thee the heavens are rosy and the world is new. Thou beautiful Samuel,
Jehovah's selected one! Wilt thou remember me when far away?"

"Father," answered Abraham, "what besides thee can I love? Every
morning, and at noon, and again at night, I will face from the East to
pray toward thee; for God will not listen unless I am grateful to my
father."

"Thou art going to Amsterdam," said Issachar. "There, amongst the
noblest Jews of Europe, the descendants of the Jewish Portuguese, the
Hebrew tongue in its purity, the law of Moses in its majesty, our lore
in its plenitude, thou wilt learn. I look to thee, adopted child of
Israel! to give the promise of thy youth to the study of our grand old
religion, and, like the infant Moses, discovered amongst these
bulrushes of Chincoteague, to be the reviver of our faith, the
statesman of our sect. Yea! the rebuilder of our Zion. It has been
ordained that these things will be done, and, by the stars of Abraham;
it shall be so!"

"My father," said young Abraham, "God will keep all His promises."

The Jew took from a chest of massive cedar wood, empty of all besides,
the precious crucifix.

"Look on that," he exclaimed. "Dost thou know what it represents?"

"No," answered Abraham.

"It is the symbol of the faith in which thy father died. A Hebrew
impostor, one Jesus, was nailed by the Roman conquerors of Jerusalem