listened, and though she did not say anything, she was always so quiet +and happy. + +In the meantime the answer came from Paris, and the unfortunate lady +did not know that the boy who sat beside her bed so pale, now belonged +only to her, and that no one else had any right to him. Neither did +she know about another message--yes, even two; one coming from Hamburg +in which her father announced that he had arrived safely; the other +announcing his coming on Saturday evening to the nearest railway +station. The Bacha very sadly stood at the foot of the lady's bed with +both messages in his hands, and Aunty Moravec cried bitterly. + +"What shall we do, Bacha Filina? He is coming from such a distance and +knows nothing. How will he take it, when he finds her thus, and +will hear that because of his telegram this sickness overcame her? +Previously, in Russia, the doctors had told her that some day her +nerves might give way. Oh, what will the poor father say? He wanted to +give her joy, and it has turned out like this." + +"What God does and permits, is always good," Filina said, nodding his +head. "Do not worry; I am going for her father, and on the way will +prepare him for what he will find here." + +"Bacha Filina, take me along to meet Grandfather," begged Ondrejko, +when Bacha was getting ready in the afternoon. + +"I am going on foot; that would be too far for you, my boy," said +Bacha, stroking the boy's head. "You just remain with your mother +and wait for your grandfather here. At the station I shall take a +carriage; I think that in the evening, about eight o'clock, we shall +be here." + +Bacha kissed the boy, though he usually did not do so, and in a moment +his giant-like figure disappeared in the thicket by the clearing. He +picked the shortest way over paths well-known to him, but still it +took about two hours before he reached the main road leading to J----. +There he suddenly stopped. He turned to the east, where on a steep +rock stood an old, recently repaired cross. Oh, human memory, how +strange thou art! Bacha needed only to look at the cross, and at once, +as if the years flew back, it seemed to him as if he was standing +there like a nineteen-year-old youth. A desire overtook him to go up +to the cross, bend over its side and look again on the path on which, +on that summer morning, his brother, Stephen, had left, never to +return again. He went on that "breaking" ship to a "cold grave." Bacha +Filina could not resist that desire. For about a quarter of an hour +he kneeled at the cross, and rested his forehead on the stone step. +Inexpressible sorrow shook him. It wanted to rob him of his assurance +of forgiveness, but in and around him it was suddenly as if somebody +sang: + + "My faith looks up to Thee, + Thou Lamb of Calvary, + Saviour Divine! + Now hear me while I pray, + Take all my guilt away; + Oh, let me from this day, + Be wholly Thine!" + +His heavy load of sin had been cleansed by that precious blood! The +Lord Jesus took his guilt with Him on the cross and the Holy God had +forgiven him! But what was he doing here now? What had he come here +for? What did he waste the time here for? Yonder in the cottage, +Ondrejko's mother was half-alive and half-dead, and from afar her +father from beyond the ocean was coming to his child. If he, Filina, +would delay here, they might miss each other at the station. + +Bacha stood up, dusted off his Sunday clothes, put his firm arm around +the cross and bent over, as once many years ago! It was good that the +cross was firm and also the arm that clung to it. Bacha saw on the +sloping path a man of slim figure, in a gentleman's suit, drawing +near. Just then he stopped. He turned round; he took his hat from his +head and looked in the direction where once stood Filina's hut. All +that marked the place were a few half-burned timbers, now overgrown +with weeds. Oh, that face! There was only one like it, never +forgotten, younger--but nevertheless! + +Bacha closed his eagle eyes that they might not fool him. He opened +them only when the steps drew nearer to him from below. He let go the +cross and crossed his arms on his chest. Looking up he stood face to +face with the stranger. + +"Good evening," said he. + +"Oh, Stephen!" It came out of the chest of Bacha. Half cry, half +terror. + +"Peter! Is it you!" Two arms twined around Filina's neck. + +"Stephen! You live? Really? It is not possible!" + +"I live, Peter, and at last, I am coming. It is rather late, it's +true, but I did not know before that the loved one who once separated +us, had passed away long ago, and that you and I would not have any +more heartaches. I am coming to you for my