The Ancient Gods Pursuing 33

brows, and brandishing in his hand red
flashes of lightning. In no way daunted,
the Bishop sprang to his feet, and cried ina
loud voice, “In the name of Him who
was crucified, depart to your torments!”
And at the sound of that cry the colossal
figure of the god wavered and broke like a
mountain cloud when it crumbles in the
wind, and glimmering shapes of goddesses
and nymphs flitted past, sighing and lament-
ing; and the Bishop saw no longer anything
but the sharp cold stars, and the white peaks
and the ridges of the mountains.

When they had descended and reached
the green valleys, they came at length to a
great lake, blue and beautiful to look upon,
and here they sojourned for awhile. It was
a fair and pleasant land, but the people were
rude and barbarous, and drove them away
with stones when they would enter their
hamlets. So, as they needed food, Hilary
bade his companions gather berries and wild
herbs, and he himself set snares for birds,
and wove a net to cast into the lake, and
made himself a raft of pine-trees, from which
he might cast it the more easily.

One night as he floated on this raft in the

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