another it was the sun-god Apollo, who threatened him with fiery
arrows in the parching heat of noon; or it was Pallas Athene, who
appeared to him in visions, and shook in his face the Gorgon's head,
which turns to stone all living creatures who look on it. But the holy
Bishop made the sign of the cross of the Lord, and the right arm of
their power was broken, and their malice could not harm him.

The holy men traversed the mountains by that Roman road which climbed
up the icy rocks and among the snowy peaks of the Mountain of Jove, and
at sundown they came to that high temple of Jove which had crowned the
pass for many centuries. The statue of the great father-god of Rome
had been hurled down the ravine into the snow-drift, and his altar had
been flung into the little wintry mere which shivers in the pass, and
his last priest had died of old age a lifetime ago; and the temple was
now but a cold harbour for merchants and soldiers and wandering men.

Here in the freezing air the apostles rested from their journey, but in
the dead of the night Hilary was awakened by a clamour of forlorn
voices, and opening his eyes he saw the mighty father-god of Olympus
looking down upon him with angry brows, and brandishing in his hand red
flashes of lightning. In no way daunted, the Bishop sprang to his
feet, and cried in a loud voice, "In the name of Him who was crucified,
depart to your torments!" And at the sound of that cry the colossal
figure of the god wavered and broke like a mountain cloud when it
crumbles in the wind, and glimmering shapes of goddesses and nymphs
flitted past, sighing and lamenting; and the Bishop saw no longer
anything but the sharp cold stars, and the white peaks and the ridges
of the mountains.

When they had descended and reached the green valleys, they came at
length to a great lake, blue and beautiful to look upon, and here they
sojourned for a while. It was a fair and pleasant land, but the people
were rude and barbarous, and drove them away with stones when they
would enter their hamlets. So, as they needed food, Hilary bade his
companions gather berries and wild herbs, and he himself set snares for
birds, and wove a net to cast into the lake, and made himself a raft of
pine-trees, from which he might cast it the more easily.

One night as he floated on this raft in the starlight, he heard the
voice of the Spirit of the Peak calling to the Spirit of the Mere. And
the Spirit of the Mere answer