but Him to look to. He leaves me alone in the horror of His absence.
He flies from me. I will follow after Him. This stone burns my feet. Let
me leave quickly, and come up with God."

With that he seized the ladder which stood against the column, put his
feet on it, and having descended a rung, found himself face to face with
the monster's head; she smiled strangely. He was certain then that what
he had taken for the site of his rest and glory, was but the diabolical
instrument of his trouble and damnation. He hastily descended and
touched the soil. His feet had forgotten their use, and he reeled. But,
feeling on him the shadow of the cursed column, he forced himself to
run. All slept. He traversed, without being seen, the great square
surrounded by wine-shops, inns, and caravanserias, and threw himself
into a by-street which led towards the Libyan Hills. A dog pursued him,
barking, and stopped only at the edge of the desert. Paphnutius went
through a country where there was no road but the trail of wild beasts.
Leaving behind him the huts abandoned by the coiners, he continued all
night and all day his solitary flight.

At last, almost ready to expire with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and
not knowing if God was still far from him, he came to a silent city
which extended from right to left, and stretched away till it was lost
in the blue horizon. The buildings, which were widely separated and like
each other, resembled pyramids cut off at half their height. They were
tombs. The doors were broken, and in the shadow of the chambers could
be seen the gleaming eyes of hyaenas and wolves who brought forth their
young there, whilst the dead bodies lay on the threshold, despoiled
by robbers, and gnawed by the wild beasts. Having passed through this
funeral city, Paphnutius fell exhausted before a tomb which stood near a
spring surrounded by palm trees. This tomb was much ornamented, and, as
there was no door to it, he saw inside it a painted chamber, in which
serpents bred.

"Here," he sighed, "is the abode I have chosen; the tabernacle of my
repentance and penitence."

He dragged himself to it, drove out the reptiles with his feet, and
remained prostrate on the stone floor for eighteen hours, at the end
of which time he went to the spring, and drank out of his hand. Then he
plucked some dates and some stalks of lotus, the seeds of which he
ate. Thinking this kind of life was good, he made it the rule of his
existence. Fr