DESERT WITH ME

"He led them all the night through with a light of fire."

Psalm lxxviii, 14.

    Lamps that gleam in the city,
      Lamps that flare on the wall,
    Lamps that shine on the ways of men,
      Kindled by men are all.

    But the desert of burnt-out ashes,
      Which only the lost have trod,
    Dark and barren and flowerless,
      Is lit by the Hand of God.

    To lighten the outer darkness,
      To hasten the halting feet,
    He lifts a lamp in the desert
      Like the lamps of men in the street.

    Only the wanderers know it,
      The lost with those who mourn,
    That lamp in the desert darkness,
      And the joy that comes in the dawn.

    That the lost may come into safety,
      And the mourners may cease to doubt,
    The Lamp of God will be shining still
      When the lamps of men go out.

CHAPTER

PART I

   I.—­BEGGAR’S choice
  II.—­The prisoner at the bar
 III.—­The triumph
  IV.—­The bride
   V.—­The dream
  VI.—­The garden
 VII.—­The serpent in the garden
VIII.—­The forbidden paradise

PART II

   I.—­The ministering angel
  II.—­The return
 III.—­The barren soil
  IV.—­The summons
   V.—­The morning
  VI.—­The night-watch
 VII.—­Service rendered
VIII.—­The truce
  IX.—­The oasis
   X.—­The surrender

PART III

   I.—­Bluebeard’s chamber
  II.—­Evil tidings
 III.—­The beast of prey
  IV.—­The flaming sword
   V.—­Tessa
  VI.—­The arrival
 VII.—­False pretences
VIII.—­The wrath of the gods

PART IV

   I.—­Devil’s dice
  II.—­Out of the darkness
 III.—­Bluebell
  IV.—­The serpent in the desert
   V.—­The woman’s way
  VI.—­The surprise party
 VII.—­Rustam Karin
VIII.—­Peter
  IX.—­The consuming fire
   X.—­The desert place

PART V

   I.—­Greater than death
  II.—­The lamp
 III.—­Tessa’s mother
  IV.—­The broad road
   V.—­The dark night
  VI.—­The first glimmer
 VII.—­The first victim
VIII.—­The fiery vortex
  IX.—­The desert of ashes
   X.—­The angel
  XI.—­The dawn
 XII.—­The blue jay

PART I

CHAPTER I

BEGGAR’S CHOICE