ir rush beds, breathed heavily; they were
tired after a hard day. Guthlac listened to their breathing. They were
his men; they obeyed him as their chief. He remembered the day, nine
years ago, when he had thought of the bold robbers and sea-kings and
brave men of the past, and longed to show that he was as daring as they,
and could lead men to war. But as he lay, very wide awake, with the
strange feeling of God near, he began to think of other great men he had
heard of in his childhood--men just as brave and daring as the
sea-kings, just as good leaders of men, more famous and wonderful,
and--lovers of God.

God loved them, and they loved God and gave all their strength and
courage to serve Him. They were His special friends. And now it seemed
to Guthlac that God was filling his heart with love and asking him to be
His special friend. A great feeling of shame came over him. How could
God forgive him and want him for a friend after all the terrible things
he had done? But suddenly a great longing filled him to be one of God's
special friends, and obey Him, and go on always loving Him. He longed
for Christ to become his Chief and Leader; and then he began to
understand that this would mean he must tell God from the bottom of his
heart that he was sorry for all the wicked things he had ever done, and
must promise on his honour that he would never again do a single one of
them.

Guthlac sat up in bed and thought hard. This would mean that he must
give up being a robber, give up his free life in the woods, give up
leading his daring followers, give up all the unlawful pleasures of
which his life was made up. It would be a terribly big giving up . . .
but then, what a big, big thing he would get in exchange! He would get
the friendship of God, and the knowledge that he had become very
pleasing to Him. Stretching wide his arms in the darkness, he told God
that he gave up _all_, _all_, _all_ that was wicked, and he begged to
be forgiven and made clean once more, like an innocent little child.
Then, very happy, he lay back on his bed of skins and fell asleep.

The sun was streaming into the long, low room when Guthlac awoke. It was
a glorious English spring morning. The sleeping robbers were stirring,
one by one, beneath their warm deer-skins. They little thought that
their chief, sitting up in bed with the morning sun in his eyes, was
thinking about God, and how wonderful it was that He had come to him in
the night and calle