had often been marked by that joy of joys, a
lost sheep found; and as we looked out at the heathen town with its
many people so unconscious of our thoughts about them, we wondered where
we should find the one our thoughts had singled from among the crowd,
and we went out to look for her.

[Illustration: PREENA AND PREEYA

(To left and right) getting ready for a Coming-Day Feast.]

Up and down the long white streets we looked for her; on the little
narrow verandahs, in the courtyards of the houses, in their dark inner
rooms when we were invited within, out again into the sunshine--but we
could not find her. That evening I remember, though we did not say so to
each other, we felt a little disappointed. We had not met one who even
remotely cared for the things we had come to bring.

No one had responded. There was not, so far as we knew it, even a little
blade to point to, much less a sheaf to lay at His feet. After nightfall
a woman came to see us. But she was a Christian, and beyond trying to
cheer her to more earnest service among the heathen, there was nothing
to be done for her. She left us, she told us afterwards, warmed to hope;
and she talked to a child next morning, a little relative of her own,
whose heart the Lord opened.

For three months we heard nothing; then unexpectedly a letter came. "The
child is much in earnest, and she has made up her mind to join your
Starry Cluster" (a name given by the people to our band, which at that
time was itinerating in the district), "so I purpose sending her at
once." The parents, for reasons of their own, agreed to the arrangement,
and the little girl came to Dohnavur. It was wonderful to watch her
learning. She is not intellectually brilliant, but the soul awakened at
once, and there was that tenderness of response which refreshes the
heart of the teacher. She seemed to come straight to our Lord Jesus and
know Him as her Saviour, child though she was; and soon the longing to
win others possessed her, and a younger child, who was her special
charge among the nursery children, was influenced so gently and so
willingly, that we do not know the time when, led by her little
Accal, she too came to the Lover of children.

But one day, suddenly, trouble came. The parents appeared in the
Dohnavur compound and claimed their daughter; and we had no legal right
to refuse her, for she was under age. We shall never forget the hour
they came. They had haunted the neighbourhood, as w