Midday had come now, and the sun's rays were poured down vertically; the earth throbbed before the eye.
The boy stood up quickly, and cleared a small space from the bushes which covered it.

Looking carefully, he found twelve small stones of somewhat the same size; kneeling down, he arranged them carefully on the cleared space in a square pile, in shape like an altar.

Then he walked to the bag where his dinner was kept; in it was a mutton chop and a large slice of brown bread.

The boy took them out and turned the bread over in his hand, deeply considering it.

Finally he threw it away and walked to the altar with the meat, and laid it down on the stones.