The Radiant City, An Allegory, by Evelyn R. Garratt

Though the following pages, at the first glance, naturally recall the famous allegory, which after two and a half centuries is still a world-wide classic, the reader will at once perceive an originality of treatment and an adaptation to modern conditions which give Miss Garratt's book a character and usefulness of its own. The writer shows an intelligent perception of the spiritual dangers in the present day, and describes how they may be met by the same weapons as those which gave the victory so often to Christian and Faithful. The characters are drawn with skill, and the dangers which befall the travellers on their way to the Radiant City, are those which probably the conscience of every reader will recognize. An important and valuable feature is the constant reference to the "Guide Book." It has just the teaching to be put into the hands of young people entering life, and yet has ample lessons for their elders.

"It shone with a radiance like that of a very precious

stone, such as Jasper, bright and transparent."

—Rev. xxi. II. (Weymouth Version).

CONTENTS.

THE RADIANT CITY.

CHAPTER I.

THE BANQUET

Darkness had settled down upon the town of Punon.* The streets, which were crowded with men and women, were only lit by unsatisfactory lamps, which made the darkness more visible, and cast gloomy shadows on every side. The sound of revelry which issued from open doors was in strange contrast with the sad gloomy faces of many of the passers-by.

Some looked hopeless and dreary, as if no gleam of sunshine had ever penetrated their souls; others wore an expression of deep despair, which did not change even when the passers-by looked at them with amusement, flinging a derisive laugh after them as they twitted them with their misery. For among the many were those who did not seem conscious of the gloom, or were indifferent to it, and these went by gaily chatting, intent on their business or pleasure.

A sound of music and revelry issued from the window of a large building in one of the principal streets, and through the open door could be seen a number of people seated around a table laden with luxuries of all kinds, and gleaming with silver and glass.

At its head sat a young man whose expression of face did not exactly harmonize with his gay surroundings, or with the words that fell from his lips, for the words were full of mirth and jollity, and caused hilarious laughter from the assembled guests, among whom he was evidently a favourite. There was an amount of daring in his conversation that made the elders occasionally shake their heads as if only half approving of what they heard, but which caused cheers of approbation from the younger members of the community.

"Amer is not improving," said one of the guests in a low voice to his neighbour, "and now that he is on his way to make such a fortune no doubt he will grow more arrogant than he is already."

"Nevertheless, he is a nice fellow, and a great favourite," answered the one addressed, "and he has a generous hand so that he will share his fortune with his friends. There is something taking about the lad."

"I don't understand him," said the first speaker, "his face belies his words, from his conversation you would think him the happiest man alive, but his eyes tell a different tale."

"Is there truly a happy man in this dark place?" he asked sadly, "to my mind all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

"Away with pessimism," cried the other, "look! our host demands silence while he delivers himself of the speech which if I mistake not he has been preparing for the occasion ever since he came of age. Hark! what is he saying?"

But the lad's first words were drowned by the prolonged cheers and clanging of the glasses of his guests, and he had to wait patiently for a hearing. And when at last the speech was made it was disappointing to some who had expected greater things from the speaker. He was evidently not in good form, for he paused again and again with a far away look in his eyes as if he heard some voice calling him, and had difficulty in concentrating his attention. As he closed however with a joke amid the cheers of his companions, there was suddenly a dead silence, as across the street came the loud and piercing sound of a trumpet.

"Aye, It is the herald! He won't leave us alone, what do we want with him here?" grumbled another.

"Right you are. I could not sleep the other night for thinking of his prophecies about Punon. All are doomed to death who stay here," said the first speaker.

"We need not believe every fool who prates," cried Amer, "come and let's hear the man again and get some fun by questioning him as to the truth of his words."

"'Why, Amer, I began to think you half believed in him," laughed one of his companions as a stir began and a hasty exit was made from the house.

Amer found his way to the front of the crowd in the masterful manner that was natural to him, his satellites surrounding him on every side.

And then began a volley of mocking questions and raillery, led by Amer and his companions, and aided by the lighter spirits among those present. Some of the questions the herald answered quietly and patiently, others he answered not at all, but stood and looked at the young men with sorrow and deep compassion written across his face. At last seeing that the people were demoralized by this band of intruders, he turned quietly away, saying in a solemn voice that rang loud and clear above the noise of the crowd—

Slowly the crowd broke up, and Amer's friends parted from him with laughter and congratulations as to the success of his banquet, leaving him at last to find his way home alone.

The words rang in the lad's head. The feast, his companions, the fun, all forgotten: the words, together with the gentle sternness of the face of the herald, alone filling his mind.

"Ah!" he cried, "It is the Voice again. I hoped it was stifled! I will not listen."

Amer had heard them the day before, from the lips of the herald, who had looked him straight in the face with his penetrating eyes, and they had cast a strange kind of spell over him. He had hoped that his coming of age feast would have dispelled the remembrance of them, but even in the middle of the speech, with which he had taken such pains, the Voice had been heard, causing him to stammer and forget what he had intended to say.

At the gate of a house he was passing stood a young girl dressed in white, who, at the sight of him, ran forward with outstretched hands.

For the moment, at the touch of her hands and the sight of her sweet eyes, even the Voice was forgotten, and Amer eagerly told her of the delight of his companions and of the nice words they had said to him, but in answering her eager questions as to his speech, he paused in slight confusion.

"No," he said, "I did not excel as I had hoped. It was lame and I was hesitating."

"But why?" cried Gabrielle, "when you rehearsed it to me you never paused for a word; how was it, Amer?"

He had an instinctive feeling that Gabrielle would not understand him or sympathize with his strange thoughts.

Gabrielle pouted, but his refusal was soon forgotten and they walked towards the house hand in hand.

Her eyes shone as stars in the gloom and her smile was better than sunshine to the lad who loved her with his whole soul. So happy was he in her presence that the sad forebodings that had interfered even with the joy of his feast were forgotten. They talked of the doings of the day; of to-morrow, when he was to be made partner in a great business transaction which promised an immense return; of the possibility of soon being able to fix upon the day which was to crown their love and to make them man and wife; and at last, with a joyful wave of the hand, he parted from her, crying—

But no sooner had he left her to make his way towards his own home than his gay spirits departed, and the sound of the Voice seemed to thunder in his ear—

Suddenly Amer turned round and making his way back towards the market-place, he enquired where he could find the herald.

CHAPTER II.

THE VOICE.

"The boy is mad," cried Anthony Hershall, bringing down his fist with an angry movement on to his knee, "the herald has turned his head."

"What is it?" asked his wife anxiously, as she looked up at her husband, who had just come in from his ride and had sat down heavily on the large chair by the fire.

"What is it?" he repeated fiercely, "why he refuses to have anything to do with the business I have bought for him, and declares he must start at once for the Radiant City. Radiant City, indeed! Why everyone knows that the herald is no true prophet; there is no such place. Belief in it has long ago vanished."

"It is only a passing fancy of the boy's," said his wife, "he said something to me about it last night, but I made little of it, and told him to get rid of the nonsense as soon as he could. He won't be driven, Anthony; we can only persuade him. It has been so with him ever since he was a child; the boy will not be talked out of it."

"Aye, he was always a stubborn lad and went his own way; but this is passing all bounds, after the trouble I have taken to set him up in life, and with the prospect of making a large fortune."

"Scruples? He says he will have nothing to do with it; that he would be getting rich at the expense of other men's souls, or some such nonsense. Besides which he is starting out at once for the Radiant City."

"He won't do that," said his wife, smiling, "he won't leave Gabrielle, and certainly Gabrielle is not one to go on that mad journey with him. She is too fond of Punon. Do not fear, Anthony. The boy is devoted heart and soul to Gabrielle, and nothing would induce him to give her up."

"Mark my word, she will go with him. A woman is easily persuaded by the man she loves."

"Gabrielle is much too fond of her comforts and luxuries to give them up even for Amer. She loves herself better than him; I have noticed this in a hundred ways. No, she will never start on that long and hazardous journey, and if the boy does he will have to go without her. It will be hard for him, poor lad, if he keeps to his resolution, but he won't."

Half comforted, her husband rose up, determined to seek his son once more and to bring before him all the strongest arguments he could think of to turn his mind before it was too late.

His wife let her work drop on to her knee after he had left the room, and her eyes peered out into the twilight with a somewhat mournful expression in them.

So Amer, poor boy, was going through all the agony of mind that had once been hers. Once, long, long ago, she herself had heard the Voice. The remembrance of strange longings, strange fears, began to haunt her soul. She had believed in the Radiant City in those days, and had more than once made up her mind to journey towards it, but something had always come in the way to induce her to put off the decision; some important engagement in the town which she felt she could not give up; some friend who had influenced her to postpone thinking about it for at least a month or two; some occupation which she could not forsake even for the Radiant City; and finally her husband had come across her path, and the thought of him, her love for him, had at first put the subject out of her mind, and when after a while she mentioned to him that she had thought of setting out for the Radiant City before her marriage, he laughed at her, telling her that great and wise people had come to the conclusion that there was no such place, and that those who set out for it were only following a mirage and would be disappointed at last. Was this true? Was there no Radiant City? Was the City of Punon the only reality? Or was Amer right and her husband wrong?

"Yes, dear lad," she answered, "but I am not going to think about it, it cannot be. You could not give up all your bright prospects, specially after the pains your father has taken to secure them for you."

"I heard the Voice once, Amer, and almost made up my mind to set out on the journey myself. But had I done so I should have lost a great deal that makes life delightful to me, and I should have had to start out alone. So will you my boy. Gabrielle will not go with you. You will have to leave her behind."

"She loves me," said Amer, "and I know I have influence with her. I believe she will set out on the journey with me."

Amer answered nothing, for so much did he believe in his love for the girl and in her love for him that he felt it would be easy work for him to persuade her.

"Mother," he said, turning the subject, "do you never long for the sunshine? Punon is dark. I have only noticed it since the herald came and pointed it out to me. How few people there are with sunlight on their faces. I do not know one. And are you not afraid to disobey the Voice as it is the Voice of the Great King of the Radiant City?"

"I used to be afraid," answered his Mother, "and used to long passionately for light and sunshine. But all those longings have fled. I never think of them now. And besides, do you not know that a very large number of our cleverest men have given out the fact that there is no Radiant City and no Great King of the Radiant City? They seem to say that it is only very simple souls that trouble about such things. Amer," she said earnestly, "don't let your Mother have the grow of having it said that her son is a simple, unlike other young men of his age. I have always thought of you with such pride. There is not another Mother that I know who has a son to be more proud of than I. You are the most popular young man in this part of Punon, but once decide to start on that long journey and your popularity will be gone. Men will talk of you with a laugh and a shrug of the shoulder. You will be treated as mad. Think of your Mother, my boy."

"Dear Mother," said the boy sadly, "you will break my heart, but even you cannot make me forget the Voice. I am hearing it continually, and I must obey; besides, I have had such an account given me of the King, that I cannot rest till I am on my journey towards Him. He is the one I have been looking for for years, and Who alone can satisfy the longings of my heart. I am taking Him as my King to-day and I am starting out on my journey to-day. Mother, won't you listen to the Voice and come with me?"

"You dare to break my heart?" said his Mother sternly, "you reward your father's labour for you in getting you this good post in this way?"

"I will go and seek Gabrielle," said Amer. He found her in the honey-suckle arbour of her father's garden. She did not receive him with the same sweet smile as usual: Amer felt instinctively that already the thought of the Radiant City lay between them and estranged them.

"I have heard strange things about you," she said coldly, "you refuse to take up the post which your father has found for you. Your love for me cannot be so great as you have led me to suppose. My father will not allow me to have anything to do with a man who cannot support his wife."

"You have heard then that I am setting out for the Radiant City?" he questioned.

"I have heard some such nonsense," she answered, turning away her face from his steady gaze, "but you will have to chose between the Radiant City and me, for I will not have a husband who is the laughing stock of everyone, you are mad to give up this post."

"You will have a husband who is more worth having," he answered, "and you will come with me."

"The journey would not suit me," she said, "neither would the company," and she threw a defiant look up at him; "think of me enduring the hardships which they say await pilgrims to the Radiant City; I should be frightened to death with it all. Besides," she added, with a spice of coquetry in her eyes, "the company would be dull."

Amer looked down upon her with a mystified expression of face. "You do not love me enough then to be willing to leave all besides?" he asked.

"Not if you go on this pilgrimage. Already I find you different to what you were before you heard the herald. You used to say then that you would follow me to the end of Punon, but now you wish me to follow you out of it, you do not love me as you used to do."

In a minute Amer was on his knees beside her, telling her in passionate language that his love was even stronger than it used to be, that it was as strong as death.

"Then," said Gabrielle, "prove it and give up these ridiculous fancies of yours. Why should you set yourself up as better than other people? Think of the many who have gone in for this business; you do not suppose that you are better than they?"

Gabrielle wrenched her hands from his and covered her pretty little ears with them.

"No, no," she cried, "and I don't want to. If Punon is really doomed, there is still plenty of time. I will not hear the Voice; I could not endure the hardships."

"But the King, I am told, takes care of all those who start on the journey, and at the end we shall see Him in His beauty."

"There is no King and no Radiant City," exclaimed the girl petulantly, "no one believes in that story now; and you have not really heard a Voice; it is only in your imagination."

"Oh don't," cried Gabrielle, "I begin to hate you when you say these things, we had better part, Amer. I could not have a husband who frightens me by his mad talk, and who insists upon taking me this long journey. I will not go, you must choose between the Radiant City of your dreams and me."

"Must I then go alone?" Amer rose as he said these words, and stood looking down upon her with such tenderness in his face that Gabrielle repented of her hard words.

"No," she said, stretching out her hands towards him, "you must not go alone, you must not go at all. I want you Amer, and cannot do without you; you must stay with me. You say you love me; love me enough then to forget the Radiant City and to stay and work for me; you will not, you cannot leave me."

And standing there looking into her sweet eyes, which were now suffused with love, Amer felt that he could not leave her.

CHAPTER III.

THE KING'S MARK.

For some weeks Amer resolutely put away the thought of the Radiant City, and would not listen to the Voice. In fact the Voice seemed, when he heard it at all, to be very far away, and he began to wonder how it was that its sound had ever stirred his soul.

His new work, the thought that every day he was piling up money for the support of Gabrielle, together with the society of his old companions, filled his thoughts and his days, and if ever the remembrance of the step he had so nearly taken, intruded, he flung it aside.

But was it his fancy that his Mother's face now and then wore an expression almost of disappointment when she looked at him? Was it fancy that even Gabrielle did not treat him in exactly the same manner as formerly? She looked up to him as above her in the old days, falling in with his suggestions, and following, in a great measure, his advice. But it seemed now as if there was sometimes a tinge of scorn in her words, as if he had fallen from some pedestal upon which she had placed him.

During the day he was able to banish these thoughts and suspicions from his mind by the means of business or pleasure. But at night he would lie awake pondering over it, and at times a great loathing of himself took possession of him. He despised his want of decision. He had been weak, and had turned his back upon the enduring of hardships.

Moreover the thought of the business he had undertaken lay at times like a dead weight on his spirit.

Gradually there came a great depression over him, and he began to wonder if his soul would ever be stirred to its depths again by the sound of the Voice, and if ever again he would be given the chance of journeying towards the Radiant City.

So great was his depression and his loathing of himself, that one day he started off to try and find the herald, but he was told that he had left Punon some weeks ago. Despondently Amer made his way home, but he could not rest. He went about his work listlessly, and gradually his old companions began to drop off from him. He was not as good company as he used to be.

"Amer is not himself," said his father, "he is working too hard." But Amer suddenly found out that what was making him so restless and stirring his apparently dead soul again, was the Voice.

"Come out from among them," it cried, "and be ye separate." Was it his imagination? Was it fancy?

He was so miserable and so conscious of the sinfulness of himself and the unsatisfactoriness of his life, that after much agony of soul, he determined, even if it might be nothing but a morbid imagination, to start out for the Radiant City.

Even if there was such a place, he had no very strong hopes that he would be allowed to enter it. The Great King, if there was a King, might not care to have him after his resolute turning aside before. But, notwithstanding his doubts, he decided to venture, and should there be a King, to throw himself on His mercy.

This time, so miserable was he, and so full of fear that he might be shut out of the Radiant City, that he thought it was worth bearing scorn and laughter, if only he might start out on his journey. The one thing he now shrank from was losing Gabrielle, for he could not deceive himself for a moment about her. She was set against all mention of the Radiant City, and he knew right well that when he started on his journey he would have to give her up. He spent nights of anguish over the thought of this, but his fears lest he was too late to be accepted as a citizen of the Blessed City were growing so great, that even the thought of Gabrielle could not make him swerve from his resolution. Remembering however, his former conduct, and fearing lest his parents might not take his decision seriously, he determined to start on his journey without talking it over with them. But to Gabrielle he boldly mentioned it. Her answer was a derisive laugh.

"I shall believe it when you have started," she said, "and when you start we part for ever."

Saddened and almost despairing, Amer made his way towards the East Gate, which he remembered he had been told was the gate through which he would have to start.

But on nearing it he noticed that it was closed. Anxiously he looked around him and saw a man coming towards him.

"Sir," said Amer, "can you tell me if this is the way to the Radiant City, and how the gate is to be opened?"

"Because I am in great trouble of mind, and am bent on escaping from this dark place. But I do not know how I can be sure that I shall be allowed to make the journey, as I have so long put it off."

"I am my own trouble," he replied, "I have resolutely shut my ears to the Voice, and have spent much of my short life in folly and sin; and now my heart will not let me rest. My sins are such that I am unable to look up. Sir, are you able to give me comfort?"

The stranger pointed to some words carved on the stone above the gate which Amer had not noticed:—

"'Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.'"

"Yes, to you. To all that need Him, to all who have sinned and want His forgiveness, to all that hope in His mercy, to all who feel themselves to be miserable sinners and to need a Saviour."

"I am that sinner," cried Amer, "'I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost.' Let me through that I may start at once for the Radiant City, so that I may fall at the feet of my King and thank Him for His mercy."

"You cannot go through that gate without the King's Mark," said the stranger, "It is a Cross, a Cross of Blood, which you will wear always on your forehead.* This is the key which alone will open the gate for you, and it is your talisman for your journey."

"It means that you belong to the Great King; that He has set His own mark upon you; that He has washed away your sins with His own Blood; that you are forgiven; that His angels will be about your path; that you have but to cry out and the King Himself will hear you and deliver you."

"No one can even start on this journey without it. The gate will not open unless this sign be worn."

"Nay," said the stranger, "man cannot give you the key, neither can man open the gate. It must be done by the King Himself, I am but His ambassador."

"Nay, not a moment," said the stranger, "the King is even waiting to let you through the gate and has been waiting for years. Aye, He is rejoicing to-day in the Radiant City because He sees you coming to Him. 'There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.'"

"But," asked Amer, perplexed, "I do not see the King and how am I to open the gate?"

"The King sees you," answered the stranger, "and that is what signifies. All you have to do is to obey the words above the gate, 'Come unto Me.' You will find as you enter the porch, the gate will fly open and the King Himself will mark you for His own. You have simply to take Him at His word."

Then with great joy Amer went forward, and as he passed through the portal, the gate opened, the King's mark was placed upon his brow, and he found himself on the other side in a blaze of light and glory. So wonderful was the change from the dark city he had left behind, and such a peace stole into his heart, that he could only fall on his knees and worship and praise the invisible King, Who had taken away his burden and his misery.

"I will thank Thee, O Lord my God," he cried, "with all my heart: and will praise Thy name for evermore. For great is Thy mercy toward me: and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell."

CHAPTER IV.

DONNING THE ARMOUR.

It was as if in a dream that Amer rose up again and looked about him. A very large expanse of country lay around him; hills and valleys, rivers and lakes, trees under which to rest, and far, far away, almost too far for eye to see, a haze of golden glory fascinated his eyes.

He turned and looked for a moment at the town of Punon that he had left behind, and was appalled to see its gloom. He had never realized its darkness to such an extent before. He could hear the faint sound of revelry, and caught a distant sight of its flickering torch-lights, but he shivered as he looked at it, and turned again with joy to face the East, in which direction the Radiant City lay. He shouted for very gladness of heart. He felt as if he had wings, and imagined that the journey to the City could be nothing but joy. The way looked easy and beautiful. No rough stones or rocky passes could he see, and every step he took seemed to bring him higher, and the breezes blew fresher.

"My lad," he said, "you will need a guide book to show you the way. It must be your constant companion. There will be enemies on the road who will make every effort to take it from you, but you must lose anything rather than the Book. If you give up the Book you are lost, and will never find your way to the City. It is your most precious possession."

Amer eagerly took the Book from the Ambassador's hand, and opened its pages at once to read.

He was surprised at the words that met his eyes. They spoke of a great enemy that he would meet, and of the necessity of wearing armour so as to be able to wrestle against "'principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.'" It spoke also of the "'fiery darts of the wicked.'"

"I do not understand the Guide Book," he said, "It speaks of enemies, and I see none."

"The first part of the way is often easy," answered the Ambassador. "There was once a people who started on a journey to a land flowing with milk and honey, and the Great King to whom they belonged led them a long way round, in order that they might not meet the enemy too soon, and so be discouraged and turn back. But you never know when the enemy will be upon you, and you must be clad in the King's armour."

"It must never on any account be laid aside," said the Ambassador, "the great enemy is on the watch, and if ever you lay it aside he will take advantage of you."

"His name is the Devil," answered the Ambassador, "and his servants are legion. It is not very likely that you will have to confront the Devil himself, as you are too small and insignificant. But should you grow into a very useful and powerful servant of the Great King, should you in the future fight many of His enemies and give help on the road to many of His servants, it is possible that the great enemy may attack you in person, and then woe to you if your sword has grown rusty, or if you are not wearing your armour."

"Will the road become more difficult and more dangerous as I near the Radiant City?" asked Amer.

"I do not know. Everyone is not led in exactly the same path, even though they are all going to the Radiant City, and so in the same direction. Some, I think, have their worst fights at the beginning, others in the middle of their course, some are fighting up to the very end, even as they cross the river. But I think, probably, it is the best soldiers and the most valiant who have to fight then. The great enemy will not leave them alone, and makes every effort to prevent them crossing into the Radiant City; the more valiant the soldier the harder the fight."

"I mean to be a valiant soldier, and will never turn my back to the foe," said Amer.

"My son," answered the Ambassador, "be on the watch! I already see an enemy in the long grass close at your side, although you perceive him not his name is Boastful. He does not look formidable, and is so small that you may be inclined to despise him."

Amer smiled incredulously, but before he had turned round to look behind him, he felt a knock on his shoulder which gave him pain, and in a minute he was lying prone on the ground, while a small creature stood a few yards in front of him grinning at him triumphantly.

Amer sprang up dismayed and ashamed of having been so easily overcome by such an insignificant enemy, but when once on his feet he found he was alone. He remembered then that he had been struck on the back, and that there was no armour provided for the back. He pondered over this, and the next time he met the Ambassador he asked him how this was.

"It is probably to show you that you must ever be ready to face the foe. You must keep such a watch that you cannot be taken by surprise; and you must never show fear and fly. If once you turn your back to the enemy, either through carelessness or fear, woe to you."

After this mishap, Amer began to walk more carefully, and kept a watch over Boastful and other foes, who, because so small of stature, were not easily detected.

One of these enemies was a most offensive little man of the name of Irritability, who, if Amer set his foot on a slippery stone, or if the heat of the sun was unusual, or the wind piercing as it swept across the plain, would suddenly fly at the young soldier, and give him a blow on the mouth.

And Amer found that this worrying sprite often prepared the way for a much more formidable enemy, a relation of his called Temper; and that Temper was the name of a family composed of three brothers, each one more disagreeable and objectionable than the last.

The youngest of these brothers would walk doggedly and silently beside his victim with a great gloom on his face, and every hour that he was allowed to remain he grew more morose, and finally would cling on to his coat, so acting as a drag. His name was Sulks, and he was the most difficult of the three to get rid of, unless he was snubbed the moment he arrived.

The second brother was a very dangerous fellow, for he was perpetually handing daggers to his victim, urging him to do his work for him. His name was Revenge.

But the eldest of the three worried Amer the most. When the lad had lived in Punon he had had to do with him, and was surprised to meet him so often on his journey to the Radiant City. While in Punon, Amer had thought little of him, and had not looked on him exactly as an enemy, in fact he had more than once found him useful there, for being somewhat tall and imposing looking, and moreover of a fierce expression of countenance, people had been afraid of Amer when they found him in the company of this enemy, whose name was Passionate; consequently the lad had more than once got his way with others simply on account of the fear of his companion. But once having started on his journey to the Radiant City, Amer felt he must entirely give up his company, and was surprised and mortified that this enemy was not so easily disposed of as he had imagined. It was true that his visits did not last so long as formerly, but long enough to make Amer's fellow travellers who passed by look askance at him, saying among themselves,

But except for these, Amer met few enemies at first, and wondered at times what the Guide Book meant when it spoke of Principalities and Powers against which he would have to wrestle.

CHAPTER V.

ENEMIES OF THE ROAD.

Amer soon found that the journey was not so smooth as he had thought. There were stiff bits of hill to climb, and rough rocks and stones which cut and hurt his feet. He was often desperately tired and the Radiant City seemed a long way off. Also at certain times he felt to miss his old companions.

He had not met many people on the road. He had seen many a merry party walking fearlessly on a broad walk which at times seemed to be leading to the Radiant City, picking flowers and singing gaily, and he had looked somewhat longingly at them.

Several pilgrims indeed had passed him on the way in the narrow path, but they were so intent on their own journey that they seemed to have no time to give to him; and he sometimes felt lonely.

One day as he was giving way to rather sad thoughts he noticed three small people sitting together by the roadside. They looked dreary and were dressed all in grey. Forgetting the warnings of the Ambassador, Amer sat down by their side and entered into a conversation. He soon found that their company instead of comforting him depressed him greatly.

"You will never get there," said one of them, "you have not the air of a servant of the Great King. When we saw you, you were looking dreary and forlorn."

"But I thought your Book tells you that you are never alone. You cannot be one of the Great King's soldiers if you feel lonely."

"Only two months! then you have wasted some of the best years of your life; you do not suppose the King will accept anyone who has despised His message all those years, do you? How do you know that you are His soldier and accepted by Him?"

"I see no sign of you being different from others whom I meet," said a third, "you still have the look of the Dark City upon you. How do you know that you belong to Him?"

"The Ambassador cannot tell. He does not really know all your sins. Think of all those years in the Dark City, all the time you have forgotten the King."

"Think of how you turned round after making resolves to begin your journey," said one of them who had evidently heard his story.

"Yes, but not for sinners like you. Besides if you were one of His servants you would look more cheerful and get on faster. Why you have been two months on the way and have only got so far."

"Because He cannot break His word," said Amer, "and He has said, 'him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out;'" then turning round suddenly upon them, he asked,

"We are a family of the name of Morbid," they answered, "and we take upon ourselves the duty of warning people if we think they are deceiving themselves."

"I must not tarry here talking to you," said Amer, beginning to wish he had not taken any notice of the Morbids, "I must be continuing my journey," at which he rose from his seat.

But the little grey clad men would not leave him, they ran by his side and would take no hint from him as to his wish to be rid of their company.

For a mile or two they trotted beside him, filling his mind with all sorts of gloomy forebodings, and the more he hurried hoping to out-distance them, the quicker they ran, till at last, somewhat out of breath, they took hold of his coat and so helped themselves along. Amer began to be suspicious of them.

"Why not," they answered evasively; then as the lad would not be satisfied with their answer they added.

"Why be in such haste? You are not sure if the King will receive you at the end; and then what will become of you? Besides which we doubt if you will persevere, and in that case it would have been better never to have set out." At this Amer pulled his coat away from them violently, but it only had the effect of making them cling to his feet, so that every step was an effort. Do what he would he could not get rid of them, and the more he struggled the tighter they clung, till at last they pulled him to the ground. There he lay exhausted and miserable, and how long the little grey enemies would have had him in their clutches I do not know, if the Ambassador had not happened to pass that way and beheld his distress.

"Sir," cried Amer, "I am in great straits. The Morbids looked peaceable enough as I passed them on the road, and I only talked with them for a few minutes as I rested. But they have not left me since, and I cannot get rid of them."

"Out with your sword, man," cried the Ambassador, "have you forgotten the armour? To parley with the enemy or to argue with him is fatal. I see your sword is sheathed and idle in your hand. Out with it and do battle." Amer drew his sword, and at that the little grey people fled.

"My lad," said the Ambassador, "your fall has been caused by several mistakes. First, you were not on the watch. Secondly, you thought the enemy too small to be of much consequence. Thirdly, you forgot your sword, and your girdle is hanging loosely about you. Take my advice, lad, and never despise the enemy however small and insignificant he looks. Many a battle has been lost simply through this."

"Nay, I do not know that we shall ever meet again here. I have to go elsewhere and work for the King. But what does it signify? You have the King Himself with you, you do not need the Ambassador."

"But," said Amer perplexed, "I cannot see the King and He did not come to my aid."

"You forgot to cry unto Him; He hears the faintest call of His children, but you trusted in your own strength to deliver you, and forgot Him. But He came to your aid notwithstanding, for He sent me this way to help you."

"You have not studied your Guide Book enough if you have not come across His promises." And at that the Ambassador opened the Book that he always carried in his hand and told Amer to do the same.

"'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.'"

"'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.' 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'"

At these wonderful words Amer looked up with joy, and though he was sad at the thought that he might never see the Ambassador again till he met him in the Radiant City, he renewed his journey with hope and confidence.

Looking towards the East he noticed how brightly the Radiant City shone, and for a long time he kept his eyes continually upon it and often sang for very gladness of heart.

The loneliness of the way was scarcely noticed by him at this time as he was so full of the Good News that the King was ever with him.

His path took him up a very steep hill. But so great was his joy that he did not notice its steepness. About half-way up the hill, Temper met him. Amer looking him sternly in the face was struck with his ugliness.

"Come now," he said, "I will have nothing to do with you. I have in the past had too much of your company, but from this day I will have none of you. Be gone," and drawing out his sword manfully he saw, to his joy, Temper make a hasty retreat. But the enemy was not going to let him off so easily, and met him further up the hill. Amer however was on the look-out for him, so that he could not get near enough to strike the young soldier, and after awhile, growing tired of waiting for an unwatched moment, he clattered back to where he came from with a surly countenance and a threat that he would have his revenge later.

Full of triumph at his victories, Amer went forward, congratulating himself that he was growing a brave soldier, and that he was able to overcome the enemy. After a while he looked again at the Radiant City, and was rather surprised that a thin veil seemed to be between it and him.

He soon caught up a man who was walking slowly and carefully on the same road, picking his way to avoid loose stories and slippery places.

"Good morning, friend," cried Amer, well pleased that he had found a companion, "you are going the same way as I am."

"How long have you been on the way?" asked Amer, wondering at the slowness and carefulness of his walk.

"I have been ten years," he answered ruefully, "and alas, have made but slow progress."

"Ten years!" cried Amer, "I have not been ten months! How is it, friend, you walk so carefully and slowly?"

"Because," he answered sadly, "I have had so many a fall through careless walking, that it has delayed me. Only last week I tripped over a loose stone and twisted my ankle, so that the next enemy that came past had the advantage over me."

"My sword is never out of my hand," said the traveller, "had it not been for that I should have been lost on the road long ago."

"But look at me," said Amer, "I have conquered triumphantly the last enemy that attacked me, and am not now afraid. You should trust the King more and hasten forward."

"But we must obey Him as well as trust Him," answered the traveller; "He tells us in the Guide Book, 'Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.'"

"I have learnt that 'the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong:' I have learnt this through many a downfall. I do not judge for you or for others, but for me, my only safety is to live day by day looking towards my King and pondering the path at my feet. Is it not written, 'Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.' 'Looking unto Jesus.'"

As the man spoke he lifted his eyes towards the Radiant City, and his face was suffused with the light of it.

Amer followed the direction of his glance and was startled to see, that although he had noticed the bright reflection of the City on the traveller's face, the Radiant City itself looked still dimmer to him than it had a few minutes before.

He made no mention of this however to his companion, but he glanced about him a little uneasily, for he felt conscious of an influence that he had not known before. He was not aware that one of the worst of enemies that he could meet on his journey, was at his heels, though quite invisible.

"Well," he said, "I must away. This slow pace does not suit me altogether; nor do I think it necessary." And with a wave of the hand he bounded forward.

"Ah!" he cried, "what must it be to be as good and strong as he. He cannot be so easily tempted as I am. I shall have to walk carefully all my life, or I shall grieve my dear Saviour, who has done so much for me."

"'My Grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'"

Meanwhile Amer made his way up the hill. His sword was hanging loosely by his side, and not seeing any enemy in sight, he took off his helmet and carried it in his hand. His mind was full of his victories over the enemy who had accosted him twice during his journey up the hill. As he found himself nearing the top, so full of congratulations was he, and so glad that it had not been his fate to make so slow a journey as the traveller he had passed, that he began to sing. And the words he sang were some that he had seen in the Guide Book, and which seemed appropriate to his present state.

"'In my prosperity I said, I shall never be removed: Thou Lord, of Thy goodness hast made my hill so strong.'"

He had scarcely come to an end of the verse, when at his elbow he heard a voice, and on looking round he saw a man dressed in a scarlet cloak trimmed with gold. Amer was so taken up with the grandeur of his appearance that he scarcely looked at his face, but when he did, he noticed that he was handsome, and had an aristocratic air about him, and his words, together with his appearance, took the lad's fancy at once.

"You are making a good journey," said the stranger, "I have seldom seen a pilgrim to the Radiant City wear a happier expression. You have, doubtless, had some victory that has cheered you."

"You are right," said Amer, colouring with pleasure, "I find the way easier than I had anticipated, and am not so bothered with the enemy as I expected."

"I passed a pilgrim a few miles away," said the stranger, "walking along the path with pain; evidently he has not had the same good fortune as you have, and has had many a fall. It cheers one to see a young man full of health and vigour treading the path so steadily."

"I am trusting the King," said Amer, "and have read that 'He shall give His angels charge over me that I dash not my foot against a stone.'"

"And so you are able to make quicker progress," answered his companion, "and if it were not for your heavy armour you would be quicker still. Come; I am going the same way as you, and I will gladly take charge of some of your armour for you."

"But have you none of your own to carry?" said Amer, surprised, supposing that his cloak covered it.

"No," he said, "I am a man of peace. I dropped my armour long ago and find that I can do as well without it. Come," he added, "let me help you to carry your sword."

"No," said Amer, remembering the warning of the Ambassador, "I will keep my sword, but if you are so kind as to lighten my burden by helping me to take off my shield for a bit I shall be glad. The day is hot and I have been walking so fast that it will be a comfort to get rid of it for a moment."

"Stay," he said, as they reached the summit of the hill and the stranger made as if he was about to turn to the left, "I have been given directions never to lose sight of the Radiant City or I should lose my way. I must go straight on, neither turning to the right nor to the left."

"But," said the stranger, "the straight path leads across that bare desert, and will, besides being full of enemies, take you days to cross. Now, this path which I will show you, is a short cut to the City. You will find that you meet a few enemies only, and that the way will be one long triumph from beginning to end. You are not by any means an ordinary pilgrim, but have shown yourself strong to do battle and to gain victories. You are not like that poor pilgrim who is always tripping, that you have just seen, and who needs the experience of the desert to give him the strength that you already possess. Come with me and you will never regret it. And has not your Guide Book told you that 'He shall give His angels charge over you?' Why then fear?"

So after some little hesitation Amer followed the stranger and certainly he found himself apparently wonderfully free from enemies. Nevertheless he did not feel altogether comfortable when he found that directly he determined to follow this man the Radiant City began to fade from his sight. Neither was he pleased to find that he was going down hill into a somewhat dark valley. But his companion talked away in a sprightly manner, comparing him so favourably with many other pilgrims that he had come across, that he had not the courage even to hint to him that he was beginning to fear. Darker and darker grew the way till at last, suddenly, with a shout, a band of men confronted him, and tearing his armour from him, flung him to the ground, and binding his feet together brought him to a dark cave and threw him into it.

It had all been done so quickly that Amer had been taken entirely by surprise, and now realised to his great discomfort that all his armour had been wrenched from him and that he had nothing with which to fight the enemy. There he was left, after all his bragging and pride, a prisoner in a dark cave, armourless. And then he began sorrowfully to think how it had all happened. He remembered now that he had not been altogether easy while walking by the slow pilgrim's side. He had felt a sensation as if some antagonistic influence was near. Could it have been all the time the stranger who had enticed him to his fall?

Then he remembered how he had talked about his own experiences and his victories, and had quoted texts in his own favour. He remembered, too, how he had looked down on the traveller who was walking so slowly and carefully, thinking himself to be altogether a superior soldier of the King's, and how he had deemed it quite safe to put off some of his armour for a while, although the Ambassador had expressly warned him never to part with it.

He lay and groaned. The chains hurt his feet and wrists, but the physical pain was as nothing to the mental anguish caused by the remembrance of his terrible fall, and the recollection that there was no sight of the Radiant City possible in this dark cave.

For some time he sat with his head hanging down, a picture of despair. Then he began to look around him. The first thing he saw were the following words painted in large red letters on the walls of the cave:—

"This cave is the property of the great prince Spiritual Pride," and underneath these words, were the rules to be followed by the soldiers of Spiritual Pride in the capturing of the soldiers of the King of the Radiant City. Each rule caused a further groan to escape from Amer's lips.

How he envied that slow and careful traveller, whom he had once despised. He had indeed sunk in deep waters!

Then he remembered that he had his Guide Book in his pocket. Would it give him any rule as to how to act now that he was sorely smitten and enchained? In the dim light of the cave he bent over it.

The words he read were those of Jonah the prophet, who, like Amer, felt by reason of the punishment of his sin that he was cast out of God's presence.

"'I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of Hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple . . . . I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my heart fainted within me I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple.'"

Amer remembered also the words quoted by the Ambassador, "'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.'"

There was then this one resource left him; to cry to the King. He was indeed poor, as he had nothing at all to boast of. He had discovered that he was as nothing, that even his good efforts were tinged with sin; that his victories were in no way whatever due to his own bravery; that in fact he was a very poor soldier indeed. So he was just the one to cry to the King, for it was written in the Guide Book, that the "poor man cried" and the Lord heard him. All the rest of that day Amer cried unto the King. As the night drew near he still cried. His chains chafed his wrists and ankles and he grew faint and full of pain; but he still cried on.

It was just his one hope, for had not the Great King promised to hear the "poor man?" In an agony of tears and repentance he cried, and at midnight the answer came. Invisible hands broke off his chains, and led him out of the cave; and when to his wonderful joy he felt the fresh air beating on his forehead, he found also that his armour had been returned to him and that once more he was on the way to the Radiant City. But he had to go back a great part of the way before he caught a sight of the City. The valley which he had descended so easily in the company of Spiritual Pride was a steep one to climb up, and it was not till once more he reached the top of the hill from where he had last seen the Radiant City, that he caught sight of it again. And even then his view of it was misty, and remained so for several days.

CHAPTER VI.

THE BATTLE OF THE BOOK.

For some time after Amer had gone through the experiences related in the last chapter, he felt the effects of his time in the cave of Spiritual Pride, and it was long before he regained the elasticity of spirit that was natural to him. He walked more cautiously and steadily, and kept a sharp look-out all round, lest the enemy should get the better of him, and in this way had many a victory, and was saved many a blow.

One day, when somewhat tired with his journey, he came across a woman leading a young girl by the hand.

A glance at the woman's face was enough to convince him that she had to do with the Radiant City, for her face was beautiful with a calm light upon it, which he knew could come from no other source.

"We are going the same way," she said, "and so long as our paths do not diverge, let us keep one another company."

Before long they came across the slow traveller again, still walking steadily and carefully towards the City.

"After all," said Amer to him, "I have been the one to lose time, for after leaving you I fell in with the worst foe that I have met yet, and was completely overcome."

"Spiritual Pride," answered Amer, "and if it had not been for my King sending me help, I should still be a prisoner in his cave."

"Ah!" said the man, "I have had to meet that foe myself, and I know his ways. Poor lad!"

"Very possibly, my child, and may not have recognised him. Possibly he might not have taken such pains to overcome us, as he has taken with these two brave servants of the King. But any day he may tempt us, and so we must keep our eyes on the Radiant City, where dwells our King."

"Madam," said Amer, "you do not look as if you had been much troubled on the way. What is the secret of your peace?"

"I feel the enemy is somewhere near," he said, warningly to Belthiah, "and he is listening for your answer."

"And," answered the girl, "we are shod, you know, with the shoes of peace. I lost mine one day, and had to turn back to find them."

"Besides," continued Belthiah, "we have so much to make us happy, so many promises to rest upon."

"And, do you know?" said the girl, looking up confidingly into Amer's face, "it is not quite certain that we shall ever have to cross the dark river, which I cannot help sometimes dreading. The King may come to meet us Himself, and take us up to the City."

"Yes," said her mother, "that is what helps to make us happy. We are looking for Him: and though we gather from the Guide Book that certain events must take place before He comes, they may happen very shortly."

"No, no Madam, there you make a mistake," said an irritable voice behind them, and on looking back they beheld a short, stout man, who had evidently been making a great effort to catch them up, and now stood before them wiping his brow, and much agitated. His voice did not sound like the voice of one travelling to the Radiant City, as it was rasping and irritable, but the King's Mark was on his forehead, and he had his Guide Book under his arm.

"I am always having to argue this point with people," he said, irritably, "there is no event that must happen before the King comes. But there I am, again," he added, ruefully, "always arguing, always disputing, and always irritable. I beg your pardon, Madam, but when I find people who do not see eye to eye with me in these matters, I seem to be unable to listen to them. My name is Chisleu, which means rashness. Alas! I am too rightly named."

"Ah! that's like me!" he exclaimed, looking round to find his shoes just behind him, "always trying to set others right and going wrong myself. I lose my shoes, and then Temper comes and torments me. And yet I am devoted to my King;" and he gave a look towards the Radiant City, which proved to those around him that his heart was there.

"My good fellow," he said, turning to the slow traveller, "I should be greatly obliged to you if you would tell me how it is you are so successful against the enemy. I have been watching you for a long time as I walked behind you, and you never seem put out whatever happens to you, and I seldom see you even trip."

At the words a pained expression crossed the face of the traveller, and he looked around him carefully, as if expecting to find the enemy at his elbow; moreover, when the stranger praised him, he impulsively put his hands over his ears to prevent hearing. But now turning his eyes steadily towards the Radiant City he said:

Amer, remembering the rules inscribed on the walls of the cave of Spiritual Pride, noticed how the slow traveller resisted the temptation to speak of his own experience, and spoke instead of the King.

"Ah!" sighed the stranger, "you are right. It is because I forget the promises of my King and His Book that I fail; thank you, Sir. But look, what is that crowd I see before me? If some poor fellow is being belaboured by the enemy I must be off to help," and he began running, and would even then have forgotten his shoes, if Iddo had not cried after him,

"What a warm heart that man has!" said Belthiah, "full of feeling for others and of humility."

"But how cross he was," said Iddo, "not as a soldier of the Great King ought to be."

"Hush, child!" whispered her mother, "the enemy is near. I hear his whisper in your voice. The King tells us not to judge."

When the travellers had reached the crowd they saw a strange sight. A large number of pilgrims with the King's Mark upon them were standing around a man who was talking in a loud voice. In his hand he held the Guide Book, and as he spoke he tore out first one page and then another, throwing them behind him.

"It is not by any means authentic," he was saying, "and certain parts which you have taken for truth are nothing more or less than allegory and fable, while other apparent prophecies were not written by the people you 'suppose, but by men long after the events had happened, so are not prophecies at all."

"Mother, mother," cried Iddo, looking up with tears in her eyes, "do you hear what the man is saying about our Guide Book?"

But before her mother had time to answer, a loud voice rang out, which Iddo recognised at once as that of Chisleu, the stranger with whom they had just been talking.

"That's a lie," he cried, "no one need believe it. The book is true from beginning to end."

"Let the preacher alone," cried one, "he says he has studied the question, and moreover confesses that he himself is journeying to the Radiant City. Let him speak. If he has anything to teach us let him do it."

"But it is false," cried Chisleu, "don't listen to him. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"Take the intruder away," shouted some of the bystanders, "we wish to hear what the preacher has to say. It may be true or it may be false, but we wish to hear him."

"Come away, dear," said her mother to Iddo, "it won't do us any good to listen."

"But," said Iddo, "what did he mean? No one ever doubts, surely, the truth of the Guide Book? If it is not true, how shall we ever find our way to the Radiant City, or indeed how do we know that there is a Radiant City to find?" she added, sobbing.

"My child," said the mother, "it is a sad fact that now-a-days there are people who are tearing the Guide Book to pieces. They do not realize what mischief they are doing, and hope that people's faith will grow stronger rather than weaker through their criticism, instead of which the enemy is watching at all such gatherings at which we have been, and is doing his utmost to sow seeds of doubt in people's minds. But I think these very attacks on the Book go to prove its authorship. The enemy cannot leave it alone, as he knows that so long as we have the Guide Book, and love and believe in it, we will follow it and it will lead us to the Radiant City. I have never found the Word to fail me, and it has been the guide of millions of travellers who have now reached Home. Some, indeed, when just crossing the River, have actually seen the King, so that those who have gone as far as they were allowed with them into the dark valley, have been filled with joy, and their faith has been strengthened. The Guide Book is true from beginning to end: that good man was right in what he said, although I could have wished that he had spoken in a more sober manner, and with less heat. But he cannot argue. His heart is better than his head."

"Oh mother, he frightened me," said Iddo, wiping away her tears, "and I saw many people were laughing at him. Is he really journeying to the Radiant City? He is so different from Amer and that good man who has been walking with us."

"He loves the King, my child," said the mother, "and it is his very love that makes him speak when perhaps it would be wiser to be silent. But the King can alter all that is not right in him, and as for me I would rather have the heart on fire than the brain."

Amer had stayed behind to listen, and now was seen coming towards them with his eyes bent in deep thought on the ground, his girdle was hanging loosely about him. They walked together somewhat silently, and only discovered after some time that the slow traveller was by now far ahead of them. Evidently he had not waited to hear the words of the speaker in the crowd, but had walked steadily on, and it was some time before they caught him up. When at last they did so, Amer asked him if he had heard what had been said by the orator.

"When I found what he was speaking about," said the traveller quietly, "I moved on. I made up my mind before I set out on my journey that the Guide Book was the message of the King of the Radiant City, and if it is His Book there can be no fabrication or fable in it."

They had not gone far on the road before they came upon a man sitting bey the wayside with his head hidden in his hands and groaning.

"See how wounded he is," said Amer, "and yet his mind is more wounded than his body, he scarcely notices the hurt."

"Ah yes!" moaned the man, "I am sore wounded. I have no strength even to look up, the enemy has overpowered me. I am in the lowest hell."

"Lady," he said urgently to Belthiah, "take your sweet child away, I am no fit company for her; and you, young man, leave me too. I only ask this friend to stay a few minutes with me that I may tell him my trouble."

Slowly they obeyed his request, for none of them could endure the thought of leaving the poor man in such a plight.

"Friend," said the wounded man to the slow traveller, as he sat down beside him, "I have lost my Guide Book and I have lost my sword. In fact the enemy has taken my armour off piece by piece and hope is dead within me."

"Ah! that is the sad part of the story. I found someone in distress on the road. The great enemy Doubt had him in his grip. His Guide Book had been torn to pieces by those who think they are helping others in taking out leaf after leaf of the volume and throwing it on one side. Forgetful of my own weakness and sin, I spent hours with him trying to combat the enemy by his side, but I forgot to be watchful myself. I thought I was too strong and too brave a soldier to be overcome, and forgot to cry to the King; and as I was talking I suddenly felt the enemy himself seize me, and before I knew where I was he had wrenched the Book and my sword from my hands, and had dealt me a blow which at first I thought was that of my death blow. Friend, hope and light and joy are passed for me. Despair has me in his grip, and rather than endure this misery, and doubt my King and my City, I mean to go by a short cut to the dark river."

"Friend," he said, as he fastened his girdle about him more securely, "I will fight the enemy with you."

"Nay, nay," cried the other, "your fate will be the same as mine. I pray you not to hinder your journey in this way. I beseech you not to trouble about me. The enemy will overcome you as he has me. You are happy in your faith. You have your Guide Book next to your heart, and your sword in your hand. You believe in the Radiant City, and in your King. I will not be the one to throw you into the hands of the great enemy Doubt."

"Friend," said the traveller, while a radiant light from the City touched his helmet and illumined his face, "when my King calls me to fight, He will see that I get the victory, and I fight kneeling." And at that he knelt, and the enemy, who had been invisible, came towards him in all his strength, and hurled his battle axe at him, but the traveller parried the blow with the sword. So deadly was the fight that great drops broke out on the forehead of the combatants, as the darkness of night overshadowed them. For many hours they wrestled, and all the time the traveller never rose from his knees.

"Fight," he gasped at last to his companion, "fight, man, for there are more with us than against us, and I see the glimmering of dawn," and even as he spoke a faint light broke upon them, and rested on the traveller's shield, and by its light the wounded man saw that his own Guide Book, and the sword he had lost, were lying by his side within his reach. He stretched out his hands to grasp his sword, and as he did so invisible hands fastened on his armour, bit by bit, and he was strengthened for the fight. So skilfully did he now begin to use his sword that between the two, who both fought on their knees, the enemy gradually began to falter in his attacks, and was finally driven back.

"The King be praised," said the traveller, as he rose, pale and weary, and looked towards the Radiant City. The light of it was on his brow, and his shield and breastplate blazed brighter than they had ever done before, as he began to help the victorious soldier to his feet.

"The King be praised," echoed the other, "'which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.' 'If the Lord Himself had not been on our side . . . they had swallowed us up quick . . . But praised be the Lord; who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.'"

"'Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,'" added his friend, "'the snare is broken, and we are delivered. Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord Who bath made Heaven and Earth.'"

"Friend," said the man, whose wounds had been healed, "tell me your name, as I shall ever hold it in loving remembrance and gratitude."

"Joezer,"† he said, "alas! I am rash, and underrate the power of the enemy. I forgot the fact which you remembered, that this enemy always aims at the knees. If he can wound the knees he is much more certain of victory, but I saw you fought kneeling, and copied your example. Praised be the King for your help and friendship, Heman."

As his fellow traveller passed from him, Heman, looking towards the Radiant City, cried triumphantly,

"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."

CHAPTER VII.

THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT.

It was not long after this that Amer found his path diverging from that upon which the mother and her child were travelling. For though the direction was always the same for every pilgrim, each individual had her or his own separate path which they had to follow. Sometimes, therefore, it happened that friends would be parted for quite a long time and then would, to their joy, suddenly meet again.

It was with sorrow that Amer found his path diverging from that of his good friends, whose company had been so much valued by him. Iddo wept when she looked upon his retreating figure, for he had been as a brother to her. And indeed her weeping gave a little enemy called Discontent just the opportunity he wanted to worry her. For some days he got such victories over her that her mother began to look grave and sad, as she noticed that her child's shield was growing dull for the want of attention, and the sword lay too often in its scabbard.

"My child," she said, "do you really think that your King settles the path of each of his soldiers? I fear you are doubting this."

"It is the enemy that speaks, Iddo," said her mother, "and, if you are not careful, another more dangerous will come to the help of Discontent. Once let him get a hold on you and you will find he is a constant annoyance, and it will need all the strength you have to shake him off."

"His name is Depression. He comes with tears and groans at first and you are inclined to pity him, but, if you harbour him even for a day, he begins to bind you with invisible chains till you suddenly awake to find yourself in his grip."

"Yes, indeed," was her answer, "soon after your father left us for the Radiant City he came and attacked me. And it is because I know what he is that I warn you my child to fight him at once if he ever tries to get the better of you. Cry at once to the King when you catch a sight of him and draw out your sword. Never for a moment talk with him."

"He is one of his scouts. He goes about to see how the land lies, and where he sees a favourable opportunity of Depression getting an entrance, he prepares the way for him. In fact, he is in his pay. Did you not notice how Depression had the poor wounded man in his grip? If ever he sees a man worsted in the fight, he at once joins company with him. I do not know what other enemy had wounded the man we passed, but I know that Depression was standing over him with his poisoned arrows, hoping to kill him."

"Then I must have nothing to do with him," said Iddo, "and I must pray for Amer instead of dreaming about him so much. I shall grow happy praying for him."

And Amer needed the prayers of his little friend and of her mother, for his path now led him through a very dangerous part of his journey; and what made it all the more so for him was the fact, that for the greater part of the way, some of the words of the preacher to the crowd, to whom he had listened, filled his mind.

Amer did not know that the enemy Doubt was walking invisible by his side, suggesting difficulties in the Guide Book, neither did he know that the decision to talk over some of these difficulties with the people he met was also the work of the enemy.

Being of a somewhat speculative turn of mind the matters brought forward by the preacher had interested Amer greatly, and he did not realize that to throw scorn on one part of the Guide Book was to weaken the whole, and to take away much of its helpfulness as a guide. Neither did he know that the Guide Book and sword were so connected that to doubt the one was as good as throwing away the other. He forgot the advice of the Ambassador to cling to his Guide Book, and his warning that to lose it was to lose the battle, and so to lose his soul.

Had he followed the same course as Heman, instead of listening to the opinions of men like himself and to the whispers of the enemy, he would have met him in open warfare, crying to his King all the time for help.

Afterwards, when he looked back upon this sad part of his journey, he remembered how little at this time he was really using the Book as his guide, or studying it as he did at first. His mind was full of speculative questions, and while this was the case he did not study the Book to learn from it truths which would have helped on his spiritual advancement, and have made him strong in case of attack.

His path led him across the land of Achshaph.* It was a land full of danger to the unwary, but thousands of pilgrims had passed through it unscathed, because their armour was bright and their sword in their hand. For those who asked for it, a special guard was sent to take them across; an invisible guard, but a guard that never failed to bring them in safety to the other side; but Amer, instead of a guard, had for his invisible companion the enemy Doubt, and so drew near to the land without fear or much thought.

Green fields besprinkled with flowers of every hue and scent, trees throwing their grateful shade between the hot traveller and the sun, fruit hanging from heavily laden bushes, rivers and fountains refreshing the heated air.

"The land is rightly named," he murmured, "it is indeed the land of Enchantment."

The first person he met was a man of a very taking personality, who came towards him with extended hand and bright smile. Amer, forgetting that he was in the enemy's country, was only too glad to have him for a companion, specially as he had plenty to say for himself and was able to tell him much about the beauties of Achshaph and of the manners of its inhabitants. His name was Self.

"Stay," he said suddenly, as the lad was steadily making his way along the path at his feet, "stay, you look thoroughly tired and weary with your journey. Here is a mossy bank, sit down and rest awhile."

Amer looked longingly at the cool green bank, but as he hesitated he fancied he heard a voice singing the following words:—

"I fear to stay in this enchanting place longer than is necessary, and I have no time to sleep."

But Self, his companion, was not discouraged. He had heard the sigh and had noticed that the Guide Book was being held very loosely in the lad's hand, and was aware that the enemy Doubt could not be far off, for he saw his shadow on the lad's face. Self congratulated himself as he noticed this shadow, knowing full well that the presence of his friend Doubt made his victory the more sure, for the one often prepared the way for the other and were known to be friends.

"At any rate," said Self, "refresh yourself with some of the fruit of the land; you can pluck it as you walk and I assure you it will help you in your course rather than hinder, for you have but to take a mouthful or two and you will feel invigorated."

Certainly his face was unusually pleasant and good-natured, surely there could be little harm in following his advice. Might not this pleasant fellow be a friend rather than an enemy?

So Amer stretched out his hand and plucked a golden fruit from off the tree he was passing, and putting it to his lips he was delighted with its taste, and for the moment it seemed to give him fresh strength.

But on lifting his eyes towards the Radiant City he noticed that it was very indistinct. Moreover, though the fruit had seemed to give him a filip for a time, he had not walked far before he became conscious that his footsteps flagged.

But Self still walked by his side and Amer found him no dull company. They had much to say to one another and many discussions. Sometimes Amer seemed to get the better of him, at other times his companion argued so forcibly that the lad saw matters in his light and acted accordingly, and all the while the Radiant City became more and more indistinct to him; his armour which hung about him was ill kept and his sword grew rusty.

It was after having a long discussion with Self that Amer heard a cry as of pain, and on looking up a glade he saw an elderly man lying prone on the ground, having caught his foot in a root of a tree. His ankle was so sprained that he could not lift himself up, and Amer made a movement as if to go to his aid. But Self plucked him by the sleeve, saying,

"It is almost a pity that you should take the trouble to help him, he is old enough to take care of himself, and should have known better than to have tripped. You have your own business to attend to; besides while you are in Achshaph I want you to see all that is to be seen and to enjoy yourself. Listen! Do you hear that music?"

And suddenly Amer heard the most entrancing music, as down a green path, bordered with flowering shrubs, came a troop of men and maidens playing some kind of wind instrument, which made music such as the lad had never heard before.

"Sit down and listen," suggested Self, and Amer, fascinated and enthralled, obeyed, oblivious of the fact that he had wandered out of the beaten track, which had he followed would have led him to the spot where the fallen man lay, and unconscious that the Radiant City was now out of sight. Resting there under the green trees, soothed and enervated by the entrancing music, Amer almost forgot the journey to the Radiant City, the fight, the dangers of the way, and could think of little save the flowers, the fruit, the music and the beautiful inhabitants of the Land of Enchantment. And all the time that Self clamoured to be heard, filling his outward senses with dreams of delight, grim Doubt stalked invisible by his side, flinging every now and then darts into his mind.

Amer had taken off his helmet and shield, so that the darts, which we small, found easy access, and pierced him though he was scarcely conscious of them; every now and then one sharper than the others would make him start and tremble, but so enamoured was he with his surroundings that instead of rousing himself to don his armour afresh, he would turn the more readily to Self to devise some means by which to make him forget the pain they caused. He was rudely awakened by a rasping voice that he recognised at once as that belonging to Chisleu.

"What now! What now!" he exclaimed, "resting among the roses? Why, friend, you scarcely look like a pilgrim to the Radiant City. Get up with you lad, this is not your home."

"It is no business of yours what I do," said Amer at the suggestion of Temper, who had been watching the lad from a distance, and had been biding his time, and now exulted in his opportunity of worrying his former companion; "if I care to rest on my journey in the land of Achshaph, what is that to you?"

"What is it to me, Sir?" repeated Chisleu, "why it is a great deal to me. We are brothers, and I can't see my brother a prey to the enemy without doing my best to help him. You are young, and do not know the dangers of the land through which we are passing."

"I am well pleased with it for a time," said Amer, "and I beg you will leave me alone."

"That I certainly will not do," said Chisleu with some heat, "leave a brother in the hands of the enemy! That is not my way."

"What's wrong? Why, it is a death trap. I was warned before I entered it of its dangers. Pray, my lad, have you eaten any of its fruits?"

"Yes," said Amer, "and though it was delicious at the time, it leaves an uncomfortable taste in the mouth."

"Ah! just so, just so," said Chisleu, and all the time he was speaking he was perpetually looking down at his feet to make sure that his shoes were still there.

"But," said Amer, "I cannot think what my affairs have to do with you. And, besides, we are not all made alike, what might do you harm need not necessarily hurt me. Every man must judge for himself."

"Every man must go by the Guide Book," answered Chisleu hastily, "we are there told that we are not to lean to our own understanding. And also, young man," he added, "we are told 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' You are on dangerous ground my friend."

Amer looked up at the man who was giving him such good advice. His face was red and agitated, but the lad could not but be conscious that a real concern for his welfare was the cause of his excitement. However, Amer was in no mood to listen to him, and the man's excitability and somewhat dictatorial manner irritated him; had Chisleu been calmer and less emotional he would have had far greater influence over the one he longed to help.

"I thank you, Sir, for your interest in me," said Amer coldly, "but I really feel that it is my own concern," and he rose from the ground intending to walk away, but to his vexation he found his foot was entangled, and he could not stir. Seeing that Chisleu had not perceived his difficulty, he hid the fact from him, and the man baffled in his efforts, and sorely tried at the thought of leaving this lad in such danger, walked slowly away, his kind heart full of pity.

"Ah!" he sighed to himself, "how little good I am! If it had been Heman, the boy would have listened. There I am again, telling others of their faults and failures, and all the time I am full of them myself. I am thankful, however, that it was not my shoes this time, and that Temper was disappointed, but I am sadly wanting in wisdom. Poor lad! Poor lad! But, after all, the King knows, and will send some one more worthy than I to his aid."

Directly Chisleu's back was turned Amer began to try to disentangle his foot from the long grass that seemed to have caught it, but looking closer he discovered that a very thin gold chain had wound itself around his ankle; so thin was it that Amer never doubted for a moment that he could break it. But it resisted all his efforts. There it was; a tiny line of gold glittering in the sunshine among the thick grasses.

Provoked that such a small thing should prevent him stirring, Amer looked around him in the hope of finding someone to help him. But no one was in sight. Self, laughing at his discomfiture, was not far off, but did not go to his aid. Amer began to wish then that he had taken the good advice of Chisleu, who would certainly have done all in his power to release him. The lad's sword was lying hidden in the long grass by his side, but he forgot it, and tugged and tugged away at the chain in the hope of breaking it.

At last, being very hot and tired from his efforts, he lay down again to wait the appearance of some one who might help him, and suddenly bethought him of his Guide Book.

When he took it out of his pocket he found that since last reading it several pages had gone. He remembered they had become loose while listening to the preacher to the crowd on the heath, and probably had dropped out during his journey. This distressed him not a little, and the words that met his eyes on opening the book added to his distress, as they seemed to corroborate all that Chisleu had been saying. They were these:

"'There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.' 'The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.'"

As poor Amer bent over his Guide Book, feeling very sad at heart and beginning to repent of his folly and sin in not obeying the commands of his King, to "'turn not to the right hand nor to the left,'" Doubt was creeping about in the long grass behind him. Feeling a presence near him, Amer turned round sharply, and at last saw the enemy who had been for a time invisible.

"Studying your Guide Book," said Doubt, "why, I thought you had nearly given that up. Don't you remember the preacher, who told you that much that you imagined to be truth is after all only fable? How do you know that the Radiant City to which the Guide Book professes to lead you is not fable too?"

"Begone," cried Amer, "you have done enough mischief already to me. Begone, I say."

"But why this sudden change of front on your part? I thought you were enjoying yourself in this place partly because you were not quite so sure of the truth of your Guide Book. You felt that if the Guide Book was not true you need not walk quite so carefully along the road, and might at least rest and enjoy yourself on the way till you had made up your mind upon the question."

"Begone," cried Amer in distress, "I will have none of you. If you come any nearer you shall taste of my sword."

"Your sword!" laughed the enemy, "It has grown rusty by this time, you would scarcely remember how to wield it. Come, now, let me sit down by your side and talk over this matter."

But by this time Amer, now thoroughly convinced of his folly in having anything whatever to do with the King's enemies, wrenched his sword from its scabbard, and rusty though it was, wielded it to such good effect that for the time Doubt fled. But with the victory over Doubt, came a terrible sense of sin and fear. If the Guide Book was the Word of the Great King, if every word of it was true, if the King knew each act of his servants and even their thoughts, which the Guide Book affirmed, in what a terrible position was Amer!

Ever since he had lingered to listen to the preacher giving out his views as to the supposed unauthenticity of the Guide Book, he had been growing more and more careless; for instead of taking his difficulties straight to the King, he had talked them over rashly with all he met. His Guide Book had lain long unread in his pocket, for the speculations into which he dived did not help him to read it in order to get at the truth, but simply made him eager to hear all men's ideas on the subject, which ideas he imbibed almost unconsciously.

This had resulted in carelessness of walk, and in his present state. It had been carelessness that had made him delay in this beautiful land, and enjoy its delights, because all the while he had had at the back of his mind the thought that possibly the Radiant City might, after all, be a dream. But now that he had put Doubt to flight, and realized his position, he felt in despair. Was the King so merciful that He would have compassion on such an erring traveller as himself? How he envied Chisleu, who notwithstanding his rashness, the mistakes he made, and his trying disposition, was evidently conscious of the love of the King, and so openly devoted to Him.

"It was just because he belonged to the King that he cares for me, and he called me his brother," said Amer to himself.

Amer dared not call to the King. He felt too far off. He could only beat upon his breast and cry, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." He felt helpless. His foot was beginning to swell, as in his struggle with the chain, instead of loosening it he had only dragged it tighter. Then he began to cry out loudly, "Have mercy upon me O Lord, have mercy upon me."

Suddenly, in the midst of his anguish, he looked up and saw a familiar figure advancing towards him. It was that of Heman. Amer noticed that his eyes were upraised, and that their expression was one of intense earnestness. He was looking neither to the right nor to the left, for being conscious of the dangers of the place he was obeying the King's command to the letter; "Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." On his brow the radiance from the City of the King was resting. Amer had not seen anything to remind him of the Radiant City ever since he had parted with Belthiah and Iddo, and he now hailed the reminder with a strange feeling of home sickness.

At the words Heman, who had, because of a fear of the fascination of the Land of Enchantment, been holding very close converse with his King, looked round as if awakened from a dream, and saw at his feet the lad whom he had met more than once in the way before.

"Help," cried Amer, all his pride gone, "help, friend. I am in an agony of fear lest my King will not have mercy on me. And see I am still so entangled in this Land of Enchantment—Land of Death I should call it—that I cannot move a step from it."

Then, looking towards the Radiant City and taking hold of the chain with his hand, Heman wrenched it apart and set the lad free.

"Come, my lad," he said, "come," and he began to move away at once. "We must not delay a moment in this Land. It infects those who linger within it with a sleeping sickness that once given way to is almost impossible to combat. Come lad with me and 'let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.' Do you not see how the long grass is waving? Enemies are hiding within it ready to hurl their poisoned darts at you. You are lost if you hesitate. Hold communion with the King as you pass them and they dare not touch you."

"Has He not said, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.' Can we doubt His mercy? He who died for us."

"Since you have released me from the chain I begin to think that you may have been the answer to my cry. I cried unto the Lord to have mercy upon me."

CHAPTER VIII.

STRAYING FROM THE PATH.

Belthiah and Iddo passed the outskirts of the Land of Achshaph on their journey. Iddo looked curiously into the green glades of the land, and what she saw there fascinated her.

"Mother," she cried, "look at the flowers in those lanes, they are lovely. I have never seen such large ones; surely I may pluck some of them."

"You could not pick them without going out of your path, my child," said her mother, "see, your path only skirts the land. It is not the way the King has appointed you to tread."

"It would only be a very little way out of the path," she murmured, "and it seems such a pity to pass them by."

Only a yard or two from her path were flowers such as she had never seen or dreamt of. Their blossoms were sprinkled in rich profusion over the grass; blossoms of deep purple and red, while in the distance she caught sight of others of bright blue, which attracted her still more. Iddo hesitated a moment. There would be time to run and pick a few before her mother had turned the next corner. The temptation was strong, and suddenly the girl gave way to it. Leaving her path she ran into the green glade, and stooping down picked as many flowers as her hands could hold. Then sitting down in the grass she began to decorate herself with them, placing some in her waistband, and other blossoms in her hair.

Iddo looked round quickly, and saw a dainty little lady standing beside her, dressed in very fine clothing.

The girl was startled, and suddenly remembered that she had wandered away from her right path; but the little creature in front of her did not look alarming, so though Iddo rose from the ground she lingered by her side. Besides, the compliment that had been paid to her was not lost upon the girl.

"But never so lovely as when they deck a pretty maiden," answered her companion, "it is a pity that the people of Achshaph cannot see you," she added.

"Yes, very many, and they are happy from morning to night. But would you like to see yourself? If you come a few steps with me I will show you a lovely picture."

"Oh! I dare not," said Iddo, sorely longing all the time to go with her gay little companion, "I am afraid of losing my way."

"You need not lose many minutes if you would like to see how you look. Those blue flowers suit your hair exactly; come just a few yards further;" and Iddo gave way to the temptation, and followed her guide till she came to the brink of a pool, where she was told to kneel down and take a long look. What she saw fascinated her. It was a lovely face that was reflected in the pool, so lovely that the child at once busied herself with a fresh arrangement of the flowers in her hair.

"What a pity there is no one else to see you," said her companion. Iddo stood up flushed and pleased.

"To be sure they would, but they would be afraid of you if you show your armour so plainly. Why do you wear it?"

"I wear it because I am on the way to the Radiant City, and there are many enemies to fight. Are there any here?"

"No, they are all friends here. They would laugh at such a thing. You must certainly hide your sword if you want to get to know any of them."

"I don't like to take it off," said Iddo, looking down wistfully, "but really there does not seem much point in having it here; the place seems so peaceful, and if all the people are as bright and nice as you are, there can surely be no need of it. I think I can, however, hide it in the skirt of my dress."

"But, then, there is your helmet," said her companion, "you would look very queer here in a helmet, and in the rest of your armour. I have seen some of the pilgrims passing through Achshaph wearing full armour," she added, laughing, "and they looked quite ridiculous. In fact, the people of Achshaph were so amused at them that, I assure you, they did not have at all a happy time of it. They looked neither to the right nor to the left, even when the most lovely music was played on purpose to attract them. They would not pluck a single apple from the trees."

"Yes, indeed, music and dancing and playing of all sorts. And as you are so very pretty, my dear, you will get the best of everything, only you know you really must not show all that armour."

"I'll tuck my sword under my dress," said Iddo, now quite bent on seeing more of Achshaph, "and I'll hide my helmet and the rest of my armour in this long grass. There will be no difficulty in finding them again, will there?"

"No difficulty whatever," said Madam Vanity, for that was her name, "and it is the only way if you want to enjoy Achshaph. They must never guess that you are a pilgrim to the Radiant City."

"I thought I heard my mother's voice," said Iddo, with a little gasp, then she added, "I don't think I ought to come, and I am sure that mother would not like me to be afraid of letting people know that I am a pilgrim."

"You will be with her again very soon, and it is only just for an hour that you will play at being something else," and all the while Madam Vanity was speaking, she was making a lovely wreath for the girl's hair, and at her last words she fastened it among her tresses, and bade her look at herself once more.

"You'll be a thorough success in Achshaph," she said gaily, "come, put away those scruples and enjoy yourself," and after helping Iddo to hide away her armour in the grass, and to arrange her sword within the folds of her skirt so that it did not show, she took her hand and led the way.

"This is my cousin," said Madam Vanity, and as she spoke another small person came towards Iddo with a smile. Her name was Love of Admiration, and she, like Madam Vanity, looked so small and unformidable, that it never struck Iddo that they were enemies that had prevented many a one from starting on the journey to the Radiant City, and had hindered and worried real Pilgrims with their suggestions and temptations.

Love of Admiration took her into a lovely glade where there were a number of youths and girls playing games, and no sooner were they aware of Iddo than they came round her exclaiming at her beauty, and begging her to play with them. Iddo, flushed and excited, was only too pleased to join them, and she was made so much of and admired so greatly that she was perfectly happy, and was quite unconscious of the flight of the hours. Her companions vied with one another in getting her beautiful fruit to eat, in presenting her with the rarest flowers, and in choosing her for their partner in the games.

There was one girl called Aimee, to whom Iddo took a special fancy, she was older than herself, and had a more thoughtful face than her companions. Thinking that Iddo might be shy among so many strangers, she took great notice of her, and Iddo rewarded her kindness by a wholehearted devotion. How swiftly the hours flew by the girl did not know; it seemed to her like a happy dream; and conscious of her popularity and of the admiration she attracted, she began to think herself of some importance, and contrasted herself very favourably with the other girls with whom she came into contact. The expression of her face was gradually altering, for Madam Vanity and her cousin were often at her side holding conversation with her.

During a lull in the games, Iddo found courage to tell her special friend that she was a pilgrim to the Radiant City. She was not prepared for the effect of her words. A look of disdain crossed her companion's face.

"I was told that you were," she answered, "but I would not believe it. You are quite unlike every other pilgrim I have met."

"The other pilgrims have worn their armour all the time they have passed through our land. But you don't seem to have any."

"The friend who brought me to you told me it would never do to meet you all, dressed in my armour," said Iddo.

The tone of voice, full of scorn as it was, brought the colour into Iddo's face.

"I always meant to show it before I left you," she murmured. Aimee looked at Iddo with an expression that the girl did not quite understand.

"I was thinking how much more I respected the pilgrims who are not ashamed of their King and their Country," said Aimee.

"Well, my dear, don't think of it! See, the game is beginning again. Notwithstanding your lack of courage, there is something about you that I like; come, they are looking for you."

And in the pleasure of joining in the game, Iddo forgot for a time the disagreeable sensation that the look of scorn she had caught on Aimee's face, had produced in her.

It was sometime after this that the game suddenly stopped at the approach of a girl as pretty as Iddo, and with much more to say for herself, and Iddo's admirers, with a hasty apology, left her one by one and centred round the new corner.

"It is very unfair," whispered a voice by her side, "you are far prettier than this new girl."

Iddo, startled, looked around her, and saw a man leaning against a tree, watching the group around the new corner with fire smouldering in his eyes. He was an ugly man, and at first she so disliked the look of him that she paid no attention to his words, nevertheless her disappointment at being deserted changed at his remark to vexation.

"Every one admired and spoilt you till that girl came," the man continued, "they are very fickle."

Iddo felt this stranger was so much in sympathy with her that she looked at him again, and her face caught something of the gloomy expression that his wore.

"What shall I do?" she asked, "it is horrid sitting here all by myself, when that girl is being so courted. Please give me your advice."

"Wait and see," said the man, whose name was Jealousy, and as he spoke the crowd came dancing and laughing in her direction. One or two seeing her sitting alone made their way towards her.

So Iddo turned away her face as they approached. They did not, however, at first notice her behaviour.

"She is quite lovely," they returned, "and her voice is like a bird's. You should hear her sing. It is the sweetest voice we have heard for a long time."

"I don't think so," argued the girl testily, "I heard distinctly two or three flat notes, she can't have a correct ear."

"Well you are hard to please," they said, as they turned away; while others, seeing that Jealousy was at Iddo's elbow, stayed, determined to have a little fun.

"She is going to dance," said one, "look at her gracefulness. It seems to me that whatever she attempts she does well."

"We have never had such an addition to our company," said another, "every one pales beside her."

"Look at the lovely flush on her cheeks," said a third, "surely," he added, turning to Iddo, who was sitting, miserable and angry, on the grass by the side of Jealousy, "surely you must admire her?"

"How disagreeable you are," they exclaimed, laughing, "we thought you were a very different kind of girl," and as they moved away Iddo heard one of them remark:

"How that girl has disimproved. She has such a sour expression on her face, which quite spoils her beauty, and she evidently cannot bear anyone being admired but herself."

"Did you hear that?" asked Jealousy. "I think the way they are treating you is quite disgraceful."

Had Belthiah seen her little daughter at that moment she would scarcely have recognized her. Her brow was puckered with vexation, and her eyes wore a remarkable likeness in their expression to that of the enemy by her side—they were moody and sullen.

"No, don't go away," answered Jealousy, "show them that you don't care. Be cold and distant to them, it will teach them how to behave."

So, when some of her playmates came near her, Iddo looked at them so coldly and disagreeably that they turned back with a shrug of their shoulders, and warned their friends to have nothing to do with her, for she was quite impossible.

So poor Iddo was left severely alone, and began to repent that she had not listened to her mother's advice. The lovely flowers which had attracted her were all beginning to fade, and she made a sorry picture with her gloomy expression of face, and the faded flowers in her hair and on her dress. Then she rose, and began to try and find Aimee. Aimee surely would not desert her like the rest of the people, for she was her chosen friend. Where could she be? Iddo had been so full of chagrin at the behaviour of the others that she had not noticed that her friend had disappeared, and now looked about her anxiously.

