The situation in which the two shepherds found themselves touched their
imaginations, and they ceased to regret that they were in danger of
missing a Christmas Day at Jerusalem. They listened to the sheep for a
time, until the cry of a jackal startled the animals, and the flock
dispersed. Then the two soldiers fell asleep once more.

Shortly before midnight they awoke with a sudden start. A strange light
gleamed in their faces, and the mist had almost vanished. The hill-sides
and the sky above were bathed in a pearly light, while almost
immediately above them they beheld a city, as it were let down from
heaven and suspended in mid-air, beset with domes and minarets that
flashed like jewels in the marvellous radiance that flooded all space.

"A miracle! A miracle!" Sam Ineson exclaimed, in awe-struck tones, and
then held his breath, for a familiar song broke upon his ears. From the
sky, or from the battlements of the aerial city, he knew not which,
there rang forth the great Nativity hymn:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

Jerry Coggill looked into the face of Sam Ineson and saw there an
expression of trance-like rapture. As though moved by a common impulse,
the two soldiers sprang to attention, saluted, and, when the hymn
ceased, fell on their knees in prayer. Then the mist closed on them
again, the city among the clouds was hidden from view, and the sky lost
its translucence. But sleep was no longer possible for the soldiers.