treasures, which are in +your care." + +"Your treasures?" Bacha was surprised still, not knowing whether it +was a beautiful, but impossible dream. He could not get enough of the +voice that was speaking to him. The face was older, changed, but the +voice was the same. It always sounded to Peter Filina like music. And +so it was today. + +"We are expecting the father of Madame Slavkovsky today, and I am +going to meet him." + +"I am that father." + +"You, Stephen?" Bacha released the stranger. "I do not understand +that." + +"I believe you, my Peter. Well, how you have changed, how strong you +have gotten, how giantlike, like the beautiful mountains all around! +I would not have recognized you, if it were not for the voice--no one +has called me thus since--and by your eagle eyes under those heavy +eyebrows." + +"Stephen, tell me, how is it possible that you live? Was not that ship +wrecked?" + +"Yes, Peter, she went to the bottom of the sea; but I was among the +few immigrants which another ship saved. God does not want the death +of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live; so He saved me. +The first steady work that I had in America was on the farm of Mr. +Slavkovsky. My daughter wrote me that she told you everything about +us. Thus you know what Slavkovsky asked of me and that I agreed to do +as he wished. When he heard from me that I did not want you to know +that I still lived, he advised me to adopt his name and thus disappear +forever from this world. His wife and son, and even my good wife, +agreed with it. Thus Stephen Pribylinsky died and only Stephen +Slavkovsky remained. I could not return home and live with you, as our +father planned. Eva was your wife and I loved her. I did not really +know God and the Lord Jesus then, nor understood His Holy Law; but +this much I knew, that it would have been a constant and a great +temptation for us all. Thus, I chose to die to you." + +Slavkovsky finished, and out of Bacha's breast came a deep sigh. "You +died for us, and until recently I worried very much about it, that I +had become a murderer and was like Cain." + +"You? And why?" + +"Did I not drown you the second time in that swamp, by driving you to +America? Eva loved you more. Had it not been for me, you could have +lived as happily as in Paradise. You would have been mated much +better. At my side, she perished of sorrow. My father did not live +long; I took care of mother, but could not replace her son to her. See +yonder the burnt remains of our hut, where we once lived so happily. +Years ago, when I took up this service which I have held ever since, I +rented it to a neighbor. He did not take good care and it burned down. +I could, but would not rebuild it. What would it have been good for to +me? I was forsaken in the world, like a stick." + +Sudden quietness prevailed on the step at the foot of the cross, where +both men sat. It seemed that the popular song could be applied to +them: + + "Mountain, green mountain, Ahoy! + My heart is hurting, sadly I cry! + Painful, so painful is my woe, + My heart is fainting, my joy is gone." + +"Forgive me, Peter," suddenly said Stephen Slavkovsky. "It was not +right that I hid myself from you. I have caused you much sorrow. While +I imagined that you were living with Eva in our mountains, which I +never could forget, perhaps surrounded with children, and our parents +were happy with you--you have lived alone for years. It was not good +that I did not let you know about myself. Once some one from this +neighborhood came to America but did not know me and told me that +father died. I had already written a letter to mother, to send her my +love, but I did not send it. I thought how good I was to you, but that +heart of ours is deceitful and perverse, full of self-righteousness +and pride. I have done wrong both to mother and to you, but I was +repaid when my only child forsook me, and after ten years I must come +as far as here to find her." + +Bacha roused himself, "Come, Stephen, let us delay no longer; but if +we go on foot we shall arrive very late." + +They both arose. "I am on foot. I have a coach; however, I told the +driver to feed the horses a bit. Now I hear them; they will be ready. +Let us go; on the way we can tell one another more." + +Thus among the Slovak mountains rode two brothers, who had grown up +among them, and were so closely united to them, that one of them in +a distant land almost died of home-sickness, and the other could not +have lived without them at all. Now they did not think about the +beauty around them, because Stephen Slavkovsky found out his child +was waiting for him, and that only the Heavenly Doctor