er standing
up clear and brave. It shone so deep and pure that the sky grew pale
around it. Then the echo of the far-off trumpet drifted down the
hillsides, and the sun rose, and the flower was melted away in light. So
I rose and travelled on till I came to Saloma."

"And now," said the child, "you are at home with us. Will you not stay
for a long, long while? You may find the Blue Flower here. There are
many kinds in the fields. I find new ones every day."

"I will stay while I can, Ruamie," I answered, taking her hand in mine
as we walked back to the house at nightfall, "but how long that may be I
cannot tell. For with you I am at home, yet the place where I must abide
is the place where the flower grows, and when the call comes I must
follow it."

"Yes," said she, looking at me half in doubt, "I think I understand. But
wherever you go I hope you will find the flower at last."

In truth there were many things in the city that troubled me and made me
restless, in spite of the sweet comfort of Ruamie's friendship and the
tranquillity of the life in Saloma. I came to see the meaning of what
the old man had said about the shadow that rested upon his thoughts. For
there were some in the city who said that the hours of visitation were
wasted, and that it would be better to employ the time in gathering
water from the pools that formed among the mountains in the rainy
season, or in sinking wells along the edge of the desert. Others had
newly come to the city and were teaching that there was no Source, and
that the story of the poor man who reopened it was a fable, and that
the hours of visitation were only hours of dreaming. There were many
who believed them, and many more who said that it did not matter whether
their words were true or false, and that it was of small moment whether
men went to visit the fountain or not, provided only that they worked
in the gardens and kept the marble pools and basins in repair and opened
new canals through the fields, since there always had been and always
would be plenty of water.

As I listened to these sayings it seemed to me doubtful what the end of
the city would be. And while this doubt was yet heavy upon me, I heard
at midnight the faint calling of the trumpet, sounding along the crest
of the mountains: and as I went out to look where it came from, I saw,
through the glimmering veil of the milky way, the shape of a blossom of
celestial blue, whose petals seemed to fall and fade