s child Isaac, as the angel had told them he should be
named. And Abraham and Sarah were so happy to have a little boy, that
after a time they gave a great feast and invited all the people to come
and rejoice with them, and all in honor of the little Isaac.

Now Sarah had a maid named Hagar, an Egyptian woman, who ran away from
her mistress, and saw an angel by a well, and afterward came back to
Sarah. She, too, had a child and his name was Ishmael. So now there were
two boys in Abraham's tent, the older boy, Ishmael, the son of Hagar,
and the younger boy, Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah.

Ishmael did not like the little Isaac, and did not treat him kindly.
This made his mother Sarah very angry, and she said to her husband:

"I do not wish to have this boy Ishmael growing up with my son Isaac.
Send away Hagar and her boy, for they are a trouble to me."

And Abraham felt very sorry to have trouble come between Sarah and
Hagar, and between Isaac and Ishmael; for Abraham was a kind and good
man, and he was friendly to them all.

But the Lord said to Abraham, "Do not be troubled about Ishmael and his
mother. Do as Sarah has asked you to do, and send them away. It is best
that Isaac should be left alone in your tent, for he is to receive
everything that is yours. I the Lord will take care of Ishmael, and will
make a great people of his descendants, those who shall come from him."

So the next morning Abraham sent Hagar and her boy away, expecting them
to go back to the land of Egypt, from which Hagar had come. He gave them
some food for the journey, and a bottle of water to drink by the way.
The bottles in that country are not like ours, made of glass. They are
made from the skin of a goat. One of these skin-bottles Abraham filled
with water and gave to Hagar.

And Hagar went away from Abraham's tent, leading her little boy. But in
some way she lost the road, and wandered over the desert, not knowing
where she was, until all the water in the bottle was used up; and her
poor boy in the hot sun and the burning sand had nothing to drink. She
thought that he would die of his terrible thirst; and she laid him down
under a little bush; and then she went away, for she said to herself:

[Illustration: _In some way she lost the road_]

"I cannot bear to look at my poor boy suffering and dying for want of
water."

And just at that moment, while Hagar was crying, and her boy was
moaning with thirst, she heard a voice sayi