Suddenly she caught sight of her in deep conversation with one whom Iddo recognized at once as being a pilgrim to the Radiant City. She was walking fully armed, and Iddo noticed that behind her trotted Madam Vanity, but that the pilgrim would have nothing to say to her. Other enemies were also doing what they could to annoy her, but she perpetually pulled out her sword and they fled. Aimee was walking by her side, looking up at her with admiration, and as Iddo neared them she heard her say:

"Why are not all pilgrims to the Radiant City like you? I have just been with one who was so ashamed of being a pilgrim and a soldier, that she hid her sword within the folds of her dress."

Iddo noticed that at Aimee's words, Love of Admiration, who had been trotting by the side of Madam Vanity, peered up into the pilgrim's face trying to attract her attention, but her efforts were in vain, for the girl turned her face away as she spoke in a low voice to her companion, so low that she could not catch her words. But Aimee's remark had caused a flush of shame to rise on Iddo's cheeks, and though she dreaded to hear any more, and felt that she had no business to listen, she gave way to the temptation, and drawing nearer heard her friend say softly,

"You almost persuade me to be a pilgrim to the Radiant City." At that Iddo turned away. She could bear it no longer. If only she had been braver and had confessed her King, what might not have happened! She forgot at the moment that she had not entered Achshaph at the command of the King, and that while not travelling on the right path, it was not likely that she could do the King's work. She forgot this, and was filled with remorse at the thought that another had succeeded where she had failed. So depressed was she that she longed to get out of the Land of Enchantment as soon as she could, and began looking about for her armour. But she was not allowed to be alone. Jealousy had followed her and now came forward.

"I want to get out of this land," she said quickly, "and shall find my way better if left to myself."

"It is extraordinary that Aimee has forgotten you so soon after all her profession of friendship," whispered her companion.

Iddo did not answer, but her eyes grew angry at the thought of the girl's desertion.

"I don't suppose," added Jealousy, "if you meet her again that she will care at all for you, as she is evidently quite taken up with her new friend."

"Oh can't you leave me alone, I'm miserable enough without your talk," cried Iddo, who had forgotten by this time that she had a remedy close at hand in her sword.

"Of course," continued her companion, "you have not a chance. You will never be her friend again."

And at those words the girl flung herself on the ground and sobbed. Jealousy, because he had not been worsted at once, but had been listened to and talked to, had won his point, and had worked Iddo's feelings up to such a pitch of anger that she almost felt that she hated Aimee. How long she sat sobbing and rocking herself to and fro on the ground, her heart filled with the thoughts that Jealousy had planted there, she did not know, but at last feeling exhausted and a little frightened lest she should not find her way out of Achshaph, she rose and took to looking for her armour in earnest. It was only then that she discovered to her great distress that the flowers that now hung about her were dead, and had stained her dress with their colours. She took them angrily out of her hair and waistband and threw them away; but though the flowers were gone the stains still remained, and she wondered ruefully what her mother would say when she saw her. And from her mother her thoughts flew to her King. How she must have grieved Him, how disappointed He must be in her!

Suddenly she fell on her knees and clasped her hands, crying for forgiveness and help. And no sooner did she cry than a bright angel came to her aid, and taking her by the hand lifted her up and led her to a fountain that was close beside her, and in which she washed her dress of its stains. Then silently the angel showed her where she could again find her armour, and clad her with it, and so once more ready for her journey to the Radiant City, Iddo found herself on the right path and before long was folded in her mother's arms.

CHAPTER IX.

A FIERCE CONFLICT.

After their journey through Achshaph Amer and his friend Heman passed through a time of rest, peace, and joy. Their path led them beside the green pastures and still waters, and though both of them had their hand on their sword ready to fight the enemy at a moment's notice, they were for a time left in peace.

Many a lesson did Amer learn from Heman, lessons of patience and humility; though if Heman had been told what his example was doing for his young friend he would have been surprised indeed. This humility was one of the chief marks of the King's servants, for they knew that every virtue they possessed, "every victory won, and every thought of holiness," was due to the King's presence—and to Him alone.

The braver the soldier, the more conquests he had over his foes, the brighter he kept his breastplate, the more humble he became, and the less inclined he was to speak of himself or of his attainments.

There were some with whom Amer came in contact who surprised him with long stories of their prowess, of the help they had given to strangers on the road, of the victories they had obtained over Temper or Discontent and other enemies; but he began to notice that when they spoke much about themselves, he often met them again on the road in a very sad condition, as they were an easy prey to the many enemies that were always on the watch to take some mean advantage of the pilgrims. Besides, Amer, knowing what bragging had done for him, could not but fear for them.

The two friends rested in the green pastures and drank deep of the still waters, and so their strength, which had been much tried during the fierce battle of the way, was renewed, their shields and breastplates shone brightly, their shoes were easy to their feet, and their helmets covered their heads from the heat of the sun.

But the soldiers of the King never have much time to rest, and Amer began to notice that every now and then Heman's hand went to his sword suddenly, as if he felt an enemy near him. The lad would have liked to have asked him what enemy was annoying him, but his companion was a silent man, and never cared to talk of himself; indeed Amer had noticed that when the conversation came round to something connected with his friend's own personal history, he visibly shrank. The lad was also aware that he knew very little of the inner history of his friend, and that many an enemy met Heman of which he (Amer) was unconscious, so that occasionally he was startled by an exclamation at his side.

Once when he had imagined from the radiance on his friend's face that he was having a time of peace, the lad was surprised at noticing a sudden change of expression crossing it, as Heman said sternly, speaking to some invisible foe,

"'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me,'" and at the same time his sword was plucked out of its scabbard and held up in a threatening attitude. After these encounters with his foes Heman's shield blazed with light, and a brightness from the Radiant City played across his face.

Amer himself had an easier time of it, and he supposed that the probable cause was, that being somewhat weak and unstable, the King had surrounded him with his hosts to protect him from the enemy that was surely on the watch.

It was just as they left the green pastures and still waters, that Heman and Amer caught sight of a sad looking little figure a few yards in front of them. It was that of Iddo. She was walking in a dejected attitude, and apparently unaware that just above her was an angel with a drawn sword, warding off an enemy who was doing his best to get her into his clutches.

"Mother is in the Valley of Pain," she answered, "and the valley sometimes leads to the dark river, and I am afraid."

"Fear not little sister," said Amer, "wherever your mother is she is not out of the keeping of the Great King. Neither are you. Do you know that an angel is guarding you while your mother is away. Do not you feel his wings?"

"Ah!" said Iddo, "I do not deserve the guardianship of the good angel. I wandered out of my path into the Land of Achshaph, and nearly forgot my King there, and it was only a short time after I left it that mother had to go into the Valley of Pain; and I cannot bear to think that I made some of her days unhappy while I was wandering away. I am so miserable that I feel to have no strength to fight my enemies."

"A little family clad all in grey, called the Morbids, have been dodging my path and have done all they could to impede me; and no sooner had they left than I found that one who is near of kin to them was following me, a much worse enemy, called Depression."

"I could only get rid of him by crying perpetually to the King for help. And then no sooner had he left me than a worse enemy still beset me."

"Oh! I dare scarcely think of him," she said, "he had a terrible face, and the first moment I saw him I felt sure he would overcome me. His name was Doubt, and he began by asking me if I thought the King could possibly love me as He had sent mother into the Valley of Pain."

"I did not answer at first, but began to wonder if the King had forgotten me. And then we had a talk and all that the enemy said frightened me so that I lost courage, and when he hit me I fell to the ground and did not try to hit him back."

"No, I forgot to do that. But that kind old man Chisleu passed by my way and cried to Him for me. I cannot think how I could ever have disliked Chisleu or talked evil of him. He could not have been kinder if he had been my father, and if you say there is an angel walking beside me I owe that I expect to his cries. And I owe much to you too, dear Amer," she added looking up at him with a brighter face, "for already I feel happier. But I do not deserve to have you or to have the angel."

Iddo fumbled in her pocket and at last drew it out. It did not look as if it had been much used.

"Mother has always used hers," she said, somewhat shame faced, "and I have never looked much at my own."

"Dear child," said Heman, who had been listening in silence to the conversation, "perhaps your mother has been taken from you for awhile to help you to read the Guide Book. It is never safe for a pilgrim, though she may have the best parent possible, to depend upon her mother's study of the Guide Book instead of her own. You did not know that in the Book it is written:—"

"'When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.' You need not have feared, or have doubted for a moment the love of the King for you. And as for forgetting you, why, a sparrow does not fall to the ground without Him knowing it."

Belthiah said little about her experiences to her friends, but that she had passed through deep waters could not be doubted from her whole bearing, and that in the Valley of Pain she had had communion with her King, was also evident, from the radiance that lighted up her face when His name was mentioned in her hearing.

"Little Iddo," she said softly, "you need fear nothing if you have the presence of the King with you. I have found my Guide Book true."

"'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' 'Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.'"

"But," said Iddo, "we do not think we shall have to go through that dark valley, mother, we hope that the King will come for us instead of our going to Him."

"I hope so, Iddo, and if I do not live to see that day I trust that my child will."

When Amer's path diverged again he found himself toiling up a steep piece of hill, somewhat weary. He had however gathered strength from the rest in the green pastures, and steadily made his way among the rocks and stones, walking carefully.

At the steepest point he saw a vision that dazzled him and made him think he was dreaming. Just in front of him was Gabrielle, dressed in white, and looking as she had looked on that evening so long ago in the Dark City. When however she turned towards him he saw that she was changed. She looked older, but her charm for him was as great as ever and he sprang to her side.

"By a short cut," she answered lightly, "and not through the East Gate at all. I climbed over the wall of the City and have come in the hope of finding you."

Amer looked at her. Her eyes were full of mocking merriment and her mouth was hard and satirical. He was at once aware that there was no mark of the King upon her brow.

"I want you to come back with me," she said, "surely you must be tired of your journey by this time, and we are tired of being without you. I miss you more than I thought I should."

Amer standing looking upon her felt his old love for her welling up in his heart. He had tried to put the thought of her away from him for long, as he found that whenever he indulged in idle dreamings the enemy took advantage of him, specially a very formidable enemy named Jealousy, whom he had met more than once. He had imagined that by this time Gabrielle had forgotten him, and he had done all he could to banish her from his thoughts. But now that she stood before him in her beauty, notwithstanding the new look in her eyes and a certain hardness about the mouth, he found his love for her was still as strong as ever.

"Come back, dear Amer," she said, holding out her hands to him, "give up the Radiant City."

The very fact of his determination made her feel that he was all the more worth winning.

"Have you forgotten the day," she said softly, "when you told me that I should be your Radiant City?"

"You won't do just the one thing I ask," she said pouting, and she looked so pretty and so much like the Gabrielle whom he had loved so devotedly that his heart beat quickly, and he could scarcely restrain himself.

At these words Amer's hand flew to his sword. He suddenly felt that the enemy was using the lips of the one he loved best in all the world to tempt him. Could it be the Devil himself? The words in the Guide Book which had perplexed him at first, but of which he had been gradually learning the meaning, flashed across his mind:—

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world."

"Get thee behind me," he cried suddenly, and turning round he expected to come face to face with an enemy he had not before encountered; but the foe was invisible.

"Ah! I see," said Gabrielle, "you are as mad as ever! We should never suit. We are made of different stuff;" then she added in a softer tone of voice,

"If you turn back with me, who knows but that one day I might set out on the journey with you?"

"If I were to turn back with you you would not be likely to go forward with me! The only hope is for us to be walking both the same way."

"It would tire me to death," she said, "no, I must make up my mind to do what my father is urging all the time and marry Desmond. I only wanted to make quite sure that nothing would make you change your mind and purpose before I gave my answer. Good-bye."

As Amer watched the vanishing figure of Gabrielle, the great enemy, who has taken captive many a poor soul, sprang upon him and pierced him with poisoned darts. But, looking again and again towards the Radiant City and crying out in his agony and pain to its King, the lad kept his ground.

Harder and harder grew the fight, each gripping each with all the strength they possessed, and neither giving way for a moment. But the King was on Amer's side and there were more with him than against him, so though the fight lasted so long that he felt as if he was in a terrible nightmare and would never awake, the enemy, being resisted resolutely, began to lose heart and finally withdrew with many a bad wound. And Amer, the conqueror, fell down faint and almost done to death. But tender hands ministered unto him and sleep overtook him, sleep such as the King gives to His beloved. He awoke at last with some words of the Guide Book ringing in his ears.

"'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber. . . . . The Lord is thy Keeper.'"

CHAPTER X.

THE PASSING OF HEMAN.

The next time that Amer came across Heman he was struck by a new expression on his face: there was a brightness that he had not noticed before. "I am drawing near the River," he said in an awed whisper, "but I have the support of my King."

"Yes, lad. If I am not mistaken the River is near, and the last conflict with the enemy," he added, slowly, and as they turned together the next corner of the road, there loomed before their eyes a dark valley and at the end of the valley a river.

Amer's path lay along the side of the river for a time, but Heman's ended at the brink.

The lad trembled as he walked by his side, but was astonished to notice a joy on the face of his companion not at all in keeping with his own feelings; but looking far away beyond the river, he caught sight of a wonderful shining light from the Radiant City, and noticed that his companion's eyes were fixed steadily upon it.

Then suddenly without warning, what seemed like a dark cloud, came between Heman and the City.

"Ah," he groaned, "it is the enemy; pray for me, for I feel to have no strength for the last conflict. Cry to the King and cry loud for help:" and then Amer saw, as if in a dream, the cloud form itself into an army of dark figures, as if the Devil and his angels were in league to do all in their power to wrest this good soldier from the King, and he remembered the Ambassador's words,

As the lad cried aloud to the King for his friend, he noticed that at the edge of the river there appeared a cross which flung its shadow over Heman, and to which again and again he turned and clung. And every time he clung to the cross or got within its shadow, the powers of darkness which were surrounding him drew back as if they had received a wound. At these times Amer became aware, that even nearer than the evil spirits, who were trying to do their utmost to tear the fainting soldier from the cross, there was a band of bright angels supporting him. At last, when he swooned, and would have been drowned in the deep waters, these bright spirits carried him tenderly in their arms to a spot in the river, where a radiant figure stood, with outstretched hands, and the hands had the marks of having once been pierced with nails: while across the river came the sound of music, such as Amer had never heard nor dreamed of, and the song of a multitude of voices welcoming the warrior home.

"Ah," said a voice by his side, "I am too late to see the passing of one of the bravest and best soldiers that I have known," and Amer turned to see to his comfort, the figure of the Ambassador, whom he had never thought to meet again.

"Sir," said Amer, pale and trembling, "does the great enemy always attack the King's soldiers so fiercely at the end?" and he related how harried had been the last moments of Heman and with what a fierce conflict he had had to engage.

"Nay lad," he said, "but it does not altogether surprise me. The braver the soldier the harder the fight, and the enemy made one last effort to do what he has failed to do for so long. But as a rule the passing into the Radiant City is peaceful and bright. I have known soldiers who have sung with joy as they have reached the river, and who have been surrounded with a wall of fire so that the enemy could not reach them. The King knows each one so thoroughly that He will never let anyone be tempted above that he is able, 'but will with the temptation also make a way of escape.' And think of the reward that good soldier is now getting: his affliction was 'but for a moment,' and worketh for him, 'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'"

"I fear the River," said Amer, shivering, for his path still lay through the Valley of the Shadow.

"Nay lad, fear not," said the Ambassador. "The King does not send you help to cross it till the time to cross it comes. Has He not promised to be with you? And how do you know that you will have to pass through the River at all? The King may come in the clouds first to take His people Home. If I'm not mistaken," he added, "Depression is at your side, take out your sword, lad."

And the Ambassador was right, and Amer found that in wielding his sword, Depression departed, and that when his enemy had departed, he began to think of the light of the City on Heman's face, of the song of welcome he had listened to, and looking up to his King, he said, "'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'"

CHAPTER XI.

THE DARK FOREST.

These words were continually in Amer's mind during the next part of his journey, for he found his way led him into a gloomy forest, and looking down its long dark avenues, for a moment he hesitated.

It was indeed so dark that he wondered if it could be the way intended for him to tread; he wondered still more as on entering it fearfully, he found he could not see any distance before him, but looking down at his feet he saw that there was no mistake about it. His path lay before him, though he could only see one step at a time. He buckled his sword tighter around him and made sure that all his armour was in the right position, and with a brave heart walked boldly into the still deeper recesses of the forest.

For a short time he was comforted by the fact that far, far away, he caught a faint glimmer of light which he knew must come from the Radiant City; but after a time even this faded, and he felt himself in total darkness.

A terrible silence pervaded the place. Not even the flutter of a bird among the trees nor the sound of the faintest breeze. It was as if he were in a dead world.

The perspiration stood out on his forehead and his hands trembled as he gripped his sword. So appalled was he at the darkness and silence, that he dared not even call aloud, on the chance that there might be someone near who could come to his aid. The sense of utter loneliness amazed him. He had experienced nothing like it before. Loneliness and darkness appalled him, fearfulness and trembling came upon him, and horror overwhelmed him.

Suddenly, as faint with forebodings, he slowly and painfully made his way, seeing only one step at a time, some words from his Guide Book flashed across his mind like a sunbeam from the Radiant City.

"'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.'"

"'What time I am afraid, I will trust,'" he cried, and the very fact of breaking the silence by that cry, gave him courage and comfort.

Many a time after this, during that dark journey, he called aloud to his King, and when he did so, he was conscious of a Presence quite near to him, of a Companionship that made his heart burn within him, and in the consciousness of which he was able to face the horrors of darkness that seemed likely to overwhelm him.

But at times even the sense of the Presence seemed to be hidden from him, and he had but to find comfort in the fact, that, the King had promised to be with his servants unto the end, that though unseen and unfelt, He could not be far off, so he cried out in the words of the Guide Book, many of which he knew by this time, by heart,

"'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, for His Presence is salvation.'"

At last, as he neared the end of this part of his journey, he became aware that a glimmering of light could be seen in the distance, and that with every step he took it became brighter, till at last, through a vista among the trees, he caught sight again of the Radiant City, looking brighter and more dazzling than it had ever looked before. At the sight of this he fell on his knees and worshipped his King Who had brought him safely through the darkness.

Then he rose and looked around him. Surely now his path was to lead him on and upwards, higher and higher; surely for him the darkness was past and over. He looked about eagerly for his pathway, and to his amazement found it led into the forest again, though by another way.

"Alas!" he cried, "my strength will fail me. I dare not encounter the horror of darkness again." So depressed was he that he sat him down under the shadow of a rock, and hiding his face in his hands he groaned aloud. For a long time he sat there, and as he rested, he fell asleep and dreamt.

The King stood before him; not as he had often thought of Him, radiant in power and might, with a beauty unspeakable and dazzling in its glory: but with a crown of thorns on His head, with pierced and bleeding hands and feet, with a face marred by suffering and sorrow. But, notwithstanding His bleeding feet and hands and His pierced brow, His eyes were directed towards a little wandering lamb who had strayed beyond the fold, and lay bleating on a thin ledge overhanging a precipitous cliff; and as He looked He moved towards it, though the thorns and prickly bushes at His feet opened the wounds afresh. Although the cliffs were almost impassable and the danger great, the King never hesitated; leaning over the awful abyss, He reached down till He grasped with His bleeding hands the little lamb, and lifting it up, sheltered it in His bosom.

