that the child was dead: and David said to his servants, "Is
the child dead?"

And they said, "He is dead."

Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and
changed his apparel; and he came into the house of the Lord, and
worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required they
set food {436} before him, and he ate. Then said his servants to him,
"What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for
the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst
rise and eat."

And he said, "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I
said 'Who knoweth whether the Lord will not be gracious to me, that
the child may live?' But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can
I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to
me."

{437}

CAVE OF ADULLAM

David and his three captains bold
Kept ambush once within a hold.
It was in Adullam's cave,
Nigh which no water they could have,
Nor spring nor running brook was near
To quench the thirst that parched them there.
Then David, King of Israel,
Straight bethought him of a well,
Which stood beside the city gate
At Bethlehem; where, before his state
Of kingly dignity, he had
Oft drunk his fill, a shepherd lad;
But now his fierce Philistine foe
Encamped before it he does know.
Yet ne'er the less, with heat opprest,
Those three bold captains he addrest;
And wished that one to him would bring
Some water from his native spring.
His valiant captains instantly
To execute his will did fly.
The mighty three the ranks broke through
Of armed foes, and water drew
For David, their beloved king,
At his own sweet native spring.
Back through their armed foes they haste,
With the hard-earned treasure graced.
But when the good king David found
What they had done, he on the ground
The water poured. "Because," said he,
"That it was at the jeopardy
Of your three lives this thing ye did,
That I should drink it, God forbid."
--_Charles Lamb_.

{438}

A KNIGHTLY DEED.

_David and His Three Brave Captains. How They Brought the
Water for Which He Longed and How He Would Not Drink It_.

There were three valiant captains in David's army. These three went
down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam;
and the troop of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of
Reph