It could not be helped. The sailors shifted the sails and the helmsman turned the ship, and they sailed toward the island. A chair was brought out for the bishop and put at the prow. He sat down and looked. All the people gathered at the prow, and all kept looking at the island. Those who had sharper eyes saw the rocks on the island, and they pointed to the earth hut. And one man could make out the three hermits. The captain brought out his spy-glass and looked through it and gave it to the bishop. "That's so," he said, "there, on the shore, a little to the right from that big rock, stand three men." The bishop looked through the glass and turned it to the right spot. There were three men there: one tall, a second smaller, and a third a very small man. They were standing on the shore and holding each other's hands. The captain walked over to the bishop, and said: "Here, your Reverence, the ship has to stop. If you wish to go there by all means, you will please go from here in a boat, and we will wait here at anchor." The hawsers were let out, the anchor dropped, the sails furled, and the vessel jerked and shook. A boat was lowered, the oarsmen jumped into it, and the bishop went down a ladder. He sat down on a bench in the boat, and the oarsmen pulled at the oars and rowed toward the island. They came near to the shore and could see clearly three men standing there: a tall man, all naked, with a mat about his loins; the next in size, in a tattered caftan; and the stooping old man, in an old cassock. There they stood holding each other's hands. The oarsmen rowed up to the shore and caught their hook in it. The bishop stepped ashore. The old men bowed to him. He blessed them, and they bowed lower still. Then the bishop began to talk to them: "I have heard," he said, "that you are here, hermits of God, saving your souls and praying to Christ our God for men. I, an unworthy servant of Christ, have been called here by the mercy of God to tend His flock, and so I wanted to see you, the servants of God, and to give you some instruction, if I can do so." The hermits kept silence, and smiled, and looked at one another. "Tell me, how do you save yourselves and serve God?" asked the bishop. The middle-sized hermit heaved a sigh and looked at the older, the stooping hermit. And the stooping hermit smiled, and said: "We do not know, O servant of God, how to serve God. We only support ourselves." "How, then, do you pray to God?" And the stooping hermit said: "We pray as follows: There are three of you and three of us,--have mercy on us!" And the moment the stooping hermit had said that, all three of them raised their eyes to heaven, and all three said: "There are three of you and three of us,--have mercy on us!" The bishop smiled, and said: