Like Hagar, when she laid her treasure down in the wilderness, he sat afar off:--"For Hagar said, Let me not see the death of the child." Evening came, and yet the blue mountain was not reached, and all the next day they rode on slowly, but still it was far off.

Only at evening they reached it; not blue now, but low and brown, covered with long waving grasses and rough stones.

They drew the wagon up close to its foot for the night.

It was a sheltered, warm spot.
When the dark night had come, when the tired oxen were tied to the wheels, and the driver and leader had rolled themselves in their blankets before the fire, and gone to sleep, then Gregory fastened down the sails of the wagon securely.

He fixed a long candle near the head of the bed, and lay down himself on the floor of the wagon near the back.
He leaned his head against the kartel, and listened to the chewing of the tired oxen, and to the crackling of the fire, till, overpowered by weariness, he fell into a heavy sleep.