"Alas! Was it an illusion, indicative of approaching madness? For my thoughts were darting through my brain like clouds whirling before the blast of the coming storm. No! It was true. The monster had moved nearer, much nearer than the day before. It was no illusion. I could estimate clearly. Yesterday, no matter how far he stretched his paw, he could not reach the large black stone which had fallen from the cliff directly in front of my horse; now it lay almost by the wild beast's hind leg. During these hours, urged by increasing hunger, the lion had pushed himself forward almost the entire length of his body, and now lay only a foot and a half or two feet from me. If he should advance still farther--if he should reach me? Helpless, defenceless, I must allow myself to be devoured alive! Then terror darted through my heart. In mortal anguish I prayed aloud to God, struggled with Him in appeal: 'No, no, my God, Thou must not abandon me! Thou must save me, God of Mercy!' At this moment I suddenly remembered the belief of our whole people concerning the guardian spirits whom God has allotted to us in the form of helpful human beings. Do you remember? The attendant spirits."
"Yes," said Gibamund. "And by fervent prayer we can, in the hour of supreme peril, constrain God to show us the guardian spirit sent by Him to our rescue."
"My ancestor, too," said Hilda, "believed in them firmly. He said that our forefathers imagined the guardian spirits in the form of women who invisibly followed the chosen heroes everywhere to protect them. But since the Christian religion came--"
"These demon women have left us," said Gelimer, crossing himself, "and God has assigned to us men, who are our keepers, counsellors, saviors, and guardian spirits here on earth. 'Send me, O God,' I cried, in an agony of entreaty, 'send me in this hour of utmost need the man whom Thou hast appointed to be my guardian spirit here on earth. Let him save me! And so long as I breathe, I will trust him as I would Thyself, will revere in him Thy wondrous power.'
"When I had ended this fervent prayer, my heart suddenly grew lighter. True, great weakness, almost faintness, stole over me; but there blended with it something infinitely sweet, inexpressedly happy and full of relief And now, in my feverish illusion, I suddenly beheld alluring visions of deliverance; the terrible thirst which tortured me painted a spring of delicious water gushing from the rocks close beside me. The rescuers, too, were already coming! Not Zazo, not Gibamund; I knew that they had marched against other Moors, far, far westward of my camp. No, it was some one else, whose features I could not see distinctly. He dashed forward on a neighing horse; he slew the lion; he dragged the constantly-increasing weight of my dead horse from my body. Then I heard only a rushing, ringing noise in my ears, which said: 'Your deliverer is here! Your guardian spirit.' Suddenly the ringing died away, and--it was no fevered dream--I heard in reality behind me, from the direction of our camp, the neighing of a horse. With my last strength I turned my head and saw a few paces behind me a man who had just sprung from his horse. He was standing in a hesitating, doubting attitude, as if reflecting, with his hand clenched on his sword-hilt, gazing at me and the lion."
"He hesitated?" cried Hilda. "He reflected; A Vandal warrior?"
"He was no Vandal."
"A Moor? A foe?"
"It was Verus, the priest."
"'My guardian spirit,' I cried, 'my preserver! God has sent you. Take my whole life!' Then my senses failed again.