The Flute of the Gods

"Because of the day when the god came, and they turned him away for that his robe was poor, and his feet were bare;--because of that day, no poor person is turned hungry from the door of that people. And the old men say this is because the god may come any day from the South, and may come again as a poor man.

"And this was told to us by the Te-hua men when we went for seed corn in that starving time, and were not sent away empty. Aliksai!"

The men drew long breaths of awe and approval when the story was ended. The old man who had found the girl knew that the girl had found friends.

But the mysterious coincidence of her coming as the rain came--and from the south--and the fair child!

Again the man who had been a prisoner with the Apaches was ask