reopened them, and renewed the bleeding, and after the one powerful
effort with which Polykarp pushed away his enemy, he fell back senseless
in his arms The wan morning-light added to the pallor of the bloodless
countenance that lay with glazed eyes in the anchorite's lap.

"He is dying!" murmured Paulus in deadly anguish and with choking
breath, while he looked across the valley and up to the heights, seeking
help. The mountain rose in front of him, its majestic mass glowing in
the rosy dawn, while light translucent vapor floated round the peak where
the Lord had written His laws for His chosen people, and for all peoples,
on tables of stone; it seemed to Paulus that he saw the giant form of
Moses far, far up on its sublimest height and that from his lips in
brazen tones the strictest of all the commandments was thundered down
upon him with awful wrath, "Thou shalt not kill!"

Paulus clasped his hands before his face in silent despair, while his
victim still lay in his lap. He had closed his eyes, for he dared not
look on the youth's pale countenance, and still less dared he look up at
the mountain; but the brazen voice from the height did not cease, and
sounded louder and louder; half beside himself with excitement, in his
inward ear he heard it still, "Thou shalt not kill!" and then again,
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife!" a third time, "Thou shalt
not commit adultery!" and at last a fourth, "Thou shalt have none other
gods but me!"

He that sins against one of those laws is damned; and he--he had broken
them all, broken them while striving to tread the thorny path to a life
of blessedness.

Suddenly and wildly he threw his arms up to heaven, and sighing deeply,