{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70976/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70976","id":"gutenberg_70976","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70976","summary":null,"tags":["Allegories","Category: Novels","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian fiction","Christian life","Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages -- Fiction"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n\n\n                      THE RADIANT CITY,\n                         AN ALLEGORY\n\n\n                             BY\n                     EVELYN R. GARRATT,\n\nAUTHOR OF \"The Cry,\" \"The Old Square Pew,\" \"Meg of the Heather,\" etc.\n\n\n\n                        WITH PREFACE\n\n                           BY THE\n\n                    REV. PREBENDARY FOX.\n\n\n            Third Edition (Second Impression).\n                       Tenth Thousand.\n\n\n\n           IPSWICH: SMITHS, PUBLISHERS, SUITALL.\n      LONDON: SIMPKIN MARSHALL, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.\n\n                           1924.\n\n                       (Copyright.)\n\n\n\nTHE RADIANT CITY.\n\n\nFirst Edition, Nov. 3, 1911, First Thousand.\n\nSecond Edition, Aug. 1, 1913, Third Thousand.\n\nThird Edition, 2/-, May 2, 1922, Fifth Thousand.\n\nFourth Edition, Edition de Luxe, 2/6, Jan. 21, 1923.\n\nThird Edition (Second Impression), 2/-, Sept. 20, 1924, Tenth Thousand.\n\nFifth Edition, Illustrated, 3/-, Oct. 1, 1924.\n\n\n\n                        SMITHS,\n        PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, AND PUBLISHERS.\n                  SUITALL, IPSWICH.\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.\n\nThough the following pages, at the first glance, naturally recall\nthe famous allegory, which after two and a half centuries is still\na world-wide classic, the reader will at once perceive an originality\nof treatment and an adaptation to modern conditions which give Miss\nGarratt's book a character and usefulness of its own. The writer shows\nan intelligent perception of the spiritual dangers in the present day,\nand describes how they may be met by the same weapons as those which\ngave the victory so often to Christian and Faithful. The characters\nare drawn with skill, and the dangers which befall the travellers on\ntheir way to the Radiant City, are those which probably the conscience\nof every reader will recognize. An important and valuable feature is\nthe constant reference to the \"Guide Book.\" It has just the teaching\nto be put into the hands of young people entering life, and yet has\nample lessons for their elders.\n\nH. E. Fox.\n\n\n\n    \"It shone with a radiance like that of a very precious\n        stone, such as Jasper, bright and transparent.\"\n\n                         \u2014Rev. xxi. II. (Weymouth Version).\n\n\n\n     \"Fight the good fight with all thy might,\n      Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right,\n      Lay hold on life, and it shall be\n      Thy joy and crown eternally.\"\n\n      \"Run the straight race through God's good grace,\n      Lift up thine eyes and seek His face,\n      Life with its way before us lies,\n      Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.\"\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n  CHAPTER I. THE BANQUET\n\n  CHAPTER II. THE VOICE\n\n  CHAPTER III. THE KING'S MARK\n\n  CHAPTER IV. DONNING THE ARMOUR\n\n  CHAPTER V. ENEMIES OF THE ROAD\n\n  CHAPTER VI. THE BATTLE OF THE BOOK\n\n  CHAPTER VII. THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT\n\n  CHAPTER VIII. STRAYING FROM THE PATH\n\n  CHAPTER IX. A FIERCE CONFLICT\n\n  CHAPTER X. THE PASSING OF HEMAN\n\n  CHAPTER XI. THE DARK FOREST\n\n  CHAPTER XII. DANGEROUS HEIGHTS\n\n  CHAPTER XIII. THE CROSS IN THE VALLEY\n\n  CHAPTER XIV. THE LAND OF INDIFFERENCE\n\n  CHAPTER XV. THE SINGERS\n\n  CHAPTER XVI. THE BRINK OF THE RIVER\n\n  CHAPTER XVII. \"TILL HE COME\"\n\n\n\nTHE RADIANT CITY.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE BANQUET\n\nDarkness had settled down upon the town of Punon.* The streets, which\nwere crowded with men and women, were only lit by unsatisfactory lamps,\nwhich made the darkness more visible, and cast gloomy shadows on every\nside. The sound of revelry which issued from open doors was in strange\ncontrast with the sad gloomy faces of many of the passers-by.\n\nSome looked hopeless and dreary, as if no gleam of sunshine had ever\npenetrated their souls; others wore an expression of deep despair,\nwhich did not change even when the passers-by looked at them with\namusement, flinging a derisive laugh after them as they twitted them\nwith their misery. For among the many were those who did not seem\nconscious of the gloom, or were indifferent to it, and these went by\ngaily chatting, intent on their business or pleasure.\n\n  * Darkness.\n\nA sound of music and revelry issued from the window of a large building\nin one of the principal streets, and through the open door could be\nseen a number of people seated around a table laden with luxuries of\nall kinds, and gleaming with silver and glass.\n\nAt its head sat a young man whose expression of face did not exactly\nharmonize with his gay surroundings, or with the words that fell\nfrom his lips, for the words were full of mirth and jollity, and\ncaused hilarious laughter from the assembled guests, among whom he\nwas evidently a favourite. There was an amount of daring in his\nconversation that made the elders occasionally shake their heads as\nif only half approving of what they heard, but which caused cheers of\napprobation from the younger members of the community.\n\n\"Amer is not improving,\" said one of the guests in a low voice to his\nneighbour, \"and now that he is on his way to make such a fortune no\ndoubt he will grow more arrogant than he is already.\"\n\n\"Nevertheless, he is a nice fellow, and a great favourite,\" answered\nthe one addressed, \"and he has a generous hand so that he will share\nhis fortune with his friends. There is something taking about the lad.\"\n\n\"I don't understand him,\" said the first speaker, \"his face belies\nhis words, from his conversation you would think him the happiest man\nalive, but his eyes tell a different tale.\"\n\nHis friend sighed heavily.\n\n\"Is there truly a happy man in this dark place?\" he asked sadly, \"to my\nmind all is vanity and vexation of spirit.\"\n\n\"Away with pessimism,\" cried the other, \"look! our host demands silence\nwhile he delivers himself of the speech which if I mistake not he has\nbeen preparing for the occasion ever since he came of age. Hark! what\nis he saying?\"\n\nBut the lad's first words were drowned by the prolonged cheers and\nclanging of the glasses of his guests, and he had to wait patiently for\na hearing. And when at last the speech was made it was disappointing to\nsome who had expected greater things from the speaker. He was evidently\nnot in good form, for he paused again and again with a far away look in\nhis eyes as if he heard some voice calling him, and had difficulty in\nconcentrating his attention. As he closed however with a joke amid the\ncheers of his companions, there was suddenly a dead silence, as across\nthe street came the loud and piercing sound of a trumpet.\n\n\"It is the herald again,\" someone exclaimed.\n\n\"Aye, It is the herald! He won't leave us alone, what do we want with\nhim here?\" grumbled another.\n\n\"He's enough to throw a gloom over the merriest feast,\" cried a third.\n\n\"Right you are. I could not sleep the other night for thinking of his\nprophecies about Punon. All are doomed to death who stay here,\" said\nthe first speaker.\n\n\"We need not believe every fool who prates,\" cried Amer, \"come and\nlet's hear the man again and get some fun by questioning him as to the\ntruth of his words.\"\n\n\"'Why, Amer, I began to think you half believed in him,\" laughed one of\nhis companions as a stir began and a hasty exit was made from the house.\n\nThe herald was standing in the market-place.\n\n\"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,\"\nhe cried.\n\nAmer found his way to the front of the crowd in the masterful manner\nthat was natural to him, his satellites surrounding him on every side.\n\nAnd then began a volley of mocking questions and raillery, led by\nAmer and his companions, and aided by the lighter spirits among\nthose present. Some of the questions the herald answered quietly and\npatiently, others he answered not at all, but stood and looked at the\nyoung men with sorrow and deep compassion written across his face. At\nlast seeing that the people were demoralized by this band of intruders,\nhe turned quietly away, saying in a solemn voice that rang loud and\nclear above the noise of the crowd\u2014\n\n\"Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.\"\n\nSlowly the crowd broke up, and Amer's friends parted from him with\nlaughter and congratulations as to the success of his banquet, leaving\nhim at last to find his way home alone.\n\n\"Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.\"\n\nThe words rang in the lad's head. The feast, his companions, the fun,\nall forgotten: the words, together with the gentle sternness of the\nface of the herald, alone filling his mind.\n\n\"Ah!\" he cried, \"It is the Voice again. I hoped it was stifled! I will\nnot listen.\"\n\nBut the words would not leave him alone.\n\nAmer had heard them the day before, from the lips of the herald, who\nhad looked him straight in the face with his penetrating eyes, and they\nhad cast a strange kind of spell over him. He had hoped that his coming\nof age feast would have dispelled the remembrance of them, but even in\nthe middle of the speech, with which he had taken such pains, the Voice\nhad been heard, causing him to stammer and forget what he had intended\nto say.\n\nThe Voice was insistent, compelling.\n\nSuddenly a sweet vision met his eyes.\n\nAt the gate of a house he was passing stood a young girl dressed in\nwhite, who, at the sight of him, ran forward with outstretched hands.\n\n\"Amer,\" she cried, \"have you had a happy day, has the feast gone off\nwell?\"\n\nFor the moment, at the touch of her hands and the sight of her sweet\neyes, even the Voice was forgotten, and Amer eagerly told her of the\ndelight of his companions and of the nice words they had said to him,\nbut in answering her eager questions as to his speech, he paused in\nslight confusion.\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"I did not excel as I had hoped. It was lame and I was\nhesitating.\"\n\n\"But why?\" cried Gabrielle, \"when you rehearsed it to me you never\npaused for a word; how was it, Amer?\"\n\n\"I will tell you some day,\" he answered, \"perhaps to-morrow.\"\n\nHe had an instinctive feeling that Gabrielle would not understand him\nor sympathize with his strange thoughts.\n\nGabrielle pouted, but his refusal was soon forgotten and they walked\ntowards the house hand in hand.\n\nHer eyes shone as stars in the gloom and her smile was better than\nsunshine to the lad who loved her with his whole soul. So happy was he\nin her presence that the sad forebodings that had interfered even with\nthe joy of his feast were forgotten. They talked of the doings of the\nday; of to-morrow, when he was to be made partner in a great business\ntransaction which promised an immense return; of the possibility of\nsoon being able to fix upon the day which was to crown their love and\nto make them man and wife; and at last, with a joyful wave of the hand,\nhe parted from her, crying\u2014\n\n\"To-morrow, Gabrielle, we will meet again, to-morrow.\"\n\nBut no sooner had he left her to make his way towards his own home than\nhis gay spirits departed, and the sound of the Voice seemed to thunder\nin his ear\u2014\n\n\"Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.\"\n\nSuddenly Amer turned round and making his way back towards the\nmarket-place, he enquired where he could find the herald.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE VOICE.\n\n\"The boy is mad,\" cried Anthony Hershall, bringing down his fist with\nan angry movement on to his knee, \"the herald has turned his head.\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked his wife anxiously, as she looked up at her\nhusband, who had just come in from his ride and had sat down heavily\non the large chair by the fire.\n\n\"What is it?\" he repeated fiercely, \"why he refuses to have anything to\ndo with the business I have bought for him, and declares he must start\nat once for the Radiant City. Radiant City, indeed! Why everyone knows\nthat the herald is no true prophet; there is no such place. Belief in\nit has long ago vanished.\"\n\n\"It is only a passing fancy of the boy's,\" said his wife, \"he said\nsomething to me about it last night, but I made little of it, and told\nhim to get rid of the nonsense as soon as he could. He won't be driven,\nAnthony; we can only persuade him. It has been so with him ever since\nhe was a child; the boy will not be talked out of it.\"\n\n\"Aye, he was always a stubborn lad and went his own way; but this is\npassing all bounds, after the trouble I have taken to set him up in\nlife, and with the prospect of making a large fortune.\"\n\n\"Has he scruples about the business, then?\"\n\n\"Scruples? He says he will have nothing to do with it; that he\nwould be getting rich at the expense of other men's souls, or some\nsuch nonsense. Besides which he is starting out at once for the\nRadiant City.\"\n\n\"He won't do that,\" said his wife, smiling, \"he won't leave Gabrielle,\nand certainly Gabrielle is not one to go on that mad journey with him.\nShe is too fond of Punon. Do not fear, Anthony. The boy is devoted\nheart and soul to Gabrielle, and nothing would induce him to give her\nup.\"\n\n\"Mark my word, she will go with him. A woman is easily persuaded by the\nman she loves.\"\n\n\"Gabrielle is much too fond of her comforts and luxuries to give them\nup even for Amer. She loves herself better than him; I have noticed\nthis in a hundred ways. No, she will never start on that long and\nhazardous journey, and if the boy does he will have to go without her.\nIt will be hard for him, poor lad, if he keeps to his resolution,\nbut he won't.\"\n\nHalf comforted, her husband rose up, determined to seek his son once\nmore and to bring before him all the strongest arguments he could think\nof to turn his mind before it was too late.\n\nHis wife let her work drop on to her knee after he had left the room,\nand her eyes peered out into the twilight with a somewhat mournful\nexpression in them.\n\nSo Amer, poor boy, was going through all the agony of mind that had\nonce been hers. Once, long, long ago, she herself had heard the Voice.\nThe remembrance of strange longings, strange fears, began to haunt\nher soul. She had believed in the Radiant City in those days, and had\nmore than once made up her mind to journey towards it, but something\nhad always come in the way to induce her to put off the decision; some\nimportant engagement in the town which she felt she could not give up;\nsome friend who had influenced her to postpone thinking about it for at\nleast a month or two; some occupation which she could not forsake even\nfor the Radiant City; and finally her husband had come across her path,\nand the thought of him, her love for him, had at first put the subject\nout of her mind, and when after a while she mentioned to him that she\nhad thought of setting out for the Radiant City before her marriage, he\nlaughed at her, telling her that great and wise people had come to the\nconclusion that there was no such place, and that those who set out for\nit were only following a mirage and would be disappointed at last. Was\nthis true? Was there no Radiant City? Was the City of Punon the only\nreality? Or was Amer right and her husband wrong?\n\n\"Mother,\" said a voice by her side, \"has my father told you of my\ndecision?\"\n\n\"Yes, dear lad,\" she answered, \"but I am not going to think about\nit, it cannot be. You could not give up all your bright prospects,\nspecially after the pains your father has taken to secure them for you.\"\n\n\"But I have heard the Voice, Mother, and I must obey.\"\n\n\"I heard the Voice once, Amer, and almost made up my mind to set out on\nthe journey myself. But had I done so I should have lost a great deal\nthat makes life delightful to me, and I should have had to start out\nalone. So will you my boy. Gabrielle will not go with you. You will\nhave to leave her behind.\"\n\nA spasm of pain crossed the boy's face.\n\n\"You do not know that, Mother,\" he said, \"I have hopes of Gabrielle.\"\n\n\"I have none,\" answered his Mother quietly.\n\n\"She loves me,\" said Amer, \"and I know I have influence with her.\nI believe she will set out on the journey with me.\"\n\n\"I think not,\" said his Mother.\n\nAmer answered nothing, for so much did he believe in his love for the\ngirl and in her love for him that he felt it would be easy work for him\nto persuade her.\n\n\"Mother,\" he said, turning the subject, \"do you never long for the\nsunshine? Punon is dark. I have only noticed it since the herald came\nand pointed it out to me. How few people there are with sunlight on\ntheir faces. I do not know one. And are you not afraid to disobey the\nVoice as it is the Voice of the Great King of the Radiant City?\"\n\n\"I used to be afraid,\" answered his Mother, \"and used to long\npassionately for light and sunshine. But all those longings have fled.\nI never think of them now. And besides, do you not know that a very\nlarge number of our cleverest men have given out the fact that there\nis no Radiant City and no Great King of the Radiant City? They seem to\nsay that it is only very simple souls that trouble about such things.\nAmer,\" she said earnestly, \"don't let your Mother have the grow of\nhaving it said that her son is a simple, unlike other young men of his\nage. I have always thought of you with such pride. There is not another\nMother that I know who has a son to be more proud of than I. You are\nthe most popular young man in this part of Punon, but once decide to\nstart on that long journey and your popularity will be gone. Men will\ntalk of you with a laugh and a shrug of the shoulder. You will be\ntreated as mad. Think of your Mother, my boy.\"\n\n\"Dear Mother,\" said the boy sadly, \"you will break my heart, but even\nyou cannot make me forget the Voice. I am hearing it continually, and\nI must obey; besides, I have had such an account given me of the King,\nthat I cannot rest till I am on my journey towards Him. He is the one\nI have been looking for for years, and Who alone can satisfy the\nlongings of my heart. I am taking Him as my King to-day and I am\nstarting out on my journey to-day. Mother, won't you listen to the\nVoice and come with me?\"\n\n\"You dare to break my heart?\" said his Mother sternly, \"you reward your\nfather's labour for you in getting you this good post in this way?\"\n\n\"My King must come first,\" answered the boy, sorrowfully but firmly.\n\n\"I think you will find that Gabrielle comes first,\" was his mother's\nanswer.\n\n\"I will go and seek Gabrielle,\" said Amer. He found her in the\nhoney-suckle arbour of her father's garden. She did not receive him\nwith the same sweet smile as usual: Amer felt instinctively that\nalready the thought of the Radiant City lay between them and estranged\nthem.\n\n\"Gabrielle,\" he said. She moved slightly away from him.\n\n\"I have heard strange things about you,\" she said coldly, \"you refuse\nto take up the post which your father has found for you. Your love for\nme cannot be so great as you have led me to suppose. My father will not\nallow me to have anything to do with a man who cannot support his wife.\"\n\n\"You have heard then that I am setting out for the Radiant City?\" he\nquestioned.\n\n\"I have heard some such nonsense,\" she answered, turning away her face\nfrom his steady gaze, \"but you will have to chose between the Radiant\nCity and me, for I will not have a husband who is the laughing stock of\neveryone, you are mad to give up this post.\"\n\n\"You will have a husband who is more worth having,\" he answered, \"and\nyou will come with me.\"\n\nThe idea was so amusing to the girl that she turned round and laughed\nat him.\n\n\"The journey would not suit me,\" she said, \"neither would the company,\"\nand she threw a defiant look up at him; \"think of me enduring the\nhardships which they say await pilgrims to the Radiant City; I should\nbe frightened to death with it all. Besides,\" she added, with a spice\nof coquetry in her eyes, \"the company would be dull.\"\n\nAmer looked down upon her with a mystified expression of face. \"You do\nnot love me enough then to be willing to leave all besides?\" he asked.\n\n\"Not if you go on this pilgrimage. Already I find you different to what\nyou were before you heard the herald. You used to say then that you\nwould follow me to the end of Punon, but now you wish me to follow you\nout of it, you do not love me as you used to do.\"\n\nIn a minute Amer was on his knees beside her, telling her in passionate\nlanguage that his love was even stronger than it used to be, that it\nwas as strong as death.\n\n\"Then,\" said Gabrielle, \"prove it and give up these ridiculous fancies\nof yours. Why should you set yourself up as better than other people?\nThink of the many who have gone in for this business; you do not\nsuppose that you are better than they?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Amer, \"but I have heard the Voice.\"\n\n\"Oh don't,\" she cried, \"when you talk like that I am afraid of you.\"\n\n\"Have you never heard it?\"\n\nGabrielle wrenched her hands from his and covered her pretty little\nears with them.\n\n\"No, no,\" she cried, \"and I don't want to. If Punon is really doomed,\nthere is still plenty of time. I will not hear the Voice; I could not\nendure the hardships.\"\n\n\"But the King, I am told, takes care of all those who start on the\njourney, and at the end we shall see Him in His beauty.\"\n\n\"There is no King and no Radiant City,\" exclaimed the girl petulantly,\n\"no one believes in that story now; and you have not really heard a\nVoice; it is only in your imagination.\"\n\n\"But I have heard the Voice,\" persisted Amer.\n\n\"Oh don't,\" cried Gabrielle, \"I begin to hate you when you say these\nthings, we had better part, Amer. I could not have a husband who\nfrightens me by his mad talk, and who insists upon taking me this long\njourney. I will not go, you must choose between the Radiant City of\nyour dreams and me.\"\n\n\"Must I then go alone?\" Amer rose as he said these words, and stood\nlooking down upon her with such tenderness in his face that Gabrielle\nrepented of her hard words.\n\n\"No,\" she said, stretching out her hands towards him, \"you must not go\nalone, you must not go at all. I want you Amer, and cannot do without\nyou; you must stay with me. You say you love me; love me enough then to\nforget the Radiant City and to stay and work for me; you will not, you\ncannot leave me.\"\n\nAnd standing there looking into her sweet eyes, which were now suffused\nwith love, Amer felt that he could not leave her.\n\n\"You shall be my Radiant City,\" he cried, \"I will live and work for\nyou.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE KING'S MARK.\n\nFor some weeks Amer resolutely put away the thought of the Radiant\nCity, and would not listen to the Voice. In fact the Voice seemed, when\nhe heard it at all, to be very far away, and he began to wonder how it\nwas that its sound had ever stirred his soul.\n\nHis new work, the thought that every day he was piling up money for the\nsupport of Gabrielle, together with the society of his old companions,\nfilled his thoughts and his days, and if ever the remembrance of the\nstep he had so nearly taken, intruded, he flung it aside.\n\nBut was it his fancy that his Mother's face now and then wore an\nexpression almost of disappointment when she looked at him? Was it\nfancy that even Gabrielle did not treat him in exactly the same manner\nas formerly? She looked up to him as above her in the old days, falling\nin with his suggestions, and following, in a great measure, his advice.\nBut it seemed now as if there was sometimes a tinge of scorn in her\nwords, as if he had fallen from some pedestal upon which she had placed\nhim.\n\nDuring the day he was able to banish these thoughts and suspicions from\nhis mind by the means of business or pleasure. But at night he would\nlie awake pondering over it, and at times a great loathing of himself\ntook possession of him. He despised his want of decision. He had been\nweak, and had turned his back upon the enduring of hardships.\n\nMoreover the thought of the business he had undertaken lay at times\nlike a dead weight on his spirit.\n\nGradually there came a great depression over him, and he began to\nwonder if his soul would ever be stirred to its depths again by the\nsound of the Voice, and if ever again he would be given the chance of\njourneying towards the Radiant City.\n\nSo great was his depression and his loathing of himself, that one day\nhe started off to try and find the herald, but he was told that he had\nleft Punon some weeks ago. Despondently Amer made his way home, but he\ncould not rest. He went about his work listlessly, and gradually his\nold companions began to drop off from him. He was not as good company\nas he used to be.\n\n\"Amer is not himself,\" said his father, \"he is working too hard.\"\nBut Amer suddenly found out that what was making him so restless and\nstirring his apparently dead soul again, was the Voice.\n\n\"Come out from among them,\" it cried, \"and be ye separate.\" Was it his\nimagination? Was it fancy?\n\nHe was so miserable and so conscious of the sinfulness of himself and\nthe unsatisfactoriness of his life, that after much agony of soul, he\ndetermined, even if it might be nothing but a morbid imagination, to\nstart out for the Radiant City.\n\nEven if there was such a place, he had no very strong hopes that he\nwould be allowed to enter it. The Great King, if there was a King,\nmight not care to have him after his resolute turning aside before.\nBut, notwithstanding his doubts, he decided to venture, and should\nthere be a King, to throw himself on His mercy.\n\nThis time, so miserable was he, and so full of fear that he might be\nshut out of the Radiant City, that he thought it was worth bearing\nscorn and laughter, if only he might start out on his journey. The one\nthing he now shrank from was losing Gabrielle, for he could not deceive\nhimself for a moment about her. She was set against all mention of\nthe Radiant City, and he knew right well that when he started on his\njourney he would have to give her up. He spent nights of anguish over\nthe thought of this, but his fears lest he was too late to be accepted\nas a citizen of the Blessed City were growing so great, that even the\nthought of Gabrielle could not make him swerve from his resolution.\nRemembering however, his former conduct, and fearing lest his parents\nmight not take his decision seriously, he determined to start on his\njourney without talking it over with them. But to Gabrielle he boldly\nmentioned it. Her answer was a derisive laugh.\n\n\"I shall believe it when you have started,\" she said, \"and when you\nstart we part for ever.\"\n\nSaddened and almost despairing, Amer made his way towards the East\nGate, which he remembered he had been told was the gate through which\nhe would have to start.\n\nBut on nearing it he noticed that it was closed. Anxiously he looked\naround him and saw a man coming towards him.\n\n\"Sir,\" said Amer, \"can you tell me if this is the way to the Radiant\nCity, and how the gate is to be opened?\"\n\n\"Why do you want to know, my lad?\" asked the stranger.\n\n\"Because I am in great trouble of mind, and am bent on escaping from\nthis dark place. But I do not know how I can be sure that I shall be\nallowed to make the journey, as I have so long put it off.\"\n\n\"What is your trouble,\" asked the stranger.\n\n\"I am my own trouble,\" he replied, \"I have resolutely shut my ears to\nthe Voice, and have spent much of my short life in folly and sin; and\nnow my heart will not let me rest. My sins are such that I am unable to\nlook up. Sir, are you able to give me comfort?\"\n\nThe stranger pointed to some words carved on the stone above the gate\nwhich Amer had not noticed:\u2014\n\n\"'Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give\nyou rest.'\"\n\n\"That is the message of the Great King to you, my lad,\" he said.\n\n\"To me!