t pursue; most men would altogether
dismiss, and forget him. He is but a child, no older than the sea, no
stranger than the mountains, pure and cold as the water-springs. Yet
to the bolster of fever his vision flits; and pain drags a heavy net
to snare him; and silence is his echoing gallery; and the gold of
Sleep his final veil. They shall play on; and see, lady, flame has
left the clouds; the birds are at rest. The earth breathes in, and it
is day; and exhales her breath, and it is night. Let them then play
secret and innocent between her breasts, comfort her with silence
above the tempest of her heart.... But I!--what am I?--a traveller,
footsore and far."

And then it was that I became conscious of a warm, sly, youthful hand
in mine, and turned, half in dread, to see only happy Sleep laughing
under his glistening hair into my eyes. I strove in vain against his
sorcery; rolled foolish orbs on that pure, starry face; and then I
smelled as it were rain, and heard as it were tempestuous
forest-trees--fell asleep among the tombs.

XIII

_I warmed both hands before the fire of life._

--WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.

Surely some hueless poppy blossomed in the darkness of those ruins, or
the soulless ashes of the dead breathe out a drowsy influence. Never
have I slept so heavily, yet never perhaps beneath so cold a tester.
Sunbeams streaming between the crests of the cypresses awoke me. I
leapt up as if a hundred sentinels had shouted--where none kept
visible watch.

An odour of a languid sweetness pervaded the air. There was no wind to
stir the dew-besprinkled trees. The old, scarred gravestones stood in
a thick sunshine, afloat with bees. But Rosinante had preferred to
survey sunshine out of shade. In lush grass I found her, the picture
of age, foot crook'd, and head dejected.

Yet she followed me uncomplaining along these narrow avenues of
silence, and without more ado turned her trivial tail on Death and his
dim flocks, and well-nigh scampered me off into the vivid morning.
Soon afterwards, with Hunger in the saddle, we began to climb a road
almost precipitous, and stony in the extreme. Often enough we breathed
ourselves as best we could in the still, sultry air, and rested on the
sun-dappled slopes. But at length we came out upon the crest, and
surveyed in the first splendour of day a region of extraordinary
grandeur.

Beneath a clear sky to the east stood a range of mountains, cold and
changeless