hood,
the two soldiers took shelter under the lee of a limestone crag, drew
their overcoats tightly around them, and proceeded to eat their rations.
The prospect of spending a night on the uplands of Judea in a driving
mist did not dismay them. They had fared worse many a night in France
and Flanders, and also knew what it was to be benighted on the Yorkshire
moors. Moreover, they were tired after their wanderings among the hills,
and it was not long before they fell fast asleep.

Jerry was awakened after a while by a familiar sound close to his ear.
He drew himself up and listened, then burst into a laugh, and roused his
fellow.

"Eh! Sam," he said, "thou mun wakken up. We reckon we're sodgers; we're
nowt o' t' sort; sure enough, we're nobbut shipperd lads."

Sam sat up and listened. The sound of a sheep's cough close at hand met
his ear, and, straining his eyes, he saw a whole flock of sheep browsing
the short grass around him.

"That caps iverything I've heeard tell on," he exclaimed. "Chrissamas
Eve an' two shipperd lads frae Wharfedale keepin' watch ower their flock
by neet i' t' Holy Land. An' accordin' to what Sergeant said, Bethlehem
sud not be sae vara far away frae here."

The situation in which the two shepherds found themselves touched their
imaginations, and they ceased to regret that they were in danger of
missing a Christmas Day at Jerusalem. They listened to the sheep for a
time, until the cry of a jackal startled the animals, and the flock
dispersed. Then the two soldiers fell asleep once more.

Shortly before midnight they awoke with a sudden start. A strange light
gleamed in their faces, and the mist had almost vanished. The hill-sides
and the sky above were bathed in a pearly light, while almost
immediately above them they beheld a city, as it were let down from
heaven and suspended in mid-air, beset with domes and minarets that
flashed like jewels in the marvellous radiance that flooded all space.

"A miracle! A miracle!" Sam Ineson exclaimed, in awe-struck tones, and
then held his breath, for a familiar song broke upon his ears. From the
sky, or from the battlements of the aerial city, he knew not which,
there rang forth the great Nativity hymn:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

Jerry Coggill looked into the face of Sam Ineson and saw there an
expression of trance-like rap