\" murmured Amer, astonished.\n\n\"Yes, to you. To all that need Him, to all who have sinned and want His\nforgiveness, to all that hope in His mercy, to all who feel themselves\nto be miserable sinners and to need a Saviour.\"\n\n\"I am that sinner,\" cried Amer, \"'I have gone astray like a sheep that\nis lost.' Let me through that I may start at once for the Radiant City,\nso that I may fall at the feet of my King and thank Him for His mercy.\"\n\n\"You cannot go through that gate without the King's Mark,\" said the\nstranger, \"It is a Cross, a Cross of Blood, which you will wear always\non your forehead.* This is the key which alone will open the gate for\nyou, and it is your talisman for your journey.\"\n\n\"What does it mean?\"\n\n\"It means that you belong to the Great King; that He has set His own\nmark upon you; that He has washed away your sins with His own Blood;\nthat you are forgiven; that His angels will be about your path; that\nyou have but to cry out and the King Himself will hear you and deliver\nyou.\"\n\n\"And must everyone who starts on his journey wear this sign?\"\n\n\"No one can even start on this journey without it. The gate will not\nopen unless this sign be worn.\"\n\n\"Sir, give me the key,\" cried Amer, \"that I may at once begin my\njourney.\"\n\n\"Nay,\" said the stranger, \"man cannot give you the key, neither can\nman open the gate. It must be done by the King Himself, I am but His\nambassador.\"\n\n\"Must I wait, then?\" asked Amer, sadly.\n\n  * Eph. 1, 7. S. John 14, 6.\n\n\"Nay, not a moment,\" said the stranger, \"the King is even waiting to\nlet you through the gate and has been waiting for years. Aye, He is\nrejoicing to-day in the Radiant City because He sees you coming to Him.\n'There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that\nrepenteth.'\"\n\n\"But,\" asked Amer, perplexed, \"I do not see the King and how am I to\nopen the gate?\"\n\n\"The King sees you,\" answered the stranger, \"and that is what\nsignifies. All you have to do is to obey the words above the gate,\n'Come unto Me.' You will find as you enter the porch, the gate will fly\nopen and the King Himself will mark you for His own. You have simply to\ntake Him at His word.\"\n\nThen with great joy Amer went forward, and as he passed through the\nportal, the gate opened, the King's mark was placed upon his brow,\nand he found himself on the other side in a blaze of light and glory.\nSo wonderful was the change from the dark city he had left behind,\nand such a peace stole into his heart, that he could only fall on his\nknees and worship and praise the invisible King, Who had taken away his\nburden and his misery.\n\n\"I will thank Thee, O Lord my God,\" he cried, \"with all my heart: and\nwill praise Thy name for evermore. For great is Thy mercy toward me:\nand Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nDONNING THE ARMOUR.\n\nIt was as if in a dream that Amer rose up again and looked about him. A\nvery large expanse of country lay around him; hills and valleys, rivers\nand lakes, trees under which to rest, and far, far away, almost too far\nfor eye to see, a haze of golden glory fascinated his eyes.\n\n\"The City!\" he cried under his breath.\n\nHe turned and looked for a moment at the town of Punon that he had\nleft behind, and was appalled to see its gloom. He had never realized\nits darkness to such an extent before. He could hear the faint sound\nof revelry, and caught a distant sight of its flickering torch-lights,\nbut he shivered as he looked at it, and turned again with joy to face\nthe East, in which direction the Radiant City lay. He shouted for very\ngladness of heart. He felt as if he had wings, and imagined that the\njourney to the City could be nothing but joy. The way looked easy and\nbeautiful. No rough stones or rocky passes could he see, and every step\nhe took seemed to bring him higher, and the breezes blew fresher.\n\nSuddenly he became conscious of the presence of the Ambassador.\n\n\"My lad,\" he said, \"you will need a guide book to show you the way. It\nmust be your constant companion. There will be enemies on the road who\nwill make every effort to take it from you, but you must lose anything\nrather than the Book. If you give up the Book you are lost, and will\nnever find your way to the City. It is your most precious possession.\"\n\nAmer eagerly took the Book from the Ambassador's hand, and opened its\npages at once to read.\n\nHe was surprised at the words that met his eyes. They spoke of a great\nenemy that he would meet, and of the necessity of wearing armour so as\nto be able to wrestle against \"'principalities, against powers, against\nthe rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness\nin high places.'\" It spoke also of the \"'fiery darts of the wicked.'\"\n\nAmer looked up into the Ambassador's face with a look of perplexity on\nhis own.\n\n\"I do not understand the Guide Book,\" he said, \"It speaks of enemies,\nand I see none.\"\n\n\"The first part of the way is often easy,\" answered the Ambassador.\n\"There was once a people who started on a journey to a land flowing\nwith milk and honey, and the Great King to whom they belonged led them\na long way round, in order that they might not meet the enemy too soon,\nand so be discouraged and turn back. But you never know when the enemy\nwill be upon you, and you must be clad in the King's armour.\"\n\n\"Where is it to be had?\"\n\n\"It is lying at your feet,\" answered the Ambassador.\n\nNo sooner did Amer see the armour than he began to don it.\n\n\"It must never on any account be laid aside,\" said the Ambassador, \"the\ngreat enemy is on the watch, and if ever you lay it aside he will take\nadvantage of you.\"\n\n\"What is the enemy like?\" asked Amer earnestly, \"and what is his name?\"\n\n\"His name is the Devil,\" answered the Ambassador, \"and his servants are\nlegion. It is not very likely that you will have to confront the Devil\nhimself, as you are too small and insignificant. But should you grow\ninto a very useful and powerful servant of the Great King, should you\nin the future fight many of His enemies and give help on the road to\nmany of His servants, it is possible that the great enemy may attack\nyou in person, and then woe to you if your sword has grown rusty, or if\nyou are not wearing your armour.\"\n\n\"Will the road become more difficult and more dangerous as I near the\nRadiant City?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"I do not know. Everyone is not led in exactly the same path, even\nthough they are all going to the Radiant City, and so in the same\ndirection. Some, I think, have their worst fights at the beginning,\nothers in the middle of their course, some are fighting up to the very\nend, even as they cross the river. But I think, probably, it is the\nbest soldiers and the most valiant who have to fight then. The great\nenemy will not leave them alone, and makes every effort to prevent them\ncrossing into the Radiant City; the more valiant the soldier the harder\nthe fight.\"\n\n\"I mean to be a valiant soldier, and will never turn my back to the\nfoe,\" said Amer.\n\n\"My son,\" answered the Ambassador, \"be on the watch! I already see an\nenemy in the long grass close at your side, although you perceive him\nnot his name is Boastful. He does not look formidable, and is so small\nthat you may be inclined to despise him.\"\n\nAmer smiled incredulously, but before he had turned round to look\nbehind him, he felt a knock on his shoulder which gave him pain, and in\na minute he was lying prone on the ground, while a small creature stood\na few yards in front of him grinning at him triumphantly.\n\nAmer sprang up dismayed and ashamed of having been so easily overcome\nby such an insignificant enemy, but when once on his feet he found he\nwas alone. He remembered then that he had been struck on the back, and\nthat there was no armour provided for the back. He pondered over this,\nand the next time he met the Ambassador he asked him how this was.\n\n\"It is probably to show you that you must ever be ready to face the\nfoe. You must keep such a watch that you cannot be taken by surprise;\nand you must never show fear and fly. If once you turn your back to the\nenemy, either through carelessness or fear, woe to you.\"\n\n\"I begin to think the way is not as easy as I thought,\" said Amer,\nsadly.\n\nAfter this mishap, Amer began to walk more carefully, and kept a watch\nover Boastful and other foes, who, because so small of stature, were\nnot easily detected.\n\nOne of these enemies was a most offensive little man of the name of\nIrritability, who, if Amer set his foot on a slippery stone, or if the\nheat of the sun was unusual, or the wind piercing as it swept across\nthe plain, would suddenly fly at the young soldier, and give him a blow\non the mouth.\n\nAnd Amer found that this worrying sprite often prepared the way for a\nmuch more formidable enemy, a relation of his called Temper; and that\nTemper was the name of a family composed of three brothers, each one\nmore disagreeable and objectionable than the last.\n\nThe youngest of these brothers would walk doggedly and silently beside\nhis victim with a great gloom on his face, and every hour that he was\nallowed to remain he grew more morose, and finally would cling on to\nhis coat, so acting as a drag. His name was Sulks, and he was the most\ndifficult of the three to get rid of, unless he was snubbed the moment\nhe arrived.\n\nThe second brother was a very dangerous fellow, for he was perpetually\nhanding daggers to his victim, urging him to do his work for him. His\nname was Revenge.\n\nBut the eldest of the three worried Amer the most. When the lad had\nlived in Punon he had had to do with him, and was surprised to meet\nhim so often on his journey to the Radiant City. While in Punon, Amer\nhad thought little of him, and had not looked on him exactly as an\nenemy, in fact he had more than once found him useful there, for being\nsomewhat tall and imposing looking, and moreover of a fierce expression\nof countenance, people had been afraid of Amer when they found him in\nthe company of this enemy, whose name was Passionate; consequently the\nlad had more than once got his way with others simply on account of the\nfear of his companion. But once having started on his journey to the\nRadiant City, Amer felt he must entirely give up his company, and was\nsurprised and mortified that this enemy was not so easily disposed of\nas he had imagined. It was true that his visits did not last so long as\nformerly, but long enough to make Amer's fellow travellers who passed\nby look askance at him, saying among themselves,\n\n\"Can he really be on his way to the Radiant City, as Temper walks by\nhis side?\"\n\nBut except for these, Amer met few enemies at first, and wondered at\ntimes what the Guide Book meant when it spoke of Principalities and\nPowers against which he would have to wrestle.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nENEMIES OF THE ROAD.\n\nAmer soon found that the journey was not so smooth as he had thought.\nThere were stiff bits of hill to climb, and rough rocks and stones\nwhich cut and hurt his feet. He was often desperately tired and the\nRadiant City seemed a long way off. Also at certain times he felt to\nmiss his old companions.\n\nHe had not met many people on the road. He had seen many a merry party\nwalking fearlessly on a broad walk which at times seemed to be leading\nto the Radiant City, picking flowers and singing gaily, and he had\nlooked somewhat longingly at them.\n\nSeveral pilgrims indeed had passed him on the way in the narrow path,\nbut they were so intent on their own journey that they seemed to have\nno time to give to him; and he sometimes felt lonely.\n\nOne day as he was giving way to rather sad thoughts he noticed three\nsmall people sitting together by the roadside. They looked dreary and\nwere dressed all in grey. Forgetting the warnings of the Ambassador,\nAmer sat down by their side and entered into a conversation. He soon\nfound that their company instead of comforting him depressed him\ngreatly.\n\n\"Where are you going to?\" they asked him.\n\n\"To the Radiant City,\" was his answer.\n\n\"You will never get there,\" said one of them, \"you have not the air of\na servant of the Great King. When we saw you, you were looking dreary\nand forlorn.\"\n\n\"I feel lonely at times,\" he answered.\n\n\"But I thought your Book tells you that you are never alone. You cannot\nbe one of the Great King's soldiers if you feel lonely.\"\n\n\"How long have you been on your journey?\" asked another.\n\n\"Two months,\" was his answer. \"I started late I grieve to say.\"\n\n\"Only two months! then you have wasted some of the best years of your\nlife; you do not suppose the King will accept anyone who has despised\nHis message all those years, do you? How do you know that you are His\nsoldier and accepted by Him?\"\n\n\"I see no sign of you being different from others whom I meet,\" said a\nthird, \"you still have the look of the Dark City upon you. How do you\nknow that you belong to Him?\"\n\n\"I met the Ambassador and he told me that the King loved me,\" said Amer.\n\n\"The Ambassador cannot tell. He does not really know all your sins.\nThink of all those years in the Dark City, all the time you have\nforgotten the King.\"\n\n\"Think of how you turned round after making resolves to begin your\njourney,\" said one of them who had evidently heard his story.\n\n\"But it was for sinners that the King died,\" answered Amer.\n\n\"Yes, but not for sinners like you. Besides if you were one of His\nservants you would look more cheerful and get on faster. Why you have\nbeen two months on the way and have only got so far.\"\n\n\"How do you know that He has accepted you?\" persisted another.\n\n\"Because He cannot break His word,\" said Amer, \"and He has said, 'him\nthat cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out;'\" then turning round\nsuddenly upon them, he asked,\n\n\"What is your name?\"\n\n\"We are a family of the name of Morbid,\" they answered, \"and we\ntake upon ourselves the duty of warning people if we think they are\ndeceiving themselves.\"\n\n\"I must not tarry here talking to you,\" said Amer, beginning to wish\nhe had not taken any notice of the Morbids, \"I must be continuing my\njourney,\" at which he rose from his seat.\n\nBut the little grey clad men would not leave him, they ran by his side\nand would take no hint from him as to his wish to be rid of their\ncompany.\n\nFor a mile or two they trotted beside him, filling his mind with\nall sorts of gloomy forebodings, and the more he hurried hoping to\nout-distance them, the quicker they ran, till at last, somewhat out of\nbreath, they took hold of his coat and so helped themselves along. Amer\nbegan to be suspicious of them.\n\n\"Are you on your way to Radiant City?\" he asked.\n\n\"Why not,\" they answered evasively; then as the lad would not be\nsatisfied with their answer they added.\n\n\"Why be in such haste? You are not sure if the King will receive you at\nthe end; and then what will become of you? Besides which we doubt if\nyou will persevere, and in that case it would have been better never to\nhave set out.\" At this Amer pulled his coat away from them violently,\nbut it only had the effect of making them cling to his feet, so that\nevery step was an effort. Do what he would he could not get rid of\nthem, and the more he struggled the tighter they clung, till at last\nthey pulled him to the ground. There he lay exhausted and miserable,\nand how long the little grey enemies would have had him in their\nclutches I do not know, if the Ambassador had not happened to pass that\nway and beheld his distress.\n\n\"Sir,\" cried Amer, \"I am in great straits. The Morbids looked peaceable\nenough as I passed them on the road, and I only talked with them for a\nfew minutes as I rested. But they have not left me since, and I cannot\nget rid of them.\"\n\n\"Out with your sword, man,\" cried the Ambassador, \"have you forgotten\nthe armour? To parley with the enemy or to argue with him is fatal. I\nsee your sword is sheathed and idle in your hand. Out with it and do\nbattle.\" Amer drew his sword, and at that the little grey people fled.\n\n\"My lad,\" said the Ambassador, \"your fall has been caused by several\nmistakes. First, you were not on the watch. Secondly, you thought the\nenemy too small to be of much consequence. Thirdly, you forgot your\nsword, and your girdle is hanging loosely about you. Take my advice,\nlad, and never despise the enemy however small and insignificant he\nlooks. Many a battle has been lost simply through this.\"\n\n\"Shall I always have you at my side to help me when I fall?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"Nay, I do not know that we shall ever meet again here. I have to go\nelsewhere and work for the King. But what does it signify? You have the\nKing Himself with you, you do not need the Ambassador.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Amer perplexed, \"I cannot see the King and He did not come\nto my aid.\"\n\n\"You forgot to cry unto Him; He hears the faintest call of His\nchildren, but you trusted in your own strength to deliver you, and\nforgot Him. But He came to your aid notwithstanding, for He sent me\nthis way to help you.\"\n\n\"How may I be sure that He hears and is willing to help?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"You have not studied your Guide Book enough if you have not come\nacross His promises.\" And at that the Ambassador opened the Book that\nhe always carried in his hand and told Amer to do the same.\n\n\"Listen to the words of the Great King,\" he said:\u2014\n\n\"'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open\nunto their cry.'\"\n\n\"'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all\nhis troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that\nfear Him, and delivereth them.' 'I will never leave thee nor forsake\nthee.' 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'\"\n\nAt these wonderful words Amer looked up with joy, and though he was\nsad at the thought that he might never see the Ambassador again till\nhe met him in the Radiant City, he renewed his journey with hope and\nconfidence.\n\nLooking towards the East he noticed how brightly the Radiant City\nshone, and for a long time he kept his eyes continually upon it and\noften sang for very gladness of heart.\n\nThe loneliness of the way was scarcely noticed by him at this time as\nhe was so full of the Good News that the King was ever with him.\n\nHis path took him up a very steep hill. But so great was his joy that\nhe did not notice its steepness. About half-way up the hill, Temper met\nhim. Amer looking him sternly in the face was struck with his ugliness.\n\n\"Come now,\" he said, \"I will have nothing to do with you. I have in the\npast had too much of your company, but from this day I will have none\nof you. Be gone,\" and drawing out his sword manfully he saw, to his\njoy, Temper make a hasty retreat. But the enemy was not going to let\nhim off so easily, and met him further up the hill. Amer however was on\nthe look-out for him, so that he could not get near enough to strike\nthe young soldier, and after awhile, growing tired of waiting for an\nunwatched moment, he clattered back to where he came from with a surly\ncountenance and a threat that he would have his revenge later.\n\nFull of triumph at his victories, Amer went forward, congratulating\nhimself that he was growing a brave soldier, and that he was able to\novercome the enemy. After a while he looked again at the Radiant City,\nand was rather surprised that a thin veil seemed to be between it and\nhim.\n\nHowever he did not take much notice of this but sang lustily in\nexultation.\n\nHe soon caught up a man who was walking slowly and carefully on the\nsame road, picking his way to avoid loose stories and slippery places.\n\n\"Good morning, friend,\" cried Amer, well pleased that he had found a\ncompanion, \"you are going the same way as I am.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the man, \"I am journeying to the Radiant City.\"\n\n\"How long have you been on the way?\" asked Amer, wondering at the\nslowness and carefulness of his walk.\n\n\"I have been ten years,\" he answered ruefully, \"and alas, have made but\nslow progress.\"\n\n\"Ten years!\" cried Amer, \"I have not been ten months! How is it,\nfriend, you walk so carefully and slowly?\"\n\n\"Because,\" he answered sadly, \"I have had so many a fall through\ncareless walking, that it has delayed me. Only last week I tripped over\na loose stone and twisted my ankle, so that the next enemy that came\npast had the advantage over me.\"\n\n\"Do you use your sword?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"My sword is never out of my hand,\" said the traveller, \"had it not\nbeen for that I should have been lost on the road long ago.\"\n\n\"But look at me,\" said Amer, \"I have conquered triumphantly the last\nenemy that attacked me, and am not now afraid. You should trust the\nKing more and hasten forward.\"\n\n\"But we must obey Him as well as trust Him,\" answered the traveller;\n\"He tells us in the Guide Book, 'Ponder the path of thy feet, and let\nall thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the\nleft: remove thy foot from evil.'\"\n\n\"Your progress must be so slow,\" said Amer.\n\n\"I have learnt that 'the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to\nthe strong:' I have learnt this through many a downfall. I do not judge\nfor you or for others, but for me, my only safety is to live day by\nday looking towards my King and pondering the path at my feet. Is it\nnot written, 'Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look\nstraight before thee.' 'Looking unto Jesus.'\"\n\nAs the man spoke he lifted his eyes towards the Radiant City, and his\nface was suffused with the light of it.\n\nAmer followed the direction of his glance and was startled to see,\nthat although he had noticed the bright reflection of the City on the\ntraveller's face, the Radiant City itself looked still dimmer to him\nthan it had a few minutes before.\n\nHe made no mention of this however to his companion, but he glanced\nabout him a little uneasily, for he felt conscious of an influence\nthat he had not known before. He was not aware that one of the worst\nof enemies that he could meet on his journey, was at his heels, though\nquite invisible.\n\n\"Well,\" he said, \"I must away. This slow pace does not suit me\naltogether; nor do I think it necessary.\" And with a wave of the hand\nhe bounded forward.\n\nThe traveller he had left behind him, sighed.\n\n\"Ah!\" he cried, \"what must it be to be as good and strong as he. He\ncannot be so easily tempted as I am. I shall have to walk carefully all\nmy life, or I shall grieve my dear Saviour, who has done so much for\nme.\"\n\nThen he took out his Guide Book as he walked, and opened it.\n\nThe words that met his glance were these:\u2014\n\n\"'My Grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in\nweakness.'\"\n\nMeanwhile Amer made his way up the hill. His sword was hanging loosely\nby his side, and not seeing any enemy in sight, he took off his helmet\nand carried it in his hand. His mind was full of his victories over the\nenemy who had accosted him twice during his journey up the hill. As\nhe found himself nearing the top, so full of congratulations was he,\nand so glad that it had not been his fate to make so slow a journey as\nthe traveller he had passed, that he began to sing. And the words he\nsang were some that he had seen in the Guide Book, and which seemed\nappropriate to his present state.\n\n\"'In my prosperity I said, I shall never be removed: Thou Lord, of Thy\ngoodness hast made my hill so strong.'\"\n\nHe had scarcely come to an end of the verse, when at his elbow he\nheard a voice, and on looking round he saw a man dressed in a scarlet\ncloak trimmed with gold. Amer was so taken up with the grandeur of his\nappearance that he scarcely looked at his face, but when he did, he\nnoticed that he was handsome, and had an aristocratic air about him,\nand his words, together with his appearance, took the lad's fancy at\nonce.\n\n\"You are making a good journey,\" said the stranger, \"I have seldom seen\na pilgrim to the Radiant City wear a happier expression. You have,\ndoubtless, had some victory that has cheered you.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said Amer, colouring with pleasure, \"I find the way\neasier than I had anticipated, and am not so bothered with the enemy as\nI expected.\"\n\n\"I passed a pilgrim a few miles away,\" said the stranger, \"walking\nalong the path with pain; evidently he has not had the same good\nfortune as you have, and has had many a fall. It cheers one to see a\nyoung man full of health and vigour treading the path so steadily.\"\n\n\"I am trusting the King,\" said Amer, \"and have read that 'He shall give\nHis angels charge over me that I dash not my foot against a stone.'\"\n\n\"And so you are able to make quicker progress,\" answered his companion,\n\"and if it were not for your heavy armour you would be quicker still.\nCome; I am going the same way as you, and I will gladly take charge of\nsome of your armour for you.\"\n\n\"But have you none of your own to carry?\" said Amer, surprised,\nsupposing that his cloak covered it.\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"I am a man of peace. I dropped my armour long ago and\nfind that I can do as well without it. Come,\" he added, \"let me help\nyou to carry your sword.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Amer, remembering the warning of the Ambassador, \"I will\nkeep my sword, but if you are so kind as to lighten my burden by\nhelping me to take off my shield for a bit I shall be glad. The day is\nhot and I have been walking so fast that it will be a comfort to get\nrid of it for a moment.\"\n\n\"Stay,\" he said, as they reached the summit of the hill and the\nstranger made as if he was about to turn to the left, \"I have been\ngiven directions never to lose sight of the Radiant City or I should\nlose my way. I must go straight on, neither turning to the right nor to\nthe left.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the stranger, \"the straight path leads across that bare\ndesert, and will, besides being full of enemies, take you days to\ncross. Now, this path which I will show you, is a short cut to the\nCity. You will find that you meet a few enemies only, and that the way\nwill be one long triumph from beginning to end. You are not by any\nmeans an ordinary pilgrim, but have shown yourself strong to do battle\nand to gain victories. You are not like that poor pilgrim who is always\ntripping, that you have just seen, and who needs the experience of the\ndesert to give him the strength that you already possess. Come with me\nand you will never regret it. And has not your Guide Book told you that\n'He shall give His angels charge over you?' Why then fear?\"\n\nSo after some little hesitation Amer followed the stranger and\ncertainly he found himself apparently wonderfully free from enemies.\nNevertheless he did not feel altogether comfortable when he found that\ndirectly he determined to follow this man the Radiant City began to\nfade from his sight. Neither was he pleased to find that he was going\ndown hill into a somewhat dark valley. But his companion talked away\nin a sprightly manner, comparing him so favourably with many other\npilgrims that he had come across, that he had not the courage even to\nhint to him that he was beginning to fear. Darker and darker grew the\nway till at last, suddenly, with a shout, a band of men confronted him,\nand tearing his armour from him, flung him to the ground, and binding\nhis feet together brought him to a dark cave and threw him into it.\n\nIt had all been done so quickly that Amer had been taken entirely by\nsurprise, and now realised to his great discomfort that all his armour\nhad been wrenched from him and that he had nothing with which to fight\nthe enemy. There he was left, after all his bragging and pride, a\nprisoner in a dark cave, armourless. And then he began sorrowfully to\nthink how it had all happened. He remembered now that he had not been\naltogether easy while walking by the slow pilgrim's side. He had felt\na sensation as if some antagonistic influence was near. Could it have\nbeen all the time the stranger who had enticed him to his fall?