a small space from the bushes
which covered it. Looking carefully, he found twelve small stones of
somewhat the same size; kneeling down, he arranged them carefully on the
cleared space in a square pile, in shape like an altar. Then he walked
to the bag where his dinner was kept; in it was a mutton chop and a
large slice of brown bread. The boy took them out and turned the bread
over in his hand, deeply considering it. Finally he threw it away and
walked to the altar with the meat, and laid it down on the stones. Close
by in the red sand he knelt down. Sure, never since the beginning of the
world was there so ragged and so small a priest. He took off his great
hat and placed it solemnly on the ground, then closed his eyes and
folded his hands. He prayed aloud:

"Oh, God, my Father, I have made Thee a sacrifice. I have only twopence,
so I cannot buy a lamb. If the lambs were mine, I would give Thee one;
but now I have only this meat; it is my dinner meat. Please, my Father,
send fire down from heaven to burn it. Thou hast said, Whosoever shall
say unto this mountain, Be thou cast into the sea, nothing doubting, it
shall be done. I ask for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen."

He knelt down with his face upon the ground, and he folded his hands
upon his curls. The fierce sun poured down its heat upon his head and
upon his altar. When he looked up he knew what he should see--the glory
of God! For fear his very heart stood still, his breath came heavily;
he was half suffocated. He dared not look up. Then at last he raised
himself. Above him was the quiet blue sky, about him the red earth;
there were the clumps of silent ewes and his altar--that was all.

He looked up--nothing broke the intense stillness of the blue overhead.
He looked round in astonishment, then he bowed again, and this time
longer than before.

When he raised himself the second time all was unaltered. Only the sun
had melted the fat of the little mutton chop, and it ran down upon the
stones.

Then, the third time he bowed himself. When at last he looked up, some
ants had come to the meat on the altar. He stood up and drove them away.
Then he put his hat on his hot curls, and sat in the shade. He clasped
his hands about his knees. He sat to watch what would come to pass. The
glory of the Lord God Almighty! He knew he should see it.

"My dear God is trying me," he said; and he sat there through the fierce
heat of the afternoon. Still he watched and waited