Had it been a dream or had it been a vision? Whatever it was, it contained a lesson for him which changed his whole view of his journey. He was filled no longer with his own dangers and difficulties, but recognized that he had been saved to serve, and that the very reason of many of his experiences through which he had passed, was not merely to make him more fit for the Radiant City, but that he might be able to sympathize with other travellers and help them on the way.

On learning this he rose. But for him the darkness was lightened by many a glimpse of the Radiant City, and he found the forest silent no longer.

As he made his way along his path he constantly met other travellers, faint with fear or oppressed by the enemy Depression, or Despair, and he cheered them so that they had the courage to meet their foes in battle, and to overcome them.

To Amer's great surprise he met the last person whom he would have expected to meet in such a place.

He came upon a man lying prone upon the grass. At his first look at him he thought there was no life in him, but on coming closer he discovered that it was Chisleu, faint and weary. His face had lost its energy, and he had no words even with which to greet Amer. He looked at him with sad and dreary eyes, so unlike his former self, that the lad almost doubted if it could be he.

But Chisleu did not answer, he still looked wearily up at Amer without a word. Then, noticing compassion written large across his friend's face, he groaned.

"Aye, aye," answered Chisleu, "I'm in pain of body and mind. I'm in the dark, friend, in the dark."

"And not only in the dark," said Amer, glancing about him, "but in the hands of Despondency, Depression, and Despair."

"What, what," cried Chisleu, excitedly, awakened out of his torpor, and aroused to action, "do you mean to say it is the work of the enemy?"

"It is not the King who has forgotten you, but the enemy who has thought of you. The King never forgets His own. Had you been looking around you instead of giving up as if all were lost, you would have recognized it as the work of the three enemies which I now see hidden among the trees."

"Ah!" sighed Chisleu, "you do not know the terrors of this forest, I am overwhelmed by them."

"And I should be in the same state as you at this present moment," said Amer, "had it not been for the help of my King."

"And yet," said Chisleu, raising his head to look more earnestly at him, "you look as if you were upheld. Have you really experienced such horror as I have?"

"Such darkness that even now I scarcely dare to think of it. But since then I have seen a vision of the King which has turned my darkness into light. I think I can even thank Him now for the lessons He taught me in the darkness. But come! I will help you to rise, and if the enemies attack you again, I will add my sword to yours. I do not wonder that they met you by the way, Chisleu, and were so determined to overcome you. It was only natural that such a good brave soldier, who is always on the look-out for those who are in sorrow or need, should be attacked by the enemy. You have done too much good for him to forget you, or to leave you alone. As for me, I have only just learnt that I am saved to serve."

"Ah, friend, you little know me," sighed Chisleu, "the mistakes I have made! and the way I have judged far better people than myself, and have tried to set them right according to my own judgment! Nay, I felt sunk so low and that I was of so little good on the road, that I feared my King had forgotten me, when I found myself in such a dark place. But," he added, rising, "if you are right, and this misery comes from the enemy, and is not that I am forgotten in the Radiant City on account of my sins, I will take courage."

"I understand now," said Amer, "why my way led me again into the forest. The King was thinking of you, friend, and sent me to help one who in the past has helped me."

"Helped you!" exclaimed Chisleu, astonished, "nay, lad, I remember nothing of the kind. I am a good-for-nothing fellow who meddles with every one I come across, thinking to do them good. I am the fool who steps in where angels fear to tread."

"Had it not been for you," persisted Amer, "I might still be in the City of Achshaph. You were the one who first tried to arouse my conscience and to make me see my danger. But come, we must not linger."

So these two brave soldiers buckled their swords closer and set out side by side, as long as their path lay together, to fight the enemy and to help the wounded. And many a one had to thank their King for them, and called them both by the name of Ahiezer—Brothers of Assistance.

Once again in the broad sunshine Amer breathed in the fresh air with delight and gratitude. His way led through fields full of brightly coloured flowers. The air was laden with their scent, and vibrated with the song of birds. Having so lately emerged from such a dark and dreary passage, the sunshine, the sounds, and the scents, filled him with delight, and that which rejoiced him still more was the fact that his path lay up the side of a hill, and every step he took found him higher, in fresher air, with a clearer view of the Radiant City. He had the joy also of meeting his old friends Belthiah and Iddo, who, after welcoming him, looked earnestly in his face.

"Amer," they said, "you have grown into a man since last we saw you. There are marks of victory and strength on your face. You have passed through some great experience."

"I have been in the dark forest," he answered gravely, for even now the remembrance was painful to him, "and I found light in the darkness."

CHAPTER XII.

DANGEROUS HEIGHTS.

Amer's path did not lay long beside that of his friends. He parted from them at the top of a beautiful green hill, dotted over with flowers.

He had been climbing ever since he had left the dark forest, but now as he looked up and saw the towering mountains before him, the green hill dwindled to a valley in his estimation. Stern rocks and steep precipices confronted him, as after waving his farewell to his friends whose path still lay along the gentle slopes, he eagerly set out alone again on his journey.

Where his path would lead him he did not know. He only knew he was on the way to his King, and instead of having to walk through the darkness, he was to scale the heights, and somewhere, far, far above him was the Radiant City.

He opened his Guide Book to make quite sure of the way, and though within its pages he found words which strengthened him and encouraged him, he also found a warning which he pondered over for some time.

Clasping his Guide Book in one hand and his sword in the other, he continued to mount. The way at first was not difficult. It was a gradual slope by the side of high cliffs, and occasionally out of the rock there flowed past him a stream of cool water, with which he quenched his thirst. The scenery was magnificent, but all the time he felt conscious, that though the enemies of the road had as yet made no sign of their presence, they were not likely to be far off, so that it was not wise to loiter on the way.

As he ascended higher the path became steeper, the scenery more awful in its character, but the air was exhilarating. Frowning precipices confronted him, masses of rocks piled one on the top of the other rose before his view, deep gorges and chasms lay beneath him. Wherever he looked he was fascinated by its grandeur and awed by its impressiveness.

Higher and higher his path led him, till he felt himself to be at so giddy a height that he trembled, though rejoicing.

He remembered when he had first started out on his journey, mounting a hill and crying out in his exuberance of spirits and pride,

"'I shall never be removed: Thou Lord of Thy goodness hast made my hill so strong:'" and he recollected how the words had scarcely left his mouth, when the enemy, Spiritual Pride, in all his grand trappings, had accosted him and led him to what might have been his ruin. How soon he had had to change his cry and say:—

The remembrance of those days, together with the warning he had read in his Guide Book, kept him on the watch, and forbade him thinking of his own strength or ability. And whenever he was tempted to think that he must be a brave soldier to have been led by this path, he put the thought away from him; he knew when such thoughts crossed his mind that the enemy was near.

At last, at a giddy height he came to a standstill, discovering that his path lay across a narrow bridge which spanned a deep, dark gorge, so deep and so dark that Amer could not see the bottom.

The bridge was nothing but a natural arch of rock, about a foot wide, with no protection on either side. At so giddy a height was it that he nearly fainted at the sight. It seemed to him that it was impossible not to fall, and to cross it was to court death. Moreover as he stood leaning on his sword at the edge of the gorge across which he had to go, he became aware that the rocks and cliffs were riddled with caves, and far down below he caught sight of small figures moving in and out of them, figures which, as his eyes became accustomed to the dim light, he saw were clad in darkness and gloom.

They were in a state of excitement, as if preparing for a great event, for they were running to and fro, intent on some business. It would be into their care he would be hurled were he to lose his footing.

Looking still more steadily down, he became aware of what looked like a regiment of armed soldiers about half-way down the cliff, and their armour he recognised as that of the soldiers of Spiritual Pride, red and gold. These were not busy as those further down seemed to be, but were standing perfectly still, with bows and arrows in their hands, the arrows being directed towards the narrow bridge across which Amer's path lay.

"I must perish! I must perish!" he cried, while the veins stood out on his forehead like cords, so great was his fear and anguish of mind.

At these words he suddenly felt his ankles twitched and on looking down he beheld his old enemies, the Morbids, clinging about him. But with a sudden angry blow from his sword they fled. He would have nothing to do with them.

He looked around for a way of escape. Could he have missed his path? Was there not the choice of an easier road? not perhaps so honourable but less terrifying by which he might avoid the bridge? But no! There was no sign of any other way but that which he felt he could not possibly take.

Then he bethought him of his Guide Book. Was there any word therein which might comfort him in this great strait? And there he found that instead of one passage there were many which seemed exactly to fit his need: they were as follows:—

"'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold him with the right hand of my righteousness.'"

Fully clad in the King's armour he set his foot on the bridge, and to his comfort he noticed that right across it there was flung the shadow of a cross, and that every step he took placed him more within the shadow which wrapped him round like a wall. He was conscious at the same time of the noise of arrows whizzing fast past him. Some indeed were so well aimed as to light on his breastplate and shield, but glanced off leaving him unhurt. Others fell thick around his helmet so that he was almost deafened by their noise, and had it not been for the fact that he knew he was enwrapped by the shadow of the Cross, would so have unnerved him, that he must have fallen. For there were not only the poisoned arrows of the soldiers belonging to Spiritual Pride falling around him on every side, but there was the dark abyss below him, in which he knew the allies of Despondency and Despair were making ready and preparing for his fall.

Moreover whenever he thought of them or for a moment looked down, he tottered. He found his only safety lay in looking towards the Radiant City, where dwelt his King. And whenever he directed his eyes upwards, he was conscious of a wonderful peace stealing over him, peace even in the midst of hurling darts, and the hisses of the arrows striking his armour.

So full was Amer of gratitude and thanksgiving to the King for preserving him in his great danger, and so conscious of His Presence, that he had not seen a small band of pilgrims awaiting him on the other side of the bridge, and was taken quite by surprise, when, on arriving in safety on firm ground, his hands were grasped enthusiastically, and words of welcome were showered upon him. So little had he thought of his own courage or ability in passing unscathed through the darts of the enemy, and so full had he been of thoughts of his King, that when he heard the exclamations of wonder at his prowess from those who gathered around him, he began for the first time to think of his own part in the matter.

The pilgrims, who had been led by a less conspicuous path, and had arrived just in time to see Amer, notwithstanding the many darts from the enemies below which were being hurled at him, calmly walking with his eyes raised towards the Radiant City across the dangerous pass, fell to praising him and congratulating him, and among their voices Amer recognised those of Belthiah and Iddo.

"Dear Amer," cried Iddo, clasping his hand within hers and looking at him with eyes that shone like stars, "we are proud to call you friend. How much you must be thought of by our King to have been led by such a path, so high and so dangerous. I am glad that you are my friend."

"You are an example to us all," said another. "Oh that I had more courage and more faith. We shall not forget what we have seen to-day."

"How was it," asked a third, "that you walked so straight and did not falter? I know few who could have crossed unscathed as you have done. The height alone is enough to have made any man giddy and lose his head."

He had not seen some half-dozen of the soldiers of Spiritual Pride, having been foiled of their endeavour to bring him to ruin while crossing the bridge, leave their posts and begin hurriedly to scale the rocks so as to meet him as he landed in safety on the other side; and he did not know that the thoughts which began to course through his mind at the words of his friends, were in reality small poisoned darts thrown by these same enemies.

Meanwhile he stood listening to his new and old friends' congratulations, with a sense of pleasure: and so well did his enemies do their work that he gradually began to talk to his friends of his sensations when on the bridge, and with a comfortable sense of superiority gave helpful advice, as he thought, to those around him who might be called upon to endure a similar experience. Indeed he began to think of himself as a hero, and as his path lay for some time in the same direction as that of many of the pilgrims, he found himself listening with interested attention to the talk of some who were behind him and who were making him the subject of their conversation. In fact he became greedy of human praise, and was quite vexed with one of the pilgrims who had all the time maintained silence.

This pilgrim was a man some years older than Amer, who often looked at him earnestly but did not add one word of praise to those which were being showered upon him. Amer noticed too, with chagrin, that this man took pains to walk continually by his side, which effectually prevented others, who were greater admirers, from getting near him.

At last so earnest was the man's look and so grave, that Amer felt impelled to enquire as to its cause.

"I will give them if you wish," was the answer, "but I fear they will not be such as you are accustomed to hearing. Nevertheless, I take such an interest in you and am so anxious that you should in no wise disappoint our King, that should you desire it I will tell you what is in my mind."

Amer, having by this time become accustomed to praise, changed countenance, and an expression which till now had been foreign to his face crossed it, but he answered,

"It is sad," said the man slowly, "how one pilgrim can hinder another. These fellow soldiers around us have, it seems to me, been used by the enemy to your hurt."

"Friend," continued the man, "you did not see what I saw, the soldiers of Spiritual Pride scaling the cliffs and take their position by your side."

"Nay, but do not you know by this time, that those who they attack are very often the last to perceive their presence."

"Well," said Amer, "I do not know after all, even if what you say is true, why I should be so surprised. They generally attack the bravest soldiers of the King."

"Disappoint not our King," he urged. "He has done so much for you in saving you when in such peril; I pray you to keep humble, and to remember that you owe all your safety to Him and not to your own prowess."

"You speak truly," said Amer, in a somewhat superior tone of voice. "No one knows better than I, that great truth; but I think perhaps you forget that it may dishonour the King as much to deny what He has done for you—the courage He has given you, the wisdom He has imparted to you—as to speak too much of it."

The man who was old enough to be Amer's grandfather did not resent the sermon that had been delivered with a certain amount of conceit. But he was silent for a moment. Then looking quietly with his clear penetrating eyes at his companion, he said slowly,

"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall,'" and with the words he left Amer and followed his own path which at that moment led away from that of the other pilgrims.

Amer looked after him with mingled feelings of vexation and respect. Then remembering the words just spoken, turned him about to see if he could detect any signs of his enemies. But they had carefully hidden themselves.

"We are thankful that our path leads us the same way as yours for a time, as we feel we have the advantage of your company. You have had so much more experience than we have that we know we shall be safe following your example and advice. No doubt you will be able to point out dangers in the road and will be the first to detect the presence of the enemy."

The words which would have filled Amer with pleasure a few moments before, had now rather the opposite effect, because of the conversation which had so lately taken place.

"Nay friend," he answered in a depressed tone of voice, "I do not see that my example is worth much, neither am I capable of giving you any better advice than others."

"It is only your humility that makes you say this," answered his companion. "I have always known that the bravest, noblest, most courageous of the King's servants are the most humble;" and at these words the other pilgrims, Belthiah and Iddo among them, drew near, and asked him for his experiences and for instruction.

Amer found it a much pleasanter occupation to listen to them than to the warnings of the stranger. But he did not know that as he talked, the expression of his face gradually altered, and the light from the Radiant City became dimmed to him. He was now full of himself, and talked freely about his experiences on the road; and the enemies which followed him just out of sight, but near enough to throw their darts through the chinks of his armour, which was beginning to hang about him loosely, laughed to themselves. The rule, which they always looked at before they started forth to warfare, "Get the man to talk of himself," had been most successfully obeyed.

As the pilgrims turned a corner of the road they came in sight of a child sitting alone, and crying.

A short time ago Amer would have gone to his aid at once and befriended him, for was he not one of the Brothers of Assistance? But now he looked around and at his glance one of the company took the matter in hand.

"It is as well," thought Amer. "That is a work anyone can do, it does not require talent nor any special capability to attend to or help a child. Anyhow it is not my work, as it would be a waste of my powers. My business is to lead others: all these people are hanging on my words and I must not disappoint them."

The people who thronged around Amer were not all of the same position of life. Some of them wore more costly garments than others, and their manner and conversation proved them to be superior in culture and intellect.

An enemy with whom Amer had had to do while staying in Achshaph, took advantage of this fact to tempt him.

"It will be to your advantage," he whispered, "to make much of these influential people."

Amer did not recognize the voice of the enemy, so his sword lay idle in its scabbard, and he began to pay more attention to the cultured pilgrims than to the humbler ones among them. But at times he felt uneasy, and certain words he had read in the Guide Book recurred again and again to his mind: "'My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.'"

"But," whispered the enemy, when he found Amer thinking of these words, "to be popular with these influential people means that you will attract a crowd to hear your good advice, and so it will help rather than hinder the King's work." And so, for awhile, Amer was noticed to spend much of his time with them, to the neglect of the poorer among the pilgrims, and so well did his enemies do their work, that he was quite unconscious that the Radiant City was growing dim to his eyes.

But the young girl who had stayed to succour the child was before long seen hurrying after him with a face full of joy.

"Oh how good it was of you," she cried to Amer, "to let me do that bit of work. The poor little boy was sick and suffering. As I tended him and tried to dry his tears, a bright angel came from the King to take him to the Radiant City; and," she added in a soft, awed tone of voice, "the angel gave me a message from the King."

"' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.'"

Amer was silent and ashamed, while a sudden craving for his King's approbation took possession of him, and made him realize for the first time that the Radiant City had almost faded from his sight and that he was out of touch with it. It was with a start that he noticed its dimness. Was the stranger right then? Had he through pride and carelessness drifted into the hands of the enemy? He grasped his sword, which for some time had hung idle by his side, and cried out to his King.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CROSS IN THE VALLEY.

It was with grief that the band of pilgrims watched Amer out of sight as his path diverged from theirs.

"But," they said, "we could not expect to have his company long. The King has other plans for him than to help and lead such a small band of pilgrims."

"Have you noticed," said one of them, "that his advice has not been of late so ready for us, that he has grown graver and sadder?"

"Yes," answered his companion, "he seemed to lose his zeal and his assurance, and to be weary."

"It is tiring climbing to the heights," said a third, "as for me I would rather be led through the valleys. I like lowly paths best."

"Anyhow," said another, "we are saved the enemies that often attack those whose path leads them to the peaks. We are not so strong and brave as Amer, and would not be able to overcome them as he has done."

But Amer himself, as he began to descend into the valley through which his path lay, was filled with sadness.

Depression walked by his side, while the family of Morbids held fast hold of his ankles so that his footsteps dragged heavily. He had no courage to fight them or to resist them. So far away seemed the Radiant City and his King that he felt it was almost impossible to look up, and his path lay down, down, down, into the Valley of Humiliation.

He began now to remember how that good soldier, Heman, had shrunk away from anything in the form of praise, how he would never talk about himself, and was always on the watch against the enemy Pride.

He remembered how on the occasion when Belthiah had been asked the secret of her peaceful aspect, Heman had hastily looked around him in search of the enemy, warning her that he was listening for her answer.

He remembered too how, when imprisoned in the cave belonging to Spiritual Pride, he had read the rules that were to be followed by his soldiers, and that one of them was to persuade the man they were in league against, to talk of himself.

He recognized, too, the fact, that all the time he had been deceiving himself into believing that he was praising his King he was praising himself, and he recollected the words of the old pilgrim which at the time they were spoken had filled him with vexation: "Disappoint not our King."

As Amer descended into the valley, filled with these thoughts, a great hunger took possession of him, a hunger for the Presence of his King and for His approbation. After all, what did the flattery of man matter in comparison with one word of praise from his King. All those who had hung upon his lips, listening to his advice and to his experiences, had probably by now forgotten him: while the King, Whom he had neglected, was still loving him and thinking of him.