\n\nThen he remembered how he had talked about his own experiences and his\nvictories, and had quoted texts in his own favour. He remembered, too,\nhow he had looked down on the traveller who was walking so slowly and\ncarefully, thinking himself to be altogether a superior soldier of the\nKing's, and how he had deemed it quite safe to put off some of his\narmour for a while, although the Ambassador had expressly warned him\nnever to part with it.\n\nHe lay and groaned. The chains hurt his feet and wrists, but the\nphysical pain was as nothing to the mental anguish caused by the\nremembrance of his terrible fall, and the recollection that there was\nno sight of the Radiant City possible in this dark cave.\n\nFor some time he sat with his head hanging down, a picture of despair.\nThen he began to look around him. The first thing he saw were the\nfollowing words painted in large red letters on the walls of the cave:\u2014\n\n\"This cave is the property of the great prince Spiritual Pride,\" and\nunderneath these words, were the rules to be followed by the soldiers\nof Spiritual Pride in the capturing of the soldiers of the King of the\nRadiant City. Each rule caused a further groan to escape from Amer's\nlips.\n\n1. Get talking to the traveller on the road to the Radiant City in\na friendly way, having prepared his mind beforehand by invisible\ninfluence.\n\n2. Encourage him to speak of his own experience, his own attainments,\neither spiritual or physical.\n\n3. If he has had any victories, remind him of his prowess and bravery.\n\n4. Quote texts to him without their context, to prove that he should be\nbeyond fear of the enemy.\n\n5. Take off his mind as much as possible from the King and Radiant City\nand fix his thoughts on himself.\n\n6. Make him think the importance of the armour less for one naturally\nso strong.\n\n7. Help him to compare himself with other travellers, their slowness,\ntheir trips and falls, and make him congratulate himself that he is\nbetter than they are.\n\n8. If possible, take away his sword from him without his notice.\n\n9. Induce him to believe that there is a short cut to the Radiant City,\nand that instead of having to endure hardness, to one who is so far on\nthe road, the way is smooth.\n\n10. Above all things, take his mind off the King, so that he may not\ncall to Him. All must be done with the greatest possible speed.\n\nAmer groaned again and again as he read these rules.\n\nHow he envied that slow and careful traveller, whom he had once\ndespised. He had indeed sunk in deep waters!\n\nThen he remembered that he had his Guide Book in his pocket. Would it\ngive him any rule as to how to act now that he was sorely smitten and\nenchained? In the dim light of the cave he bent over it.\n\nThe words he read were those of Jonah the prophet, who, like Amer, felt\nby reason of the punishment of his sin that he was cast out of God's\npresence.\n\n\"'I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me;\nout of the belly of Hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou\nhadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods\ncompassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then\nI said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy\nholy temple . . . . I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the\nearth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my\nlife from corruption, O Lord my God. When my heart fainted within me I\nremembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy\ntemple.'\"\n\nAmer remembered also the words quoted by the Ambassador, \"'This poor\nman cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his\ntroubles.'\"\n\nThere was then this one resource left him; to cry to the King. He was\nindeed poor, as he had nothing at all to boast of. He had discovered\nthat he was as nothing, that even his good efforts were tinged with\nsin; that his victories were in no way whatever due to his own bravery;\nthat in fact he was a very poor soldier indeed. So he was just the one\nto cry to the King, for it was written in the Guide Book, that the\n\"poor man cried\" and the Lord heard him. All the rest of that day Amer\ncried unto the King. As the night drew near he still cried. His chains\nchafed his wrists and ankles and he grew faint and full of pain; but he\nstill cried on.\n\nIt was just his one hope, for had not the Great King promised to hear\nthe \"poor man?\" In an agony of tears and repentance he cried, and at\nmidnight the answer came. Invisible hands broke off his chains, and led\nhim out of the cave; and when to his wonderful joy he felt the fresh\nair beating on his forehead, he found also that his armour had been\nreturned to him and that once more he was on the way to the Radiant\nCity. But he had to go back a great part of the way before he caught a\nsight of the City. The valley which he had descended so easily in the\ncompany of Spiritual Pride was a steep one to climb up, and it was not\ntill once more he reached the top of the hill from where he had last\nseen the Radiant City, that he caught sight of it again. And even then\nhis view of it was misty, and remained so for several days.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE BATTLE OF THE BOOK.\n\nFor some time after Amer had gone through the experiences related\nin the last chapter, he felt the effects of his time in the cave of\nSpiritual Pride, and it was long before he regained the elasticity of\nspirit that was natural to him. He walked more cautiously and steadily,\nand kept a sharp look-out all round, lest the enemy should get the\nbetter of him, and in this way had many a victory, and was saved many a\nblow.\n\nOne day, when somewhat tired with his journey, he came across a woman\nleading a young girl by the hand.\n\nA glance at the woman's face was enough to convince him that she had to\ndo with the Radiant City, for her face was beautiful with a calm light\nupon it, which he knew could come from no other source.\n\nHer name was Belthiah,* and the name of the girl Iddo.\u2020\n\n  * Daughter of the Lord.       \u2020 Loving.\n\n\"We are going the same way,\" she said, \"and so long as our paths do not\ndiverge, let us keep one another company.\"\n\nBefore long they came across the slow traveller again, still walking\nsteadily and carefully towards the City.\n\n\"After all,\" said Amer to him, \"I have been the one to lose time, for\nafter leaving you I fell in with the worst foe that I have met yet, and\nwas completely overcome.\"\n\nThe man looked up with sympathy expressed in every line of his face.\n\n\"What was his name?\" he asked.\n\n\"Spiritual Pride,\" answered Amer, \"and if it had not been for my King\nsending me help, I should still be a prisoner in his cave.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said the man, \"I have had to meet that foe myself, and I know his\nways. Poor lad!\"\n\n\"Mother,\" said Iddo, \"have we met that foe yet?\"\n\n\"Very possibly, my child, and may not have recognised him. Possibly he\nmight not have taken such pains to overcome us, as he has taken with\nthese two brave servants of the King. But any day he may tempt us, and\nso we must keep our eyes on the Radiant City, where dwells our King.\"\n\n\"Madam,\" said Amer, \"you do not look as if you had been much troubled\non the way. What is the secret of your peace?\"\n\nThe slow traveller looked uneasily about him.\n\n\"I feel the enemy is somewhere near,\" he said, warningly to Belthiah,\n\"and he is listening for your answer.\"\n\nThe mother gave him a grateful look, but answered simply:\n\n\"We have had communion with our King, and He has given us peace.\"\n\n\"And,\" answered the girl, \"we are shod, you know, with the shoes of\npeace. I lost mine one day, and had to turn back to find them.\"\n\n\"Besides,\" continued Belthiah, \"we have so much to make us happy, so\nmany promises to rest upon.\"\n\n\"And, do you know?\" said the girl, looking up confidingly into Amer's\nface, \"it is not quite certain that we shall ever have to cross the\ndark river, which I cannot help sometimes dreading. The King may come\nto meet us Himself, and take us up to the City.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said her mother, \"that is what helps to make us happy. We are\nlooking for Him: and though we gather from the Guide Book that certain\nevents must take place before He comes, they may happen very shortly.\"\n\n\"No, no Madam, there you make a mistake,\" said an irritable voice\nbehind them, and on looking back they beheld a short, stout man, who\nhad evidently been making a great effort to catch them up, and now\nstood before them wiping his brow, and much agitated. His voice did not\nsound like the voice of one travelling to the Radiant City, as it was\nrasping and irritable, but the King's Mark was on his forehead, and he\nhad his Guide Book under his arm.\n\n\"I am always having to argue this point with people,\" he said,\nirritably, \"there is no event that must happen before the King comes.\nBut there I am, again,\" he added, ruefully, \"always arguing, always\ndisputing, and always irritable. I beg your pardon, Madam, but when\nI find people who do not see eye to eye with me in these matters,\nI seem to be unable to listen to them. My name is Chisleu, which\nmeans rashness. Alas! I am too rightly named.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" said the girl, concernedly, \"your shoes have gone.\"\n\n\"Ah! that's like me!\" he exclaimed, looking round to find his shoes\njust behind him, \"always trying to set others right and going wrong\nmyself. I lose my shoes, and then Temper comes and torments me. And yet\nI am devoted to my King;\" and he gave a look towards the Radiant City,\nwhich proved to those around him that his heart was there.\n\n\"My good fellow,\" he said, turning to the slow traveller, \"I should\nbe greatly obliged to you if you would tell me how it is you are so\nsuccessful against the enemy. I have been watching you for a long time\nas I walked behind you, and you never seem put out whatever happens to\nyou, and I seldom see you even trip.\"\n\nAt the words a pained expression crossed the face of the traveller, and\nhe looked around him carefully, as if expecting to find the enemy at\nhis elbow; moreover, when the stranger praised him, he impulsively put\nhis hands over his ears to prevent hearing. But now turning his eyes\nsteadily towards the Radiant City he said:\n\n\"It is written in the Guide Book, 'My strength is made perfect in\nweakness.'\"\n\nAmer, remembering the rules inscribed on the walls of the cave of\nSpiritual Pride, noticed how the slow traveller resisted the temptation\nto speak of his own experience, and spoke instead of the King.\n\n\"Ah!\" sighed the stranger, \"you are right. It is because I forget the\npromises of my King and His Book that I fail; thank you, Sir. But\nlook, what is that crowd I see before me? If some poor fellow is being\nbelaboured by the enemy I must be off to help,\" and he began running,\nand would even then have forgotten his shoes, if Iddo had not cried\nafter him,\n\n\"Your shoes, your shoes.\"\n\n\"What a warm heart that man has!\" said Belthiah, \"full of feeling for\nothers and of humility.\"\n\n\"But how cross he was,\" said Iddo, \"not as a soldier of the Great King\nought to be.\"\n\n\"Hush, child!\" whispered her mother, \"the enemy is near. I hear his\nwhisper in your voice. The King tells us not to judge.\"\n\nWhen the travellers had reached the crowd they saw a strange sight. A\nlarge number of pilgrims with the King's Mark upon them were standing\naround a man who was talking in a loud voice. In his hand he held\nthe Guide Book, and as he spoke he tore out first one page and then\nanother, throwing them behind him.\n\n\"It is not by any means authentic,\" he was saying, \"and certain parts\nwhich you have taken for truth are nothing more or less than allegory\nand fable, while other apparent prophecies were not written by the\npeople you 'suppose, but by men long after the events had happened, so\nare not prophecies at all.\"\n\n\"Mother, mother,\" cried Iddo, looking up with tears in her eyes, \"do\nyou hear what the man is saying about our Guide Book?\"\n\nBut before her mother had time to answer, a loud voice rang out, which\nIddo recognised at once as that of Chisleu, the stranger with whom they\nhad just been talking.\n\n\"That's a lie,\" he cried, \"no one need believe it. The book is true\nfrom beginning to end.\"\n\nThen there arose an uproar.\n\n\"Let the preacher alone,\" cried one, \"he says he has studied the\nquestion, and moreover confesses that he himself is journeying to the\nRadiant City. Let him speak. If he has anything to teach us let him do\nit.\"\n\n\"But it is false,\" cried Chisleu, \"don't listen to him. He's a wolf in\nsheep's clothing.\"\n\n\"Take the intruder away,\" shouted some of the bystanders, \"we wish to\nhear what the preacher has to say. It may be true or it may be false,\nbut we wish to hear him.\"\n\n\"Come away, dear,\" said her mother to Iddo, \"it won't do us any good to\nlisten.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Iddo, \"what did he mean? No one ever doubts, surely, the\ntruth of the Guide Book? If it is not true, how shall we ever find\nour way to the Radiant City, or indeed how do we know that there is a\nRadiant City to find?\" she added, sobbing.\n\n\"My child,\" said the mother, \"it is a sad fact that now-a-days there\nare people who are tearing the Guide Book to pieces. They do not\nrealize what mischief they are doing, and hope that people's faith will\ngrow stronger rather than weaker through their criticism, instead of\nwhich the enemy is watching at all such gatherings at which we have\nbeen, and is doing his utmost to sow seeds of doubt in people's minds.\nBut I think these very attacks on the Book go to prove its authorship.\nThe enemy cannot leave it alone, as he knows that so long as we have\nthe Guide Book, and love and believe in it, we will follow it and it\nwill lead us to the Radiant City. I have never found the Word to fail\nme, and it has been the guide of millions of travellers who have now\nreached Home. Some, indeed, when just crossing the River, have actually\nseen the King, so that those who have gone as far as they were allowed\nwith them into the dark valley, have been filled with joy, and their\nfaith has been strengthened. The Guide Book is true from beginning to\nend: that good man was right in what he said, although I could have\nwished that he had spoken in a more sober manner, and with less heat.\nBut he cannot argue. His heart is better than his head.\"\n\n\"Oh mother, he frightened me,\" said Iddo, wiping away her tears, \"and\nI saw many people were laughing at him. Is he really journeying to the\nRadiant City? He is so different from Amer and that good man who has\nbeen walking with us.\"\n\n\"He loves the King, my child,\" said the mother, \"and it is his very\nlove that makes him speak when perhaps it would be wiser to be silent.\nBut the King can alter all that is not right in him, and as for me I\nwould rather have the heart on fire than the brain.\"\n\n\"Where is Amer?\" suddenly asked Iddo.\n\nAmer had stayed behind to listen, and now was seen coming towards\nthem with his eyes bent in deep thought on the ground, his girdle was\nhanging loosely about him. They walked together somewhat silently, and\nonly discovered after some time that the slow traveller was by now far\nahead of them. Evidently he had not waited to hear the words of the\nspeaker in the crowd, but had walked steadily on, and it was some time\nbefore they caught him up. When at last they did so, Amer asked him if\nhe had heard what had been said by the orator.\n\n\"When I found what he was speaking about,\" said the traveller quietly,\n\"I moved on. I made up my mind before I set out on my journey that the\nGuide Book was the message of the King of the Radiant City, and if it\nis His Book there can be no fabrication or fable in it.\"\n\nThey had not gone far on the road before they came upon a man sitting\nbey the wayside with his head hidden in his hands and groaning.\n\n\"Friend,\" said Belthiah, \"what is your trouble?\"\n\nBut he did not look up, a groan was the only answer.\n\n\"He has just encountered the enemy,\" said the slow traveller.\n\n\"See how wounded he is,\" said Amer, \"and yet his mind is more wounded\nthan his body, he scarcely notices the hurt.\"\n\n\"Ah yes!\" moaned the man, \"I am sore wounded. I have no strength even\nto look up, the enemy has overpowered me. I am in the lowest hell.\"\n\n\"Poor man,\" sighed Iddo gently, \"how I wish I could help you.\"\n\n\"Lady,\" he said urgently to Belthiah, \"take your sweet child away, I\nam no fit company for her; and you, young man, leave me too. I only\nask this friend to stay a few minutes with me that I may tell him my\ntrouble.\"\n\nSlowly they obeyed his request, for none of them could endure the\nthought of leaving the poor man in such a plight.\n\n\"Friend,\" said the wounded man to the slow traveller, as he sat down\nbeside him, \"I have lost my Guide Book and I have lost my sword. In\nfact the enemy has taken my armour off piece by piece and hope is dead\nwithin me.\"\n\n\"When did the enemy attack you?\" asked his companion.\n\n\"Ah! that is the sad part of the story. I found someone in distress on\nthe road. The great enemy Doubt had him in his grip. His Guide Book\nhad been torn to pieces by those who think they are helping others in\ntaking out leaf after leaf of the volume and throwing it on one side.\nForgetful of my own weakness and sin, I spent hours with him trying to\ncombat the enemy by his side, but I forgot to be watchful myself. I\nthought I was too strong and too brave a soldier to be overcome, and\nforgot to cry to the King; and as I was talking I suddenly felt the\nenemy himself seize me, and before I knew where I was he had wrenched\nthe Book and my sword from my hands, and had dealt me a blow which at\nfirst I thought was that of my death blow. Friend, hope and light and\njoy are passed for me. Despair has me in his grip, and rather than\nendure this misery, and doubt my King and my City, I mean to go by a\nshort cut to the dark river.\"\n\nThen the slow traveller stood up, looked towards the Radiant City, and\nprayed.\n\n\"Friend,\" he said, as he fastened his girdle about him more securely,\n\"I will fight the enemy with you.\"\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" cried the other, \"your fate will be the same as mine. I\npray you not to hinder your journey in this way. I beseech you not to\ntrouble about me. The enemy will overcome you as he has me. You are\nhappy in your faith. You have your Guide Book next to your heart, and\nyour sword in your hand. You believe in the Radiant City, and in your\nKing. I will not be the one to throw you into the hands of the great\nenemy Doubt.\"\n\n\"Friend,\" said the traveller, while a radiant light from the City\ntouched his helmet and illumined his face, \"when my King calls me to\nfight, He will see that I get the victory, and I fight kneeling.\" And\nat that he knelt, and the enemy, who had been invisible, came towards\nhim in all his strength, and hurled his battle axe at him, but the\ntraveller parried the blow with the sword. So deadly was the fight\nthat great drops broke out on the forehead of the combatants, as the\ndarkness of night overshadowed them. For many hours they wrestled, and\nall the time the traveller never rose from his knees.\n\n\"Fight,\" he gasped at last to his companion, \"fight, man, for there\nare more with us than against us, and I see the glimmering of dawn,\"\nand even as he spoke a faint light broke upon them, and rested on the\ntraveller's shield, and by its light the wounded man saw that his own\nGuide Book, and the sword he had lost, were lying by his side within\nhis reach. He stretched out his hands to grasp his sword, and as he\ndid so invisible hands fastened on his armour, bit by bit, and he was\nstrengthened for the fight. So skilfully did he now begin to use his\nsword that between the two, who both fought on their knees, the enemy\ngradually began to falter in his attacks, and was finally driven back.\n\n\"The King be praised,\" said the traveller, as he rose, pale and weary,\nand looked towards the Radiant City. The light of it was on his brow,\nand his shield and breastplate blazed brighter than they had ever done\nbefore, as he began to help the victorious soldier to his feet.\n\n\"The King be praised,\" echoed the other, \"'which teacheth my hands to\nwar, and my fingers to fight.' 'If the Lord Himself had not been on\nour side . . . they had swallowed us up quick . . . But praised be the\nLord; who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.'\"\n\n\"'Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,'\"\nadded his friend, \"'the snare is broken, and we are delivered. Our help\nstandeth in the Name of the Lord Who bath made Heaven and Earth.'\"\n\nThen the two men grasped hands.\n\n\"Friend,\" said the man, whose wounds had been healed, \"tell me your\nname, as I shall ever hold it in loving remembrance and gratitude.\"\n\n\"My name is Heman,\"* he answered, \"and yours, my friend?\"\n\n\"Joezer,\"\u2020 he said, \"alas! I am rash, and underrate the power of the\nenemy. I forgot the fact which you remembered, that this enemy always\naims at the knees. If he can wound the knees he is much more certain\nof victory, but I saw you fought kneeling, and copied your example.\nPraised be the King for your help and friendship, Heman.\"\n\nAs his fellow traveller passed from him, Heman, looking towards the\nRadiant City, cried triumphantly,\n\n\"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of Thy righteous\njudgments endureth for ever.\"\n\n  * Faithful.       \u2020 Whose help is the Lord.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT.\n\nIt was not long after this that Amer found his path diverging from\nthat upon which the mother and her child were travelling. For though\nthe direction was always the same for every pilgrim, each individual\nhad her or his own separate path which they had to follow. Sometimes,\ntherefore, it happened that friends would be parted for quite a long\ntime and then would, to their joy, suddenly meet again.\n\nIt was with sorrow that Amer found his path diverging from that of\nhis good friends, whose company had been so much valued by him. Iddo\nwept when she looked upon his retreating figure, for he had been as\na brother to her. And indeed her weeping gave a little enemy called\nDiscontent just the opportunity he wanted to worry her. For some days\nhe got such victories over her that her mother began to look grave and\nsad, as she noticed that her child's shield was growing dull for the\nwant of attention, and the sword lay too often in its scabbard.\n\n\"My child,\" she said, \"do you really think that your King settles the\npath of each of his soldiers? I fear you are doubting this.\"\n\n\"The way seems so dull without Amer,\" sobbed the girl.\n\n\"It is the enemy that speaks, Iddo,\" said her mother, \"and, if you\nare not careful, another more dangerous will come to the help of\nDiscontent. Once let him get a hold on you and you will find he is a\nconstant annoyance, and it will need all the strength you have to shake\nhim off.\"\n\n\"What is his name, Mother?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"His name is Depression. He comes with tears and groans at first and\nyou are inclined to pity him, but, if you harbour him even for a day,\nhe begins to bind you with invisible chains till you suddenly awake to\nfind yourself in his grip.\"\n\n\"Mother, has he ever worried you?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" was her answer, \"soon after your father left us for the\nRadiant City he came and attacked me. And it is because I know what he\nis that I warn you my child to fight him at once if he ever tries to\nget the better of you. Cry at once to the King when you catch a sight\nof him and draw out your sword. Never for a moment talk with him.\"\n\n\"What has Discontent to do with him?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"He is one of his scouts. He goes about to see how the land lies,\nand where he sees a favourable opportunity of Depression getting an\nentrance, he prepares the way for him. In fact, he is in his pay. Did\nyou not notice how Depression had the poor wounded man in his grip? If\never he sees a man worsted in the fight, he at once joins company with\nhim. I do not know what other enemy had wounded the man we passed, but\nI know that Depression was standing over him with his poisoned arrows,\nhoping to kill him.\"\n\n\"Then I must have nothing to do with him,\" said Iddo, \"and I must pray\nfor Amer instead of dreaming about him so much. I shall grow happy\npraying for him.\"\n\nAnd Amer needed the prayers of his little friend and of her mother, for\nhis path now led him through a very dangerous part of his journey; and\nwhat made it all the more so for him was the fact, that for the greater\npart of the way, some of the words of the preacher to the crowd, to\nwhom he had listened, filled his mind.\n\nAmer did not know that the enemy Doubt was walking invisible by his\nside, suggesting difficulties in the Guide Book, neither did he know\nthat the decision to talk over some of these difficulties with the\npeople he met was also the work of the enemy.\n\nBeing of a somewhat speculative turn of mind the matters brought\nforward by the preacher had interested Amer greatly, and he did not\nrealize that to throw scorn on one part of the Guide Book was to weaken\nthe whole, and to take away much of its helpfulness as a guide. Neither\ndid he know that the Guide Book and sword were so connected that to\ndoubt the one was as good as throwing away the other. He forgot the\nadvice of the Ambassador to cling to his Guide Book, and his warning\nthat to lose it was to lose the battle, and so to lose his soul.\n\nHad he followed the same course as Heman, instead of listening to the\nopinions of men like himself and to the whispers of the enemy, he would\nhave met him in open warfare, crying to his King all the time for help.\n\nAfterwards, when he looked back upon this sad part of his journey, he\nremembered how little at this time he was really using the Book as\nhis guide, or studying it as he did at first. His mind was full of\nspeculative questions, and while this was the case he did not study the\nBook to learn from it truths which would have helped on his spiritual\nadvancement, and have made him strong in case of attack.\n\nHis path led him across the land of Achshaph.* It was a land full of\ndanger to the unwary, but thousands of pilgrims had passed through it\nunscathed, because their armour was bright and their sword in their\nhand. For those who asked for it, a special guard was sent to take them\nacross; an invisible guard, but a guard that never failed to bring them\nin safety to the other side; but Amer, instead of a guard, had for\nhis invisible companion the enemy Doubt, and so drew near to the land\nwithout fear or much thought.\n\nAnd when he was once inside its gates, he was enchanted with what he\nsaw.\n\nGreen fields besprinkled with flowers of every hue and scent, trees\nthrowing their grateful shade between the hot traveller and the\nsun, fruit hanging from heavily laden bushes, rivers and fountains\nrefreshing the heated air.\n\n\"The land is rightly named,\" he murmured, \"it is indeed the land of\nEnchantment.\"\n\n  * Enchantment\n\nThe first person he met was a man of a very taking personality, who\ncame towards him with extended hand and bright smile. Amer, forgetting\nthat he was in the enemy's country, was only too glad to have him for a\ncompanion, specially as he had plenty to say for himself and was able\nto tell him much about the beauties of Achshaph and of the manners of\nits inhabitants. His name was Self.\n\n\"Stay,\" he said suddenly, as the lad was steadily making his way along\nthe path at his feet, \"stay, you look thoroughly tired and weary with\nyour journey. Here is a mossy bank, sit down and rest awhile.\"\n\nAmer looked longingly at the cool green bank, but as he hesitated he\nfancied he heard a voice singing the following words:\u2014\n\n  \"Soldier, rest, but not for thee\n     Spreads the world its downy pillow,\n   On the rock thy couch must be\n     While around thee chafes the billow:\n   Thine must be a watchful sleep\n     Wearier than another's waking,\n   Such a watch as thou dost keep\n     Brooks no moment of forsaking.\n   Sleep as on the battlefield,\n     Girded\u2014grasping sword and shield;\n   Those thou can'st not name nor number,\n     Steal upon thy broken slumber.\"\n\nWith a sigh Amer continued his journey, saying,\n\n\"I fear to stay in this enchanting place longer than is necessary, and\nI have no time to sleep.