Away he goes to the wicked king. He bursts in upon him like a clap of thunder, gives his message and hurries away.
I suppose Ahab laughed at the old prophet. “What! No more rain? Why, the fellow must be crazy.”
Pretty soon the weather gets very dry. The earth is parched, and begins to crack open. The rivers have but little water in them, and the brooks dry up altogether. The trees die; all the grass perishes, and the cattle die, too. Famine—starvation—death! If rain does not come pretty soon, there will not be a live man or woman left in all the kingdom.
One day the king was talking with the prophet, Obadiah.
You see, he did have one good man near him, along with all the prophets of the false god. Almost anybody likes to have one good man within reach, even if he is ever so bad. He may be wanted in a hurry some time.
“See here, Obadiah!” says King Ahab. “You go one way and I will go another, and we will see if we can find some water somewhere.”
Obadiah has not gone a great way before Elijah bursts out upon him.
“O Elijah! Is that you? Ahab has been hunting for you everywhere, and could not find you. He has sent off into all the kingdoms about, to have them fetch you, if you were there.”
“Yes; I am here,” says Elijah. “You go and tell Ahab I want to see him.”