The muezzin call to sunset prayer in the Arab village came to him clear
and sharp, while he sat there, unutterably lonely. Why had that smile
so moved him? Other death smiles had been like this evening smile on
the desert hills—a glowing peace, a promise of heaven. But the
boy's smile had said: 'Waste no breath on me—you cannot help.
Who knows—who knows? I have no hope, no faith; but I am adventuring.
Good-bye!' Poor boy! He had braved all things, and moved out
uncertain, yet undaunted! Was that, then, the uttermost truth, was faith
a smaller thing? But from that strange notion he recoiled with horror.
'In faith I have lived, in faith I will die!' he thought, 'God
helping me!' And the breeze, ruffling the desert sand, blew the grains
against the palms of his hands, outstretched above the warm earth.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Saint's Progress, by John
Galsworthy
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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