the beginning of the death
rattle being audible. There lay the child, half covered by the skin,
its lips parted in the ghastly semblance of a smile which was due to
the indigestion caused by a heavy meal of unusual food, and there sat
Samuel with wide open eyes, looking down into the fire without seeing
it.

Outside the stars glittered down through the cool June air upon the
lovely valley, rich in forest and flanked by gently-swelling, grassy
hills. The tinkling murmur of the river which, after rainless months,
had shrunk to the dimensions of a streamlet, except in the long, deep
reaches, stole up from where it ran, crystal clear, over a low, rocky
bar.

Suddenly Martha opened her eyes and spoke in a thin, far-away voice--

"Samuel."

He started, and, moving to where she lay, bent over her.

"Samuel," she said, "I am dying--now! now!" (She spoke English, a
thing neither of them had done since they had left the mission.)
"Perhaps it is true--what they used to teach us--perhaps Jesus did die
for us.--Samuel--I love you--and you have killed me--but if I find--
Jesus--I will ask--him--to let you come!"

She gasped, and stopped speaking, and just then the child woke up and
wailed. This seemed to electrify her.

"Oh, God! the child!" she screamed. "Give him to me!"

Samuel arose, gently lifted the wailing baby, and laid it on her left
side, between her arm and her body, with its head on her shoulder.

"Samuel--Samuel," she gasped, "I lied--to save--you. It is--your--
child. We have been--bad--but Jesus--will forgive. He will--forgive--us
both--if you--take care----"

Here her breath failed, and she struggled painfully to speak, her eyes
becoming dim and bright by turns. She tried to lift her right hand, but
could not, so she turned it on its back and beckoned with the
forefinger. Samuel gently laid his hand in hers, and she slowly
grasped his fingers. She lay still like this for a time; hardly
breathing, and with that strange, fitful gleam coming back at longer
intervals to her dimming eyes. Suddenly her eyes flashed almost
fiercely, and, with what must have been a terrible effort, she drew his
hand across her body until it rested on the child's head. She held it
there until she died.

In the morning Samuel again caught the she-goat, carried it into the
hut, laid it down, and bound its legs as he had previously done. But
the child would not drink. About midday the poor little thing began to
scream violently,