Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/38

Rh times this day; dost thou remember me?"

Abdallah shook his head.

"Surely I remember thee not! When did I see thee before, thou blessed one?"

The angel smiled yet more sweetly into the boy's wondering face.

"Yet hast thou both seen and served me," he said; "I was the aged pilgrim, and the thirsty goat, and the dying dog to which thou gavest drink. And now thou shalt never lack water to quench thy thirst and that of thy house, all the days of thy life. Thou didst not grudge to give when thou hadst need thyself; therefore is the water-skin full at thy girdle; and for the necklace—behold, it is again in thy bosom. Haste thee, Abdallah, 'Servant of God,' and the blessing of the Merciful go with thee."

Then the boy saw the angel no longer; but the high rock rose of a sudden close at hand, and he sprang forward, crying: