But the truth was, that with some vivid boy-touch he had carried his hearer far.  The Rat was deadly quiet.  Even his eyes had not moved.  He spoke almost as if he were in a sort of trance.  “It’s real,” he said.  “I’m there now.  As high as you—­go on—­go on.  I want to climb higher.”

And Marco, understanding, went on.

“The day was over and the stars were out when he reached the place were the ledge was.  He said he thought that during the last part of the climb he never looked on the earth at all.  The stars were so immense that he could not look away from them.  They seemed to be drawing him up.  And all overhead was like violet velvet, and they hung there like great lamps of radiance.  Can you see them?  You must see them.  My father saw them all night long.  They were part of the wonder.”

“I see them,” The Rat answered, still in his trance-like voice and without stirring, and Marco knew he did.

“And there, with the huge stars watching it, was the hut on the ledge.  And there was no one there.  The door was open.  And outside it was a low bench and table of stone.  And on the table was a meal of dates and rice, waiting.  Not far from the hut was a deep spring, which ran away in a clear brook.  My father drank and bathed his face there.  Then he went out on the ledge, and sat down and waited, with his face turned up to the stars.  He did not lie down, and he thought he saw the stars all the time he waited.  He was sure he did not sleep.  He did not know how long he sat there alone.  But at last he drew his eyes from the stars, as if he had been commanded to do it.  And he was not alone any more.  A yard or so away from him sat the holy man.  He knew it was the hermit because his eyes were different from any human eyes he had ever beheld.  They were as still as the night was, and as deep as the shadows covering the world thousands of feet below, and they had a far, far look, and a strange light was in them.”

“What did he say?” asked The Rat hoarsely.

“He only said, ’Rise, my son.  I awaited thee.  Go and eat the food I prepared for thee, and then we will speak together.’  He didn’t move or speak again until my father had eaten the meal.  He only sat on the moss and let his eyes rest on the shadows over the abyss.  When my father went back, he made a gesture which meant that he should sit near him.

“Then he sat still for several minutes, and let his eyes rest on my father, until he felt as if the light in them were set in the midst of his own body and his soul.  Then he said, ’I cannot tell thee all thou wouldst know.  That I may not do.’  He had a wonderful gentle voice, like a deep soft bell.  ’But the work will be done.  Thy life and thy son’s life will set it on its way.’

“They sat through the whole night together.  And the stars hung quite near, as if they listened.  And there were sounds in the bushes of stealthy, padding feet which wandered about as if the owners of them listened too.  And the wonderful, low, peaceful voice of the holy man went on and on, telling of wonders which seemed like miracles but which were to him only the ‘working of the Law.’”