he crowbar it slipped from his hands,
and when he stooped to pick it up he fell; and before he could
think, he was asleep.

Some time afterward he roused himself sufficiently to get to the
house. He said nothing, he did not even attempt to undress, but
simply threw himself down on a wooden bench and dropped off to
sleep.

***

The Jerusalem-farers had at last reached the railway station which
was newly built in a big clearing in the middle of the forest.
There was no town, nor were there any fields or gardens, but
everything had been planned on a grand scale in the expectation
that an important railway community would some day spring up in
this wilderness.

Round the station itself the ground was levelled; there was a broad
stone platform, with roomy baggage sheds and no end of gravel
drives. A couple of stores and workshops, a photographic studio,
and a hotel had already been put up around the gravelled square,
but the remainder of the clearing was nothing but unbroken stubble
land.

The Dal River also flowed past here. It came with a wild and angry
rush from the dark woods, and dashed foamingly onward in a cascade
of falls. The Jerusalem-farers could hardly credit that this was a
part of the broad, majestic river they had crossed in the morning.
Here no smiling valley met their gaze; on all sides the view was
obstructed by dark fir-clad heights.

When the little children who were going with their parents to
Jerusalem were lifted out of the carts in this desolate-looking
place, they became uneasy and began to cry. Before, they had been
very happy in the thought of travelling to Jerusalem. Of course
they had cried a good deal when leaving their homes, but down at
the station they became quite disconsolate.

Their elders were busy unloading their goods from the wagons and
stowing them away in a baggage car. They all helped, so that no one
had any time to look after the children, and see what they were up
to.

The youngsters meanwhile got together, and held council as to what
they should do.

After a bit the older children took the little ones by the hand and
walked away from the station, two by two-a big child and a little
child. They went the same way they had come across the sea of sand,
through the stubble ground, over the river and into the dark forest.

Suddenly, one of the women happened to think of the children, and
opened a food basket to give them something to eat. She called to
them, but got no