he totters toward her, and yet his bearing is defiant, and his eye
sparkles.

She hurries forward with extended arms to meet him. "Where have you
been, my beloved; where were you tarrying in the distance,
forgetting that a mother's heart was longing for you?"

He pressed his mother's hand to his lips, looking steadfastly into
her eyes. "I was with my future, Mother Khadra," said he in a low
voice. "I was with the days that are to come, the days when I shall
stand on the palace, a man, a hero, sword in hand, at my feet a
people looking up to me imploringly. You see, mother, your dream is
fulfilled, the hero who stands up there has again transformed
himself into your boy! He is here and greets you."

"But why is my boy pale and exhausted?" asked Sitta Khadra,
anxiously, as she clasped him in her arms.

"I don't know!" said he, wearily. "It seems to me that my feet
refuse to bear me longer, that something is drawing me upward. Let
us go to the hut, mother."

He grasped her arm hastily and led her away as though he were quite
strong, but Khadra observed that his lips trembled, and that his
face was pallid.

"He looks hungry," she murmured to herself. "Yes, I see he is
hungry! Buried in his thoughts, he has again forgotten to take
food."