A new party arrived, bringing a snowy fleeced lamb to be offered in
sacrifice. It was decked with wreaths, and bleated piteously. Presently
it was killed, and its blood was caught in vessels to be taken home and
smeared on doors and walls to drive away blight and pestilence from the
dwellings of men. While this was being done, the crowd looked on
carelessly or curiously. But Bertram and Atmâ noticed that the man who
had made this offering looked upwards with famished eyes and despairing,
and a groan escaped his lips, and to Bertram it seemed as if he said:

"Behold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot
perceive him."

They stood apart, watching the scene. Then Atmâ presented his gift for
the enriching of the shrine, and withdrawing aside he knelt on the grass
and prayed,

"Bright God and Only God!
Not to be understood!
Illume the darkened twilight of thine earth;
The dewdrop of so little worth
Is garnished from the riches of the sun;
Lead me from shadowy things to things that be,
Lest, all undone,
I lose in dreams my dream's reality;
Thy Home is in the Fatherland of Light,
Strong God and Bright!
In still beatitude and boundless might!
I veil mine eyes,
Thy holy Quietness I seek with sighs."