In the old days, Amer might have fancied that his sin had robbed him of the love of his King. But he knew his King better now, and he had read in his Guide Book, that "'neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature'" could separate him from the love of his King. So he knew that He must be still looking down in love and pity upon him; although his sins had come as a cloud to hide Him from his sight. And at the thought of His love, of His tender compassion, of His patience with him, notwithstanding his many falls, and the constant disappointments he had caused Him, a great longing took possession of his soul, and he cried out in the words of the Guide Book,

"'My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.' 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.'"

At last, as he reached the bottom of the valley, he perceived a cross standing in the midst of the path along which he had to tread, and with a cry of gratitude he flung himself beneath its shadow, and a great peace stole in upon him; the peace of sin forgiven.

Spiritual Pride's soldiers, who had been following at a distance, hoping for an opportunity of wounding him again, and anxious lest Amer should altogether escape them, at the sight of the cross and of the prostrate figure of the young soldier at its foot, felt that their power was almost gone, and leaving only one to keep watch at his elbow, and to give them a warning should a likely chance occur again of wounding him, turned back to worry and annoy some other poor traveller. But the man they had left behind felt his post to be a discouraging one, as Amer, on rising to continue his journey again, was on the watch, so that Spiritual Pride's emissary could not get near him.

Once however while Amer was resting on his journey, the enemy managed to gain his ear for a moment.

"How changed you are," he whispered, "you are greater than you have been before, because you are humbler. You never talk of yourself to the passers-by, but always manage to turn the conversation when it is about you. You are getting as humble as Heman."

Amer was rather drowsy when these thoughts entered his mind, but suddenly he recognised the source from which they came, and rising, fully awake again, he dealt such a blow at the enemy that he fell at his feet, dead.

Amer's love for his King had so grown, that now his one great longing and aim was to please Him, and remembering his King's words to the young girl who had tended the little boy across the dark river, and finding them written in his Guide Book, he looked out for the weakest and smallest of the pilgrims that came across his path, to help and to succour them. The people whom others passed by and neglected, became now dear to his heart as he recognised that in serving them he was serving the Great King.

And these did not often happen to be the noblest, the bravest, or the most interesting among the pilgrims, but just the reverse. Many of them would have been wholly uninteresting to Amer, had it not been for the fact that they belonged to his King, and were dear to Him.

"Amer has changed," said one of his friends who had listened with such rapt attention to his words of advice before he had trodden the Valley of Humiliation. "He does not attract crowds around him as formerly; do you not remember how they would walk by his side to catch every word that fell from his lips, even the noblest and the greatest of the pilgrims felt they could learn from him, and followed him."

"You are right," answered the person addressed, "he certainly has not such an audience as formerly, and is not so popular; that is to say people are not drawn to him as they used to be, but I am not sure that they are not drawn more to their King after talking with him."

"I have noticed," answered the other, "that many, after talking with him, soon leave him, but go away with their lips moving in prayer, and their eyes raised to Heaven."

"I am sure of it: I happened to walk beside him a short part of the journey not long ago, and I was struck, not by what he said, but by what he did. He never seemed to think of himself, but was always on the look-out to help others, but in such a quiet way that had I not been watching him closely, I should never have noticed it. It had the effect of making me go and try and do likewise."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE LAND OF INDIFFERENCE.

Belthiah and Iddo's path had led them for a long time across a flower-besprinkled plain. There were no hills to mount and no valleys to descend, and their path had for the most part been even and uneventful.

They had not however been free from the enemy. The little sprite, Worry, had more than once taken hold of Belthiah, and had left its wounds visible across her brow: and his comrade, Foreboding, had occasionally thrown her in the way of Despondency, a troublesome enemy, whom she had to fight bravely before overcoming; but she had had seasons of great happiness because of the conscious presence of the King.

Indolence more than once attacked her, specially when he saw her becoming interested in her Guide Book; for after Heman's advice not to depend upon her mother's study of the Book, but to study it for herself, Iddo had often consulted it: nevertheless she was by no means well versed in it, and Indolence so constantly attacked her with success that she made but poor progress. Neither did Discontent and his comrade Irritability leave her alone; sometimes Belthiah looked with anxiety at her child when she saw how easily she gave way to these enemies.

They were about half-way across the plain when their paths met those of another mother and daughter, with whom they joined company.

Iddo was delighted to have a companion, and the two girls for many a mile followed their parents hand in hand.

Adin,* for such was her name, had much to tell, having met many more people on her journey than had Iddo, and the latter learnt much from her of which she had been ignorant. Among other things, Adin told her that there were people who were apparently journeying towards the Radiant City with views quite contrary to her mother's.

"Times have changed," she said, "since our mothers started on their journey. People have come to the conclusion that much in which they believed is mistaken; that for instance it is not necessary to be so different to those who are not servants of the King; that certain things are lawful which in those days were considered dangerous, and that there are many ways after all to the Radiant City. The old-fashioned views with which our mothers started their journey are being more and more questioned and pushed on one side. We must move with the times," she added.

Iddo listened astonished. Loving and reverencing her mother, the girl resented the idea that her views could be anything but correct, and expostulated with Adin indignantly when she termed them old-fashioned. But by degrees she became accustomed to what she heard and began to wonder if there might not be some truth in it.

"So many that it is really quite peculiar to think like our mothers," was Adin's answer; then with a laugh she added, "there are a few however who think my friends and I are very far gone in the wrong way. We met an old man on the road, who walked some distance with us, and when he heard one of these new thinkers discussing the subject with mother, he cried out indignantly,"

"'Madam, I hear the enemy's voice in that of your friend. Beware, I beseech you.' And then he turned round on our friend and rated him soundly for what he had been saying, crying,"

"'It is false, it is false, there is one way and only one for each servant of the King, and the path is straight and narrow. The only safe plan is to believe in the Guide Book and not in the imagination of man.' He was so excited," added Adin, "that I was almost amused."

"Yes, he was so good to me when mother was in the Valley of Pain, when I had hard work to fight my enemies," said Iddo.

"Yes, he is a good man," said Adin, "one could not doubt that, but oh! how narrow! He is even more narrow than mother; apparently he thinks no one can possibly be in the right path unless they entirely agree with him in every detail. Even mother does not believe that. She thinks there are certain truths that are quite necessary for us all, but that truth may be many-sided, and though there is only one way, the King does not lead each one of His servants by exactly the same path."

"Yes," said Adin, "so mother thinks:" but that she was not very decided on the subject herself was evident from her hesitating answer, and Iddo began to feel a little perplexed and bewildered.

"Anyhow," added Adin, "people have extraordinarily different views about the Guide Book; some seem to be doing all they can to convince us of its untrustworthiness."

"Yes," said Iddo, "I shall never forget how I felt when I heard that for the first time. But you have not lost your faith in it have you?" she asked anxiously.

"Oh no," answered Adin, "but somehow I don't seem to think of it quite in the way that I did. You can't help being a little affected by things you hear."

Iddo suddenly looked around her. She had fancied she had heard a laugh close at her elbow. Was it the enemy? If so he had made himself invisible; but she felt they were on dangerous ground.

They had not noticed that their mothers were by now out of sight and that they had swerved a little from the path. They were so busy talking over these subjects, that it was some time before they realized with a start that they were no longer following their parents, and that they were passing some gates that led into a thickly populated town.

"Oh," cried Iddo, in distress, "we have lost our way!" But Adin was fascinated with the crowds of people that she saw through the gates that were standing wide open. She had not seen so many people congregated together for long, and they were apparently light-hearted and not troubled with the enemy, as they were laughing and talking as if they had not a care.

"Let us go in," she said, "they cannot be dangerous people or allied with the enemy, as they are not even noticing us, but look thoroughly happy and unconcerned. Come, don't be a coward," for Iddo had drawn back.

"But," she said, "I am quite sure mother has not gone that way, I should never find her there."

"How do you know?" said Adin, "why we are nearly sure to come across some other pilgrims who will do their best to help us to find our mothers. There is really nothing to fear."

Looking through the gate Iddo recognized the face of a pilgrim she had met in the way.

"It must be all right," she murmured as they passed through, "as she is here. Perhaps mother may after all have gone this way."

To Iddo's astonishment she recognized many a one whom she had noticed standing listening to the preacher on the heath, and there was something about them that did not exactly re-assure her; they seemed almost to be settling down in the town instead of walking through it, and what filled her with concern was the fact that as yet Adin and she had not found a trace of their own path.

"Will you tell us the name of this place?" said Iddo to a passer-by, who looked good-natured and kind.

"People do not like to be questioned," said Adin in a vexed tone of voice, "Come, don't be so worrying, let us anyhow enjoy ourselves while we are here. Look, there are many things to see. It must be a happy place, as almost every one is laughing."

"I have seen quite as many people yawning with weariness," said Iddo; but she quite forgot all the time to open her Guide Book for an explanation of the town, and after all there was so much to be seen and so many people to watch, that gradually the thought of the Radiant City grew dimmer, and the enemy who had led the girls into the town, felt he could safely leave them for a time, while he went to tempt another traveller on the road.

But every now and then Iddo's conscience awoke, and she begged for information of those about her.

"How is it," she asked one who had been joining company with her and her friend, "how is it that people seem so light-hearted here?"

"Because they don't worry about things they cannot understand," she answered lightly, "what is the good of worrying?"

"But don't they ever think of the possibility of not reaching the Radiant City if they stay too long in this place?" she asked.

"But why should you think that even now they are not on their way?" answered her companion. "I take for granted when I think of it at all that I am going there. We do nothing very wrong in this city. I do not think that the enemy is particularly busy here. We are thoroughly steady and respectable and good-natured. What more can you expect of us? Pray don't get it into your head that we are going to be left for ever outside the Radiant City."

"But," said Iddo, perplexed, "I thought every one who journeyed there had to put on armour. And you have none."

"This is such a peaceable place my dear, that we do not need armour. Indeed, some time ago a man passed through this town fully armed, he would not turn to the right hand or to the left. His path he said lay right across, and though we could not but respect and reverence him, as the light of the Radiant City was full on his face, when he had gone, we could not help smiling. What good was his armour to him here? No enemy was likely to attack him. We told him this, and his answer was, 'It is written in the Guide Book, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."' We asked him what guise the enemy was likely to put on to entrap unwary travellers."

"He told us the name of our land would answer that question, and then opening his Guide Book as he walked, he read aloud, '"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; . . . . Behold, I stand at the door and knock."'"

"Do you know the name of this man?" said Iddo, "it sounds like my friend Heman."

"I do not know his name, as he would not stop; even while he was consulting his Guide Book he was moving on for fear the enemy should attack him and keep him longer in the land. One could not but admire him as he was in such deadly earnest, and one could not but reverence him as he walked, as his whole bearing made one recognise that his King was great, and that the King's business required haste, as he told us. Moreover he had much tact, and those who spoke to him always listened respectfully, and indeed such was his influence as he passed through, that more than one followed him out of the town. I felt sure he would never be content to go out of it alone. In fact he was in it but not of it. But on thinking about it afterwards one could not but wonder that he thought it all of such vital importance. There are other ways of getting to the City besides his. As for me I prefer moving slowly. Enthusiasm does not appeal to me."

"His path lay right across you see," answered Adin quickly. "We are looking for our path and are as likely to find it in the town as out of it," for Adin had got imbued with the spirit of the land and felt it mattered little that they should find their path at once; why need they worry?

But Iddo, though outwardly satisfied with this argument, was inwardly anxious. The thought of her mother would intrude upon her even in the midst of some pleasurable excitement, with which they were well provided in the town. It is true at times a kind of lethargy crept over her and she would laugh with the rest, as if she had not a care or trouble. But she began to wonder why it was that her enemies apparently left her alone. Her sword was very rusty and the rest of her armour dim, but Adin assured her that they were not needed in this place.

But Iddo was unhappy. She began to pine for the sight of the Radiant City and for travellers who were definitely walking there, and above all things she grew home sick for the conscious Presence of the King Himself.

It is true that she had not enjoyed much of His Presence at any time, for she had depended so much upon what her mother had told her of Him, that she had not sought earnestly enough to know Him herself. But now she began to long for Him, and looked eagerly at the faces of passers-by, hoping that she might find at least one who was bound for the Radiant City.

But again and again she was disappointed. The Land of Indifference was the most unlikely of any place to come across those who had made any definite decision to go to the Radiant City, and many whom she questioned had really not thought about the matter at all.

"The subject does not interest me," they said, looking at her eager upturned face with surprise. "We are here to enjoy ourselves, and have no time to think of such matters." Others would answer her questions with the words, "'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.'"

Iddo began to wonder if she could possibly persuade Adin to leave the crowded town in search of their paths to the Radiant City. She felt she had not the courage to make the step alone, besides which she found Adin's companionship very attractive, and knew that unless she could take her friend with her she might never see her again. But Adin was far too engrossed with all she saw and heard to wish to leave her present quarters.

"There is plenty of time," she said, when Iddo timidly tried to persuade her that the only right and wise course to take was to leave the Land of Indifference. "Of course I suppose we shall eventually have to go, but I don't mean to go yet."

"Not at home?" cried Adin, "why what do you want? After all, you are not my sort, I fear. You are naturally dependent on others, and do not rejoice in your freedom. You should not have left your mother. I would try and find her if I were you, and then follow her step by step. You will never be happy if you don't," and Adin gave a somewhat scornful laugh.

"That is just what I say," said Adin, "you have no courage to carve out a line for yourself."

"But," said the girl, stung to resistance, "it has not been a question of my carving out a line for myself. It has really been with me a choice between following my mother and following you. And I do not know why I chose to follow you. My mother never led me astray."

"You had better go," said Adin, "and I will look for another friend who is bolder and more courageous, and who is not always thinking about uncomfortable things like you are. Besides I have come to the conclusion that I have made a mistake about myself all my life. The views you love are cramping. I like to be free. I am much more suited to the Land of Indifference than to the Radiant City. And I really doubt if I have ever been on the way there. I have just followed my mother, that is all."

"Then," said Iddo, "you mean to stay here? and to give up all thoughts of the King and the Radiant City?"

"The enemy must be very near to make you say that," said Iddo gravely. "Oh, don't give way to him. I am quite sure he is seeking your ruin."

"The enemy! Nonsense, child! Why, I find no one believes in the Devil now. The very mention of him raises a smile. Indeed, if you spoke to the inhabitants of this land as you are speaking to me, they would think you were daft. No one who has any learning ever thinks of him. He is a myth."

"Yes, and a great deal more; much that convinces me that it is quite mad to give up the pleasure of this place for the dream that you are following."

"Then," said Iddo, "this shows me how wrong I have been to have come here at all. If they say such things in this land it is no place for a servant of the King," and there was a firmness in her tone of voice and a look of resolute determination in her eyes, which Adin had never thought to see in her timid little friend. She liked her all the better for it.

"Put your scruples away," she urged, "and let us enjoy ourselves. I shall miss you if you go."

"It is so hard to leave you in this town," said Iddo, with tears in her eyes, "if only you would come too. Think what it will be to be shut out of the Radiant City at last!"

"There you are again! In such dead earnest! They are quite right here when they say that people who are on the way to the Radiant City are so terribly tiring. They will not take things as they find them or leave people as they find them, but will always be trying to save them from what they look upon as their doom. Why not let people believe what they like? So long as they are happy, why disturb them?"

"Of course you feel like that if you don't believe in anything strongly," answered Iddo, "but when you are sure that there is a Radiant City, and that those who will not listen to the Voice of the King inviting them there, will be shut out at last, it makes all the difference."

"Go, then, little believer," said Adin, "and try and save others, but don't save me, I beg you;" and with a laugh and nod the girl turned away, and Iddo felt that the last word had been said between them.

She had no friend now in the Land of Indifference, but stood alone. A feeling of great isolation took possession of her; but she knew it was through her own carelessness and fault that she was in such a plight, and she determined at once to leave the place. She had some difficulty in finding her way back. The streets were intricate, and so crowded with men and women that her progress was slow. But no sooner had she begun to retrace her steps in earnest, than she fancied she saw a glimmer of light in the far distance which she knew must come from the Radiant City.

But the enemy who had been watching her for some time, fearful now of losing his prey, began to dodge her steps, and the family of Morbids clung around her, so as to impede her progress.

"There is no use trying to get out of the land," they cried, "you have got too used to its ways. You will not find your mother, you don't deserve it. You have been playing in the enemy's country all this time, and now expect the King to welcome you back. He will never do it. It will take years to get rid of the marks of the land upon you," and by other words they did all they could to drag her back and discourage her.

Then the far worse enemy, Doubt, met her just as she was passing through the gate, and hurled his darts at her face, that for a time she was so blinded by him that no sight could she get of the Radiant City, and she began to wonder if Adin's words were true, and she had been following a mere dream—a mirage. But the very fierceness of the enemy's assault made Iddo cry the louder and the more persistently to the King, and though at first no answer seemed to be vouchsafed and she was only conscious of the sharp arrows of the enemy, she would not give in. The King was her only hope, and she knew He would help her.

"'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,'" and on looking up, she caught sight of a bright light shining down upon her, the light from the Radiant City. Then she fell on her knees and worshipped her King, and the enemy slunk away.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SINGERS.

Iddo had not gone far on the path, which, when out of the Land of Indifference she found lying before her, when she heard singing, and turning a corner she came in sight of a band of pilgrims going her way. The very sound of their voices inspired her with courage and happiness, and, as she followed closely behind them she heard the words of their song:

The words were new to Iddo, but the voice she recognized at once as that of Chisleu.

Chisleu turned upon her a face full of calm joy. There was such a change in it that had it not been for the voice she would hardly have recognized it. It was a gentle, chastened, yet radiant face.

"I have only lately learnt," he said, "I met these good people, and when I said I could not join them in their songs, they pointed out to me that as there was to be so much singing in the Radiant City it was as well to learn on the journey. And it is astonishing how it helps the journey, it seems another thing to me. And moreover I find it does not only make things easier, but in the Guide Book we are commanded to sing and be joyful. I never realized that before."

"Does the King then so much like us to sing that he has written about it in the Guide Book?" said Iddo.

"Yes, I find He has. I had no idea that it was my duty to be happy as well as my pleasure. But I find it written there,"

"'Rejoice evermore.' 'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' 'Is any merry? let him sing psalms.' I only wish I had known this before."

"For two reasons. One reason being, that, as I say, it makes all the difference in the journey, as the enemy does not like to hear it and it keeps him away. There is nothing that baffles him more I believe than to hear the soldiers singing one of the songs of the Radiant City. And when I have an idea he is near and wants me to listen to him, I cry, 'May Jesus Christ be praised,' and he slinks away. He finds the gloomy soldier by far the easier prey, I fancy, than those who sing. Why it has been so all along."

"In the Guide Book we read about one of the armies of the Lord going to meet a strong enemy. And it says when the Lord's soldiers began to sing the enemy was smitten."

"My other reason is that I feel I have done so much harm by my gloominess. A lot of young people whom I might have helped have run away when they have seen me coming, just because I felt it my duty to pick holes in them and to be stern, and to judge them. Now if they had found me singing, who knows but they might have been helped on their journey. Every young thing likes music and merriment. And then there is a third reason which I forgot and which is more important even than the others."

"Because a Master is judged by his servants, and a King by his subjects. And if they see that the soldiers and servants of the Great King of the Radiant City are cheerful and happy, they naturally think it must be the service of the King that makes them so. Child," he added, "I feel ashamed when I think of what people must have thought of my King, when they heard my censorious words and looked at my gloomy, angry face. I, of all His servants, ought to rejoice."

