chains, and treated with less cruelty
than formerly. Yet he was still a prisoner.

The mother was now well enough to make a journey, though still very weak.
She returned to her cottage by the river-side, and soon she had the
delight of seeing her husband enter it. It was seventeen months since he
had been torn from it by the king's officers, and ever since, he had been
groaning in irons. But he was not now come to remain in his cottage, but
only to obtain a little food and clothing to take with him to the Burmese
camp. His wife felt cheered on his account, hoping that as an interpreter
he would be well treated.

No sooner was he gone, than she was seized with that deadly disease,
called spotted fever. What now would become of little Maria? Through the
tender mercy of God, on the very day the mother fell ill, a Burmese woman
offered to nurse the babe. Every day the mother grew worse, till at last
the neighbors came in to see her die. As they stood around, they
exclaimed, in their Burmese tongue, "She is dead, and if the king of
angels should come in, he could not recover her." _Their_ king of angels
could _not_, but _her_ KING of ANGELS could, for he can raise the dead.
But this dear lady was _not_ dead, though nearly dead.

The Lord of life showed her mercy. A friend entered the sick chamber. It
was Dr. Price, a missionary and a prisoner, but who had obtained leave
from the king to visit the sick lady. He understood her case, and he
ordered her head to be shaved, and blisters to be applied to her feet.
From that time, she began to recover, and in a month, she had strength to
stand up. The governor, who had once been so slow to hear her complaints,
now sent for her to his house. He received her in the kindest manner.
What was her joy, when she foiled her husband there, not as a prisoner,
but as a guest. Many prayers had she offered up, during her long illness,
and they were now answered. The promise she had trusted in was fulfilled.
This was _that_ promise: "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I WILL
DELIVER THEE, and thou shalt glorify me."

But still brighter days were at hand. The King of Burmah had peace with
the British, and had agreed to deliver the missionaries into their hands.
Glad, indeed, were they to escape from the power of the cruel monarch.
Little Maria and her parents, as well as Mary and Abby, were conveyed in
a boat down the river to the place where the English army had encamped.
The English gene