"Sir," said Amer, pale and trembling, "does the great enemy always attack the King's soldiers so fiercely at the end?" and he related how harried had been the last moments of Heman and with what a fierce conflict he had had to engage.
"Nay lad," he said, "but it does not altogether surprise me. The braver the soldier the harder the fight, and the enemy made one last effort to do what he has failed to do for so long. But as a rule the passing into the Radiant City is peaceful and bright. I have known soldiers who have sung with joy as they have reached the river, and who have been surrounded with a wall of fire so that the enemy could not reach them. The King knows each one so thoroughly that He will never let anyone be tempted above that he is able, 'but will with the temptation also make a way of escape.' And think of the reward that good soldier is now getting: his affliction was 'but for a moment,' and worketh for him, 'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'"
"I fear the River," said Amer, shivering, for his path still lay through the Valley of the Shadow.
"Nay lad, fear not," said the Ambassador. "The King does not send you help to cross it till the time to cross it comes. Has He not promised to be with you? And how do you know that you will have to pass through the River at all? The King may come in the clouds first to take His people Home. If I'm not mistaken," he added, "Depression is at your side, take out your sword, lad."
And the Ambassador was right, and Amer found that in wielding his sword, Depression departed, and that when his enemy had departed, he began to think of the light of the City on Heman's face, of the song of welcome he had listened to, and looking up to his King, he said, "'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'"
[CHAPTER XI.]
THE DARK FOREST.
"'What time I am afraid, I will trust.'"
These words were continually in Amer's mind during the next part of his journey, for he found his way led him into a gloomy forest, and looking down its long dark avenues, for a moment he hesitated.