Christina and the boys

by Amy Le Feuvre

"But you won't leave me?"

"Can't you swim? What a pity. I know! There's sure to be a ford somewhere: we'll wade across. It won't be very deep."

This was worse than a boat to poor Christina. She felt inclined to cry, and had to battle with her tears.

"It's all coming like the 'Pilgrim's Progress,'" she thought miserably to herself; "and if I have to go through the water, I know I shall die!"

Her little face was the picture of woe, as she stumbled through the long grass after Dawn.

"Oh, I wish, I wish we hadn't come, and it's getting dark already!"

"I believe it is. It gets dark at four o'clock now, and dad will be waiting for us. I wish those men hadn't gone off. Look there, Tina! Isn't that a cottage? We'll go over to it and ask how we can get across."

Dawn spoke gravely, and when he was grave, Christina knew the case must be bad indeed.

"Oh," she said to herself, "I must ask God to help us; Miss Bertha would tell me to. He will keep us safe, I'm sure He will."

So when they finally arrived at the cottage, Christina let Dawn go inside, whilst she knelt down by a hedge, and asked God to forgive them for having used a boat that was not theirs, and help them to find a bridge close by.