“That gold that he brought is set at the foot of the throne, and the words that he spoke there engraven:—
“‘Dig for your gold, my children, says Earth, your Mother. Deep in your hearts it lies hidden.’
“He went to every house. Not a threshold but felt his footsteps. Children passed by him in line for a touch of his hand, and old men knelt for his blessing.
“He went to the house of the King, and walked with his head bent lowly, walked to and fro in the rough new building, saying never a word. But, standing without, he cried: ‘My heart for a step at the door! and my soul for a lamp at the footstool!’
“He entered the dark ravine, he and the sun together. He was led by the hand by a sunbeam over the stony way. He went to the place he had set for the dead, where as yet no dead were sleeping. What he did, what he said thenceforth, no creature knoweth.
“Basil, our prince, and the sun went to the ravine together. The sun went in and came out; but Basil, our father, lingered. Twilight settled and deepened; but Basil, the White Father, came not. The stars came out in the night; the people gathered and waited. They whispered there in the dark, and dared not search, nor question. They whispered and waited and wept: ‘We shall nevermore behold him! He has bidden us all farewell, and gone from our sight forever!’
“But at the dawn they said: Awake! Let us find him! Nor food nor drink shall be ours till we know where his foot has faltered. Homes we have none till Basil, our father, is found!
“The light was faint in the east; they could see but their own pale faces. They entered, a crowd, the ravine; they covered its stones like a torrent! Praying and weeping they went, but softly, not to disturb him.
“They reached the Mountain of Sleep that he had chosen to rest in. Only one hall was finished, one bed made smooth for slumber. Basil, the prince, was not there.
“But a lark sprang up outside, springing and soaring upward. They followed his song and his flight; for he seemed heaven’s messenger to them.