could save His +sheep which had returned to Him. + +The proverb says that bad luck does not wander among the mountains but +among the people. Now it was among the mountains. Who can describe the +moment when the father stopped at the bed of his only child and saw +her so broken and read on her beautiful face the confirmation of all +of which he had once warned her. The setting sun shone upon the broken +flower and on the man who was kneeling at her bed, his head laid on +his crossed arms. No one dared to disturb him in his sadness and +prayer. Suddenly the lady opened her eyes; she turned them to the +window and began to sing softly the song which she had recently taught +the boys: + + "Jesus, Lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly, + While the billows o'er me roll, + While the tempest still is high; + Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, + Till the storm of life be past; + Safe into the haven guide; + Oh, receive my soul at last." + +Her father cried silently and the others with him. But she sang on, +and as Joe said sometime ago, "She could do anything with them when +she sang." The weeping stopped, and the small room seemed to be full +of the presence of Him who is the King of Glory, the Prince of Peace, +and the only Healer. + + "Other refuge have I none, + Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; + Leave, oh, leave me not alone, + Still support and comfort me: + All my trust on Thee is stayed, + All my help from Thee I bring; + Cover my defenceless head + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +Palko believed and felt that his Lord was there, and the lady sang on: + + "Thou, O Christ, art all I want; + More than all in Thee I find; + Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, + Heal the sick and lead the blind: + Just and holy is Thy name, + I am all unrighteousness; + Vile and full of sin I am, + Thou art full of truth and grace. + + "Plenteous grace with Thee is found-- + Grace to cover all my sin; + Let the healing streams abound, + Make and keep me pure within; + Thou of life the fountain art, + Freely let me take of Thee; + Spring Thou up within my heart, + Rise to all eternity." + +The song concluded. A silence followed during which the lady turned +her look away from the window and fastened it upon the face of the man +who bent over her. + +"Mary, dear, my golden darling, do you not recognize me?" asked the +trembling lips of the man, so tenderly, as only a good father can +speak to his only child. For a moment the beautiful eyes of the lady +fastened themselves on the man's eyes. The doctor entering the room at +that moment, with a quick movement of his hand tried to hinder this +critical situation, but it was too late. The lady's pale face glowed +suddenly, as after the dark night the day breaks over the mountains. + +"My father! Oh, my father!" + +She sat up, stretched out her arms and would have sunk back, had not +her father's arms clasped her; her head was resting on his breast, her +arms twined around his neck, and the lady clung closely to him like +a little chick pursued by the hawk, when the hen spreads over it her +protecting wings. + +"Did you come? Did you forgive? Do you love? Oh, at home, home! No +more in a strange land. I am not fleeing any more--the Lord Jesus was +merciful, He received me.... Now I can die!" Thus whispered the lady, +crying softly, returning her father's kisses. + +"Indeed not! Who would die now?" the doctor interrupted at this tender +moment. "You haven't even shown Ondrejko to your father, and the poor +boy can hardly wait any longer." It was as if a new life had been +poured into her. + +"My Ondrejko!" She stretched out her hand to the boy, still crouching +beside her. "Just look! Grandfather has come, and you don't have to +beg him any more. Just welcome him!" + +Ondrejko found himself in the arms of his grandfather and was very +surprised. He had expected to see an old man with a gray beard, but +grandfather was without beard and still quite young and handsome. +The boy felt, what he had never known before, what a joy it is to be +kissed and hugged by a father. His saddened heart rejoiced, and he was +filled with a feeling of protection and safety. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + + +Some things happen in this world at which we cannot wonder enough. +Thus it was at the sheepfolds of the Gemer estate. There still lived +people in that neighborhood who had known old Filina, the father of +Bacha, very well. They remembered how he had told them that one of his +boys had prepared to go to America, and the other one had married at +home, and when Stephen had made some money across the sea, he would +return home and they would all live together. They also remembered how +the message came that the ship was wrecked, and that Stephen would +never see his homeland again. But that did not happen! Thirty years +passed and Stephen Pribylinsky came home after all. He appeared to +them as if he had been raised from the dead, and the resurrection had +come when the sea had given up her dead and returned him. They spoke +about his coming for his daughter and grandchild. But when the +fragrance of his beloved Slovak mountains filled him, would he be able +to go again far across the sea? Will he not fear that he was like a +stranger, for years in a foreign land? He fared there very well, but +he was not at home. Only in the homeland on that black ground was +there sweet sleep. + +Who can describe the surprise of all three boys when they learned who +it was that came with Bacha Filina--that it was his Stephen. Palko, +when he heard it, could not stay with the others. He ran away to the +woods and cried there for joy. He thanked the Lord Jesus that He had +comforted Bacha Filina forever. There was still salvation possible, +even though the ship was wrecked. After all, he had lived to see his +brother, Stephen. The Lord Jesus had given him back to Bacha. + +There was something more, very good for Palko. It was not necessary +for him to read to the people out of his Book. He could himself sit +down at the feet of Uncle Stephen, whom he loved greatly, and listen +to the truth of God from his lips. That was a joy for the boy. + +Ondrejko rejoiced again that Bacha Filina belonged to his family and +Petrik also. The boys hugged each other for joy that they would not +now have to part any more till death. And who can describe the joy of +Madame Slavkovsky when they took her again for the first time to the +sheepfold. "It seemed to me at once that I was among my own, that I +had come home," she said to Bacha, "and you, Bacha Filina, I loved at +once like a daughter." + +Then she found out all about the small and big Stephen. Bacha, +himself, told her, and her father even said, "I am sorry about it, my +daughter, after considering it all, that I did not let those at home +know where I was, but now I see it all. The Lord Jesus in His love +turned all this evil for our good. For me there in America and for +Peter here at home, it is a true saying, 'He brings them to the +desired haven.'" + +Then Bacha Filina showed Ondrejko's estate to his brother. Since the +lady had already had the deed recorded, they all rode to the castle. +Petrik and Palko had to go with them also. The boys played there in +the park with the rubber balls which grandfather had brought from +America. The servants brought a folding-chair for the lady, since the +doctor ordered her to rest in the shadow of the horse-chestnuts. She +watched the play of the boys and took pleasure in their joy. Ondrejko +left his comrades once in a while, ran to her, laid his curly head +beside hers, kissed his mother, and on receiving her kiss, ran again +with a loud "hallo" after his ball. Who could understand how much joy +now filled the once-forsaken heart? + +In the meantime the assistant manager showed the lady's father all the +buildings and those cattle which were not in the pasture. He noticed +that Mr. Slavkovsky understood the affairs of the estate, and when he +pointed out one thing and another that should have been different, Mr. +Slavkovsky said seriously, "I see it." Finally he spoke up, "There +will have to be a different management from the bottom up, in order +that everything may prosper." + +In the meantime the cook prepared a splendid repast for the new +owners. She set it outside under the horse-chestnuts, so the lady +would not have to enter the house. The castle had been bought with all +its furnishings. If the proud Lady de Gemer, the grandmother of +the last lord, could have awakened from the dead and seen how her +porcelain dishes and table-covers were spread before the despised +Slovaks, she would have turned over in her beautiful casket. But now +that could not be helped. Bacha Filina arranged his matters with the +housekeeper. At the repast he ate very little because he could not +take his eyes from the boys, how they ate, and how Ondrejko urged his +comrades to eat. The lady also rejoiced very much over them. Even the +doctor laughed heartily about it, but at the same time took care that +his patient did not forget to eat. He did not urge her to take the +various sweets served, but he did the fruit. Only Mr. Slavkovsky +was somewhat buried in thought. They almost had to force him into +conversation. + +After their