The following week Bacha Filina had much work to do, so he could not
look much after the boys, though they did all they could; they obeyed
him and tried to please him in every way. On Tuesday the doctor came
to look at Ondrejko. He was told where Ondrejko slept, but he only
laughed: "Good for you, boy, that will help you; though your father is
a great lord and a proud Magyar, everything serves in its time. Thus I
trust we shall live to see that the Tatra Mountains will belong to the
Slovaks and also these woods. Because your grandfather lived there as
a great Slovak, you also as a good Slovak will be living. Just learn
the language of your father and draw near to that soil which they once
cultivated." The boys didn't grasp what he meant. They only felt that
he was their friend.
The evening came. They had to make a bed for the doctor beside
themselves on the hay. In the morning he drank the good milk and ate
the black bread with cheese. Then the boys took him as far as the "Old
Hag's Rock." On the way Ondrejko asked about his father. He learned
that he now lived in Paris and did not purpose to come that year for
the summer. The boy breathed more freely because he felt that if his
father came he would have to go to him, away from Bacha Filina and
away from Petrik. That would not please him; he did not want to go at
all. When the doctor took leave of the boys they followed him with
their eyes as long as they could see his straw hat, then they climbed
the rock to see him better, but in the meantime he had disappeared
altogether. Instead of that they saw on the other side of the "Old
Hag's Rock" a beautiful little valley, and in it a solitary house
with small windows which was made of wood and covered with shingles,
standing there by the brook. It looked like a fairy-story house set
among the springs coming out from the rocks. The herder Steve had told
the boys several times about witches who lived in solitary huts, and
it seemed to them that one of them might be living there. A large
white dog sunned himself in front of the hut. If Fido had been with
them, he surely would have started a fight with him. As the boys were
looking at the cottage the door opened, but no old woman came out,
only a boy who was a little larger than themselves, in a cape and
belt, sandals, and with a hat on his head. The dog jumped up, wagged
his broad tail, and stretched himself, yawned and barked happily. The
boy stroked him on the head and smiled at him, then both began to walk
up toward the great rock.
The dog spied our comrades first and stopped. They could see he was
not as young as Fido, but that he was wise and did not bark uselessly
at anybody, so they knew that he must be friendly to people. Soon the
boys stood face to face, and the strange boy, whose dress indicated
that he was not from that section, greeted them in a friendly manner.
He asked them what they were doing and where they were from. They told
him that they had accompanied the doctor that far. Ondrejko dared to
ask him if he lived in that little house.
"The hut belongs to us, but I am from Trenchin. I came only a week ago
with my father. A distant uncle of my mother died, and because there
is no nearer relative my mother inherited this hut. Father wants to
sell it, but a nice bit of woods with fine timber belongs to the hut,
which we could use very well in our business. Therefore we shall stay
here for some time, cut the wood and take it along."
"And the dog is yours?"
"Yes, it is our Dunaj. He did not want to stay at home; we had to take
him along, though we had to pay for him on the railroad."
"Surely you didn't have him along in the carriage?" ventured Ondrejko.
"Oh, no; and he did not like where they locked him up, at all. He
almost knocked me down when he regained his freedom. Isn't that so,
Dunaj?" The dog whined and cuddled down at his master's feet.
"We too have a dog which is still young, but he also will be big when
he grows up," Ondrejko said, appraisingly.
"And where are you going?"
"Only up here on the rock to see what is behind it. In our country we
also have a large rock, but much higher and broader, and when you look
down from it it seems as if you look down into Sunshine Valley, as the
story goes. And after the storm a rainbow appears, like Heaven's gate
which appeared once to Jacob in a dream. Once upon a time I believed
that Heaven's gate was only there, but today I know that Heaven is
everywhere open that the Lord Jesus might come to us where and when He
wants to. Do you know Him too?"
"Who?" wondered the boys.
"The Son of God, the Lord Jesus. But I see already that you do not
know Him, and He surely sent me to you, so that I could tell you all
that I know. Do you have time?"
"We can spend about an hour," said Petrik, who felt the new stranger
was very friendly and he would like to have him for a comrade.
"Let us then sit down here on the rock, and I will tell you how it was
that I came to the Sunshine Valley the first time, and what kind of
book I found there. I have it even here with me because I could not
be without it. But tell me first your name. I am called Palko, though
they once baptized me in the name of Nicholas. But this is a long
story."
"My name is Petrik, and he is called Ondrejko. At home they call him
Andreas de Gemer in the Magyar tongue, but Bacha Filina says, 'Why
should we break our tongues with foreign names?' Anyhow, Ondrejko is
much nicer," zealously spoke Petrik.
"That is a nice name. It was the name of one of the disciples of the
Lord Jesus who brought to Him the boy with the loaves and fishes. I
have it beautifully written in this book."
In the meantime the boys climbed the rock, sat down, and the new
comrade drew out a book carefully wrapped up in paper and began to
tell them the beautiful things about it. If one would want to repeat
them it would take a whole book.[A]
[Footnote A: See first part of "Sunshine Country."]
Among other things, he told them that whosoever takes this book into
his hands dare not read it otherwise than word for word, from the
beginning to the end, because only in this way will he get to know
the Way which leads to the true Sunshine Country, where, through the
Heaven's gates, the Lord Jesus went to prepare a place for all those
who obediently went that way.
The boys would not have tired listening till the evening, but suddenly
Fido came, and as if he knew that with such a dog as Dunaj he mustn't
start a fight, just licked his comrades and was friendly to the
stranger. His arrival reminded the boys of Bacha, and what he would
say if they stayed too long. They rose, and Palko promised to
accompany them that they might show him where their hut was standing,
and when he had time he would come to visit them.
He ran down to close his house and they had to wait a while. When he
returned he carried a large piece of bread which he divided equally
into five parts, and then they followed the narrow path over the
meadows to the sheepcotes.
The newcomer told them many things on the way. They could hardly part
from him.
When Bacha came to supper they endeavored to out-do one another in
telling him about it. He listened intently, and said he would be glad
when the strange boy, who it seemed was very decent, would visit them.
They all hoped that he would come the next Sunday.