"Why? Because He has done great things for me. I have done so much harm on the road, made so many mistakes, even once went so far as to doubt His love, thinking He had forgotten me, while all the time He was looking down upon me in love and tenderness, and sent my good friend Amer at last to persuade me of this. I, of all men, should be full of joy and thankfulness."

"Aye! sure enough you should. Have you nothing to be thankful for?" Even as he spoke, a little enemy crept out of the grass at his feet and looked at him.

For a moment Chisleu was taken so much by surprise, as he was not expecting one, that he started. Then he recognized him as one of a band of rebels whose names are Conceit, Self-Satisfaction, and Complacency, and at once he drew his sword, while at the same time he sang "'May Jesus Christ be praised,'" and at the sound of his singing and the sight of his sword, the enemy slunk away.

"Do you see that fellow?" asked Chisleu of Iddo, "I know him and his comrades of old. I think he has been particularly troublesome since I have learnt to sing, as I don't remember meeting him so often in the old days. It is because he hates me singing the King's songs. I expect," he added, "he looks out for every occasion to turn my song to his own advantage. I see I must be on the watch against him."

"I did not see the enemy," said Iddo, "I wonder why he attacked you while you were helping me."

"Perhaps just because I was helping you: and after all," added Chisleu thoughtfully, "if ever there is a chance for the enemy it is when we are talking of ourselves. We have to do it occasionally, I suppose, but very occasionally, and then we must remember that we do it at our own peril. Sometimes it is a duty to brave this danger for the sake of another; but often we think we are braving it for another's sake, while all the time it is for our own sake, that we may be thought well of, or in a spirit of self-congratulation. You see the words of the Guide Book are true,"

"But," said Iddo, "you always seem to me so good, surely there is no need for you to be so watchful."

"My child, don't do the enemy's work. He failed just now, and so he is trying to catch me through your lips. Never flatter."

Iddo was startled, and could not help comparing the intense earnestness of the soldier of the King, with the utter indifference she had been impressed with in the land she had left: and at the same time, Chisleu's face having regained its calm joy, she could not but contrast the peace and happiness written so plainly there and in the faces of the other pilgrims, who were walking so merrily on in front of her, with the artificial merriment of that land.

Everyone there had seemed to her, the more she knew them, to be making amusement their work rather than their recreation. She was sure it was sometimes real hard work. And when the excitement was over she had often seen a look of weariness on the faces of those who had worked the hardest to procure the fun.

Iddo found that the pilgrims' songs were not all directly about the Radiant City and its King. They sang about the beauties of the way, of the flowers the King had raised to cheer them, of the trees He had planted to give them shade, of the changing sky overhead, and the sweet-scented winds about them; of the stars and sun the King had created to give them light on the way, of the ever-moving sea, of which they often caught glimpses, of all the wonders of nature; they sang also of the beauty of love, of acts of heroism, of thoughts too deep for words, and when Iddo expressed some surprise at what she heard, Chisleu reminded her of the words in the Guide Book,

"'The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.'"

Iddo was much struck by noticing the great change in Chisleu, how his voice had softened, and his mind expanded, and how, instead of thinking that every one was in the wrong, he constantly confessed that he was in the wrong himself, and imputed good motives to people where others found it difficult to do so.

But every now and then the old enemies got the better of him; he would suddenly irritably interrupt the pilgrims in their songs, with the complaint that they were singing out of tune, or too fast for the newcomers, or had put the wrong tune to the words. And now and then his irritability would become infectious, so that he would suddenly awake to the fact that he had been the means of discord.

But whenever this happened he confessed his sin so humbly, that the enemy, who had done what he could to make him inconsistent, had to retreat, with the knowledge that Chisleu's quick confession of sin, instead of resulting in confusion and in making an occasion for other enemies to run in, had been the means of shaming some of the pilgrims who had given way, and had caused them to resist the enemy.

"Teach you! Nay, you must go to the King Himself for that. We can only sing when He teaches us."

When Iddo next met her mother she had learnt to sing, and her mother thought her voice the sweetest she had ever heard. She was not alone in her opinion. Many a one was cheered on his way to the Radiant City by the sound of it. Some who had fallen on the road, being hard pressed by the enemy, and the victims of Despondency or Despair, lifted up their heads, as Iddo's voice caught their ears, while others who were on the eve of wandering from the right path, resolutely turned away from the enemy who was tempting them. For Iddo sang of the wonderful love of the King, Who had died for them, and was even then watching them, and of the glory and brightness of the Radiant City to which they were travelling. And she sang moreover of the Coming of the King, to which she was looking forward now with ardent expectation. And the words she sang were these:—

One day in the midst of her singing, Iddo felt her mother, with whom she was walking hand in hand, step forward alone, towards a river running at the foot of the hill, which the girl had not noticed. A sudden panic of apprehension seized her.

"Mother, Mother," she cried: but even as she spoke, her mother turned round with a radiant smile on her face, and, waving farewell to her child stepped into the waters with a song on her lips.

For a time she lay quite still, her face hidden in the long grass, her hands outstretched in misery. Then suddenly across the hills came the voices of the pilgrims singing:—

Gradually the words of the beautiful song brought comfort and healing to her heart, and before long her voice was heard, sweet and true, as she walked through the Valley of the Shadow, for she could be silent no longer, as the King Himself had taught her to sing—even songs in the night.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE BRINK OF THE RIVER.

Amer's path had now for some time led him by the banks of the river that flowed through the Valley of the Shadows. In its shadows he found many waiting for the King's guard to take them across, and going in and out among them, Amer did what he could to remind them of the King's love and of His mercy.

He had not much time to think now of his own dangers and difficulties, indeed he had to leave the keeping of his soul to his faithful Creator and King; and he was surrounded with an invisible army of angels, who warded the enemy off again and again when he was engaged with those he was seeking to comfort.

Every now and then, however, he found himself gripped by the enemies who are peculiarly busy with those soldiers who are spending their lives in working for others.

When Amer saw some of the pilgrims, as they passed through the valley, paying but scant notice (because wrapped up in their own soul's welfare) to those in hopeless misery who were on the borders of the river, he found himself again and again passing a hard judgment on their conduct, and criticising their selfishness, forgetting that there had been a time in his own history, when his thoughts had been so engaged with the health of his own soul, that he had had no eyes to see the needs of others.

Then there were some who did what they could to help, but whose help was so unwise in Amer's eyes, and so far from being profitable, that the enemy, Impatience, took hold of him, and pushed him to the ground more than once. He had in fact, constantly to be reminding himself of the words in the Guide Book,

"'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.'" And when he felt conscious of these enemies he could only cry to his King, as he drew out his sword, and his cry was always heard and answered.

Amer's voice was the last that many a pilgrim heard this side of the dark river.

He had been in the Valley for some time when he suddenly heard his name spoken by a voice that made his heart beat, and he saw, standing on the very brink of the river, Gabrielle, but so altered that he hardly recognized her. Indeed, though she looked so pale and thin that he felt she must be very near the end of her journey, the expression of her face was so unlike that he had ever seen upon it that he was amazed; it reminded him of the light that he had noticed on the face of Heman as he passed to the Radiant City.

"You did not expect to meet me on the journey," she said, as he grasped her hands, "but Amer, when I saw you were in such dead earnest and would not give up the Radiant City or your King even for me, I felt there must be some truth in what others told me was a mere legend, and I could not rest till I had set out on the same journey."

"I never married him," she answered, "how could I when once I had known you. When I told you I should, I said it out of pique, I never really intended to, though my father did all he could to persuade me. But I could not rest till I had passed through the East Gate. But oh! my journey has been so short! I have had such a little time in which to prove my loyalty to my King. Just a few short weeks! And now I have to cross the River. How can I be sure that the King will receive me after forgetting Him for so long? I feel the enemy Doubt is doing what he can to wrench my soul away from Him."

Amer looked at the River and noticed that across it lay the shadow of the Cross, as it had done during the passing of Heman.

"Dearest," he said, "you must get beneath the Cross, then Doubt will fly from you."

"As much for you as for the warrior who for years has fought under the King's banner."

"Help me to get within its shadow," she pleaded: and Amer, putting his arm around her, gently moved her in its direction, and as she stood beneath its shadow, he saw a peace steal across her face.

"I think my feet have touched the brink," she whispered, "I wish, oh! I wish, you were coming too."

"I will not leave you till the King has hold of your hand," said Amer, as her head sunk on his breast.

"'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.' 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'"

"Then He must have come to save me," said Gabrielle, but her words were so faint that Amer could scarcely hear them.

"It is the King," she said, while a radiance from the City lighted her face, "He is calling to me," and Amer, as he loosed his hold of her, saw her step down into the cold waters and stretch out her hand to some Invisible One.

Then, as he stood still as if turned to stone, he suddenly fell to the ground, for an enemy whom he had never met before had fallen upon him. Rebellion had thrown his arrow successfully at him, and now stood over his fallen prey so that he was unable to rise. For the time his shadow was so deep and dark that Amer nearly lost the sight of the Radiant City: and so well did Rebellion do his work that his victim lay without so much as an effort to rid himself of him. He could only think of the one he had found but to lose again, and was full of hard thoughts of the way by which he was being led. He could not live without Gabrielle, he cried. So successfully had he hitherto managed to banish her from his thoughts, that he had imagined that his love for her could never again be roused to its full heat. But now that he had once more seen her, had looked into her eyes, had heard her voice, and had found her so infinitely sweeter than he could have pictured, he felt his will rise up against the will of his King, and so lay unresistingly in the grip of Rebellion. His strength all seemed to have vanished, his work to have lost its interest, his path impossible to tread any longer.

It was the band of singing pilgrims, Iddo and Chisleu amongst them, praising, as they passed on the heights above the Dark Valley.

Then, with a sudden spring, Amer leapt up, and drawing his sword, he fought. Fought in the strength of his King, crying out all the time for help to overcome. And the enemy, taken by surprise, and perceiving that this soldier, who had looked so weak and helpless, was now resolved to conquer, gradually drew back, till a favourable moment came to turn and fly.

Then once more Amer took up his work in the Valley, and found that the thought of Gabrielle having passed to the Radiant City made it seem nearer to him than ever before, and recognized the fact that though divided from him by the River, she was really much closer to him than she had ever been while in the Dark City.

CHAPTER XVII.

"TILL HE COME."

Amer's path now led him across a plain, it was bare and treeless, but every now and then he came by green pastures and still waters and was refreshed on his monotonous journey. He was able to hold communion too with his King, and though this part of his journey was free from any special incident, he learnt lessons of trust and patience which he might not have been able to learn in the stress and noise of hard warfare. It was not long before he came to a town, the inhabitants of which struck him as looking more miserable than those he had ever met before.

"It is the City of Despair," he answered, with a fierce and angry stare. "You have but to look around you to learn its name."

Some were sitting by the road side with their heads bowed in their hands, the picture of misery; others were fast asleep, and Amer noticed that at the head and feet of these, little black imps were sitting keeping guard, so that at the least sign of waking they might administer narcotics and soothe them off to sleep again; some were raging and roaring about the streets, while others looked on laughing loudly, but their laughter rang hollow and suggested more misery than the sobs that issued from their fellows.

Amer found he was not the only soldier of the King who had entered the City of Despair. Some were there before him who had, like him, been struck with its horror and misery, and were fighting with all their might the evil spirits which were enslaving so many.

"It means," said one of his fellow soldiers, "that hundreds in this place have either not heard of our King or hearing of Him will have nothing to do with Him; and the Devil and his angels are doing their best to shut their ears and to lull them off into the sleep of death, so that the Good News may never reach them. We are here, and you, my friend, have been sent here, to proclaim the Good News and to fight the enemy that is destroying these people, soul and body; and the fight is long and fierce. We need to watch and we need to pray, and to hold close communion with our King. For we find the enemy will suddenly turn upon us and try and rend us, when he sees us bent upon destroying his work here and that we are resolved to do what we can to liberate his slaves. It is the greatest honour anyone can have to be led to work in this City, for it is in the forefront of the battle. But remember, friend, you must pray, you must pray."

Then a great yearning came into the heart of Amer to tell these people of the King of the Radiant City, and he began to go up and down the streets proclaiming the Good News.

Many a one looked up at him with eyes full of misery, to shake their heads with the cry,

"Nay," said Amer, "it is the King Himself Who has sent me to you. He would never have sent me had He not been willing to receive you."

"We do not wish to find out what we have lost: leave us alone, man, we have chosen our path and must stick to it," while some who had never heard of the King and His mercy, laughed unbelievingly.

"Had your story been true we should have been told about it long ago," they said. "Nobody ever told us. Would people who have known such good news for years never have taken the trouble to come and help us in our misery if they knew it to be true?"

But every now and then Amer would meet one whose eyes would follow him with a hungry expression visible in them, as he went about proclaiming the Good News, and then he knew that his efforts were not in vain, and he would tell him of the Great King Who had died on the Cross to save him and to give deliverance from the enemy.

"We will fight the enemy together," Amer would say, and he would fall on his knees and pray.

His fellow soldiers had been right when they had told him that the warfare would be fierce and long; it needed all his strength not to give way, and his enemies were watching him determined to make him fall.

"Pity thyself," they would whisper in his ear, "pity thyself, you are losing strength, the battle is too hard, others can do the work, why put yourself into such danger?" Then Pride would murmur,

"You of all people must persevere, you are by far the most successful worker here. No one works so hard as you, and people will listen to you who turn a deaf ear to the other soldiers." Amer found this enemy even more difficult to overcome than the others, and he knew him to be the more dangerous, for if he induced him to continue his work for any other motive than that of obedience to his King, it would be ruined.

"Give it all up," he cried, "it is useless, these people are too far gone in wickedness, your efforts are quite in vain."

All these enemies attacked Amer while he was busy about his work, and often he found when he was doing his utmost to break the chains of some poor slave, he would receive a blow from an unseen hand, and it was only by crying to his King fur help that he was able to overcome.

Then his fellow-workers would quite unconsciously be used of the enemy to tempt him.

For these friends sometimes surprised him. Although called by their King to do this work some of them seemed to look upon it rather lightly. They did not apparently feel bound to do it with all their might, neither did they seem to understand Amer's zeal and earnestness.

"We cannot all work like you," they would say to him, "it would be foolish on our part if we did. We should soon break up and not be able to work at all. We really think you tire yourself out with your efforts, and they are often in vain."

"But the people are dying around us," said Amer, "and we are only here to work."

"But there is no cause for such extraordinary self-denial as you seem to think," they said. "You make us feel ashamed of ourselves. Besides you are injuring your health. You are working far too hard." And Amer, listening, recognized the voices of more enemies than one; but he still worked on, and had the joy of leading many a one out of the City of Despair into the sunshine of the road to the Radiant City.

And so he worked on, fighting, praying, and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom: and as he worked a wonderful radiance began to light up his face. It was the light of the Radiant City that lay upon it. The people among whom he laboured became aware of it.

"I think," they said, "he must be growing like the King he is always telling us about, Who is so loving and merciful."

"What a beautiful character he has," they said, "he puts us all to shame, but never speaks as if he were the least more faithful or earnest than we are. He is one of the humblest men we have ever come across."

"If I had met that man some twenty years ago," said the one whom Amer had seen with such a very miserable face, on entering the City, "he might have been the saving of me. It is what the man does that makes me half inclined to believe in what he says."

And Amer worked on quite unconscious of the remarks of people about him. What, however, he was conscious of, was that every now and then he caught a gleam of a river in the distance. At first it had somewhat startled him, but as day by day he seemed to be drawing nearer he would look at it earnestly. Was his time approaching to cross it?

He was very conscious now of a Presence by his side, and the companionship of this Presence kept him in peace and joy. But as the River drew near the enemy also approached to make one more effort to capture this brave soldier of the King. Doubt would remind him of some of the words he had listened to on the heath about the Guide Book, but finding that Amer no sooner became aware of his presence than he called upon the King for help and drew out his sword to do combat, he tried another plan. He would haunt his memory with sins he had committed in the City of Punon before he had begun his journey, sins which had been forgiven years ago, questioning him as to how he dared to hope for mercy, considering he had done things of which he was now so ashamed.

But Amer was able by this time to distinguish between the voices from the Radiant City and the voices of the enemy, and he clasped his breastplate the closer; besides which he noticed that the shadow of a Cross was always at hand, and when the enemy taunted him and tried to make him doubt his King's love and forgiveness, he flung himself beneath it, and when fighting under its shadow he always came off conqueror. At this time too he kept looking towards the Radiant City with the words:—

As he drew nearer the River he thought less about it and more of the City beyond it. At times he almost fancied he could hear the songs of triumph that he knew were being sung there in honour of his King; and many a time when utterly weary he lay down to sleep, he would dream of it, of its streets of gold, and gates of pearl, and above all of the King, Who was the Light thereof.

When Iddo, whose path had led her with Chisleu and the other singing pilgrims into the City of Despair, went up and down its streets singing of the King, Amer would look up and smile, adding his voice to hers. But when alone, the words most often on the lips of this good soldier, were those telling of his need and of the King's power to supply the need.

Those who were with Amer noticed how full of love and patience he now was: how the enemy, Irritability, which had so often given him a blow on his lips, was silent: how he never judged unkindly or spoke ill of people, but like his Master and King was filled with a consuming pity for them.

But if his friends had had eyes to see, they would have been aware of a crowd of evil spirits on the watch for him, who would surely have worked him ill had he not been in such constant communion with his King. As it was they could never get near him, for the Presence of his King was around him like a wall of fire, and a shadow of a Cross enveloped him.

Amer remembered at times his question to the Ambassador when he had started on his journey, as to whether it was the lot of every soldier to be harried at the end, as was Heman the Brave; and every now and then, when for a moment he lost sight of his King, Fear crept up, hoping to gain possession of him; but so used was he now to confide his thoughts to his King, that Fear could get no more than a sudden look at the man he hoped to conquer. Indeed, the enemies that had crowded so hopefully around him when they were aware of how near Amer was to crossing the River, had to be content with looking at him from a distance, and gradually, as they noticed that the nearer he drew to the River, the brighter and more peaceful grew the expression of his face, they lost hope.

Then it was, that while in the act of cheering a fellow pilgrim, Amer heard his name called, and, with the light of the Radiant City on his brow and his King's name on his lips, he plunged without fear into the cold waters to fall at the feet of his King.

And Iddo, seeing them, turned away with tears in her eyes, for he had been as a brother to her. Then, after a moment, she stood erect and strong, while the light from the Radiant City fell on her face.

"Yes, till He come," answered Chisleu, and then they both went back into the City of Despair to work and to watch,

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Radiant City

THE RADIANT CITY,

AN ALLEGORY

BY

EVELYN R. GARRATT,

AUTHOR OF "The Cry," "The Old Square Pew," "Meg of the Heather," etc.

WITH PREFACE

BY THE

REV. PREBENDARY FOX.

Third Edition (Second Impression).

Tenth Thousand.

IPSWICH: SMITHS, PUBLISHERS, SUITALL.

LONDON: SIMPKIN MARSHALL, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1924.

(Copyright.)

SMITHS,

PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, AND PUBLISHERS.

SUITALL, IPSWICH.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.