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Oh, how happy he was that finally he too could see her, and that she talked with him and even took him by the hand. "And what is your name?" "Ondrejko," he replied. "And do you live here at these sheepfolds?" "Yes," said he, "I live with Bacha Filina. I like it very much." The lady walked with the boy and he carried the crock.
"If I have to tell somebody about it as I have wished for years, it will suit me best to tell it to you. The Lord God gave you more wisdom than me, an old man, just as Samuel the boy had more than the old priest Eli." Bacha strode over to his stump where he usually sat. Palko lay beside him on the grass. He drew the Bible near him, and laid his hand on the head of Fido who cuddled close beside.
Suddenly tears gushed from his eyes. I wanted to make a step forward, wanted to call him back, to leave everything to him, and I go to America. But there was no strength in me. So I let him go for ever. We never saw him again." Bacha cried aloud again, and Palko with him. "Uncle, tell me all, to the end," he begged after a while. "Then what about his poor mother? How did you tell her about it?"
"Palko, take the boys," commanded Bacha, "and go with them somewhere in the woods where nobody will interfere, and pray that the Lord God may help us to successfully arrange for what we have before us." So they prayed, and believed that the Lord Jesus heard them. Late in the evening, Bacha returned. The boys were already asleep.
"Come, come, ye gentle sheep, Keep out of waters deep; Pasture on meadows green Where grass grows sweet and clean." How the trumpet resounded as if some one were weeping in the woods! Even the echo seemed to answer in the same way. The boys liked the beautiful tune. They knew the words of this song, but Bacha bowed down his proud head as though some great burden were pressing him down.
"You just remain with your mother and wait for your grandfather here. At the station I shall take a carriage; I think that in the evening, about eight o'clock, we shall be here." Bacha kissed the boy, though he usually did not do so, and in a moment his giant-like figure disappeared in the thicket by the clearing.
The boys hugged each other for joy that they would not now have to part any more till death. And who can describe the joy of Madame Slavkovsky when they took her again for the first time to the sheepfold. "It seemed to me at once that I was among my own, that I had come home," she said to Bacha, "and you, Bacha Filina, I loved at once like a daughter."
Bacha permitted the herders from the other sheepcotes to come over to his hut. They loved to come for those songs. They had good voices, clear as the evening bells. The lady even taught them to sing one in four parts. When Sunday came, they practised the whole afternoon, and sang in the evening, so that it sounded over the mountains like a beautiful melody.
"But would you love him, would you like to take care of him as it behooves a decent mother, if my lord would return him to you?" "Why would I not! I deserve that you ask me that. Whether you believe me or not, Bacha Filina, I would give everything if I could only get him back again. I see he loves me, unworthy though I am." "Yes, he loves you as only forsaken children know how to do.
Who can describe the surprise of all three boys when they learned who it was that came with Bacha Filina that it was his Stephen. Palko, when he heard it, could not stay with the others. He ran away to the woods and cried there for joy. He thanked the Lord Jesus that He had comforted Bacha Filina forever. There was still salvation possible, even though the ship was wrecked.
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