"Nay, nay," cried the other, "your fate will be the same as mine. I pray you not to hinder your journey in this way. I beseech you not to trouble about me. The enemy will overcome you as he has me. You are happy in your faith. You have your Guide Book next to your heart, and your sword in your hand. You believe in the Radiant City, and in your King. I will not be the one to throw you into the hands of the great enemy Doubt."
"Friend," said the traveller, while a radiant light from the City touched his helmet and illumined his face, "when my King calls me to fight, He will see that I get the victory, and I fight kneeling." And at that he knelt, and the enemy, who had been invisible, came towards him in all his strength, and hurled his battle axe at him, but the traveller parried the blow with the sword. So deadly was the fight that great drops broke out on the forehead of the combatants, as the darkness of night overshadowed them. For many hours they wrestled, and all the time the traveller never rose from his knees.
"Fight," he gasped at last to his companion, "fight, man, for there are more with us than against us, and I see the glimmering of dawn," and even as he spoke a faint light broke upon them, and rested on the traveller's shield, and by its light the wounded man saw that his own Guide Book, and the sword he had lost, were lying by his side within his reach. He stretched out his hands to grasp his sword, and as he did so invisible hands fastened on his armour, bit by bit, and he was strengthened for the fight. So skilfully did he now begin to use his sword that between the two, who both fought on their knees, the enemy gradually began to falter in his attacks, and was finally driven back.
"The King be praised," said the traveller, as he rose, pale and weary, and looked towards the Radiant City. The light of it was on his brow, and his shield and breastplate blazed brighter than they had ever done before, as he began to help the victorious soldier to his feet.
"The King be praised," echoed the other, "'which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.' 'If the Lord Himself had not been on our side . . . they had swallowed us up quick . . . But praised be the Lord; who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.'"
"'Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler,'" added his friend, "'the snare is broken, and we are delivered. Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord Who bath made Heaven and Earth.'"
Then the two men grasped hands.
"Friend," said the man, whose wounds had been healed, "tell me your name, as I shall ever hold it in loving remembrance and gratitude."
"My name is Heman,"* he answered, "and yours, my friend?"
"Joezer,"† he said, "alas! I am rash, and underrate the power of the enemy. I forgot the fact which you remembered, that this enemy always aims at the knees. If he can wound the knees he is much more certain of victory, but I saw you fought kneeling, and copied your example. Praised be the King for your help and friendship, Heman."