meal the boys again began to play, and asked the two boys +of the assistant manager to help them. Mr. Slavkovsky walked along the +lane till, from a turn in it, he could overlook the beautiful, but now +neglected garden. Suddenly he took off his hat and prayed. By the time +he ended, Bacha stood beside him. + +"Is there something which does not suit you, my brother?" he asked +thoughtfully. "Do you think we have paid too much for the estate, +since everything is so neglected?" + +"I do not think so, Peter. It is really cheaply bought in spite of all +its neglect." He smiled kindly on his brother. + +"Nevertheless you seem to be troubled by something." + +"Certain cares trouble me. Just now I laid them all at the feet of our +heavenly Father. Now I do not worry more about anything. He surely +will arrange everything. I will tell you, my brother, what it was. +But for the time, keep it to yourself. I cannot take my daughter to +America now, since she is so weak. Here in our homeland she will get +well sooner. My beloved grandchild I need not take there, since he has +enough here to live on. Now when my daughter takes this estate over, +she needs a manager. It is hard to find one that would not cheat her. +Then I thought, why does she need a manager, if she still has a father +young enough, and who knows how to run a farm in Europe?" + +"Oh, Stephen!" Filina was astonished. + +"But, you know, there is a great hindrance. My farm is deeded to me. +My brother-in-law I can settle with, and thus that would not hinder +me. But my beloved wife was born in America. Will she want to leave +her home and go to a foreign land? I would not like to constrain her +in anything. I will first have to write to her about all that has +happened, and if I see from her answer that it would not be too great +a sacrifice for her, I will go for her. I will then sell the farm and +deposit the money, because I would not want to add to this estate. It +is big enough for us to make a living, and I could earn, as a manager, +bread for myself and my wife, and she could rest; she has worked +enough." + +"Day and night will I ask the Lord Jesus about it," said Filina, +"that He will lead your wife to agree, because round about us is only +darkness. No one cares for these souls. They do not know the Lord +Jesus. I have not been able to imagine how we could live here when the +boy would leave us. But you could take his place." + +"That hardly, Peter. The Lord Jesus has in Palko a faithful servant. +That measure of the Holy Spirit that this child has, I do not have. +But instead I have experiences with my Lord. The last ten years +of suffering united me very closely to Him who saves. I know your +sorrows. Considering the situation, I long to be the witness of God's +grace here in my homeland, where there is no one else. That also draws +me here to my beautiful homeland. Therefore I hope that my Agnes will +agree that we shall come, and it will happen after all as your father +used to say to the people; 'When Stephen shall have made some money +beyond the sea and comes back again, we shall live together.' Now +there is no more all of us, only we two. And if the Lord grants me to +come again, do you know what is the first thing that I will do?" + +"I do not." + +"I will rebuild our hut. It shall lay waste no longer. I will prepare +it for Petrik. You shall raise him and give him the ground and the +fields. So if he lives, we can take care of him together." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + + +Sometimes the days pass as quickly as a thought, and the weeks like a +dream. In the following weeks which just flew by, Bacha Filina took +Palko to his home. He became acquainted with his family. Just then +Juriga's son and daughter-in-law came from America, and Lesina had to +find a place to move to. They all rejoiced in Palko. His mother and +grandmother could hardly stop caressing him. Old Juriga had a good cry +when the boy hugged him. + +Lesina complained to Bacha that he was worrying about his wife +living with the wife of Juriga's son. Juriga's daughter-in-law was +a gossiping, noisy person, and had two small children who were +disobedient cry-babies. It was because of those two little ones that +Juriga's son had returned to the home country. His older children had +been dying one after the other. Here was Filina's opportunity to give +Lesina good advice, namely, to take his wife, her mother, and Palko, +and move before the winter to his cottage in the Gemer mountains. He +told him also that Madame Slavkovsky meant to give him some trees from +a piece of land that needed to be replanted. In the meantime he could +find some other