t their Redeemer.'

"When that was said, we were again filled with gladness, and felt
that you would come. And now, my dear brothers and sisters, when
you have read this, do not talk it over among yourselves, but be
still and listen. And whatever the Spirit bids you do, that do."

Halvor folded the letter, saying, "Now we must do as Hellgum
writes; we must be still, and listen."

There was a long silence in the living-room at the Ingmar Farm.

Old Eva Gunnersdotter was as silent as were the others, waiting
for the Voice of God to speak to her. She interpreted it all in
her own way. "Why, of course," she thought, "Hellgum wants us to
go to Jerusalem so that we may escape the great destruction. The
Lord would save us from the flood of brimstone, and preserve us
from the rain of fire; and those of us who are righteous will hear
the Voice of God warning us to flee the wrath to come."

It never for a moment occurred to the old woman that it could be a
sacrifice for any one to leave his home and his native land, when
it came to a question of this sort. It never entered her mind that
any one could doubt the wisdom of leaving his native woodlands, his
smiling river, and his fertile fields. Some of the Hellgumists
thought with fear and trepidation of their having to change their
manner of living, of renouncing fatherland, parents, friends, and
relatives; but not she. To her it simply meant that God wanted to
spare them as He had once spared Noah and Lot. Were they not being
called to a life of supernal glory in God's Holy City? It was to
her as if Hellgum had written that they would be bodily taken up
into heaven, like the prophet Elijah.

They were all sitting with closed eyes, deep in meditation. Some
were suffering such intense mental agony that cold sweat broke out
on their foreheads. "Ah, this is indeed the trial which Hellgum
foretold!" they sighed.

The sun was at the horizon, and shot its piercing rays into the
room. The crimson glow from the setting sun cast a blood-red glare
upon the many blanched faces. Finally Martha Ingmarsson, the wife
of Ljung Bjoern Olofsson, slipped down from her chair on to her
knees. Then, one after another, they all went down on their knees.
All at once several of them drew a deep breath, and a smile lighted
up their faces.

Then Karin, daughter of Ingmar, said in a tone of wonderment: "I
hear God's voice calling me!"

Gunhild, the daughter of Councillor Clementsson, lifted up her