The pilgrims obeyed his command. Paulus hid his face in his hands and
sobbed out: "Wretch, wretch that I am!"

And the pilgrims lauded his humility, and followed their leader who left
the spot.




CHAPTER III.

Hermas had hastened onwards without delay. He had already reached the
last bend of the path he had followed down the ravine, and he saw at his
feet the long narrow valley and the gleaming waters of the stream, which
here fertilized the soil of the desert. He looked down on lofty palms
and tamarisk shrubs innumerable, among which rose the houses of the
inhabitants, surrounded by their little gardens and small carefully-
irrigated fields; already he could hear the crowing of a cock and the
hospitable barking of a dog, sounds which came to him like a welcome from
the midst of that life for which he yearned, accustomed as he was to be
surrounded day and night by the deep and lonely stillness of the rocky
heights.

He stayed his steps, and his eyes followed the thin columns of smoke,
which floated tremulously up in the clear light of the ever mounting sun
from the numerous hearths that lay below him.

"They are cooking breakfast now," thought he, "the wives for their
husbands, the mothers for their children, and there, where that dark