ep riding, howling beasts and black oblivion! She shuddered
involuntarily at the remembrance. Not afraid! What confidence the voice
had as it rang on, and all at once she knew that this night was free
from terror for her because of the man whose confidence was in the
Unseen.

"He shall give His angels charge over thee," and looking at him she half
expected to see flitting wings in the moonlit background. How strong and
true the face! How tender the lines about the mouth! What a glow of
inner quietness and power in the eyes as he raised them now and again to
her face across the firelight! What a thing it would be to have a friend
like that always to guard one! Her eyes glowed softly at the thought and
once again there flashed across her mind the contrast between this man
and the one from whom she had fled in horror the day before.

The reading ended, he replaced the little marker, and dropping upon one
knee on the desert with his face lifted to the sky and all the radiance
of the moon flooding over him he spoke to God as a man speaks with his
friend, face to face.

Hazel lay with open, wondering eyes and watched him, awe growing within
her. The sense of an unseen Presence close at hand was so strong that
once she lifted half frightened eyes to the wide clear sky. The light on
the face of the missionary seemed like glory from another world.

She felt herself enfolded and upborne into the Presence of the infinite
by his words, and he did not forget to commend her loved ones to the
care of the Almighty. A great peace came upon her as she listened to the
simple, earnest words and a sense of security such as she had never
known before.

After the brief prayer he turned to her with a smile and a few words of
assurance about the night. There was her dressing-room behind those
trees, and she need not be afraid; he would not be far away. He would
keep the fire bright all night so that she would not be annoyed by the
near howling of the coyotes. Then he moved away to gather more wood, and
she heard him singing, softly at first, and then gathering volume as he
got further away, his rich tenor voice ringing clear upon the night in
an old hymn. The words floated back distinctly to her listening ears:

"My God, is any hour so sweet
From flush of dawn to evening star,
As that which calls me to Thy feet,
The hour of prayer?

"Then is my strength by Thee renewed;