had been comforted and cared
for, wondering at the burden which had been lifted, glorying in the
peace that had come in its place; rejoicing in the Presence that he felt
would be with him always, and make it possible for him to bear the
loneliness.

At last he turned his head to see if Billy were far away, and was
startled to see the shadow of the rock, under which he lay, spread out
upon the sand before him, the semblance of a perfect mighty cross. For
so the jutting uneven arms of the rock and the position of the sun
arranged the shadows before him. "The shadow of a great rock in a weary
land." The words came to his memory, and it seemed to be his mother's
voice repeating them as she used to do on Sabbath evenings when they sat
together in the twilight before his bedtime. A weary land! It _was_ a
weary land now, and his soul had been parched with the heat and
loneliness. He had needed the rock as he had never needed it before, and
the Rock, Christ Jesus, had become a rest and a peace to his soul. But
there it lay spread out upon the sand beside him, and it was the way of
the cross; the Christ way was always the way of the cross. But what was
the song they sang at that great meeting he attended in New York? "The
way of the cross leads home." Ah, that was it. Some day it would lead
him home, but now it was the way of the cross and he must take it with
courage, and always with that unseen but close Companion who had
promised to be with him even to the end of the world.

Well, he would rise up at once, strong in that blessed companionship.
Cheerfully he made his preparations for starting, and now he turned
Billy's head a trifle to the south, for he decided to stop over night
with his colleague.

When his grief and loneliness were fresh upon him it had seemed that he
could not bear this visit. But since peace had come to his soul he
changed his course to take in the other mission, which was really on his
way, only that he had purposely avoided it.

They made him welcome, those two who had made a little bit of earthly
paradise out of their desert shack; and they compelled him to stay with
them and rest three days, for he was more worn with the journey and his
recent pain and sorrow than he realized. They comforted him with their
loving sympathy and gladdened his soul with the sight of their own joy,
albeit it gave him a feeling of being set apart from them. He started in
the early dawn of the day when the morning star