d wandered there in peace. Under the blue sky and the white
clouds low-hanging, great trees shaded the fields; and from all the land
there arose a murmur as from bees clustering on the rose-colored
blossoms of tall clover. And, in my dream, I roamed, looking into every
face, the faces of prosperity, broad and well favored--of people living
in a land of plenty, of people drinking of the joy of life, caring
nothing for the morrow. But I could not see their eyes, that seemed ever
cast down, gazing at the ground, watching the progress of their feet
over the rich grass and the golden leaves already fallen from the trees.
The longer I walked among them the more I wondered that never was I
suffered to see the eyes of any, not even of the little children, not
even of the beasts. It was as if ordinance had gone forth that their
eyes should be banded with invisibility.

While I mused on this, the sky began to darken. A muttering of distant
winds and waters came traveling. The children stopped their play, the
beasts raised their heads; men and women halted and cried to each other:
"The River--the River is rising! If it floods, we are lost! Our beasts
will drown; we, even we, shall drown! The River!" And women stood like
things of stone, listening; and men shook their fists at the black sky
and at that traveling mutter of the winds and waters; and the beasts
sniffed at the darkening air.

Then, clear, I heard a Voice call: "Brothers! The dike is breaking! The
River comes! Link arms, brothers; with the dike of our bodies we will
save our home! Sisters, behind us, link arms! Close in the crevices,
children! The River!" And all that multitude, whom I had seen treading
quietly the grass and fallen leaves with prosperous feet, came hurrying,
their eyes no longer fixed on the rich plain, but lifted in trouble and
defiance, staring at that rushing blackness. And the Voice called:
"Hasten, brothers! The dike is broken. The River floods!"

And they answered: "Brother, we come!"

Thousands and thousands they pressed, shoulder to shoulder--men, women,
and children, and the beasts lying down behind, till the living dike was
formed. And that blackness came on, nearer, nearer, till, like the
whites of glaring eyes, the wave crests glinted in the dark rushing
flood. And the sound of the raging waters was as a roar from a million
harsh mouths.

But the Voice called: "Hold, brothers! Hold!"

And from the living dike came answer: "Brother! We