\"\n\nBut Self, his companion, was not discouraged. He had heard the sigh\nand had noticed that the Guide Book was being held very loosely in the\nlad's hand, and was aware that the enemy Doubt could not be far off,\nfor he saw his shadow on the lad's face. Self congratulated himself\nas he noticed this shadow, knowing full well that the presence of his\nfriend Doubt made his victory the more sure, for the one often prepared\nthe way for the other and were known to be friends.\n\n\"At any rate,\" said Self, \"refresh yourself with some of the fruit of\nthe land; you can pluck it as you walk and I assure you it will help\nyou in your course rather than hinder, for you have but to take a\nmouthful or two and you will feel invigorated.\"\n\nAmer turned and looked at his companion.\n\nCertainly his face was unusually pleasant and good-natured, surely\nthere could be little harm in following his advice. Might not this\npleasant fellow be a friend rather than an enemy?\n\nSo Amer stretched out his hand and plucked a golden fruit from off the\ntree he was passing, and putting it to his lips he was delighted with\nits taste, and for the moment it seemed to give him fresh strength.\n\nBut on lifting his eyes towards the Radiant City he noticed that it was\nvery indistinct. Moreover, though the fruit had seemed to give him a\nfilip for a time, he had not walked far before he became conscious that\nhis footsteps flagged.\n\nWas it his fancy that again he heard the voice singing in the distance?\n\n  \"Watch, as if on that alone,\n     Hung the issue of the day,\n   Pray that help may be sent down,\n     Watch and pray.\"\n\nBut Self still walked by his side and Amer found him no dull company.\nThey had much to say to one another and many discussions. Sometimes\nAmer seemed to get the better of him, at other times his companion\nargued so forcibly that the lad saw matters in his light and acted\naccordingly, and all the while the Radiant City became more and more\nindistinct to him; his armour which hung about him was ill kept and his\nsword grew rusty.\n\nIt was after having a long discussion with Self that Amer heard a cry\nas of pain, and on looking up a glade he saw an elderly man lying prone\non the ground, having caught his foot in a root of a tree. His ankle\nwas so sprained that he could not lift himself up, and Amer made a\nmovement as if to go to his aid. But Self plucked him by the sleeve,\nsaying,\n\n\"It is almost a pity that you should take the trouble to help him, he\nis old enough to take care of himself, and should have known better\nthan to have tripped. You have your own business to attend to; besides\nwhile you are in Achshaph I want you to see all that is to be seen and\nto enjoy yourself. Listen! Do you hear that music?\"\n\nAnd suddenly Amer heard the most entrancing music, as down a green\npath, bordered with flowering shrubs, came a troop of men and maidens\nplaying some kind of wind instrument, which made music such as the lad\nhad never heard before.\n\n\"Sit down and listen,\" suggested Self, and Amer, fascinated and\nenthralled, obeyed, oblivious of the fact that he had wandered out\nof the beaten track, which had he followed would have led him to the\nspot where the fallen man lay, and unconscious that the Radiant City\nwas now out of sight. Resting there under the green trees, soothed and\nenervated by the entrancing music, Amer almost forgot the journey to\nthe Radiant City, the fight, the dangers of the way, and could think\nof little save the flowers, the fruit, the music and the beautiful\ninhabitants of the Land of Enchantment. And all the time that Self\nclamoured to be heard, filling his outward senses with dreams of\ndelight, grim Doubt stalked invisible by his side, flinging every now\nand then darts into his mind.\n\nAmer had taken off his helmet and shield, so that the darts, which\nwe small, found easy access, and pierced him though he was scarcely\nconscious of them; every now and then one sharper than the others\nwould make him start and tremble, but so enamoured was he with his\nsurroundings that instead of rousing himself to don his armour afresh,\nhe would turn the more readily to Self to devise some means by which\nto make him forget the pain they caused. He was rudely awakened by a\nrasping voice that he recognised at once as that belonging to Chisleu.\n\n\"What now! What now!\" he exclaimed, \"resting among the roses? Why,\nfriend, you scarcely look like a pilgrim to the Radiant City. Get up\nwith you lad, this is not your home.\"\n\n\"It is no business of yours what I do,\" said Amer at the suggestion\nof Temper, who had been watching the lad from a distance, and had\nbeen biding his time, and now exulted in his opportunity of worrying\nhis former companion; \"if I care to rest on my journey in the land of\nAchshaph, what is that to you?\"\n\n\"What is it to me, Sir?\" repeated Chisleu, \"why it is a great deal to\nme. We are brothers, and I can't see my brother a prey to the enemy\nwithout doing my best to help him. You are young, and do not know the\ndangers of the land through which we are passing.\"\n\n\"I am well pleased with it for a time,\" said Amer, \"and I beg you will\nleave me alone.\"\n\n\"That I certainly will not do,\" said Chisleu with some heat, \"leave a\nbrother in the hands of the enemy! That is not my way.\"\n\n\"What's wrong with the land?\"\n\n\"What's wrong? Why, it is a death trap. I was warned before I entered\nit of its dangers. Pray, my lad, have you eaten any of its fruits?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Amer, \"and though it was delicious at the time, it leaves\nan uncomfortable taste in the mouth.\"\n\n\"Ah! just so, just so,\" said Chisleu, and all the time he was speaking\nhe was perpetually looking down at his feet to make sure that his shoes\nwere still there.\n\n\"I can do no good without my shoes,\" he murmured.\n\n\"But,\" said Amer, \"I cannot think what my affairs have to do with you.\nAnd, besides, we are not all made alike, what might do you harm need\nnot necessarily hurt me. Every man must judge for himself.\"\n\n\"Every man must go by the Guide Book,\" answered Chisleu hastily, \"we\nare there told that we are not to lean to our own understanding.\nAnd also, young man,\" he added, \"we are told 'Let him that thinketh\nhe standeth take heed lest he fall.' You are on dangerous ground my\nfriend.\"\n\nAmer looked up at the man who was giving him such good advice. His face\nwas red and agitated, but the lad could not but be conscious that a\nreal concern for his welfare was the cause of his excitement. However,\nAmer was in no mood to listen to him, and the man's excitability and\nsomewhat dictatorial manner irritated him; had Chisleu been calmer and\nless emotional he would have had far greater influence over the one he\nlonged to help.\n\n\"I thank you, Sir, for your interest in me,\" said Amer coldly, \"but I\nreally feel that it is my own concern,\" and he rose from the ground\nintending to walk away, but to his vexation he found his foot was\nentangled, and he could not stir. Seeing that Chisleu had not perceived\nhis difficulty, he hid the fact from him, and the man baffled in his\nefforts, and sorely tried at the thought of leaving this lad in such\ndanger, walked slowly away, his kind heart full of pity.\n\n\"Ah!\" he sighed to himself, \"how little good I am! If it had been\nHeman, the boy would have listened. There I am again, telling others of\ntheir faults and failures, and all the time I am full of them myself.\nI am thankful, however, that it was not my shoes this time, and that\nTemper was disappointed, but I am sadly wanting in wisdom. Poor lad!\nPoor lad! But, after all, the King knows, and will send some one more\nworthy than I to his aid.\"\n\nDirectly Chisleu's back was turned Amer began to try to disentangle his\nfoot from the long grass that seemed to have caught it, but looking\ncloser he discovered that a very thin gold chain had wound itself\naround his ankle; so thin was it that Amer never doubted for a moment\nthat he could break it. But it resisted all his efforts. There it was;\na tiny line of gold glittering in the sunshine among the thick grasses.\n\nProvoked that such a small thing should prevent him stirring, Amer\nlooked around him in the hope of finding someone to help him. But no\none was in sight. Self, laughing at his discomfiture, was not far off,\nbut did not go to his aid. Amer began to wish then that he had taken\nthe good advice of Chisleu, who would certainly have done all in his\npower to release him. The lad's sword was lying hidden in the long\ngrass by his side, but he forgot it, and tugged and tugged away at the\nchain in the hope of breaking it.\n\nAt last, being very hot and tired from his efforts, he lay down again\nto wait the appearance of some one who might help him, and suddenly\nbethought him of his Guide Book.\n\nWhen he took it out of his pocket he found that since last reading\nit several pages had gone. He remembered they had become loose while\nlistening to the preacher to the crowd on the heath, and probably had\ndropped out during his journey. This distressed him not a little, and\nthe words that met his eyes on opening the book added to his distress,\nas they seemed to corroborate all that Chisleu had been saying. They\nwere these:\n\n\"'There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof\nare the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the\nend of that mirth is heaviness.' 'The simple believeth every word: but\nthe prudent man looketh well to his going.'\"\n\nAs poor Amer bent over his Guide Book, feeling very sad at heart and\nbeginning to repent of his folly and sin in not obeying the commands of\nhis King, to \"'turn not to the right hand nor to the left,'\" Doubt was\ncreeping about in the long grass behind him. Feeling a presence near\nhim, Amer turned round sharply, and at last saw the enemy who had been\nfor a time invisible.\n\n\"Studying your Guide Book,\" said Doubt, \"why, I thought you had nearly\ngiven that up. Don't you remember the preacher, who told you that much\nthat you imagined to be truth is after all only fable? How do you know\nthat the Radiant City to which the Guide Book professes to lead you is\nnot fable too?\"\n\n\"Begone,\" cried Amer, \"you have done enough mischief already to me.\nBegone, I say.\"\n\n\"But why this sudden change of front on your part? I thought you were\nenjoying yourself in this place partly because you were not quite so\nsure of the truth of your Guide Book. You felt that if the Guide Book\nwas not true you need not walk quite so carefully along the road, and\nmight at least rest and enjoy yourself on the way till you had made up\nyour mind upon the question.\"\n\n\"Begone,\" cried Amer in distress, \"I will have none of you. If you come\nany nearer you shall taste of my sword.\"\n\n\"Your sword!\" laughed the enemy, \"It has grown rusty by this time, you\nwould scarcely remember how to wield it. Come, now, let me sit down by\nyour side and talk over this matter.\"\n\nBut by this time Amer, now thoroughly convinced of his folly in having\nanything whatever to do with the King's enemies, wrenched his sword\nfrom its scabbard, and rusty though it was, wielded it to such good\neffect that for the time Doubt fled. But with the victory over Doubt,\ncame a terrible sense of sin and fear. If the Guide Book was the Word\nof the Great King, if every word of it was true, if the King knew each\nact of his servants and even their thoughts, which the Guide Book\naffirmed, in what a terrible position was Amer!\n\nEver since he had lingered to listen to the preacher giving out his\nviews as to the supposed unauthenticity of the Guide Book, he had been\ngrowing more and more careless; for instead of taking his difficulties\nstraight to the King, he had talked them over rashly with all he met.\nHis Guide Book had lain long unread in his pocket, for the speculations\ninto which he dived did not help him to read it in order to get at\nthe truth, but simply made him eager to hear all men's ideas on the\nsubject, which ideas he imbibed almost unconsciously.\n\nThis had resulted in carelessness of walk, and in his present state. It\nhad been carelessness that had made him delay in this beautiful land,\nand enjoy its delights, because all the while he had had at the back of\nhis mind the thought that possibly the Radiant City might, after all,\nbe a dream. But now that he had put Doubt to flight, and realized his\nposition, he felt in despair. Was the King so merciful that He would\nhave compassion on such an erring traveller as himself? How he envied\nChisleu, who notwithstanding his rashness, the mistakes he made, and\nhis trying disposition, was evidently conscious of the love of the\nKing, and so openly devoted to Him.\n\n\"It was just because he belonged to the King that he cares for me, and\nhe called me his brother,\" said Amer to himself.\n\nAmer dared not call to the King. He felt too far off. He could only\nbeat upon his breast and cry, \"Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.\" He\nfelt helpless. His foot was beginning to swell, as in his struggle with\nthe chain, instead of loosening it he had only dragged it tighter. Then\nhe began to cry out loudly, \"Have mercy upon me O Lord, have mercy upon\nme.\"\n\nSuddenly, in the midst of his anguish, he looked up and saw a familiar\nfigure advancing towards him. It was that of Heman. Amer noticed that\nhis eyes were upraised, and that their expression was one of intense\nearnestness. He was looking neither to the right nor to the left, for\nbeing conscious of the dangers of the place he was obeying the King's\ncommand to the letter; \"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine\neyelids look straight before thee.\" On his brow the radiance from the\nCity of the King was resting. Amer had not seen anything to remind him\nof the Radiant City ever since he had parted with Belthiah and Iddo,\nand he now hailed the reminder with a strange feeling of home sickness.\n\n\"Heman,\" he cried, \"Heman.\"\n\nAt the words Heman, who had, because of a fear of the fascination of\nthe Land of Enchantment, been holding very close converse with his\nKing, looked round as if awakened from a dream, and saw at his feet the\nlad whom he had met more than once in the way before.\n\n\"Help,\" cried Amer, all his pride gone, \"help, friend. I am in an agony\nof fear lest my King will not have mercy on me. And see I am still\nso entangled in this Land of Enchantment\u2014Land of Death I should call\nit\u2014that I cannot move a step from it.\"\n\nThen, looking towards the Radiant City and taking hold of the chain\nwith his hand, Heman wrenched it apart and set the lad free.\n\n\"Come, my lad,\" he said, \"come,\" and he began to move away at once.\n\"We must not delay a moment in this Land. It infects those who linger\nwithin it with a sleeping sickness that once given way to is almost\nimpossible to combat. Come lad with me and 'let thine eyes look right\non and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.' Do you not see\nhow the long grass is waving? Enemies are hiding within it ready to\nhurl their poisoned darts at you. You are lost if you hesitate. Hold\ncommunion with the King as you pass them and they dare not touch you.\"\n\n\"Ah! But have I a King now?\" sighed Amer.\n\n\"Has He not said, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.'\nCan we doubt His mercy? He who died for us.\"\n\n\"Since you have released me from the chain I begin to think that you\nmay have been the answer to my cry. I cried unto the Lord to have mercy\nupon me.\"\n\n\"And He has heard your cry,\" said Heman.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nSTRAYING FROM THE PATH.\n\nBelthiah and Iddo passed the outskirts of the Land of Achshaph on their\njourney. Iddo looked curiously into the green glades of the land, and\nwhat she saw there fascinated her.\n\n\"Mother,\" she cried, \"look at the flowers in those lanes, they are\nlovely. I have never seen such large ones; surely I may pluck some of\nthem.\"\n\n\"You could not pick them without going out of your path, my child,\"\nsaid her mother, \"see, your path only skirts the land. It is not the\nway the King has appointed you to tread.\"\n\nIddo still looked longingly at the flowers.\n\n\"It would only be a very little way out of the path,\" she murmured,\n\"and it seems such a pity to pass them by.\"\n\nHer mother was silent as she walked steadily forward, but Iddo lagged\nbehind.\n\nOnly a yard or two from her path were flowers such as she had never\nseen or dreamt of. Their blossoms were sprinkled in rich profusion\nover the grass; blossoms of deep purple and red, while in the distance\nshe caught sight of others of bright blue, which attracted her still\nmore. Iddo hesitated a moment. There would be time to run and pick a\nfew before her mother had turned the next corner. The temptation was\nstrong, and suddenly the girl gave way to it. Leaving her path she ran\ninto the green glade, and stooping down picked as many flowers as her\nhands could hold. Then sitting down in the grass she began to decorate\nherself with them, placing some in her waistband, and other blossoms in\nher hair.\n\n\"How pretty,\" sighed a voice by her side.\n\nIddo looked round quickly, and saw a dainty little lady standing beside\nher, dressed in very fine clothing.\n\nThe girl was startled, and suddenly remembered that she had wandered\naway from her right path; but the little creature in front of her did\nnot look alarming, so though Iddo rose from the ground she lingered by\nher side. Besides, the compliment that had been paid to her was not\nlost upon the girl.\n\n\"These flowers are lovely,\" she murmured.\n\n\"But never so lovely as when they deck a pretty maiden,\" answered her\ncompanion, \"it is a pity that the people of Achshaph cannot see you,\"\nshe added.\n\n\"Are there many people in this land?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"Yes, very many, and they are happy from morning to night. But would\nyou like to see yourself? If you come a few steps with me I will show\nyou a lovely picture.\"\n\n\"Oh! I dare not,\" said Iddo, sorely longing all the time to go with her\ngay little companion, \"I am afraid of losing my way.\"\n\n\"Losing your way? Where are you going to?\"\n\n\"I am on my way to the Radiant City,\" said Iddo, \"and I have no time to\nlose.\"\n\n\"You need not lose many minutes if you would like to see how you look.\nThose blue flowers suit your hair exactly; come just a few yards\nfurther;\" and Iddo gave way to the temptation, and followed her guide\ntill she came to the brink of a pool, where she was told to kneel down\nand take a long look. What she saw fascinated her. It was a lovely face\nthat was reflected in the pool, so lovely that the child at once busied\nherself with a fresh arrangement of the flowers in her hair.\n\n\"What a pity there is no one else to see you,\" said her companion. Iddo\nstood up flushed and pleased.\n\n\"Would they like to see me, do you think?\" she asked.\n\n\"To be sure they would, but they would be afraid of you if you show\nyour armour so plainly. Why do you wear it?\"\n\n\"I wear it because I am on the way to the Radiant City, and there are\nmany enemies to fight. Are there any here?\"\n\n\"No, they are all friends here. They would laugh at such a thing. You\nmust certainly hide your sword if you want to get to know any of them.\"\n\n\"I don't like to take it off,\" said Iddo, looking down wistfully, \"but\nreally there does not seem much point in having it here; the place\nseems so peaceful, and if all the people are as bright and nice as you\nare, there can surely be no need of it. I think I can, however, hide it\nin the skirt of my dress.\"\n\n\"But, then, there is your helmet,\" said her companion, \"you would\nlook very queer here in a helmet, and in the rest of your armour. I\nhave seen some of the pilgrims passing through Achshaph wearing full\narmour,\" she added, laughing, \"and they looked quite ridiculous. In\nfact, the people of Achshaph were so amused at them that, I assure you,\nthey did not have at all a happy time of it. They looked neither to the\nright nor to the left, even when the most lovely music was played on\npurpose to attract them. They would not pluck a single apple from the\ntrees.\"\n\n\"Is there beautiful music?\" asked Iddo, her eyes brightening.\n\n\"Yes, indeed, music and dancing and playing of all sorts. And as you\nare so very pretty, my dear, you will get the best of everything, only\nyou know you really must not show all that armour.\"\n\n\"I'll tuck my sword under my dress,\" said Iddo, now quite bent on\nseeing more of Achshaph, \"and I'll hide my helmet and the rest of my\narmour in this long grass. There will be no difficulty in finding them\nagain, will there?\"\n\n\"No difficulty whatever,\" said Madam Vanity, for that was her name,\n\"and it is the only way if you want to enjoy Achshaph. They must never\nguess that you are a pilgrim to the Radiant City.\"\n\nIddo looked grave for a moment, and then stood listening.\n\n\"Did you hear that?\" she asked.\n\n\"Hear what, my dear? I only heard the breeze in the trees.\"\n\n\"I thought I heard my mother's voice,\" said Iddo, with a little gasp,\nthen she added, \"I don't think I ought to come, and I am sure that\nmother would not like me to be afraid of letting people know that I am\na pilgrim.\"\n\n\"You will be with her again very soon, and it is only just for an hour\nthat you will play at being something else,\" and all the while Madam\nVanity was speaking, she was making a lovely wreath for the girl's\nhair, and at her last words she fastened it among her tresses, and bade\nher look at herself once more.\n\n\"You'll be a thorough success in Achshaph,\" she said gaily, \"come, put\naway those scruples and enjoy yourself,\" and after helping Iddo to hide\naway her armour in the grass, and to arrange her sword within the folds\nof her skirt so that it did not show, she took her hand and led the way.\n\nAnd for the next few hours Iddo almost forgot that she was a pilgrim.\n\n\"This is my cousin,\" said Madam Vanity, and as she spoke another small\nperson came towards Iddo with a smile. Her name was Love of Admiration,\nand she, like Madam Vanity, looked so small and unformidable, that it\nnever struck Iddo that they were enemies that had prevented many a one\nfrom starting on the journey to the Radiant City, and had hindered and\nworried real Pilgrims with their suggestions and temptations.\n\nLove of Admiration took her into a lovely glade where there were a\nnumber of youths and girls playing games, and no sooner were they aware\nof Iddo than they came round her exclaiming at her beauty, and begging\nher to play with them. Iddo, flushed and excited, was only too pleased\nto join them, and she was made so much of and admired so greatly that\nshe was perfectly happy, and was quite unconscious of the flight of the\nhours. Her companions vied with one another in getting her beautiful\nfruit to eat, in presenting her with the rarest flowers, and in\nchoosing her for their partner in the games.\n\nThere was one girl called Aimee, to whom Iddo took a special fancy,\nshe was older than herself, and had a more thoughtful face than her\ncompanions. Thinking that Iddo might be shy among so many strangers,\nshe took great notice of her, and Iddo rewarded her kindness by a\nwholehearted devotion. How swiftly the hours flew by the girl did\nnot know; it seemed to her like a happy dream; and conscious of her\npopularity and of the admiration she attracted, she began to think\nherself of some importance, and contrasted herself very favourably with\nthe other girls with whom she came into contact. The expression of her\nface was gradually altering, for Madam Vanity and her cousin were often\nat her side holding conversation with her.\n\nDuring a lull in the games, Iddo found courage to tell her special\nfriend that she was a pilgrim to the Radiant City. She was not prepared\nfor the effect of her words. A look of disdain crossed her companion's\nface.\n\n\"I was told that you were,\" she answered, \"but I would not believe it.\nYou are quite unlike every other pilgrim I have met.\"\n\n\"How am I unlike them?\" asked Iddo, feeling rather uncomfortable.\n\n\"The other pilgrims have worn their armour all the time they have\npassed through our land. But you don't seem to have any.\"\n\n\"Oh yes I have,\" exclaimed Iddo, \"look, here is my sword.\"\n\n\"You have managed to hide it well,\" said her companion.\n\n\"The friend who brought me to you told me it would never do to meet you\nall, dressed in my armour,\" said Iddo.\n\n\"You were afraid of being laughed at I suppose?\"\n\nThe tone of voice, full of scorn as it was, brought the colour into\nIddo's face.\n\n\"I always meant to show it before I left you,\" she murmured. Aimee\nlooked at Iddo with an expression that the girl did not quite\nunderstand.\n\n\"What are you thinking of?\" she asked.\n\n\"I was thinking how much more I respected the pilgrims who are not\nashamed of their King and their Country,\" said Aimee.\n\n\"Oh!\" said Iddo, \"I am afraid you despise me, I could not bear to think\nthat.\"\n\n\"Well, my dear, don't think of it! See, the game is beginning again.\nNotwithstanding your lack of courage, there is something about you that\nI like; come, they are looking for you.\"\n\nAnd in the pleasure of joining in the game, Iddo forgot for a time the\ndisagreeable sensation that the look of scorn she had caught on Aimee's\nface, had produced in her.\n\nIt was sometime after this that the game suddenly stopped at the\napproach of a girl as pretty as Iddo, and with much more to say for\nherself, and Iddo's admirers, with a hasty apology, left her one by one\nand centred round the new corner.\n\nIddo turned red with disappointment, and sat down on the grass to watch.\n\n\"It is very unfair,\" whispered a voice by her side, \"you are far\nprettier than this new girl.\"\n\nIddo, startled, looked around her, and saw a man leaning against a\ntree, watching the group around the new corner with fire smouldering\nin his eyes. He was an ugly man, and at first she so disliked the\nlook of him that she paid no attention to his words, nevertheless her\ndisappointment at being deserted changed at his remark to vexation.\n\n\"Every one admired and spoilt you till that girl came,\" the man\ncontinued, \"they are very fickle.\"\n\nIddo felt this stranger was so much in sympathy with her that she\nlooked at him again, and her face caught something of the gloomy\nexpression that his wore.\n\n\"What shall I do?\" she asked, \"it is horrid sitting here all by myself,\nwhen that girl is being so courted. Please give me your advice.\"\n\n\"Wait and see,\" said the man, whose name was Jealousy, and as he spoke\nthe crowd came dancing and laughing in her direction. One or two seeing\nher sitting alone made their way towards her.\n\n\"Pretend not to notice them,\" whispered Jealousy at her shoulder.\n\nSo Iddo turned away her face as they approached. They did not, however,\nat first notice her behaviour.\n\n\"Have you seen that pretty girl who has just joined us?\" they asked.\n\n\"I don't think she is pretty,\" said Iddo, at the suggestion of the\nenemy.\n\n\"She is quite lovely,\" they returned, \"and her voice is like a bird's.\nYou should hear her sing. It is the sweetest voice we have heard for a\nlong time.\"\n\n\"Her voice has no strength in it,\" answered Iddo.\n\n\"Well, it may not be strong, but it is as sweet as a bird's.\"\n\n\"I don't think so,\" argued the girl testily, \"I heard distinctly two or\nthree flat notes, she can't have a correct ear.\"\n\n\"Well you are hard to please,\" they said, as they turned away; while\nothers, seeing that Jealousy was at Iddo's elbow, stayed, determined to\nhave a little fun.\n\n\"She is going to dance,\" said one, \"look at her gracefulness. It seems\nto me that whatever she attempts she does well.\"\n\n\"We have never had such an addition to our company,\" said another,\n\"every one pales beside her.\"\n\n\"Look at the lovely flush on her cheeks,\" said a third, \"surely,\" he\nadded, turning to Iddo, who was sitting, miserable and angry, on the\ngrass by the side of Jealousy, \"surely you must admire her?\"\n\n\"No, I don't,\" said Iddo, sullenly.\n\n\"How disagreeable you are,\" they exclaimed, laughing, \"we thought you\nwere a very different kind of girl,\" and as they moved away Iddo heard\none of them remark:\n\n\"How that girl has disimproved. She has such a sour expression on her\nface, which quite spoils her beauty, and she evidently cannot bear\nanyone being admired but herself.