O put
Thy hand upon the bridle, Lord, that He ride soberly upon Thy business."
There was a longer silence now, but at last came the voice of Luke
Claridge.
"Father of the fatherless," he said, "my days are as the sands in the
hour-glass hastening to their rest; and my place will soon be empty. He
goeth far, and I may not go with him. He fighteth alone, like him that
strove with wild beasts at Ephesus; do Thou uphold him that he may bring
a nation captive. And if a viper fasten on his hand, as chanced to Paul
of old, give him grace to strike it off without hurt. O Lord, he is to
me, Thy servant, as the one ewe lamb; let him be Thine when Thou
gatherest for Thy vineyard!"
"And if a viper fasten on his hand--" David passed his hand across his
forehead and closed his eyes. The beasts at Ephesus he had fought, and he
would fight them again--there was fighting enough to do in the land of
Egypt. And the viper would fasten on his hand--it had fastened on his
hand, and he had struck it off; but it would come again, the dark thing
against which he had fought in the desert.
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