“But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.
“Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail; then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.”
Here the Vicar turned back a page, and his voice rang higher:
“Behold a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
“And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
“And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.”
Now Taffy walked behind, thinking his own thoughts; for the cheers of those invisible sailors had done more than thrill his heart. A finger, as it were, had come out of the night and touched his brain, unsealing the wells and letting in light upon things undreamt of. Through the bright confusion of this sudden vision the Vicar’s sentences sounded and fell on his ears unheeded. And yet while they faded that happened which froze and bit each separate word into his memory, to lose distinctness only when death should interfere, stop the active brain, and wipe the slate.
For while the procession halted and broke up its formation for a moment on the brow of the cliff, a woman came running into the torchlight.
“Is my Joey there? Where’s he to, anybody? Hev anyone seen my Joey?”