me
were feasting--at that on which they feasted I would not look; some were
labouring or engaged in barter; some were thinking. But I, who had
the power of looking into them, saw within the breast of each a tiny
likeness of the man or woman or child as it might be, humbly bent
upon its knees with hands together in an attitude of prayer, and with
imploring, tear-stained face looking upwards to the black heaven.

Then in that heaven there appeared a single star of light, and from this
star flowed lines of gentle fire that spread and widened till all the
immense arc was one flame of glory. And now from the pulsing heart of
the Glory, which somehow reminded me of moving lips, fell countless
flakes of snow, each of which followed an appointed path till it lit
upon the forehead of one of the tiny, imploring figures hidden within
those savage breasts, and made it white and clean.

Then the Glory shrank and faded till there remained of it only
the similitude of two transparent hands stretched out as though in
blessing--and I woke up wondering how on earth I found the fancy to
invent such a vision, and whether it meant anything or nothing.

Afterwards I repeated it to Brother John, who was a very spiritually
minded as well as a good man--the two things are often quite
different--and asked him to be kind enough to explain. At the time he
shook his head, but some days later he said to me:

"I think I have read your riddle, Allan; the answer came to me quite of
a sudden. In all those sin-stained hearts there is a seed of good and
an aspiration towards the right. For every one of them also there is at
last mercy and forgiveness, since how could they learn who never had a
teacher? Your dream, Allan, was one of the ultimate redemption of even
the most evil of mankind, by gift of the Grace that shall one day glow
through the blackness of the night in which they wander."

That is what he said, and I only hope that he was right, since at
present there is something very wrong with the world, especially in
Africa.

Also we blame the blind savage for many things, but on the balance are
we so much better, considering our lights and opportunities? Oh!
the truth is that the devil--a very convenient word that--is a good
fisherman. He has a large book full of flies of different sizes and
colours, and well he knows how to suit them to each particular fish. But
white or black, every fish takes one fly or the other, and then comes
the questi