t, till
they got captured and carried off prisoners. It was not sport at all
being shut up in stuffy old houses with only a little food and nothing
to do. Francis used to cheer them up with troubadour songs and stories.
But although he always seemed so cheerful, it was doing great harm to
his health, and when, after a year, the prisoners were freed and
returned to Assisi, Francis became very ill indeed. So ill was he that
he came near dying, and this experience of nearly passing out into the
next life made him begin to think seriously. When he was well enough to
go out, walking slowly with a stick because of his weakness, he felt
that life could never be quite the same; he must _do_ something, take a
man's place in the world.

Well, the chance soon came, for all the young Christian men were called
out to fight in a Crusade. A certain nobleman of Assisi started getting
up a party, and Francis decided to join him. He soon had all his
kit--armour, a bright sword, a good horse, and all complete; and with a
gay heart, full of a thirst for adventure and a determination to do
great things, he waited impatiently for the start. He had been rather
puzzled as to what to do with himself, and now he felt he had hit on the
right plan. So it was a bit of a surprise when, his very first night
away, something happened which unsettled his mind altogether and made
him feel it was not God's will that he should go to the Crusades.

The night before the party set out Francis had had a very curious dream,
about a beautiful palace, all hung round with knightly arms, which a
mysterious voice told him was for him and his followers. This made him
so happy that the next day, when someone asked him what good fortune he
had had, he replied that now he knew for certain he was to be a great
prince and leader of men. But the next night, as he lay in the hostelry
on the first halt along the road, something still more strange happened.
He was not asleep, and yet, through the still darkness, he heard the
mysterious voice of his dream, and it said: "Francis, whom is it better
to serve, the lord or the servant?" "Surely it is better to serve the
lord," replied Francis, softly, into the dark. And the voice answered:
"Why, then, dost thou make a lord of the servant?" Then it all seemed to
flash on Francis, and he felt sure this was a Voice from heaven, and he
replied very humbly: "Lord, what dost Thou wish me to do?" And the Voice
said: "Return to the land o