The muffled figures on the ground stirred and stood erect.
Overhead burned the stars in the frosty sky.
The silence was broken by old Eli.
"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."
Over the rough, uneven ground hastened the shepherds. Their flocks for once were left uncared for, save by the dogs. They pressed on across the familiar pasture land, up and over the cornfields, and then took the sharp rise that would lead them past the Bethlehem inn.
Clinging to the hillside and facing the cornfields was the stable of the inn, a rough cave in the limestone rock. On a rope stretched across the wide entrance swung a lantern, whose dim light twinkled and flickered before the eyes of the shepherds as they came up the hill.
Old Eli quickened his pace, Ezra at his heels.
"And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger."
The boy knew that the inn was crowded to overflowing, as was his own and every house in Bethlehem that night. Was it possible that this familiar manger was the resting-place to-night of a Heavenly Guest? Were strangers lodged in the stable? Was this the only shelter that could be offered the latest arrivals of the Nazareth caravan because there was no room at the inn?
At the stable entrance Ezra hung back. He saw a man come forward out of the shadows and talk with Eli. With a single gesture the old shepherd motioned his companions to join him. Lost for a moment in the gloom, Ezra saw them again speaking, bending forward, then falling upon their knees.