36 The Ancient Gods Pursuing

that the ground was covered with soft deep
grass and brilliant flowers, and the trees were
of the colour of gold and silver. So in
strange gladness, and feeling neither hun-
ger nor fatigue, they went forward through
the hours of the night till the dawn, won-
dering what angelic ministry was thus be-
guiling them of hardship and pain. But
with the first gleam of the dawn the music
ceased amid mocking laughter, the vision
of lovely woodland vanished away, and in
the grey light they found themselves on
the quaking green edges of a deep and dan-
gerous marsh. Hilary, when he saw this,
groaned in spirit and said: “O dear sons,
we have deserved this befooling and mis-
guidance, for have we not forgotten the
behest of our Master, ‘Watch and pray
lest ye enter into temptation’?”

Now when after much toilsomeness they
had won clear of that foul tract of morass
and quagmire, they came upon vast herds
of swine grubbing beneath the oaks, and
with them savage-looking swineherds scan-
tily clad in skins. Still further north they
caught sight of the squalid hovels and wood
piles of charcoal burners ; and still they pur-