\"\n\n\"Did you hear that?\" asked Jealousy. \"I think the way they are treating\nyou is quite disgraceful.\"\n\nHad Belthiah seen her little daughter at that moment she would scarcely\nhave recognized her. Her brow was puckered with vexation, and her eyes\nwore a remarkable likeness in their expression to that of the enemy by\nher side\u2014they were moody and sullen.\n\n\"I think I shall go away,\" she murmured.\n\n\"No, don't go away,\" answered Jealousy, \"show them that you don't care.\nBe cold and distant to them, it will teach them how to behave.\"\n\nSo, when some of her playmates came near her, Iddo looked at them so\ncoldly and disagreeably that they turned back with a shrug of their\nshoulders, and warned their friends to have nothing to do with her, for\nshe was quite impossible.\n\nSo poor Iddo was left severely alone, and began to repent that she\nhad not listened to her mother's advice. The lovely flowers which had\nattracted her were all beginning to fade, and she made a sorry picture\nwith her gloomy expression of face, and the faded flowers in her hair\nand on her dress. Then she rose, and began to try and find Aimee. Aimee\nsurely would not desert her like the rest of the people, for she was\nher chosen friend. Where could she be? Iddo had been so full of chagrin\nat the behaviour of the others that she had not noticed that her friend\nhad disappeared, and now looked about her anxiously.\n\nSuddenly she caught sight of her in deep conversation with one whom\nIddo recognized at once as being a pilgrim to the Radiant City. She\nwas walking fully armed, and Iddo noticed that behind her trotted\nMadam Vanity, but that the pilgrim would have nothing to say to her.\nOther enemies were also doing what they could to annoy her, but she\nperpetually pulled out her sword and they fled. Aimee was walking by\nher side, looking up at her with admiration, and as Iddo neared them\nshe heard her say:\n\n\"Why are not all pilgrims to the Radiant City like you? I have just\nbeen with one who was so ashamed of being a pilgrim and a soldier, that\nshe hid her sword within the folds of her dress.\"\n\nIddo noticed that at Aimee's words, Love of Admiration, who had been\ntrotting by the side of Madam Vanity, peered up into the pilgrim's face\ntrying to attract her attention, but her efforts were in vain, for the\ngirl turned her face away as she spoke in a low voice to her companion,\nso low that she could not catch her words. But Aimee's remark had\ncaused a flush of shame to rise on Iddo's cheeks, and though she\ndreaded to hear any more, and felt that she had no business to listen,\nshe gave way to the temptation, and drawing nearer heard her friend say\nsoftly,\n\n\"You almost persuade me to be a pilgrim to the Radiant City.\" At that\nIddo turned away. She could bear it no longer. If only she had been\nbraver and had confessed her King, what might not have happened! She\nforgot at the moment that she had not entered Achshaph at the command\nof the King, and that while not travelling on the right path, it was\nnot likely that she could do the King's work. She forgot this, and was\nfilled with remorse at the thought that another had succeeded where she\nhad failed. So depressed was she that she longed to get out of the Land\nof Enchantment as soon as she could, and began looking about for her\narmour. But she was not allowed to be alone. Jealousy had followed her\nand now came forward.\n\n\"Even your friend,\" he whispered, \"has forsaken you.\"\n\nIddo felt vexed with his remark.\n\n\"I want to get out of this land,\" she said quickly, \"and shall find my\nway better if left to myself.\"\n\n\"It is extraordinary that Aimee has forgotten you so soon after all her\nprofession of friendship,\" whispered her companion.\n\nIddo did not answer, but her eyes grew angry at the thought of the\ngirl's desertion.\n\n\"I don't suppose,\" added Jealousy, \"if you meet her again that she will\ncare at all for you, as she is evidently quite taken up with her new\nfriend.\"\n\n\"Oh can't you leave me alone, I'm miserable enough without your talk,\"\ncried Iddo, who had forgotten by this time that she had a remedy close\nat hand in her sword.\n\n\"Of course,\" continued her companion, \"you have not a chance. You will\nnever be her friend again.\"\n\nAnd at those words the girl flung herself on the ground and sobbed.\nJealousy, because he had not been worsted at once, but had been\nlistened to and talked to, had won his point, and had worked Iddo's\nfeelings up to such a pitch of anger that she almost felt that she\nhated Aimee. How long she sat sobbing and rocking herself to and fro\non the ground, her heart filled with the thoughts that Jealousy had\nplanted there, she did not know, but at last feeling exhausted and a\nlittle frightened lest she should not find her way out of Achshaph,\nshe rose and took to looking for her armour in earnest. It was only\nthen that she discovered to her great distress that the flowers that\nnow hung about her were dead, and had stained her dress with their\ncolours. She took them angrily out of her hair and waistband and threw\nthem away; but though the flowers were gone the stains still remained,\nand she wondered ruefully what her mother would say when she saw her.\nAnd from her mother her thoughts flew to her King. How she must have\ngrieved Him, how disappointed He must be in her!\n\nSuddenly she fell on her knees and clasped her hands, crying for\nforgiveness and help. And no sooner did she cry than a bright angel\ncame to her aid, and taking her by the hand lifted her up and led her\nto a fountain that was close beside her, and in which she washed her\ndress of its stains. Then silently the angel showed her where she could\nagain find her armour, and clad her with it, and so once more ready for\nher journey to the Radiant City, Iddo found herself on the right path\nand before long was folded in her mother's arms.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nA FIERCE CONFLICT.\n\nAfter their journey through Achshaph Amer and his friend Heman passed\nthrough a time of rest, peace, and joy. Their path led them beside the\ngreen pastures and still waters, and though both of them had their hand\non their sword ready to fight the enemy at a moment's notice, they were\nfor a time left in peace.\n\nMany a lesson did Amer learn from Heman, lessons of patience and\nhumility; though if Heman had been told what his example was doing for\nhis young friend he would have been surprised indeed. This humility\nwas one of the chief marks of the King's servants, for they knew that\nevery virtue they possessed, \"every victory won, and every thought of\nholiness,\" was due to the King's presence\u2014and to Him alone.\n\nThe braver the soldier, the more conquests he had over his foes, the\nbrighter he kept his breastplate, the more humble he became, and the\nless inclined he was to speak of himself or of his attainments.\n\nThere were some with whom Amer came in contact who surprised him\nwith long stories of their prowess, of the help they had given to\nstrangers on the road, of the victories they had obtained over Temper\nor Discontent and other enemies; but he began to notice that when they\nspoke much about themselves, he often met them again on the road in a\nvery sad condition, as they were an easy prey to the many enemies that\nwere always on the watch to take some mean advantage of the pilgrims.\nBesides, Amer, knowing what bragging had done for him, could not but\nfear for them.\n\nThe two friends rested in the green pastures and drank deep of the\nstill waters, and so their strength, which had been much tried\nduring the fierce battle of the way, was renewed, their shields and\nbreastplates shone brightly, their shoes were easy to their feet, and\ntheir helmets covered their heads from the heat of the sun.\n\nBut the soldiers of the King never have much time to rest, and Amer\nbegan to notice that every now and then Heman's hand went to his sword\nsuddenly, as if he felt an enemy near him. The lad would have liked to\nhave asked him what enemy was annoying him, but his companion was a\nsilent man, and never cared to talk of himself; indeed Amer had noticed\nthat when the conversation came round to something connected with his\nfriend's own personal history, he visibly shrank. The lad was also\naware that he knew very little of the inner history of his friend, and\nthat many an enemy met Heman of which he (Amer) was unconscious, so\nthat occasionally he was startled by an exclamation at his side.\n\nOnce when he had imagined from the radiance on his friend's face that\nhe was having a time of peace, the lad was surprised at noticing\na sudden change of expression crossing it, as Heman said sternly,\nspeaking to some invisible foe,\n\n\"'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;\nwhen I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me,'\" and at\nthe same time his sword was plucked out of its scabbard and held up in\na threatening attitude. After these encounters with his foes Heman's\nshield blazed with light, and a brightness from the Radiant City played\nacross his face.\n\nAmer himself had an easier time of it, and he supposed that the\nprobable cause was, that being somewhat weak and unstable, the King had\nsurrounded him with his hosts to protect him from the enemy that was\nsurely on the watch.\n\nIt was just as they left the green pastures and still waters, that\nHeman and Amer caught sight of a sad looking little figure a few yards\nin front of them. It was that of Iddo. She was walking in a dejected\nattitude, and apparently unaware that just above her was an angel with\na drawn sword, warding off an enemy who was doing his best to get her\ninto his clutches.\n\n\"Iddo,\" said Amer, \"where is your mother?\"\n\nThe child was too sad even to show pleasure at the sight of her old\nfriend.\n\n\"Mother is in the Valley of Pain,\" she answered, \"and the valley\nsometimes leads to the dark river, and I am afraid.\"\n\n\"Fear not little sister,\" said Amer, \"wherever your mother is she is\nnot out of the keeping of the Great King. Neither are you. Do you know\nthat an angel is guarding you while your mother is away. Do not you\nfeel his wings?\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said Iddo, \"I do not deserve the guardianship of the good angel.\nI wandered out of my path into the Land of Achshaph, and nearly forgot\nmy King there, and it was only a short time after I left it that mother\nhad to go into the Valley of Pain; and I cannot bear to think that\nI made some of her days unhappy while I was wandering away. I am so\nmiserable that I feel to have no strength to fight my enemies.\"\n\n\"What enemies, have been worrying you?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"A little family clad all in grey, called the Morbids, have been\ndodging my path and have done all they could to impede me; and no\nsooner had they left than I found that one who is near of kin to them\nwas following me, a much worse enemy, called Depression.\"\n\n\"I know the fellow,\" said Heman.\n\n\"I could only get rid of him by crying perpetually to the King for\nhelp. And then no sooner had he left me than a worse enemy still beset\nme.\"\n\n\"What was his name?\" inquired Amer.\n\nIddo shivered.\n\n\"Oh! I dare scarcely think of him,\" she said, \"he had a terrible face,\nand the first moment I saw him I felt sure he would overcome me. His\nname was Doubt, and he began by asking me if I thought the King could\npossibly love me as He had sent mother into the Valley of Pain.\"\n\n\"And what did you say?\"\n\n\"I did not answer at first, but began to wonder if the King had\nforgotten me. And then we had a talk and all that the enemy said\nfrightened me so that I lost courage, and when he hit me I fell to the\nground and did not try to hit him back.\"\n\n\"But did you not cry to the King for help?\"\n\n\"No, I forgot to do that. But that kind old man Chisleu passed by my\nway and cried to Him for me. I cannot think how I could ever have\ndisliked Chisleu or talked evil of him. He could not have been kinder\nif he had been my father, and if you say there is an angel walking\nbeside me I owe that I expect to his cries. And I owe much to you too,\ndear Amer,\" she added looking up at him with a brighter face, \"for\nalready I feel happier. But I do not deserve to have you or to have the\nangel.\"\n\n\"Little sister,\" said Amer, \"where is your Guide Book?\"\n\nIddo fumbled in her pocket and at last drew it out. It did not look as\nif it had been much used.\n\n\"Mother has always used hers,\" she said, somewhat shame faced, \"and I\nhave never looked much at my own.\"\n\n\"Dear child,\" said Heman, who had been listening in silence to the\nconversation, \"perhaps your mother has been taken from you for awhile\nto help you to read the Guide Book. It is never safe for a pilgrim,\nthough she may have the best parent possible, to depend upon her\nmother's study of the Guide Book instead of her own. You did not know\nthat in the Book it is written:\u2014\"\n\n\"'When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me\nup.' You need not have feared, or have doubted for a moment the love of\nthe King for you. And as for forgetting you, why, a sparrow does not\nfall to the ground without Him knowing it.\"\n\n\"Then will the King never forget me?\" asked Iddo, comforted.\n\n\"Your mother would forget you sooner than the King, my child.\"\n\nAnd before long the mother and child had met again.\n\nBelthiah said little about her experiences to her friends, but that\nshe had passed through deep waters could not be doubted from her whole\nbearing, and that in the Valley of Pain she had had communion with her\nKing, was also evident, from the radiance that lighted up her face when\nHis name was mentioned in her hearing.\n\n\"Little Iddo,\" she said softly, \"you need fear nothing if you have the\npresence of the King with you. I have found my Guide Book true.\"\n\n\"What does the Guide Book say about the Valley of Pain, mother?\"\n\n\"'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and\nthrough the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest\nthrough the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame\nkindle upon thee.' 'Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow\nof Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy\nstaff they comfort me.'\"\n\n\"But,\" said Iddo, \"we do not think we shall have to go through that\ndark valley, mother, we hope that the King will come for us instead of\nour going to Him.\"\n\n\"I hope so, Iddo, and if I do not live to see that day I trust that my\nchild will.\"\n\nWhen Amer's path diverged again he found himself toiling up a steep\npiece of hill, somewhat weary. He had however gathered strength from\nthe rest in the green pastures, and steadily made his way among the\nrocks and stones, walking carefully.\n\nAt the steepest point he saw a vision that dazzled him and made him\nthink he was dreaming. Just in front of him was Gabrielle, dressed in\nwhite, and looking as she had looked on that evening so long ago in\nthe Dark City. When however she turned towards him he saw that she was\nchanged. She looked older, but her charm for him was as great as ever\nand he sprang to her side.\n\n\"Gabrielle!\" he cried, \"how came you here?\"\n\n\"By a short cut,\" she answered lightly, \"and not through the East Gate\nat all. I climbed over the wall of the City and have come in the hope\nof finding you.\"\n\n\"But are you then on the way to the Radiant City?\"\n\n\"Certainly not,\" she cried, \"I do not look like a pilgrim, do I?\"\n\nAmer looked at her. Her eyes were full of mocking merriment and her\nmouth was hard and satirical. He was at once aware that there was no\nmark of the King upon her brow.\n\n\"I want you to come back with me,\" she said, \"surely you must be tired\nof your journey by this time, and we are tired of being without you. I\nmiss you more than I thought I should.\"\n\nAmer standing looking upon her felt his old love for her welling up\nin his heart. He had tried to put the thought of her away from him\nfor long, as he found that whenever he indulged in idle dreamings the\nenemy took advantage of him, specially a very formidable enemy named\nJealousy, whom he had met more than once. He had imagined that by this\ntime Gabrielle had forgotten him, and he had done all he could to\nbanish her from his thoughts. But now that she stood before him in her\nbeauty, notwithstanding the new look in her eyes and a certain hardness\nabout the mouth, he found his love for her was still as strong as ever.\n\n\"Come back, dear Amer,\" she said, holding out her hands to him, \"give\nup the Radiant City.\"\n\n\"You ask an impossible thing,\" he answered looking at her steadily.\n\nThe very fact of his determination made her feel that he was all the\nmore worth winning.\n\n\"Have you forgotten the day,\" she said softly, \"when you told me that I\nshould be your Radiant City?\"\n\nAmer turned pale.\n\n\"I would do anything in the world for you but turn back,\" he said\ngravely.\n\n\"You won't do just the one thing I ask,\" she said pouting, and she\nlooked so pretty and so much like the Gabrielle whom he had loved so\ndevotedly that his heart beat quickly, and he could scarcely restrain\nhimself.\n\n\"I love you as my own soul,\" he said fervently.\n\nGabrielle, aware of the advantage that she was gaining, smiled.\n\n\"No, you don't,\" she answered lightly, \"you love your own soul better\nthan me.\"\n\nAt these words Amer's hand flew to his sword. He suddenly felt that the\nenemy was using the lips of the one he loved best in all the world to\ntempt him. Could it be the Devil himself? The words in the Guide Book\nwhich had perplexed him at first, but of which he had been gradually\nlearning the meaning, flashed across his mind:\u2014\n\n\"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against\nprincipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of\nthis world.\"\n\n\"Get thee behind me,\" he cried suddenly, and turning round he expected\nto come face to face with an enemy he had not before encountered; but\nthe foe was invisible.\n\n\"Ah! I see,\" said Gabrielle, \"you are as mad as ever! We should never\nsuit. We are made of different stuff;\" then she added in a softer tone\nof voice,\n\n\"If you turn back with me, who knows but that one day I might set out\non the journey with you?\"\n\nFor the moment her companion hesitated, then he said:\n\n\"If I were to turn back with you you would not be likely to go forward\nwith me! The only hope is for us to be walking both the same way.\"\n\n\"It would tire me to death,\" she said, \"no, I must make up my mind to\ndo what my father is urging all the time and marry Desmond. I only\nwanted to make quite sure that nothing would make you change your mind\nand purpose before I gave my answer. Good-bye.\"\n\nAs Amer watched the vanishing figure of Gabrielle, the great enemy, who\nhas taken captive many a poor soul, sprang upon him and pierced him\nwith poisoned darts. But, looking again and again towards the Radiant\nCity and crying out in his agony and pain to its King, the lad kept his\nground.\n\nHarder and harder grew the fight, each gripping each with all the\nstrength they possessed, and neither giving way for a moment. But the\nKing was on Amer's side and there were more with him than against\nhim, so though the fight lasted so long that he felt as if he was in\na terrible nightmare and would never awake, the enemy, being resisted\nresolutely, began to lose heart and finally withdrew with many a bad\nwound. And Amer, the conqueror, fell down faint and almost done to\ndeath. But tender hands ministered unto him and sleep overtook him,\nsleep such as the King gives to His beloved. He awoke at last with some\nwords of the Guide Book ringing in his ears.\n\n\"'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will\nnot slumber. . . . . The Lord is thy Keeper.'\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE PASSING OF HEMAN.\n\nThe next time that Amer came across Heman he was struck by a new\nexpression on his face: there was a brightness that he had not noticed\nbefore. \"I am drawing near the River,\" he said in an awed whisper, \"but\nI have the support of my King.\"\n\n\"Not yet, Heman, surely not yet,\" said Amer sorrowfully.\n\n\"Yes, lad. If I am not mistaken the River is near, and the last\nconflict with the enemy,\" he added, slowly, and as they turned together\nthe next corner of the road, there loomed before their eyes a dark\nvalley and at the end of the valley a river.\n\nAmer's path lay along the side of the river for a time, but Heman's\nended at the brink.\n\nThe lad trembled as he walked by his side, but was astonished to notice\na joy on the face of his companion not at all in keeping with his own\nfeelings; but looking far away beyond the river, he caught sight of a\nwonderful shining light from the Radiant City, and noticed that his\ncompanion's eyes were fixed steadily upon it.\n\nThen suddenly without warning, what seemed like a dark cloud, came\nbetween Heman and the City.\n\n\"Ah,\" he groaned, \"it is the enemy; pray for me, for I feel to have no\nstrength for the last conflict. Cry to the King and cry loud for help:\"\nand then Amer saw, as if in a dream, the cloud form itself into an army\nof dark figures, as if the Devil and his angels were in league to do\nall in their power to wrest this good soldier from the King, and he\nremembered the Ambassador's words,\n\n\"Some are fighting up to the very end.\"\n\nAs the lad cried aloud to the King for his friend, he noticed that at\nthe edge of the river there appeared a cross which flung its shadow\nover Heman, and to which again and again he turned and clung. And every\ntime he clung to the cross or got within its shadow, the powers of\ndarkness which were surrounding him drew back as if they had received\na wound. At these times Amer became aware, that even nearer than the\nevil spirits, who were trying to do their utmost to tear the fainting\nsoldier from the cross, there was a band of bright angels supporting\nhim. At last, when he swooned, and would have been drowned in the deep\nwaters, these bright spirits carried him tenderly in their arms to a\nspot in the river, where a radiant figure stood, with outstretched\nhands, and the hands had the marks of having once been pierced with\nnails: while across the river came the sound of music, such as Amer\nhad never heard nor dreamed of, and the song of a multitude of voices\nwelcoming the warrior home.\n\nThen the lad fell on his knees and worshipped.\n\n\"Ah,\" said a voice by his side, \"I am too late to see the passing of\none of the bravest and best soldiers that I have known,\" and Amer\nturned to see to his comfort, the figure of the Ambassador, whom he had\nnever thought to meet again.\n\n\"Sir,\" said Amer, pale and trembling, \"does the great enemy always\nattack the King's soldiers so fiercely at the end?\" and he related\nhow harried had been the last moments of Heman and with what a fierce\nconflict he had had to engage.\n\n\"Nay lad,\" he said, \"but it does not altogether surprise me. The braver\nthe soldier the harder the fight, and the enemy made one last effort\nto do what he has failed to do for so long. But as a rule the passing\ninto the Radiant City is peaceful and bright. I have known soldiers who\nhave sung with joy as they have reached the river, and who have been\nsurrounded with a wall of fire so that the enemy could not reach them.\nThe King knows each one so thoroughly that He will never let anyone\nbe tempted above that he is able, 'but will with the temptation also\nmake a way of escape.' And think of the reward that good soldier is now\ngetting: his affliction was 'but for a moment,' and worketh for him, 'a\nfar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'\"\n\n\"I fear the River,\" said Amer, shivering, for his path still lay\nthrough the Valley of the Shadow.\n\n\"Nay lad, fear not,\" said the Ambassador. \"The King does not send you\nhelp to cross it till the time to cross it comes. Has He not promised\nto be with you? And how do you know that you will have to pass through\nthe River at all? The King may come in the clouds first to take His\npeople Home. If I'm not mistaken,\" he added, \"Depression is at your\nside, take out your sword, lad.\"\n\nAnd the Ambassador was right, and Amer found that in wielding his\nsword, Depression departed, and that when his enemy had departed, he\nbegan to think of the light of the City on Heman's face, of the song of\nwelcome he had listened to, and looking up to his King, he said, \"'What\ntime I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE DARK FOREST.\n\n\"'What time I am afraid, I will trust.'\"\n\nThese words were continually in Amer's mind during the next part of his\njourney, for he found his way led him into a gloomy forest, and looking\ndown its long dark avenues, for a moment he hesitated.\n\nIt was indeed so dark that he wondered if it could be the way intended\nfor him to tread; he wondered still more as on entering it fearfully,\nhe found he could not see any distance before him, but looking down at\nhis feet he saw that there was no mistake about it. His path lay before\nhim, though he could only see one step at a time. He buckled his sword\ntighter around him and made sure that all his armour was in the right\nposition, and with a brave heart walked boldly into the still deeper\nrecesses of the forest.\n\nFor a short time he was comforted by the fact that far, far away,\nhe caught a faint glimmer of light which he knew must come from the\nRadiant City; but after a time even this faded, and he felt himself in\ntotal darkness.\n\nA terrible silence pervaded the place. Not even the flutter of a bird\namong the trees nor the sound of the faintest breeze. It was as if he\nwere in a dead world.\n\nThe perspiration stood out on his forehead and his hands trembled as he\ngripped his sword. So appalled was he at the darkness and silence, that\nhe dared not even call aloud, on the chance that there might be someone\nnear who could come to his aid. The sense of utter loneliness amazed\nhim. He had experienced nothing like it before. Loneliness and darkness\nappalled him, fearfulness and trembling came upon him, and horror\noverwhelmed him.\n\nSuddenly, as faint with forebodings, he slowly and painfully made his\nway, seeing only one step at a time, some words from his Guide Book\nflashed across his mind like a sunbeam from the Radiant City.\n\n\"'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His\nservant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in\nthe Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.'\"\n\n\"'What time I am afraid, I will trust,'\" he cried, and the very fact of\nbreaking the silence by that cry, gave him courage and comfort.\n\nMany a time after this, during that dark journey, he called aloud to\nhis King, and when he did so, he was conscious of a Presence quite near\nto him, of a Companionship that made his heart burn within him, and in\nthe consciousness of which he was able to face the horrors of darkness\nthat seemed likely to overwhelm him.\n\nBut at times even the sense of the Presence seemed to be hidden from\nhim, and he had but to find comfort in the fact, that, the King had\npromised to be with his servants unto the end, that though unseen and\nunfelt, He could not be far off, so he cried out in the words of the\nGuide Book, many of which he knew by this time, by heart,\n\n\"'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in\nme? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, for His Presence is\nsalvation.'\"\n\nAt last, as he neared the end of this part of his journey, he became\naware that a glimmering of light could be seen in the distance, and\nthat with every step he took it became brighter, till at last, through\na vista among the trees, he caught sight again of the Radiant City,\nlooking brighter and more dazzling than it had ever looked before. At\nthe sight of this he fell on his knees and worshipped his King Who had\nbrought him safely through the darkness.\n\nThen he rose and looked around him. Surely now his path was to lead him\non and upwards, higher and higher; surely for him the darkness was past\nand over. He looked about eagerly for his pathway, and to his amazement\nfound it led into the forest again, though by another way.\n\n\"Alas!\" he cried, \"my strength will fail me. I dare not encounter the\nhorror of darkness again.