God grant that we, now that in turn we
have received the message of the Gospel, may be more faithful servants,
or similar ruin may, at no distant period, await the Englishman also, as
it did the Welshman."
He sighed deeply, and Alfred echoed the sigh in his heart; he read the
abbot's thoughts.
"Do you believe," said he, after a pause, "that their spirits ever
revisit the earth?"
"I know not; many wise men have thought it possible, and that they may
haunt the places where they sinned, ever bearing their condemnation
within them, even while they clothe themselves in semblance of the
mortal flesh they once wore."
The whole party shuddered, and Father Guthlac said, deprecatingly:
"My father, let us not talk of this now. We are too weak to bear it, and
the place is so awful!"
By this time the wind had made a huge rent in the black clouds overhead,
and the moon came suddenly in sight, sailing tranquilly in the azure
void above, and casting her beams on the ruins, as she had once cast
them on the beauteous city; its basilicas, palaces, and temples yet
standing.
At this moment their guide came hastily to them.
"We are in some danger, father. Horsemen, twelve of them, are galloping
along the Foss Way in spite of the storm."
Dunstan left the shelter, which was no longer needed, the rain having
ceased, and followed the guide to the summit of the huge mound which
marked the fall of some giant bastion of early days.
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