were
sounded, and banners were waved in the wind. Those who walked shoulder
to shoulder under waving flags to the sound of trumpets felt secure and
confident, while those who journeyed alone seemed always to walk with
fear and trembling. It was said in the old Chart that where two or
three were gathered together on the way, strength and courage would be
given them. But men could not believe this, and few had the heart to
test whether it were true or no.

So the bands went on to the right or to the left, each in its chosen
path. But after they had passed the first great rock, they came to
other rocks and trees and places of doubt. Other councils were held,
and at each step there were some who would not abide by the decision of
the elders. So these from time to time went their own ways. And they
made new inscriptions on the Chart, and erased the old ones, each
according to his own ideas. And there was much pushing and jostling
when the bands separated themselves one from another.

At last one of the oldest travelers in the largest band--a man with a
long white beard, and wise with the experience of years--arose and said
that not in anger, nor in strife, should they journey on. Discord and
contention arise from difference of opinion. Let all men but think
alike, and they will walk in peace and harmony. Let each band choose a
leader. Let him carry the Chart, and let him night and day pore over
its precepts. No one else need distress himself. One had only to keep
step on the road, and to follow whithersoever the leader might direct.

So the people chose a leader--a man grave and serious, wise in the lore
of the forest and the desert. He noted on the Chart each rock and
tree, drawing in sharp outlines every detail in the only safe path.
Moreover, all deviating trails he marked with the symbol of danger.

And it came to pass that day by day other bands followed, and to them
the Chart was given as he had left it. And these bands, too, chose
leaders, whose part it was to interpret the Chart. But each one of
these added to the Chart some better way of his own, some short cut he
had found, or some new trail not marked with the proper sign of warning.

And with all these changes and additions, as time went on, the true way
became very hard to find. At one point, so the story is told, there
were twenty-nine distinct paths, leading in as many directions; each of
these, if the Chart be true, came to its end in s