\" So depressed was he that he sat him down\nunder the shadow of a rock, and hiding his face in his hands he groaned\naloud. For a long time he sat there, and as he rested, he fell asleep\nand dreamt.\n\nThe King stood before him; not as he had often thought of Him, radiant\nin power and might, with a beauty unspeakable and dazzling in its\nglory: but with a crown of thorns on His head, with pierced and\nbleeding hands and feet, with a face marred by suffering and sorrow.\nBut, notwithstanding His bleeding feet and hands and His pierced\nbrow, His eyes were directed towards a little wandering lamb who had\nstrayed beyond the fold, and lay bleating on a thin ledge overhanging\na precipitous cliff; and as He looked He moved towards it, though\nthe thorns and prickly bushes at His feet opened the wounds afresh.\nAlthough the cliffs were almost impassable and the danger great, the\nKing never hesitated; leaning over the awful abyss, He reached down\ntill He grasped with His bleeding hands the little lamb, and lifting it\nup, sheltered it in His bosom.\n\nThen Amer awoke.\n\nHad it been a dream or had it been a vision? Whatever it was, it\ncontained a lesson for him which changed his whole view of his journey.\nHe was filled no longer with his own dangers and difficulties, but\nrecognized that he had been saved to serve, and that the very reason of\nmany of his experiences through which he had passed, was not merely to\nmake him more fit for the Radiant City, but that he might be able to\nsympathize with other travellers and help them on the way.\n\nOn learning this he rose. But for him the darkness was lightened by\nmany a glimpse of the Radiant City, and he found the forest silent no\nlonger.\n\nAs he made his way along his path he constantly met other travellers,\nfaint with fear or oppressed by the enemy Depression, or Despair, and\nhe cheered them so that they had the courage to meet their foes in\nbattle, and to overcome them.\n\nTo Amer's great surprise he met the last person whom he would have\nexpected to meet in such a place.\n\nHe came upon a man lying prone upon the grass. At his first look at him\nhe thought there was no life in him, but on coming closer he discovered\nthat it was Chisleu, faint and weary. His face had lost its energy, and\nhe had no words even with which to greet Amer. He looked at him with\nsad and dreary eyes, so unlike his former self, that the lad almost\ndoubted if it could be he.\n\n\"Chisleu,\" he exclaimed, \"is it you?\"\n\nBut Chisleu did not answer, he still looked wearily up at Amer without\na word. Then, noticing compassion written large across his friend's\nface, he groaned.\n\n\"Friend,\" said Amer, \"are you in pain?\"\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" answered Chisleu, \"I'm in pain of body and mind. I'm in the\ndark, friend, in the dark.\"\n\n\"And not only in the dark,\" said Amer, glancing about him, \"but in the\nhands of Despondency, Depression, and Despair.\"\n\n\"What, what,\" cried Chisleu, excitedly, awakened out of his torpor, and\naroused to action, \"do you mean to say it is the work of the enemy?\"\n\n\"Surely, what else could it be?\"\n\n\"I thought,\" said Chisleu, \"the King had forgotten me.\"\n\n\"It is not the King who has forgotten you, but the enemy who has\nthought of you. The King never forgets His own. Had you been looking\naround you instead of giving up as if all were lost, you would have\nrecognized it as the work of the three enemies which I now see hidden\namong the trees.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" sighed Chisleu, \"you do not know the terrors of this forest, I am\noverwhelmed by them.\"\n\n\"Friend, I know even too well,\" answered Amer, \"I have been in it a\nlong time.\"\n\n\"It is a place of horror and the darkness of death,\" said Chisleu.\n\n\"And I should be in the same state as you at this present moment,\" said\nAmer, \"had it not been for the help of my King.\"\n\n\"And yet,\" said Chisleu, raising his head to look more earnestly at\nhim, \"you look as if you were upheld. Have you really experienced such\nhorror as I have?\"\n\n\"Such darkness that even now I scarcely dare to think of it. But since\nthen I have seen a vision of the King which has turned my darkness into\nlight. I think I can even thank Him now for the lessons He taught me\nin the darkness. But come! I will help you to rise, and if the enemies\nattack you again, I will add my sword to yours. I do not wonder that\nthey met you by the way, Chisleu, and were so determined to overcome\nyou. It was only natural that such a good brave soldier, who is always\non the look-out for those who are in sorrow or need, should be attacked\nby the enemy. You have done too much good for him to forget you, or to\nleave you alone. As for me, I have only just learnt that I am saved to\nserve.\"\n\n\"Ah, friend, you little know me,\" sighed Chisleu, \"the mistakes I have\nmade! and the way I have judged far better people than myself, and have\ntried to set them right according to my own judgment! Nay, I felt sunk\nso low and that I was of so little good on the road, that I feared my\nKing had forgotten me, when I found myself in such a dark place. But,\"\nhe added, rising, \"if you are right, and this misery comes from the\nenemy, and is not that I am forgotten in the Radiant City on account of\nmy sins, I will take courage.\"\n\n\"I understand now,\" said Amer, \"why my way led me again into the\nforest. The King was thinking of you, friend, and sent me to help one\nwho in the past has helped me.\"\n\n\"Helped you!\" exclaimed Chisleu, astonished, \"nay, lad, I remember\nnothing of the kind. I am a good-for-nothing fellow who meddles with\nevery one I come across, thinking to do them good. I am the fool who\nsteps in where angels fear to tread.\"\n\n\"Had it not been for you,\" persisted Amer, \"I might still be in the\nCity of Achshaph. You were the one who first tried to arouse my\nconscience and to make me see my danger. But come, we must not linger.\"\n\nSo these two brave soldiers buckled their swords closer and set out\nside by side, as long as their path lay together, to fight the enemy\nand to help the wounded. And many a one had to thank their King\nfor them, and called them both by the name of Ahiezer\u2014Brothers of\nAssistance.\n\nAt last the forest came to an end, and their ways parted.\n\nOnce again in the broad sunshine Amer breathed in the fresh air with\ndelight and gratitude. His way led through fields full of brightly\ncoloured flowers. The air was laden with their scent, and vibrated\nwith the song of birds. Having so lately emerged from such a dark and\ndreary passage, the sunshine, the sounds, and the scents, filled him\nwith delight, and that which rejoiced him still more was the fact that\nhis path lay up the side of a hill, and every step he took found him\nhigher, in fresher air, with a clearer view of the Radiant City. He had\nthe joy also of meeting his old friends Belthiah and Iddo, who, after\nwelcoming him, looked earnestly in his face.\n\n\"Amer,\" they said, \"you have grown into a man since last we saw you.\nThere are marks of victory and strength on your face. You have passed\nthrough some great experience.\"\n\n\"I have been in the dark forest,\" he answered gravely, for even now the\nremembrance was painful to him, \"and I found light in the darkness.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nDANGEROUS HEIGHTS.\n\nAmer's path did not lay long beside that of his friends. He parted from\nthem at the top of a beautiful green hill, dotted over with flowers.\n\nHe had been climbing ever since he had left the dark forest, but now\nas he looked up and saw the towering mountains before him, the green\nhill dwindled to a valley in his estimation. Stern rocks and steep\nprecipices confronted him, as after waving his farewell to his friends\nwhose path still lay along the gentle slopes, he eagerly set out alone\nagain on his journey.\n\nWhere his path would lead him he did not know. He only knew he was\non the way to his King, and instead of having to walk through the\ndarkness, he was to scale the heights, and somewhere, far, far above\nhim was the Radiant City.\n\nHe opened his Guide Book to make quite sure of the way, and though\nwithin its pages he found words which strengthened him and encouraged\nhim, he also found a warning which he pondered over for some time.\n\n\"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'\"\n\nClasping his Guide Book in one hand and his sword in the other, he\ncontinued to mount. The way at first was not difficult. It was a\ngradual slope by the side of high cliffs, and occasionally out of\nthe rock there flowed past him a stream of cool water, with which he\nquenched his thirst. The scenery was magnificent, but all the time he\nfelt conscious, that though the enemies of the road had as yet made no\nsign of their presence, they were not likely to be far off, so that it\nwas not wise to loiter on the way.\n\nAs he ascended higher the path became steeper, the scenery more awful\nin its character, but the air was exhilarating. Frowning precipices\nconfronted him, masses of rocks piled one on the top of the other rose\nbefore his view, deep gorges and chasms lay beneath him. Wherever he\nlooked he was fascinated by its grandeur and awed by its impressiveness.\n\nHigher and higher his path led him, till he felt himself to be at so\ngiddy a height that he trembled, though rejoicing.\n\nHe remembered when he had first started out on his journey, mounting a\nhill and crying out in his exuberance of spirits and pride,\n\n\"'I shall never be removed: Thou Lord of Thy goodness hast made my hill\nso strong:'\" and he recollected how the words had scarcely left his\nmouth, when the enemy, Spiritual Pride, in all his grand trappings, had\naccosted him and led him to what might have been his ruin. How soon he\nhad had to change his cry and say:\u2014\n\n\"'Thou didst turn Thy face from me and I was troubled.'\"\n\nThe remembrance of those days, together with the warning he had read\nin his Guide Book, kept him on the watch, and forbade him thinking of\nhis own strength or ability. And whenever he was tempted to think that\nhe must be a brave soldier to have been led by this path, he put the\nthought away from him; he knew when such thoughts crossed his mind that\nthe enemy was near.\n\nAt last, at a giddy height he came to a standstill, discovering that\nhis path lay across a narrow bridge which spanned a deep, dark gorge,\nso deep and so dark that Amer could not see the bottom.\n\nThe bridge was nothing but a natural arch of rock, about a foot wide,\nwith no protection on either side. At so giddy a height was it that he\nnearly fainted at the sight. It seemed to him that it was impossible\nnot to fall, and to cross it was to court death. Moreover as he stood\nleaning on his sword at the edge of the gorge across which he had to\ngo, he became aware that the rocks and cliffs were riddled with caves,\nand far down below he caught sight of small figures moving in and out\nof them, figures which, as his eyes became accustomed to the dim light,\nhe saw were clad in darkness and gloom.\n\nThey were in a state of excitement, as if preparing for a great event,\nfor they were running to and fro, intent on some business. It would be\ninto their care he would be hurled were he to lose his footing.\n\nLooking still more steadily down, he became aware of what looked like\na regiment of armed soldiers about half-way down the cliff, and their\narmour he recognised as that of the soldiers of Spiritual Pride, red\nand gold. These were not busy as those further down seemed to be, but\nwere standing perfectly still, with bows and arrows in their hands, the\narrows being directed towards the narrow bridge across which Amer's\npath lay.\n\nAt the sight his courage failed,\n\n\"I must perish! I must perish!\" he cried, while the veins stood out on\nhis forehead like cords, so great was his fear and anguish of mind.\n\nAt these words he suddenly felt his ankles twitched and on looking down\nhe beheld his old enemies, the Morbids, clinging about him. But with a\nsudden angry blow from his sword they fled. He would have nothing to do\nwith them.\n\nHe looked around for a way of escape. Could he have missed his path?\nWas there not the choice of an easier road? not perhaps so honourable\nbut less terrifying by which he might avoid the bridge? But no! There\nwas no sign of any other way but that which he felt he could not\npossibly take.\n\nThen he bethought him of his Guide Book. Was there any word therein\nwhich might comfort him in this great strait? And there he found that\ninstead of one passage there were many which seemed exactly to fit his\nneed: they were as follows:\u2014\n\n\"'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:\nI will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold him\nwith the right hand of my righteousness.'\"\n\n\"'I will guide thee with mine eye.' 'Looking unto Jesus.'\"\n\n\"'My strength is made perfect in weakness.'\"\n\nAs he read, his courage returned to him, and he prepared for the effort.\n\nFully clad in the King's armour he set his foot on the bridge, and to\nhis comfort he noticed that right across it there was flung the shadow\nof a cross, and that every step he took placed him more within the\nshadow which wrapped him round like a wall. He was conscious at the\nsame time of the noise of arrows whizzing fast past him. Some indeed\nwere so well aimed as to light on his breastplate and shield, but\nglanced off leaving him unhurt. Others fell thick around his helmet so\nthat he was almost deafened by their noise, and had it not been for the\nfact that he knew he was enwrapped by the shadow of the Cross, would\nso have unnerved him, that he must have fallen. For there were not\nonly the poisoned arrows of the soldiers belonging to Spiritual Pride\nfalling around him on every side, but there was the dark abyss below\nhim, in which he knew the allies of Despondency and Despair were making\nready and preparing for his fall.\n\nMoreover whenever he thought of them or for a moment looked down, he\ntottered. He found his only safety lay in looking towards the Radiant\nCity, where dwelt his King. And whenever he directed his eyes upwards,\nhe was conscious of a wonderful peace stealing over him, peace even in\nthe midst of hurling darts, and the hisses of the arrows striking his\narmour.\n\nSo full was Amer of gratitude and thanksgiving to the King for\npreserving him in his great danger, and so conscious of His Presence,\nthat he had not seen a small band of pilgrims awaiting him on the other\nside of the bridge, and was taken quite by surprise, when, on arriving\nin safety on firm ground, his hands were grasped enthusiastically,\nand words of welcome were showered upon him. So little had he thought\nof his own courage or ability in passing unscathed through the darts\nof the enemy, and so full had he been of thoughts of his King, that\nwhen he heard the exclamations of wonder at his prowess from those who\ngathered around him, he began for the first time to think of his own\npart in the matter.\n\nThe pilgrims, who had been led by a less conspicuous path, and had\narrived just in time to see Amer, notwithstanding the many darts from\nthe enemies below which were being hurled at him, calmly walking with\nhis eyes raised towards the Radiant City across the dangerous pass,\nfell to praising him and congratulating him, and among their voices\nAmer recognised those of Belthiah and Iddo.\n\n\"Dear Amer,\" cried Iddo, clasping his hand within hers and looking at\nhim with eyes that shone like stars, \"we are proud to call you friend.\nHow much you must be thought of by our King to have been led by such a\npath, so high and so dangerous. I am glad that you are my friend.\"\n\n\"You are an example to us all,\" said another. \"Oh that I had more\ncourage and more faith. We shall not forget what we have seen to-day.\"\n\n\"How was it,\" asked a third, \"that you walked so straight and did not\nfalter? I know few who could have crossed unscathed as you have done.\nThe height alone is enough to have made any man giddy and lose his\nhead.\"\n\n\"It was no doing of mine,\" said Amer, but the praise was sweet to him.\n\nHe had not seen some half-dozen of the soldiers of Spiritual Pride,\nhaving been foiled of their endeavour to bring him to ruin while\ncrossing the bridge, leave their posts and begin hurriedly to scale the\nrocks so as to meet him as he landed in safety on the other side; and\nhe did not know that the thoughts which began to course through his\nmind at the words of his friends, were in reality small poisoned darts\nthrown by these same enemies.\n\nMeanwhile he stood listening to his new and old friends'\ncongratulations, with a sense of pleasure: and so well did his enemies\ndo their work that he gradually began to talk to his friends of\nhis sensations when on the bridge, and with a comfortable sense of\nsuperiority gave helpful advice, as he thought, to those around him who\nmight be called upon to endure a similar experience. Indeed he began\nto think of himself as a hero, and as his path lay for some time in\nthe same direction as that of many of the pilgrims, he found himself\nlistening with interested attention to the talk of some who were behind\nhim and who were making him the subject of their conversation. In fact\nhe became greedy of human praise, and was quite vexed with one of the\npilgrims who had all the time maintained silence.\n\nThis pilgrim was a man some years older than Amer, who often looked at\nhim earnestly but did not add one word of praise to those which were\nbeing showered upon him. Amer noticed too, with chagrin, that this man\ntook pains to walk continually by his side, which effectually prevented\nothers, who were greater admirers, from getting near him.\n\nAt last so earnest was the man's look and so grave, that Amer felt\nimpelled to enquire as to its cause.\n\n\"Friend,\" he said, \"may I know your thoughts?\"\n\n\"I will give them if you wish,\" was the answer, \"but I fear they will\nnot be such as you are accustomed to hearing. Nevertheless, I take\nsuch an interest in you and am so anxious that you should in no wise\ndisappoint our King, that should you desire it I will tell you what is\nin my mind.\"\n\nAmer, having by this time become accustomed to praise, changed\ncountenance, and an expression which till now had been foreign to his\nface crossed it, but he answered,\n\n\"I am ready to hear.\"\n\n\"It is sad,\" said the man slowly, \"how one pilgrim can hinder another.\nThese fellow soldiers around us have, it seems to me, been used by the\nenemy to your hurt.\"\n\n\"Indeed?\" said Amer, coldly.\n\n\"Friend,\" continued the man, \"you did not see what I saw, the soldiers\nof Spiritual Pride scaling the cliffs and take their position by your\nside.\"\n\nAmer looked round sharply.\n\n\"I see no sign of them,\" he said.\n\n\"Nay, but do not you know by this time, that those who they attack are\nvery often the last to perceive their presence.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Amer, \"I do not know after all, even if what you say is\ntrue, why I should be so surprised. They generally attack the bravest\nsoldiers of the King.\"\n\nThe man looked at him sadly.\n\n\"Disappoint not our King,\" he urged. \"He has done so much for you\nin saving you when in such peril; I pray you to keep humble, and to\nremember that you owe all your safety to Him and not to your own\nprowess.\"\n\n\"You speak truly,\" said Amer, in a somewhat superior tone of voice.\n\"No one knows better than I, that great truth; but I think perhaps you\nforget that it may dishonour the King as much to deny what He has done\nfor you\u2014the courage He has given you, the wisdom He has imparted to\nyou\u2014as to speak too much of it.\"\n\nThe man who was old enough to be Amer's grandfather did not resent\nthe sermon that had been delivered with a certain amount of conceit.\nBut he was silent for a moment. Then looking quietly with his clear\npenetrating eyes at his companion, he said slowly,\n\n\"'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall,'\" and with\nthe words he left Amer and followed his own path which at that moment\nled away from that of the other pilgrims.\n\nAmer looked after him with mingled feelings of vexation and respect.\nThen remembering the words just spoken, turned him about to see if he\ncould detect any signs of his enemies. But they had carefully hidden\nthemselves.\n\nHis sober reveries were disturbed by the voice of one of the pilgrims.\n\n\"We are thankful that our path leads us the same way as yours for a\ntime, as we feel we have the advantage of your company. You have had\nso much more experience than we have that we know we shall be safe\nfollowing your example and advice. No doubt you will be able to point\nout dangers in the road and will be the first to detect the presence of\nthe enemy.\"\n\nThe words which would have filled Amer with pleasure a few moments\nbefore, had now rather the opposite effect, because of the conversation\nwhich had so lately taken place.\n\n\"Nay friend,\" he answered in a depressed tone of voice, \"I do not see\nthat my example is worth much, neither am I capable of giving you any\nbetter advice than others.\"\n\n\"It is only your humility that makes you say this,\" answered his\ncompanion. \"I have always known that the bravest, noblest, most\ncourageous of the King's servants are the most humble;\" and at these\nwords the other pilgrims, Belthiah and Iddo among them, drew near, and\nasked him for his experiences and for instruction.\n\nAmer found it a much pleasanter occupation to listen to them than to\nthe warnings of the stranger. But he did not know that as he talked,\nthe expression of his face gradually altered, and the light from the\nRadiant City became dimmed to him. He was now full of himself, and\ntalked freely about his experiences on the road; and the enemies which\nfollowed him just out of sight, but near enough to throw their darts\nthrough the chinks of his armour, which was beginning to hang about him\nloosely, laughed to themselves. The rule, which they always looked at\nbefore they started forth to warfare, \"Get the man to talk of himself,\"\nhad been most successfully obeyed.\n\nAs the pilgrims turned a corner of the road they came in sight of a\nchild sitting alone, and crying.\n\nA short time ago Amer would have gone to his aid at once and befriended\nhim, for was he not one of the Brothers of Assistance? But now he\nlooked around and at his glance one of the company took the matter in\nhand.\n\n\"It is as well,\" thought Amer. \"That is a work anyone can do, it does\nnot require talent nor any special capability to attend to or help a\nchild. Anyhow it is not my work, as it would be a waste of my powers.\nMy business is to lead others: all these people are hanging on my words\nand I must not disappoint them.\"\n\nThe people who thronged around Amer were not all of the same position\nof life. Some of them wore more costly garments than others, and their\nmanner and conversation proved them to be superior in culture and\nintellect.\n\nAn enemy with whom Amer had had to do while staying in Achshaph, took\nadvantage of this fact to tempt him.\n\n\"It will be to your advantage,\" he whispered, \"to make much of these\ninfluential people.\"\n\nAmer did not recognize the voice of the enemy, so his sword lay idle\nin its scabbard, and he began to pay more attention to the cultured\npilgrims than to the humbler ones among them. But at times he felt\nuneasy, and certain words he had read in the Guide Book recurred again\nand again to his mind: \"'My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord\nJesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.'\"\n\n\"But,\" whispered the enemy, when he found Amer thinking of these words,\n\"to be popular with these influential people means that you will\nattract a crowd to hear your good advice, and so it will help rather\nthan hinder the King's work.\" And so, for awhile, Amer was noticed to\nspend much of his time with them, to the neglect of the poorer among\nthe pilgrims, and so well did his enemies do their work, that he was\nquite unconscious that the Radiant City was growing dim to his eyes.\n\nBut the young girl who had stayed to succour the child was before long\nseen hurrying after him with a face full of joy.\n\n\"Oh how good it was of you,\" she cried to Amer, \"to let me do that bit\nof work. The poor little boy was sick and suffering. As I tended him\nand tried to dry his tears, a bright angel came from the King to take\nhim to the Radiant City; and,\" she added in a soft, awed tone of voice,\n\"the angel gave me a message from the King.\"\n\n\"A message?\" repeated Amer.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the girl softly, \"a message straight from the King Himself.\"\n\n\"What was the message?\"\n\n\"' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my\nbrethren, ye have done it unto Me.'\"\n\nAmer was silent and ashamed, while a sudden craving for his King's\napprobation took possession of him, and made him realize for the\nfirst time that the Radiant City had almost faded from his sight and\nthat he was out of touch with it. It was with a start that he noticed\nits dimness. Was the stranger right then? Had he through pride and\ncarelessness drifted into the hands of the enemy? He grasped his sword,\nwhich for some time had hung idle by his side, and cried out to his\nKing.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE CROSS IN THE VALLEY.\n\nIt was with grief that the band of pilgrims watched Amer out of sight\nas his path diverged from theirs.\n\n\"But,\" they said, \"we could not expect to have his company long. The\nKing has other plans for him than to help and lead such a small band of\npilgrims.\"\n\n\"Have you noticed,\" said one of them, \"that his advice has not been of\nlate so ready for us, that he has grown graver and sadder?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered his companion, \"he seemed to lose his zeal and his\nassurance, and to be weary.\"\n\n\"It is tiring climbing to the heights,\" said a third, \"as for me I\nwould rather be led through the valleys. I like lowly paths best.\"\n\n\"Anyhow,\" said another, \"we are saved the enemies that often attack\nthose whose path leads them to the peaks. We are not so strong and\nbrave as Amer, and would not be able to overcome them as he has done.\"\n\nBut Amer himself, as he began to descend into the valley through which\nhis path lay, was filled with sadness.\n\nDepression walked by his side, while the family of Morbids held fast\nhold of his ankles so that his footsteps dragged heavily. He had no\ncourage to fight them or to resist them. So far away seemed the Radiant\nCity and his King that he felt it was almost impossible to look up, and\nhis path lay down, down, down, into the Valley of Humiliation.\n\nHe began now to remember how that good soldier, Heman, had shrunk away\nfrom anything in the form of praise, how he would never talk about\nhimself, and was always on the watch against the enemy Pride.\n\nHe remembered how on the occasion when Belthiah had been asked the\nsecret of her peaceful aspect, Heman had hastily looked around him in\nsearch of the enemy, warning her that he was listening for her answer.\n\nHe remembered too how, when imprisoned in the cave belonging to\nSpiritual Pride, he had read the rules that were to be followed by his\nsoldiers, and that one of them was to persuade the man they were in\nleague against, to talk of himself.\n\nHe recognized, too, the fact, that all the time he had been deceiving\nhimself into believing that he was praising his King he was praising\nhimself, and he recollected the words of the old pilgrim which at the\ntime they were spoken had filled him with vexation: \"Disappoint not our\nKing.\"\n\nAnd had he not disappointed Him? Ah! how much!\n\nAs Amer descended into the valley, filled with these thoughts, a great\nhunger took possession of him, a hunger for the Presence of his King\nand for His approbation. After all, what did the flattery of man matter\nin comparison with one word of praise from his King. All those who had\nhung upon his lips, listening to his advice and to his experiences, had\nprobably by now forgotten him: while the King, Whom he had neglected,\nwas still loving him and thinking of him.