life in stormy haste to the shelter of the tower, in spite of their
readiness to die. Only old Kosmas, who had withdrawn to the desert with
his wife--she had found a grave there--had remained in his cave, and had
declared to Gelasius, who shared his cave and who had urged him to
flight, that he was content in whatever place or whatever hour the Lord
should call him, and that it was in God's hands to decide whether old age
or an arrow-shot should open to him the gates of heaven.

It was quite otherwise with the rest of the anchorites, who rushed
through the narrow door of the watchtower and into its inner room till it
was filled to overflowing, and Paulus, who in the presence of danger had
fully recovered his equanimity, was obliged to refuse admission to a new-
comer in order to preserve the closely packed and trembling crowd from
injury.

No murrain passes from beast to beast, no mildew from fruit to fruit with
such rapidity as fear spreads from man to man. Those who had been driven
by the sharpest lashings of terror had run the fastest, and reached the
castle first. They had received those who followed them with lamentation
and outcries, and it was a pitiable sight to see how the terrified crowd,
in the midst of their loud declarations of resignation to God's guidance
and their pious prayers, wrung their hands, and at the same time how
painfully anxious each one was to hide the little property he had saved
first from the disapproval of his companions, and then from the
covetousness of the approaching enemy.

With Paulus came Sergius and Jeremias to whom, on the way, he had spoken
words of encouragement. All three did their utmost to revive the
confidence of the terrified men, and when the Alexandrian reminded them
how zealously each of them only a few weeks since had helped to roll the