place where he would like to stay. All they would +have to take with them would be their clothing and small belongings, +because any other things needed they would find in the castle: +bedsteads, tables, chairs, and all that was necessary for the kitchen. +They were all very thankful for this good advice. + +In those weeks that had passed so quickly, Madame Slavkovsky moved +with her father and Aunty Moravec to the castle. Every morning she +rode to the sheepcotes and remained till the evening. Once in a while +she also stayed overnight in Ondrejko's hut. At other times, she took +the boys along. In the castle under the supervision of Mr. Slavkovsky, +many changes were made, and when the gardener had the means at his +disposal and the advice of his master, he went joyfully to work. In +two weeks you would not have recognized the garden nor the castle. The +masons repaired broken places, the painters painted everything, the +joiners repaired doors, window-frames, and hardwood floors. In the +course of the repairs, chairs, bedsteads, and tables, and more that +was necessary in the cottage of Palko, was set aside, in order that +when the Lesinas came they might have plenty on hand to settle and +feel at home. Even for Dunaj they fixed a nice dog-kennel, so he +wouldn't have to suffer in rainy weather. + + * * * * * + +It was again a beautiful summer evening. In front of the sheepcotes +everything was ready for a big bonfire. Bacha Filina called all his +helpers and told them they would have a celebration such as none +of them had seen before. Through the woods in the direction of the +cottage wandered Petrik, Ondrejko, and between them, Palko. Ahead of +them, chasing one another, ran Dunaj and Fido. They also rejoiced to +see each other. The boys returned from a visit at Lesina's and carried +with them all kinds of gifts. A water-gun, by which you could squirt +the water to the top of the highest trees; singing tops which could +spin almost a quarter of an hour. From Palko's mother they got a whole +box full of prunes filled with nuts, which Ondrejko thought were +better than figs and dates. + +"My mother is very glad today!" Ondrejko told Palko, "because a letter +came at last from my grandmother in America. They gave me a letter +written especially for me, in which grandmother writes very nicely. I +will show it to you afterwards, Petrik." + +"They even sent greetings for me," said the comrade. + +"What they wrote to mother, I don't know, but mother ran to +grandfather, threw herself into his arms and cried and laughed. I am +sure they did not want me to understand, because they spoke English, +but they will tell us all about it. Bacha Filina said we shall have a +celebration." + +"We also have a song, such a beautiful one, and that will be sung +tonight, and I am sure your parents will like it," said Petrik. + +It really was a beautiful celebration. First of all, on two spits they +roasted two lambs. Bacha Filina portioned out large pieces of the best +kind of cheese to everybody. Madame Slavkovsky handed out pears and +large plums. Stephen brought two large crocks of mineral water to wash +down the roasted mutton. Aunty Moravec divided rolls and cookies among +all. They all served Palko's quiet, lovely mother, and his good old +grandmother, and his father as well. Then they sat around the bonfire. +Mr. Slavkovsky prayed, opened the Holy Writ, read Psalm 103, and spoke +very nicely about the great forgiving love of God. Then they sang the +beautiful songs which the lady had brought. But Palko also had to +read in his Book. He read about Cornelius who, with his whole house, +received the Lord Jesus. Palko spoke so beautifully about how sad it +was that in the house of the great man, though he often prayed and did +much good, he did not know the way to the true Sunshine Country, since +he did not know the Lord Jesus. How happy he was afterwards, when he +and his devout knights and his obedient soldiers welcomed the Apostle +Peter there, and with him also, the Lord Jesus, whom they forever +received in their house and heart. Then on a sign from the lady they +started a beautiful song which Palko had not heard before, but which +was very fitting to his story. + + "I heard the voice of Jesus say, + 'Come unto Me and rest; + Lay down, thou weary one, lay down + Thy head upon My breast,' + I came to Jesus as I was, + Weary and worn and sad, + I found in Him a resting-place, + And He has made me glad." + +As that song sounded over the woods, it was noticeable from the faces +of the hearers around the camp fire, that they all had experienced it, +but especially from the serious face of Filina. Then it was so