\n\nIn the old days, Amer might have fancied that his sin had robbed him\nof the love of his King. But he knew his King better now, and he had\nread in his Guide Book, that \"'neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor\nprincipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor\nheight, nor depth, nor any other creature'\" could separate him from\nthe love of his King. So he knew that He must be still looking down\nin love and pity upon him; although his sins had come as a cloud to\nhide Him from his sight. And at the thought of His love, of His tender\ncompassion, of His patience with him, notwithstanding his many falls,\nand the constant disappointments he had caused Him, a great longing\ntook possession of his soul, and he cried out in the words of the Guide\nBook,\n\n\"'My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and\nthirsty land, where no water is.' 'As the hart panteth after the water\nbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.'\"\n\nAt last, as he reached the bottom of the valley, he perceived a cross\nstanding in the midst of the path along which he had to tread, and with\na cry of gratitude he flung himself beneath its shadow, and a great\npeace stole in upon him; the peace of sin forgiven.\n\nSpiritual Pride's soldiers, who had been following at a distance,\nhoping for an opportunity of wounding him again, and anxious lest\nAmer should altogether escape them, at the sight of the cross and\nof the prostrate figure of the young soldier at its foot, felt that\ntheir power was almost gone, and leaving only one to keep watch at his\nelbow, and to give them a warning should a likely chance occur again of\nwounding him, turned back to worry and annoy some other poor traveller.\nBut the man they had left behind felt his post to be a discouraging\none, as Amer, on rising to continue his journey again, was on the\nwatch, so that Spiritual Pride's emissary could not get near him.\n\nOnce however while Amer was resting on his journey, the enemy managed\nto gain his ear for a moment.\n\n\"How changed you are,\" he whispered, \"you are greater than you have\nbeen before, because you are humbler. You never talk of yourself to the\npassers-by, but always manage to turn the conversation when it is about\nyou. You are getting as humble as Heman.\"\n\nAmer was rather drowsy when these thoughts entered his mind, but\nsuddenly he recognised the source from which they came, and rising,\nfully awake again, he dealt such a blow at the enemy that he fell at\nhis feet, dead.\n\nAmer's love for his King had so grown, that now his one great longing\nand aim was to please Him, and remembering his King's words to the\nyoung girl who had tended the little boy across the dark river, and\nfinding them written in his Guide Book, he looked out for the weakest\nand smallest of the pilgrims that came across his path, to help and to\nsuccour them. The people whom others passed by and neglected, became\nnow dear to his heart as he recognised that in serving them he was\nserving the Great King.\n\nAnd these did not often happen to be the noblest, the bravest, or the\nmost interesting among the pilgrims, but just the reverse. Many of them\nwould have been wholly uninteresting to Amer, had it not been for the\nfact that they belonged to his King, and were dear to Him.\n\n\"Amer has changed,\" said one of his friends who had listened with such\nrapt attention to his words of advice before he had trodden the Valley\nof Humiliation. \"He does not attract crowds around him as formerly;\ndo you not remember how they would walk by his side to catch every\nword that fell from his lips, even the noblest and the greatest of the\npilgrims felt they could learn from him, and followed him.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" answered the person addressed, \"he certainly has not\nsuch an audience as formerly, and is not so popular; that is to say\npeople are not drawn to him as they used to be, but I am not sure that\nthey are not drawn more to their King after talking with him.\"\n\n\"Do you think so?\" said the former speaker questioningly.\n\n\"I have noticed,\" answered the other, \"that many, after talking with\nhim, soon leave him, but go away with their lips moving in prayer, and\ntheir eyes raised to Heaven.\"\n\n\"So that in thinking less of him, you believe they think more of their\nKing?\"\n\n\"I am sure of it: I happened to walk beside him a short part of the\njourney not long ago, and I was struck, not by what he said, but by\nwhat he did. He never seemed to think of himself, but was always on the\nlook-out to help others, but in such a quiet way that had I not been\nwatching him closely, I should never have noticed it. It had the effect\nof making me go and try and do likewise.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE LAND OF INDIFFERENCE.\n\nBelthiah and Iddo's path had led them for a long time across a\nflower-besprinkled plain. There were no hills to mount and no valleys\nto descend, and their path had for the most part been even and\nuneventful.\n\nThey had not however been free from the enemy. The little sprite,\nWorry, had more than once taken hold of Belthiah, and had left its\nwounds visible across her brow: and his comrade, Foreboding, had\noccasionally thrown her in the way of Despondency, a troublesome enemy,\nwhom she had to fight bravely before overcoming; but she had had\nseasons of great happiness because of the conscious presence of the\nKing.\n\nIddo also had had her battles.\n\nIndolence more than once attacked her, specially when he saw her\nbecoming interested in her Guide Book; for after Heman's advice not\nto depend upon her mother's study of the Book, but to study it for\nherself, Iddo had often consulted it: nevertheless she was by no means\nwell versed in it, and Indolence so constantly attacked her with\nsuccess that she made but poor progress. Neither did Discontent and\nhis comrade Irritability leave her alone; sometimes Belthiah looked\nwith anxiety at her child when she saw how easily she gave way to these\nenemies.\n\nThey were about half-way across the plain when their paths met those of\nanother mother and daughter, with whom they joined company.\n\nIddo was delighted to have a companion, and the two girls for many a\nmile followed their parents hand in hand.\n\nAdin,* for such was her name, had much to tell, having met many more\npeople on her journey than had Iddo, and the latter learnt much from\nher of which she had been ignorant. Among other things, Adin told her\nthat there were people who were apparently journeying towards the\nRadiant City with views quite contrary to her mother's.\n\n  * Dainty.\n\n\"Times have changed,\" she said, \"since our mothers started on their\njourney. People have come to the conclusion that much in which they\nbelieved is mistaken; that for instance it is not necessary to be so\ndifferent to those who are not servants of the King; that certain\nthings are lawful which in those days were considered dangerous,\nand that there are many ways after all to the Radiant City. The\nold-fashioned views with which our mothers started their journey are\nbeing more and more questioned and pushed on one side. We must move\nwith the times,\" she added.\n\nIddo listened astonished. Loving and reverencing her mother, the girl\nresented the idea that her views could be anything but correct, and\nexpostulated with Adin indignantly when she termed them old-fashioned.\nBut by degrees she became accustomed to what she heard and began to\nwonder if there might not be some truth in it.\n\n\"Do many people agree with these views?\" she asked.\n\n\"So many that it is really quite peculiar to think like our mothers,\"\nwas Adin's answer; then with a laugh she added, \"there are a few\nhowever who think my friends and I are very far gone in the wrong way.\nWe met an old man on the road, who walked some distance with us, and\nwhen he heard one of these new thinkers discussing the subject with\nmother, he cried out indignantly,\"\n\n\"'Madam, I hear the enemy's voice in that of your friend. Beware, I\nbeseech you.' And then he turned round on our friend and rated him\nsoundly for what he had been saying, crying,\"\n\n\"'It is false, it is false, there is one way and only one for each\nservant of the King, and the path is straight and narrow. The only safe\nplan is to believe in the Guide Book and not in the imagination of\nman.' He was so excited,\" added Adin, \"that I was almost amused.\"\n\n\"Was his name Chisleu?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"Ah! then you know him?\"\n\n\"Yes, he was so good to me when mother was in the Valley of Pain, when\nI had hard work to fight my enemies,\" said Iddo.\n\n\"Yes, he is a good man,\" said Adin, \"one could not doubt that, but oh!\nhow narrow! He is even more narrow than mother; apparently he thinks\nno one can possibly be in the right path unless they entirely agree\nwith him in every detail. Even mother does not believe that. She thinks\nthere are certain truths that are quite necessary for us all, but that\ntruth may be many-sided, and though there is only one way, the King\ndoes not lead each one of His servants by exactly the same path.\"\n\n\"But they must all have the King's mark on them,\" said Iddo.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Adin, \"so mother thinks:\" but that she was not very decided\non the subject herself was evident from her hesitating answer, and Iddo\nbegan to feel a little perplexed and bewildered.\n\n\"Anyhow,\" added Adin, \"people have extraordinarily different views\nabout the Guide Book; some seem to be doing all they can to convince us\nof its untrustworthiness.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Iddo, \"I shall never forget how I felt when I heard that\nfor the first time. But you have not lost your faith in it have you?\"\nshe asked anxiously.\n\n\"Oh no,\" answered Adin, \"but somehow I don't seem to think of it quite\nin the way that I did. You can't help being a little affected by things\nyou hear.\"\n\nIddo suddenly looked around her. She had fancied she had heard a\nlaugh close at her elbow. Was it the enemy? If so he had made himself\ninvisible; but she felt they were on dangerous ground.\n\nThey had not noticed that their mothers were by now out of sight and\nthat they had swerved a little from the path. They were so busy talking\nover these subjects, that it was some time before they realized with a\nstart that they were no longer following their parents, and that they\nwere passing some gates that led into a thickly populated town.\n\n\"Oh,\" cried Iddo, in distress, \"we have lost our way!\" But Adin\nwas fascinated with the crowds of people that she saw through the\ngates that were standing wide open. She had not seen so many people\ncongregated together for long, and they were apparently light-hearted\nand not troubled with the enemy, as they were laughing and talking as\nif they had not a care.\n\n\"Let us go in,\" she said, \"they cannot be dangerous people or allied\nwith the enemy, as they are not even noticing us, but look thoroughly\nhappy and unconcerned. Come, don't be a coward,\" for Iddo had drawn\nback.\n\n\"But,\" she said, \"I am quite sure mother has not gone that way, I\nshould never find her there.\"\n\n\"How do you know?\" said Adin, \"why we are nearly sure to come across\nsome other pilgrims who will do their best to help us to find our\nmothers. There is really nothing to fear.\"\n\nLooking through the gate Iddo recognized the face of a pilgrim she had\nmet in the way.\n\n\"It must be all right,\" she murmured as they passed through, \"as she is\nhere. Perhaps mother may after all have gone this way.\"\n\nTo Iddo's astonishment she recognized many a one whom she had noticed\nstanding listening to the preacher on the heath, and there was\nsomething about them that did not exactly re-assure her; they seemed\nalmost to be settling down in the town instead of walking through it,\nand what filled her with concern was the fact that as yet Adin and she\nhad not found a trace of their own path.\n\n\"Will you tell us the name of this place?\" said Iddo to a passer-by,\nwho looked good-natured and kind.\n\n\"This is a town, in the Land of Indifference,\" he answered, smiling.\n\n\"Are all these people on the way to the Radiant City?\" she asked\nanxiously.\n\n\"Many of them profess to be,\" he answered, looking at her kindly.\n\n\"But are you?\" she asked.\n\nHe shrugged his shoulders.\n\n\"Ask me an easier question,\" he said, and turned away.\n\n\"People do not like to be questioned,\" said Adin in a vexed tone of\nvoice, \"Come, don't be so worrying, let us anyhow enjoy ourselves while\nwe are here. Look, there are many things to see. It must be a happy\nplace, as almost every one is laughing.\"\n\n\"I have seen quite as many people yawning with weariness,\" said Iddo;\nbut she quite forgot all the time to open her Guide Book for an\nexplanation of the town, and after all there was so much to be seen and\nso many people to watch, that gradually the thought of the Radiant City\ngrew dimmer, and the enemy who had led the girls into the town, felt\nhe could safely leave them for a time, while he went to tempt another\ntraveller on the road.\n\nBut every now and then Iddo's conscience awoke, and she begged for\ninformation of those about her.\n\n\"How is it,\" she asked one who had been joining company with her and\nher friend, \"how is it that people seem so light-hearted here?\"\n\n\"Because they don't worry about things they cannot understand,\" she\nanswered lightly, \"what is the good of worrying?\"\n\n\"But don't they ever think of the possibility of not reaching the\nRadiant City if they stay too long in this place?\" she asked.\n\n\"But why should you think that even now they are not on their way?\"\nanswered her companion. \"I take for granted when I think of it at all\nthat I am going there. We do nothing very wrong in this city. I do\nnot think that the enemy is particularly busy here. We are thoroughly\nsteady and respectable and good-natured. What more can you expect of\nus? Pray don't get it into your head that we are going to be left for\never outside the Radiant City.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Iddo, perplexed, \"I thought every one who journeyed there\nhad to put on armour. And you have none.\"\n\n\"This is such a peaceable place my dear, that we do not need armour.\nIndeed, some time ago a man passed through this town fully armed, he\nwould not turn to the right hand or to the left. His path he said lay\nright across, and though we could not but respect and reverence him, as\nthe light of the Radiant City was full on his face, when he had gone,\nwe could not help smiling. What good was his armour to him here? No\nenemy was likely to attack him. We told him this, and his answer was,\n'It is written in the Guide Book, \"Be sober, be vigilant, because your\nadversary the devil, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.\"' We\nasked him what guise the enemy was likely to put on to entrap unwary\ntravellers.\"\n\n\"What did he say?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"He told us the name of our land would answer that question, and then\nopening his Guide Book as he walked, he read aloud, '\"I know thy works,\nthat thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So\nthen because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue\nthee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased\nwith goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art\nwretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee\nto buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; . . . .\nBehold, I stand at the door and knock.\"'\"\n\n\"Do you know the name of this man?\" said Iddo, \"it sounds like my\nfriend Heman.\"\n\n\"I do not know his name, as he would not stop; even while he was\nconsulting his Guide Book he was moving on for fear the enemy should\nattack him and keep him longer in the land. One could not but admire\nhim as he was in such deadly earnest, and one could not but reverence\nhim as he walked, as his whole bearing made one recognise that his King\nwas great, and that the King's business required haste, as he told us.\nMoreover he had much tact, and those who spoke to him always listened\nrespectfully, and indeed such was his influence as he passed through,\nthat more than one followed him out of the town. I felt sure he would\nnever be content to go out of it alone. In fact he was in it but not\nof it. But on thinking about it afterwards one could not but wonder\nthat he thought it all of such vital importance. There are other ways\nof getting to the City besides his. As for me I prefer moving slowly.\nEnthusiasm does not appeal to me.\"\n\n\"Then the pilgrim did not think it right to linger here?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"His path lay right across you see,\" answered Adin quickly. \"We are\nlooking for our path and are as likely to find it in the town as out of\nit,\" for Adin had got imbued with the spirit of the land and felt it\nmattered little that they should find their path at once; why need they\nworry?\n\nBut Iddo, though outwardly satisfied with this argument, was inwardly\nanxious. The thought of her mother would intrude upon her even in\nthe midst of some pleasurable excitement, with which they were well\nprovided in the town. It is true at times a kind of lethargy crept over\nher and she would laugh with the rest, as if she had not a care or\ntrouble. But she began to wonder why it was that her enemies apparently\nleft her alone. Her sword was very rusty and the rest of her armour\ndim, but Adin assured her that they were not needed in this place.\n\nBut Iddo was unhappy. She began to pine for the sight of the Radiant\nCity and for travellers who were definitely walking there, and above\nall things she grew home sick for the conscious Presence of the King\nHimself.\n\nIt is true that she had not enjoyed much of His Presence at any time,\nfor she had depended so much upon what her mother had told her of\nHim, that she had not sought earnestly enough to know Him herself.\nBut now she began to long for Him, and looked eagerly at the faces of\npassers-by, hoping that she might find at least one who was bound for\nthe Radiant City.\n\nBut again and again she was disappointed. The Land of Indifference\nwas the most unlikely of any place to come across those who had made\nany definite decision to go to the Radiant City, and many whom she\nquestioned had really not thought about the matter at all.\n\n\"The subject does not interest me,\" they said, looking at her eager\nupturned face with surprise. \"We are here to enjoy ourselves, and have\nno time to think of such matters.\" Others would answer her questions\nwith the words, \"'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.'\"\n\nIddo began to wonder if she could possibly persuade Adin to leave the\ncrowded town in search of their paths to the Radiant City. She felt\nshe had not the courage to make the step alone, besides which she\nfound Adin's companionship very attractive, and knew that unless she\ncould take her friend with her she might never see her again. But Adin\nwas far too engrossed with all she saw and heard to wish to leave her\npresent quarters.\n\n\"There is plenty of time,\" she said, when Iddo timidly tried to\npersuade her that the only right and wise course to take was to leave\nthe Land of Indifference. \"Of course I suppose we shall eventually have\nto go, but I don't mean to go yet.\"\n\n\"I cannot feel at home here,\" sighed Iddo.\n\n\"Not at home?\" cried Adin, \"why what do you want? After all, you are\nnot my sort, I fear. You are naturally dependent on others, and do not\nrejoice in your freedom. You should not have left your mother. I would\ntry and find her if I were you, and then follow her step by step. You\nwill never be happy if you don't,\" and Adin gave a somewhat scornful\nlaugh.\n\n\"I dare not go and I dare not stay,\" murmured Iddo.\n\n\"That is just what I say,\" said Adin, \"you have no courage to carve out\na line for yourself.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the girl, stung to resistance, \"it has not been a question\nof my carving out a line for myself. It has really been with me a\nchoice between following my mother and following you. And I do not know\nwhy I chose to follow you. My mother never led me astray.\"\n\n\"You had better go,\" said Adin, \"and I will look for another friend\nwho is bolder and more courageous, and who is not always thinking\nabout uncomfortable things like you are. Besides I have come to the\nconclusion that I have made a mistake about myself all my life. The\nviews you love are cramping. I like to be free. I am much more suited\nto the Land of Indifference than to the Radiant City. And I really\ndoubt if I have ever been on the way there. I have just followed my\nmother, that is all.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Iddo, \"you mean to stay here? and to give up all thoughts\nof the King and the Radiant City?\"\n\n\"How do you know there is a King and a Radiant City?\" said Adin.\n\n\"The enemy must be very near to make you say that,\" said Iddo gravely.\n\"Oh, don't give way to him. I am quite sure he is seeking your ruin.\"\n\n\"The enemy! Nonsense, child! Why, I find no one believes in the Devil\nnow. The very mention of him raises a smile. Indeed, if you spoke to\nthe inhabitants of this land as you are speaking to me, they would\nthink you were daft. No one who has any learning ever thinks of him. He\nis a myth.\"\n\n\"Have you learnt all this while you have been here?\" said Iddo, sadly.\n\n\"Yes, and a great deal more; much that convinces me that it is quite\nmad to give up the pleasure of this place for the dream that you are\nfollowing.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Iddo, \"this shows me how wrong I have been to have come\nhere at all. If they say such things in this land it is no place for\na servant of the King,\" and there was a firmness in her tone of voice\nand a look of resolute determination in her eyes, which Adin had never\nthought to see in her timid little friend. She liked her all the better\nfor it.\n\n\"Put your scruples away,\" she urged, \"and let us enjoy ourselves. I\nshall miss you if you go.\"\n\n\"It is so hard to leave you in this town,\" said Iddo, with tears in her\neyes, \"if only you would come too. Think what it will be to be shut out\nof the Radiant City at last!\"\n\n\"There you are again! In such dead earnest! They are quite right here\nwhen they say that people who are on the way to the Radiant City are so\nterribly tiring. They will not take things as they find them or leave\npeople as they find them, but will always be trying to save them from\nwhat they look upon as their doom. Why not let people believe what they\nlike? So long as they are happy, why disturb them?\"\n\n\"Of course you feel like that if you don't believe in anything\nstrongly,\" answered Iddo, \"but when you are sure that there is a\nRadiant City, and that those who will not listen to the Voice of the\nKing inviting them there, will be shut out at last, it makes all the\ndifference.\"\n\n\"Go, then, little believer,\" said Adin, \"and try and save others, but\ndon't save me, I beg you;\" and with a laugh and nod the girl turned\naway, and Iddo felt that the last word had been said between them.\n\nShe had no friend now in the Land of Indifference, but stood alone. A\nfeeling of great isolation took possession of her; but she knew it was\nthrough her own carelessness and fault that she was in such a plight,\nand she determined at once to leave the place. She had some difficulty\nin finding her way back. The streets were intricate, and so crowded\nwith men and women that her progress was slow. But no sooner had she\nbegun to retrace her steps in earnest, than she fancied she saw a\nglimmer of light in the far distance which she knew must come from the\nRadiant City.\n\nBut the enemy who had been watching her for some time, fearful now of\nlosing his prey, began to dodge her steps, and the family of Morbids\nclung around her, so as to impede her progress.\n\n\"There is no use trying to get out of the land,\" they cried, \"you have\ngot too used to its ways. You will not find your mother, you don't\ndeserve it. You have been playing in the enemy's country all this time,\nand now expect the King to welcome you back. He will never do it. It\nwill take years to get rid of the marks of the land upon you,\" and by\nother words they did all they could to drag her back and discourage her.\n\nThen the far worse enemy, Doubt, met her just as she was passing\nthrough the gate, and hurled his darts at her face, that for a time she\nwas so blinded by him that no sight could she get of the Radiant City,\nand she began to wonder if Adin's words were true, and she had been\nfollowing a mere dream\u2014a mirage. But the very fierceness of the enemy's\nassault made Iddo cry the louder and the more persistently to the King,\nand though at first no answer seemed to be vouchsafed and she was only\nconscious of the sharp arrows of the enemy, she would not give in. The\nKing was her only hope, and she knew He would help her.\n\n\"If I die,\" she cried, \"I will die crying to Him, for mercy and help.\"\n\nAt last above the storm of the battle she heard a still small voice,\nsaying,\n\n\"'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,'\" and on looking\nup, she caught sight of a bright light shining down upon her, the light\nfrom the Radiant City. Then she fell on her knees and worshipped her\nKing, and the enemy slunk away.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTHE SINGERS.\n\nIddo had not gone far on the path, which, when out of the Land of\nIndifference she found lying before her, when she heard singing, and\nturning a corner she came in sight of a band of pilgrims going her way.\nThe very sound of their voices inspired her with courage and happiness,\nand, as she followed closely behind them she heard the words of their\nsong:\n\n  \"O happy band of pilgrims,\n     If onward ye will tread.\n   With Jesus as your Fellow,\n     To Jesus as your Head.\"\n\n  \"O happy band of pilgrims,\n     Look upward to the skies,\n   Where such a light affliction\n     Shall win you such a prize.\"\n\nAnd as their voices ceased another chimed in,\n\n  \"My merry heart is springing,\n     And knows not how to pine,\n  'Tis full of joy and singing\n     And radiancy divine.\"\n\nThe words were new to Iddo, but the voice she recognized at once as\nthat of Chisleu.\n\n\"Oh, how glad I am to see you,\" she cried, making her way towards him.\n\nChisleu turned upon her a face full of calm joy. There was such a\nchange in it that had it not been for the voice she would hardly have\nrecognized it. It was a gentle, chastened, yet radiant face.\n\n\"I did not know you sang,\" said Iddo.\n\n\"I have only lately learnt,\" he said, \"I met these good people, and\nwhen I said I could not join them in their songs, they pointed out to\nme that as there was to be so much singing in the Radiant City it was\nas well to learn on the journey. And it is astonishing how it helps the\njourney, it seems another thing to me. And moreover I find it does not\nonly make things easier, but in the Guide Book we are commanded to sing\nand be joyful. I never realized that before.\"\n\n\"Does the King then so much like us to sing that he has written about\nit in the Guide Book?\" said Iddo.\n\n\"Yes, I find He has. I had no idea that it was my duty to be happy as\nwell as my pleasure. But I find it written there,\"\n\n\"'Rejoice evermore.' 'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' 'Is any\nmerry? let him sing psalms.' I only wish I had known this before.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"For two reasons. One reason being, that, as I say, it makes all the\ndifference in the journey, as the enemy does not like to hear it and it\nkeeps him away. There is nothing that baffles him more I believe than\nto hear the soldiers singing one of the songs of the Radiant City. And\nwhen I have an idea he is near and wants me to listen to him, I cry,\n'May Jesus Christ be praised,' and he slinks away. He finds the gloomy\nsoldier by far the easier prey, I fancy, than those who sing. Why it\nhas been so all along.\"\n\n\"How do you know that?\" said Iddo.\n\n\"In the Guide Book we read about one of the armies of the Lord going to\nmeet a strong enemy. And it says when the Lord's soldiers began to sing\nthe enemy was smitten.\"\n\n\"And what is your other reason?\"\n\n\"My other reason is that I feel I have done so much harm by my\ngloominess. A lot of young people whom I might have helped have run\naway when they have seen me coming, just because I felt it my duty to\npick holes in them and to be stern, and to judge them. Now if they had\nfound me singing, who knows but they might have been helped on their\njourney. Every young thing likes music and merriment. And then there is\na third reason which I forgot and which is more important even than the\nothers.