nd here the sea, and here the bulge of ocean, and here a
ship sailing westward; and here in the east is the Earthly Paradise;
and mark now how the ship fareth onward ever on the one course
unchanged, till it cometh to that blessed place."

Truly this was a wondrous teaching; and when we questioned how they who
sailed could escape falling out and perishing, they and indeed their
ship, when they came so far down the round sea that they hung heads
nethermost, his Discretion laughed: "Nay, if the sea, which the wind
breaketh and lifteth and bloweth about in grey showers, fall not out,
neither will the ship, nor yet the mariners; for the Lord God hath so
ordered it that wheresoever mariners be, there the sea shall seem to
them no less flat than a great grass-meadow when the wind swings the
grass; and if they hang head downward they know not of it; but rather,
seeing over them the sun and the clouds, they might well pity our evil
case, deeming it was we who were hanging heads nethermost."

Now this and suchlike converse with the Bishop so moved Serapion that
he lost the quietude of soul and the deep gladness of heart which are
the portion of the cloister. Day and night his thought was flying
under sail across the sea towards the Earthly Paradise, and others
there were who were of one longing with him. Wherefore at last they
prayed leave of the Abbot to build a ship and to try the venture.

The Abbot consented, but when they besought him to go with them and to
lead them, he shook his head smiling, and answered: "Nay, children, I
am an aged man, little fitted for such a labour. Wiser is it for me to
lean my staff against my fig-tree, and have in mind the eternal years.
Moreover, as you know, many are the sons in this house who look to me
for fatherly care. But if it be your wish, one shall go with you to be
the twelfth of your company. In hours of peril and perplexity and
need, if such should befall you, you shall bid him pray earnestly, and
after he has prayed, heed what he shall say, even as you would heed the
words of your Abbot. No better Abbot and counsellor could you have,
for he hath still preserved his baptismal innocence. It is Ambrose,
the little chorister."

Serapion and the others wondered at this, but readily they accepted the
Abbot's choice of a companion.

Think now of the ship as built--a goodly ship of stout timber frame
covered two-ply with hides seasoned and sea-worthy, well found in
provisions ag