silent +that you could hear the distant bells of the sheep. Though the sky was +covered with storm-clouds, and the lightning was to be seen in the +west once in a while, and in the distance the rolling of the thunder +was heard, the storm was nevertheless very far away, and would not yet +come there. + +Suddenly Bacha Filina arose, and after he had first thanked the Lord +Jesus in an audible prayer that He came and also sought and saved that +which was lost, he began to explain what they were celebrating, and +which pleased him most--not only Madame Slavkovsky, but her father +also was remaining in the Gemer mountains. He said, "Tomorrow Mr. +Slavkovsky will leave for America to bring his wife here. When he has +sold his farm there, he will at once return to his birthplace to leave +it no more." Bacha's eyes were full of tears when he gave the message, +but added, "Is not that very joyful news?" + +Who can describe the joy that prevailed after that? Ondrejko hugged +his mother and grandfather and nestled next to Bacha Filina. "We shall +all stay at home, at home with Bacha Filina. We shall not go into the +distant foreign world. Oh, we remain in our mountains. Even Palko will +be here with us," he said. + +"Yes, my son." The grandfather drew the boy close to him. "We shall +remain at home. We shall live here together with the Lord Jesus and He +with us." + +After a while the campfire began to die down. The voices subsided. +Only in the distance the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, but +above the sheepcotes shone the clear stars. Around the buildings Bacha +Filina made his rounds, watching that no danger threatened anywhere, +and again at the bench--as once long ago--he stopped. This time, the +father and daughter sat there together; no longer a prodigal, she had +returned first to the heavenly, and then to the earthly father. She +had come home and was accepted. He wanted to step aside, but they had +been waiting for him. + +"We knew that you would pass by," said Slavkovsky, and made room for +his brother beside himself. "Mary has a request to make of you." + +"Me?" Bacha was surprised. + +"Yes, you, my dear Uncle. Cease to be 'Bacha.' Come among us. You +shall have the supervision of things; be one family with us," the lady +begged with her whole heart, but Bacha shook his head. + +"I thank you, my daughter," he spoke, deeply moved, "I would love to +make one family with you because you are all very dear to me; but do +not take me away from my calling. Once I started as an unhappy man, +and this occupation cheered me in my sorrow. I grew up with the sheep, +with the work and with nature about me. Now when the heavens have +opened above me, leave me at this heaven's gate. Do not let it vex you +that you have a rich estate and I am but a poor 'Bacha.' All that I +need for my living, I shall earn honestly. I have somewhere to live, +and you love me; I am no more alone. You will come to visit me and +I will visit you, especially when you, my brother, return. Only one +thing I ask of you, if you have more than you need for your living, +send Palko to school. His father grieves that he is not able to do it +for him. God has given him what no school can supply, but if people +with such faith could stand in the pulpits there would be a real +awakening in our nation." + +"Oh, Bacha Filina, I thank you. I have been thinking about the same +thing, only did not dare to speak with Lesina about it." The lady +grasped Bacha's hard hand in hers. "Believe me, we will gladly do +anything for Palko. He brought us life and salvation; let him in the +future carry it to thousands." + +The quiet mysterious night settled upon the world, its silence broken +only by the soft sound of the shepherd's flute. Stephen had the night +watch and thus he played to himself: + + "If I but knew where she abides, + Where to the night so quickly glides, + I would like an arrow run, + And thus compel it to return." + +But the night was passing, never more to return; but what about it? +After it a new morning will arise, and with it the fresh grace of God +for those who receive the Lord Jesus, and to whom He gives the right +to be the sons and daughters of God. + +Would that all souls would receive Him! + + +--THE END-- + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Comrades, by Kristina Roy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE COMRADES *** + +***** This file should be named 12143.txt or 12143.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/4/12143/ + +Produced by Joel Erickson, Martin Agren, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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