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"Because a Master is judged by his servants, and a King by his\nsubjects. And if they see that the soldiers and servants of the Great\nKing of the Radiant City are cheerful and happy, they naturally think\nit must be the service of the King that makes them so. Child,\" he\nadded, \"I feel ashamed when I think of what people must have thought of\nmy King, when they heard my censorious words and looked at my gloomy,\nangry face. I, of all His servants, ought to rejoice.\"\n\n\"Why, Mr. Chisleu?\" asked Iddo.\n\n\"Why? Because He has done great things for me. I have done so much\nharm on the road, made so many mistakes, even once went so far as to\ndoubt His love, thinking He had forgotten me, while all the time He was\nlooking down upon me in love and tenderness, and sent my good friend\nAmer at last to persuade me of this. I, of all men, should be full of\njoy and thankfulness.\"\n\n\"And do you think,\" said Iddo, \"that I ought to learn to sing?\"\n\n\"Aye! sure enough you should. Have you nothing to be thankful for?\"\nEven as he spoke, a little enemy crept out of the grass at his feet and\nlooked at him.\n\nFor a moment Chisleu was taken so much by surprise, as he was not\nexpecting one, that he started. Then he recognized him as one of a band\nof rebels whose names are Conceit, Self-Satisfaction, and Complacency,\nand at once he drew his sword, while at the same time he sang \"'May\nJesus Christ be praised,'\" and at the sound of his singing and the\nsight of his sword, the enemy slunk away.\n\n\"Do you see that fellow?\" asked Chisleu of Iddo, \"I know him and his\ncomrades of old. I think he has been particularly troublesome since\nI have learnt to sing, as I don't remember meeting him so often in\nthe old days. It is because he hates me singing the King's songs. I\nexpect,\" he added, \"he looks out for every occasion to turn my song to\nhis own advantage. I see I must be on the watch against him.\"\n\n\"I did not see the enemy,\" said Iddo, \"I wonder why he attacked you\nwhile you were helping me.\"\n\n\"Perhaps just because I was helping you: and after all,\" added Chisleu\nthoughtfully, \"if ever there is a chance for the enemy it is when we\nare talking of ourselves. We have to do it occasionally, I suppose,\nbut very occasionally, and then we must remember that we do it at our\nown peril. Sometimes it is a duty to brave this danger for the sake of\nanother; but often we think we are braving it for another's sake, while\nall the time it is for our own sake, that we may be thought well of, or\nin a spirit of self-congratulation. You see the words of the Guide Book\nare true,\"\n\n\"'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.'\"\n\n\"But,\" said Iddo, \"you always seem to me so good, surely there is no\nneed for you to be so watchful.\"\n\nChisleu's face changed, as he turned and looked upon her with sternness.\n\n\"My child, don't do the enemy's work. He failed just now, and so he is\ntrying to catch me through your lips. Never flatter.\"\n\nIddo was startled, and could not help comparing the intense earnestness\nof the soldier of the King, with the utter indifference she had\nbeen impressed with in the land she had left: and at the same time,\nChisleu's face having regained its calm joy, she could not but contrast\nthe peace and happiness written so plainly there and in the faces of\nthe other pilgrims, who were walking so merrily on in front of her,\nwith the artificial merriment of that land.\n\nEveryone there had seemed to her, the more she knew them, to be making\namusement their work rather than their recreation. She was sure it was\nsometimes real hard work. And when the excitement was over she had\noften seen a look of weariness on the faces of those who had worked the\nhardest to procure the fun.\n\nIddo found that the pilgrims' songs were not all directly about the\nRadiant City and its King. They sang about the beauties of the way,\nof the flowers the King had raised to cheer them, of the trees He had\nplanted to give them shade, of the changing sky overhead, and the\nsweet-scented winds about them; of the stars and sun the King had\ncreated to give them light on the way, of the ever-moving sea, of which\nthey often caught glimpses, of all the wonders of nature; they sang\nalso of the beauty of love, of acts of heroism, of thoughts too deep\nfor words, and when Iddo expressed some surprise at what she heard,\nChisleu reminded her of the words in the Guide Book,\n\n\"'The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have\npleasure therein.'\"\n\nIddo was much struck by noticing the great change in Chisleu, how his\nvoice had softened, and his mind expanded, and how, instead of thinking\nthat every one was in the wrong, he constantly confessed that he was\nin the wrong himself, and imputed good motives to people where others\nfound it difficult to do so.\n\nBut every now and then the old enemies got the better of him; he would\nsuddenly irritably interrupt the pilgrims in their songs, with the\ncomplaint that they were singing out of tune, or too fast for the\nnewcomers, or had put the wrong tune to the words. And now and then his\nirritability would become infectious, so that he would suddenly awake\nto the fact that he had been the means of discord.\n\nBut whenever this happened he confessed his sin so humbly, that the\nenemy, who had done what he could to make him inconsistent, had to\nretreat, with the knowledge that Chisleu's quick confession of sin,\ninstead of resulting in confusion and in making an occasion for other\nenemies to run in, had been the means of shaming some of the pilgrims\nwho had given way, and had caused them to resist the enemy.\n\n\"Mr. Chisleu,\" said Iddo, \"I want to learn to sing. Will you teach me?\"\n\n\"Teach you! Nay, you must go to the King Himself for that. We can only\nsing when He teaches us.\"\n\nWhen Iddo next met her mother she had learnt to sing, and her mother\nthought her voice the sweetest she had ever heard. She was not alone in\nher opinion. Many a one was cheered on his way to the Radiant City by\nthe sound of it. Some who had fallen on the road, being hard pressed by\nthe enemy, and the victims of Despondency or Despair, lifted up their\nheads, as Iddo's voice caught their ears, while others who were on\nthe eve of wandering from the right path, resolutely turned away from\nthe enemy who was tempting them. For Iddo sang of the wonderful love\nof the King, Who had died for them, and was even then watching them,\nand of the glory and brightness of the Radiant City to which they were\ntravelling. And she sang moreover of the Coming of the King, to which\nshe was looking forward now with ardent expectation. And the words she\nsang were these:\u2014\n\n  \"Thou art coming, oh my Saviour,\n     Thou art coming, oh my King,\n   In Thy beauty, all resplendent,\n   In Thy glory, all-transcendent;\n     Well may we rejoice and sing;\n   Coming:\u2014In the opening East,\n     Herald brightness slowly swells;\n   Coming:\u2014O my glorious Priest,\n     Hear we not Thy golden bells?\"\n\nOne day in the midst of her singing, Iddo felt her mother, with whom\nshe was walking hand in hand, step forward alone, towards a river\nrunning at the foot of the hill, which the girl had not noticed. A\nsudden panic of apprehension seized her.\n\n\"Mother, Mother,\" she cried: but even as she spoke, her mother turned\nround with a radiant smile on her face, and, waving farewell to her\nchild stepped into the waters with a song on her lips.\n\nIddo sank on to the ground, her song silenced.\n\nFor a time she lay quite still, her face hidden in the long grass, her\nhands outstretched in misery. Then suddenly across the hills came the\nvoices of the pilgrims singing:\u2014\n\n  \"Oh sweet and blessed country,\n     The home of God's elect!\n   Oh sweet and blessed country,\n     That eager hearts expect:\n   Jesus, in mercy bring us\n     To that dear land of rest;\n   Who art, with God the Father,\n     And Spirit, ever bless'd.\"\n\nGradually the words of the beautiful song brought comfort and healing\nto her heart, and before long her voice was heard, sweet and true, as\nshe walked through the Valley of the Shadow, for she could be silent no\nlonger, as the King Himself had taught her to sing\u2014even songs in the\nnight.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nTHE BRINK OF THE RIVER.\n\nAmer's path had now for some time led him by the banks of the river\nthat flowed through the Valley of the Shadows. In its shadows he found\nmany waiting for the King's guard to take them across, and going in and\nout among them, Amer did what he could to remind them of the King's\nlove and of His mercy.\n\nHe had not much time to think now of his own dangers and difficulties,\nindeed he had to leave the keeping of his soul to his faithful Creator\nand King; and he was surrounded with an invisible army of angels, who\nwarded the enemy off again and again when he was engaged with those he\nwas seeking to comfort.\n\nEvery now and then, however, he found himself gripped by the enemies\nwho are peculiarly busy with those soldiers who are spending their\nlives in working for others.\n\nWhen Amer saw some of the pilgrims, as they passed through the valley,\npaying but scant notice (because wrapped up in their own soul's\nwelfare) to those in hopeless misery who were on the borders of the\nriver, he found himself again and again passing a hard judgment on\ntheir conduct, and criticising their selfishness, forgetting that there\nhad been a time in his own history, when his thoughts had been so\nengaged with the health of his own soul, that he had had no eyes to see\nthe needs of others.\n\nThen there were some who did what they could to help, but whose help\nwas so unwise in Amer's eyes, and so far from being profitable, that\nthe enemy, Impatience, took hold of him, and pushed him to the ground\nmore than once. He had in fact, constantly to be reminding himself of\nthe words in the Guide Book,\n\n\"'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' 'Who art thou that judgest another\nman's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.'\" And when he\nfelt conscious of these enemies he could only cry to his King, as he\ndrew out his sword, and his cry was always heard and answered.\n\nAmer's voice was the last that many a pilgrim heard this side of the\ndark river.\n\nHe had been in the Valley for some time when he suddenly heard his name\nspoken by a voice that made his heart beat, and he saw, standing on\nthe very brink of the river, Gabrielle, but so altered that he hardly\nrecognized her. Indeed, though she looked so pale and thin that he felt\nshe must be very near the end of her journey, the expression of her\nface was so unlike that he had ever seen upon it that he was amazed; it\nreminded him of the light that he had noticed on the face of Heman as\nhe passed to the Radiant City.\n\n\"You did not expect to meet me on the journey,\" she said, as he grasped\nher hands, \"but Amer, when I saw you were in such dead earnest and\nwould not give up the Radiant City or your King even for me, I felt\nthere must be some truth in what others told me was a mere legend, and\nI could not rest till I had set out on the same journey.\"\n\n\"And Desmond?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"I never married him,\" she answered, \"how could I when once I had known\nyou. When I told you I should, I said it out of pique, I never really\nintended to, though my father did all he could to persuade me. But I\ncould not rest till I had passed through the East Gate. But oh! my\njourney has been so short! I have had such a little time in which to\nprove my loyalty to my King. Just a few short weeks! And now I have to\ncross the River. How can I be sure that the King will receive me after\nforgetting Him for so long? I feel the enemy Doubt is doing what he can\nto wrench my soul away from Him.\"\n\nAmer looked at the River and noticed that across it lay the shadow of\nthe Cross, as it had done during the passing of Heman.\n\n\"Dearest,\" he said, \"you must get beneath the Cross, then Doubt will\nfly from you.\"\n\n\"Is it there for me?\" she asked faintly.\n\n\"As much for you as for the warrior who for years has fought under the\nKing's banner.\"\n\n\"Help me to get within its shadow,\" she pleaded: and Amer, putting his\narm around her, gently moved her in its direction, and as she stood\nbeneath its shadow, he saw a peace steal across her face.\n\n\"I think my feet have touched the brink,\" she whispered, \"I wish, oh! I\nwish, you were coming too.\"\n\n\"I will not leave you till the King has hold of your hand,\" said Amer,\nas her head sunk on his breast.\n\n\"Are you quite sure I am under the shadow of the Cross?\" she murmured.\n\n\"Yes, these are the King's own words,\" he answered:\n\n\"'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the\nSon of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not\nperish, but have eternal life.' 'Christ Jesus came into the world to\nsave sinners.'\"\n\n\"Then He must have come to save me,\" said Gabrielle, but her words were\nso faint that Amer could scarcely hear them.\n\nSuddenly she raised her head from his shoulder.\n\n\"It is the King,\" she said, while a radiance from the City lighted her\nface, \"He is calling to me,\" and Amer, as he loosed his hold of her,\nsaw her step down into the cold waters and stretch out her hand to some\nInvisible One.\n\nThen, as he stood still as if turned to stone, he suddenly fell to the\nground, for an enemy whom he had never met before had fallen upon him.\nRebellion had thrown his arrow successfully at him, and now stood over\nhis fallen prey so that he was unable to rise. For the time his shadow\nwas so deep and dark that Amer nearly lost the sight of the Radiant\nCity: and so well did Rebellion do his work that his victim lay without\nso much as an effort to rid himself of him. He could only think of the\none he had found but to lose again, and was full of hard thoughts of\nthe way by which he was being led. He could not live without Gabrielle,\nhe cried. So successfully had he hitherto managed to banish her from\nhis thoughts, that he had imagined that his love for her could never\nagain be roused to its full heat. But now that he had once more seen\nher, had looked into her eyes, had heard her voice, and had found her\nso infinitely sweeter than he could have pictured, he felt his will\nrise up against the will of his King, and so lay unresistingly in the\ngrip of Rebellion. His strength all seemed to have vanished, his work\nto have lost its interest, his path impossible to tread any longer.\n\nSuddenly in the distance he heard the sound of singing.\n\n  \"If God Himself be for me\n   I can a host defy.\"\n\nIt was the band of singing pilgrims, Iddo and Chisleu amongst them,\npraising, as they passed on the heights above the Dark Valley.\n\nThen, with a sudden spring, Amer leapt up, and drawing his sword, he\nfought. Fought in the strength of his King, crying out all the time for\nhelp to overcome. And the enemy, taken by surprise, and perceiving that\nthis soldier, who had looked so weak and helpless, was now resolved to\nconquer, gradually drew back, till a favourable moment came to turn and\nfly.\n\nThen once more Amer took up his work in the Valley, and found that the\nthought of Gabrielle having passed to the Radiant City made it seem\nnearer to him than ever before, and recognized the fact that though\ndivided from him by the River, she was really much closer to him than\nshe had ever been while in the Dark City.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n\"TILL HE COME.\"\n\nAmer's path now led him across a plain, it was bare and treeless, but\nevery now and then he came by green pastures and still waters and was\nrefreshed on his monotonous journey. He was able to hold communion\ntoo with his King, and though this part of his journey was free from\nany special incident, he learnt lessons of trust and patience which\nhe might not have been able to learn in the stress and noise of hard\nwarfare. It was not long before he came to a town, the inhabitants of\nwhich struck him as looking more miserable than those he had ever met\nbefore.\n\n\"What is the name of this place?\" he asked of one.\n\n\"It is the City of Despair,\" he answered, with a fierce and angry\nstare. \"You have but to look around you to learn its name.\"\n\nAnd as Amer's path led him into it he was filled with horror at all he\nsaw.\n\nSome were sitting by the road side with their heads bowed in their\nhands, the picture of misery; others were fast asleep, and Amer\nnoticed that at the head and feet of these, little black imps were\nsitting keeping guard, so that at the least sign of waking they might\nadminister narcotics and soothe them off to sleep again; some were\nraging and roaring about the streets, while others looked on laughing\nloudly, but their laughter rang hollow and suggested more misery than\nthe sobs that issued from their fellows.\n\nAmer found he was not the only soldier of the King who had entered the\nCity of Despair. Some were there before him who had, like him, been\nstruck with its horror and misery, and were fighting with all their\nmight the evil spirits which were enslaving so many.\n\n\"What is the meaning of all this?\" asked Amer.\n\n\"It means,\" said one of his fellow soldiers, \"that hundreds in this\nplace have either not heard of our King or hearing of Him will have\nnothing to do with Him; and the Devil and his angels are doing their\nbest to shut their ears and to lull them off into the sleep of death,\nso that the Good News may never reach them. We are here, and you, my\nfriend, have been sent here, to proclaim the Good News and to fight the\nenemy that is destroying these people, soul and body; and the fight\nis long and fierce. We need to watch and we need to pray, and to hold\nclose communion with our King. For we find the enemy will suddenly turn\nupon us and try and rend us, when he sees us bent upon destroying his\nwork here and that we are resolved to do what we can to liberate his\nslaves. It is the greatest honour anyone can have to be led to work\nin this City, for it is in the forefront of the battle. But remember,\nfriend, you must pray, you must pray.\"\n\nThen a great yearning came into the heart of Amer to tell these people\nof the King of the Radiant City, and he began to go up and down the\nstreets proclaiming the Good News.\n\nMany a one looked up at him with eyes full of misery, to shake their\nheads with the cry,\n\n                  \"Too late, too late!\"\n\n\"Nay,\" said Amer, \"it is the King Himself Who has sent me to you. He\nwould never have sent me had He not been willing to receive you.\"\n\nOthers told him to leave them alone.\n\n\"We do not wish to find out what we have lost: leave us alone, man, we\nhave chosen our path and must stick to it,\" while some who had never\nheard of the King and His mercy, laughed unbelievingly.\n\n\"Had your story been true we should have been told about it long ago,\"\nthey said. \"Nobody ever told us. Would people who have known such good\nnews for years never have taken the trouble to come and help us in our\nmisery if they knew it to be true?\"\n\nBut every now and then Amer would meet one whose eyes would follow him\nwith a hungry expression visible in them, as he went about proclaiming\nthe Good News, and then he knew that his efforts were not in vain, and\nhe would tell him of the Great King Who had died on the Cross to save\nhim and to give deliverance from the enemy.\n\n\"We will fight the enemy together,\" Amer would say, and he would fall\non his knees and pray.\n\nHis fellow soldiers had been right when they had told him that the\nwarfare would be fierce and long; it needed all his strength not to\ngive way, and his enemies were watching him determined to make him fall.\n\n\"Pity thyself,\" they would whisper in his ear, \"pity thyself, you are\nlosing strength, the battle is too hard, others can do the work, why\nput yourself into such danger?\" Then Pride would murmur,\n\n\"You of all people must persevere, you are by far the most successful\nworker here. No one works so hard as you, and people will listen to\nyou who turn a deaf ear to the other soldiers.\" Amer found this enemy\neven more difficult to overcome than the others, and he knew him to be\nthe more dangerous, for if he induced him to continue his work for any\nother motive than that of obedience to his King, it would be ruined.\n\nThen Despondency would try and seize him.\n\n\"Give it all up,\" he cried, \"it is useless, these people are too far\ngone in wickedness, your efforts are quite in vain.\"\n\nAll these enemies attacked Amer while he was busy about his work, and\noften he found when he was doing his utmost to break the chains of some\npoor slave, he would receive a blow from an unseen hand, and it was\nonly by crying to his King fur help that he was able to overcome.\n\nThen his fellow-workers would quite unconsciously be used of the enemy\nto tempt him.\n\nFor these friends sometimes surprised him. Although called by their\nKing to do this work some of them seemed to look upon it rather\nlightly. They did not apparently feel bound to do it with all their\nmight, neither did they seem to understand Amer's zeal and earnestness.\n\n\"We cannot all work like you,\" they would say to him, \"it would be\nfoolish on our part if we did. We should soon break up and not be\nable to work at all. We really think you tire yourself out with your\nefforts, and they are often in vain.\"\n\n\"But the people are dying around us,\" said Amer, \"and we are only here\nto work.\"\n\n\"But there is no cause for such extraordinary self-denial as you seem\nto think,\" they said. \"You make us feel ashamed of ourselves. Besides\nyou are injuring your health. You are working far too hard.\" And Amer,\nlistening, recognized the voices of more enemies than one; but he still\nworked on, and had the joy of leading many a one out of the City of\nDespair into the sunshine of the road to the Radiant City.\n\nAnd so he worked on, fighting, praying, and proclaiming the Good News\nof the Kingdom: and as he worked a wonderful radiance began to light up\nhis face. It was the light of the Radiant City that lay upon it. The\npeople among whom he laboured became aware of it.\n\n\"I think,\" they said, \"he must be growing like the King he is always\ntelling us about, Who is so loving and merciful.\"\n\nAnd his fellow-workers noticed it and talked about it to one another.\n\n\"What a beautiful character he has,\" they said, \"he puts us all to\nshame, but never speaks as if he were the least more faithful or\nearnest than we are. He is one of the humblest men we have ever come\nacross.\"\n\n\"If I had met that man some twenty years ago,\" said the one whom Amer\nhad seen with such a very miserable face, on entering the City, \"he\nmight have been the saving of me. It is what the man does that makes me\nhalf inclined to believe in what he says.\"\n\nAnd Amer worked on quite unconscious of the remarks of people about\nhim. What, however, he was conscious of, was that every now and then\nhe caught a gleam of a river in the distance. At first it had somewhat\nstartled him, but as day by day he seemed to be drawing nearer he would\nlook at it earnestly. Was his time approaching to cross it?\n\nHe was very conscious now of a Presence by his side, and the\ncompanionship of this Presence kept him in peace and joy. But as the\nRiver drew near the enemy also approached to make one more effort to\ncapture this brave soldier of the King. Doubt would remind him of some\nof the words he had listened to on the heath about the Guide Book, but\nfinding that Amer no sooner became aware of his presence than he called\nupon the King for help and drew out his sword to do combat, he tried\nanother plan. He would haunt his memory with sins he had committed in\nthe City of Punon before he had begun his journey, sins which had been\nforgiven years ago, questioning him as to how he dared to hope for\nmercy, considering he had done things of which he was now so ashamed.\n\nBut Amer was able by this time to distinguish between the voices from\nthe Radiant City and the voices of the enemy, and he clasped his\nbreastplate the closer; besides which he noticed that the shadow of\na Cross was always at hand, and when the enemy taunted him and tried\nto make him doubt his King's love and forgiveness, he flung himself\nbeneath it, and when fighting under its shadow he always came off\nconqueror. At this time too he kept looking towards the Radiant City\nwith the words:\u2014\n\n\"'I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.'\"\n\nAs he drew nearer the River he thought less about it and more of the\nCity beyond it. At times he almost fancied he could hear the songs of\ntriumph that he knew were being sung there in honour of his King; and\nmany a time when utterly weary he lay down to sleep, he would dream of\nit, of its streets of gold, and gates of pearl, and above all of the\nKing, Who was the Light thereof.\n\nWhen Iddo, whose path had led her with Chisleu and the other singing\npilgrims into the City of Despair, went up and down its streets singing\nof the King, Amer would look up and smile, adding his voice to hers.\nBut when alone, the words most often on the lips of this good soldier,\nwere those telling of his need and of the King's power to supply the\nneed.\n\n  \"My Saviour I have nought to plead\n     In Earth beneath or Heaven above;\n   But just my own exceeding need,\n     And Thine exceeding love.\"\n\nThose who were with Amer noticed how full of love and patience he now\nwas: how the enemy, Irritability, which had so often given him a blow\non his lips, was silent: how he never judged unkindly or spoke ill of\npeople, but like his Master and King was filled with a consuming pity\nfor them.\n\nBut if his friends had had eyes to see, they would have been aware of\na crowd of evil spirits on the watch for him, who would surely have\nworked him ill had he not been in such constant communion with his\nKing. As it was they could never get near him, for the Presence of\nhis King was around him like a wall of fire, and a shadow of a Cross\nenveloped him.\n\nAmer remembered at times his question to the Ambassador when he had\nstarted on his journey, as to whether it was the lot of every soldier\nto be harried at the end, as was Heman the Brave; and every now and\nthen, when for a moment he lost sight of his King, Fear crept up,\nhoping to gain possession of him; but so used was he now to confide his\nthoughts to his King, that Fear could get no more than a sudden look\nat the man he hoped to conquer. Indeed, the enemies that had crowded\nso hopefully around him when they were aware of how near Amer was\nto crossing the River, had to be content with looking at him from a\ndistance, and gradually, as they noticed that the nearer he drew to the\nRiver, the brighter and more peaceful grew the expression of his face,\nthey lost hope.\n\nThen it was, that while in the act of cheering a fellow pilgrim, Amer\nheard his name called, and, with the light of the Radiant City on his\nbrow and his King's name on his lips, he plunged without fear into the\ncold waters to fall at the feet of his King.\n\nThen Chisleu and Iddo, who had seen his passing, burst into a\ntriumphant song:\n\n  \"The saints of God, their conflict past,\n   And life's long battle won at last,\n   No more they need the shield or sword,\n   They cast them down before their Lord:\n     Oh happy saints, for ever blessed,\n     At Jesus' feet how safe your rest.\"\n\nAnd the pilgrims on the hill above, caught up the words and sang again:\u2014\n\n  \"Oh happy saints, for ever blessed,\n   At Jesus' feet how safe your rest.\"\n\nBut some there were who fell on their knees and wept, for they loved\nhim so.\n\nAnd Iddo, seeing them, turned away with tears in her eyes, for he had\nbeen as a brother to her. Then, after a moment, she stood erect and\nstrong, while the light from the Radiant City fell on her face.\n\n\"It is only till He come,\" she said.\n\n\"Yes, till He come,\" answered Chisleu, and then they both went back\ninto the City of Despair to work and to watch,\n\n                     \"Till He Come.\"\n\n\n\n                        THE END.","title":"The Radiant City : $b An Allegory","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":41906}