It was indeed so dark that he wondered if it could be the way intended for him to tread; he wondered still more as on entering it fearfully, he found he could not see any distance before him, but looking down at his feet he saw that there was no mistake about it. His path lay before him, though he could only see one step at a time. He buckled his sword tighter around him and made sure that all his armour was in the right position, and with a brave heart walked boldly into the still deeper recesses of the forest.
For a short time he was comforted by the fact that far, far away, he caught a faint glimmer of light which he knew must come from the Radiant City; but after a time even this faded, and he felt himself in total darkness.
A terrible silence pervaded the place. Not even the flutter of a bird among the trees nor the sound of the faintest breeze. It was as if he were in a dead world.
The perspiration stood out on his forehead and his hands trembled as he gripped his sword. So appalled was he at the darkness and silence, that he dared not even call aloud, on the chance that there might be someone near who could come to his aid. The sense of utter loneliness amazed him. He had experienced nothing like it before. Loneliness and darkness appalled him, fearfulness and trembling came upon him, and horror overwhelmed him.
Suddenly, as faint with forebodings, he slowly and painfully made his way, seeing only one step at a time, some words from his Guide Book flashed across his mind like a sunbeam from the Radiant City.
"'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.'"
"'What time I am afraid, I will trust,'" he cried, and the very fact of breaking the silence by that cry, gave him courage and comfort.
Many a time after this, during that dark journey, he called aloud to his King, and when he did so, he was conscious of a Presence quite near to him, of a Companionship that made his heart burn within him, and in the consciousness of which he was able to face the horrors of darkness that seemed likely to overwhelm him.
But at times even the sense of the Presence seemed to be hidden from him, and he had but to find comfort in the fact, that, the King had promised to be with his servants unto the end, that though unseen and unfelt, He could not be far off, so he cried out in the words of the Guide Book, many of which he knew by this time, by heart,
"'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, for His Presence is salvation.'"