I can a host defy."
It was the band of singing pilgrims, Iddo and Chisleu amongst them, praising, as they passed on the heights above the Dark Valley.
Then, with a sudden spring, Amer leapt up, and drawing his sword, he fought. Fought in the strength of his King, crying out all the time for help to overcome. And the enemy, taken by surprise, and perceiving that this soldier, who had looked so weak and helpless, was now resolved to conquer, gradually drew back, till a favourable moment came to turn and fly.
Then once more Amer took up his work in the Valley, and found that the thought of Gabrielle having passed to the Radiant City made it seem nearer to him than ever before, and recognized the fact that though divided from him by the River, she was really much closer to him than she had ever been while in the Dark City.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
"TILL HE COME."
Amer's path now led him across a plain, it was bare and treeless, but every now and then he came by green pastures and still waters and was refreshed on his monotonous journey. He was able to hold communion too with his King, and though this part of his journey was free from any special incident, he learnt lessons of trust and patience which he might not have been able to learn in the stress and noise of hard warfare. It was not long before he came to a town, the inhabitants of which struck him as looking more miserable than those he had ever met before.
"What is the name of this place?" he asked of one.
"It is the City of Despair," he answered, with a fierce and angry stare. "You have but to look around you to learn its name."