But now the thread led him through the
strangest places. One was a very dark, deep ravine, with a stream that
roared and rushed far down, and overhead the rocks seemed to meet, and
thick bushes concealed the light, and nothing could Eric see but the
gold thread, that looked like a thread of fire, though even that grew
dim sometimes, until he could only feel it in his hand. And whither he
was going he knew not. At one time he seemed to be on the edge of a
precipice, until it seemed as if the next step _must_ lead him over, and
plunge him down; but when he came to the very edge, the thread led him
quite safely along it. At another, a rock which looked like a wall rose
before him, and he said to himself, "Well, I must be stopped here! I
shall never be able to climb up!" But just as he touched it, he found
steps cut in it, and up, up, the thread guided him to the top! Then it
would bring him down, down, until he once stood beside a raging stream,
and the water foamed and dashed. "Now," he thought, "I must be drowned;
but come what may, I will not let my thread go." And so it was, that
when he came so near the stream as to feel the spray upon his cheek, and
was sure that he must leap in if he followed his thread, what did he see
but a little bridge that passed from bank to bank, and by which he
crossed in perfect safety; until at last he began to lose fear, and to
believe more and more that he would always be in the right road, so
long as he did not trust mere appearances, but kept hold of his thread!

CHAPTER IV

THE GREAT LION--THE LITTLE SQUIRREL--AN OLD FRIEND--THE BLOODHOUND--THE
LAST TEMPTATION.

[Illustration]

But Eric had now to endure a great trial of his faith in the thread. As
he journeyed on, it led him up a winding path towards the summit of a
hill. The large trees of the forest were soon left behind, and small
stunted bushes grew among masses of gray rocks. The path was like the
bed of a dry brook, and was often very steep. There were no birds except
little stone-chats, that hopped and chirped among the large round
stones. Far below, he could see the tops of the trees, and here and
there a stream glittering under the sunbeams. Nothing disturbed the
silence but the hoarse croak of the raven, or the wild cry of a kite or
eagle, that, like a speck, wheeled far up in the sky. But suddenly, Eric
heard a roar like thunder coming from the direction towards which the
thread was leading him. He stopped for