this was certainly the way. All that
afternoon they sate, while the wind rustled without, and the sea made a
noise; and then the priest said they would go and look at the treasure,
because it was near evening, and he must return. So they went down
together, and drew the rocks off from the box. It was a box of wood,
tightly corded, and they undid it, and found within a great store of
gold and silver pieces, which the priest reckoned up, and said that it
would be abundant for a church.

Then they saw the boat approach; and the priest blessed David, and David
thanked him with tears, for showing him the truth; and the priest said,
"Not so, my brother; I did but show you what is in your own heart, for
God puts such truth in the heart of all of us as we can bear; but
sometimes we keep it like a sword in its scabbard, until the bright and
sharp thing, that might have wrought great deeds, be all rusted and
blunted."

And then the priest departed, taking with him the box of gold, and David
was left alone.

David was very heavy-hearted when he was left alone on the island. He
knew that the priest had spoken the truth, but he loved his solitary
life, and the silence of the cave, the free air and the sun, and the
lonely current of his own thoughts. The sun went slowly down over the
waters in a great splendour of light and colour, so that the clouds in
the sky seemed like purple islands floating in a golden sea; David
sitting in his cave thought with a kind of terror of the small and close
houses of the village, the sound of feet, and talk of men and women. At
last he fell asleep; and in his sleep he dreamed that he was in a great
garden. He looked about him with pleasure, and he presently saw a
gardener moving about at his work. He went in that direction, and he saw
that the man, who was old and had a very wise and tender face, was
setting out some young trees in a piece of ground. He planted them
carefully with deft hands, and he smiled to himself as he worked, as
though he was full of joyful thoughts. David wished in his heart to go
and speak with him, but something held him back. Presently the gardener
went away, and while he was absent, another man, of a secret aspect,
came swiftly into the place, peering about him. His glance passed David
by, and David knew that he was in some way unseen. The man looked all
about him in a furtive haste, and then plucked up one of the trees,
which seemed to David to be already growing and s