“After he had prayed, he felt something moving near him. Merlin’s heart beat very quickly. What could it be? Was it a hand thrust in among the hay, to feel if he was there? He lay very still. Still the motion continued. Directly he heard a sound: it was the voice of a hen that said, ‘Cack, cack, cack!’ very joyfully, because she had just laid an egg.
“Then the hen went away; and Merlin put out his hand, and took the egg which she had left, and ate it for his breakfast. O, he did not want egg-glass or spoon, or even salt, to make that egg taste deliciously! He felt stronger for eating it. ‘But what shall I do to-morrow?’ said he to himself. Then came this text to Merlin’s mind: ‘Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?’ Matt. vi, 26.
“So he determined to trust in God for the morrow; in the gracious Father who feeds the little birds that cannot do anything toward making food grow for themselves.
“God did not forget his child. He saw Merlin in the hay-stack just as plainly as he saw Elijah in the wilderness.
“The second day came; and the old hen came too, laid her egg in the hay-stack, and walked off. Merlin thus got his breakfast on the second day. It was not much, but it gave him some strength.
“The third day his good old friend again paid him a visit. O, how very anxiously he had watched for her that morning! How afraid he was that she would not come! Faint and hungry as he had become, it tasted even more deliciously than the two former ones.
“On the third day all was still around him. He made a little hole in the straw, and peeped out. He saw nobody. Night came on, and Merlin left his hiding-place, praying to God every minute, as he walked along.
“What is that he sees in the distance? It is one of the cruel soldiers, with his gun! But he must go on. He fears to turn back. As he comes nearer he finds it is only a small tree, with a very long arm, which had frightened him.
“Onward he goes, stumbling in the darkness, and very weary. The morning comes. What is that before him? A river, gleaming, like molten silver, in the early light. And, O joyful sight! a vessel, bearing English colors, just setting sail. Merlin makes a signal. A boat is let down from the vessel. He is taken in it, and escapes safely to England to tell the story of his wonderful preservation.”