“Go right on!” he said, rousing himself, ready for the game which they often played like two children. He turned to face her. “I have a sneaking idea that a thousand years ago at this minute I was sitting peacefully by a well in an oasis with camels and horses and strange dark men sleeping round me; that same lady moon looking down on the scene, making the sandy waste look like a field of snow.” “That sounds dusty and hot! Now me--I’m on a galley ship driving through the night; a brisk cool wind is blowing; a slave is singing a plaintive song and the captain of the rowers is thumping time for them to row by and the moon is shining down on an island just ahead. It’s all very jolly! We’re off the coast of Greece somewhere, I think.” “I suppose that being on a ship while I’m away off in a desert I really shouldn’t be talking to you. I couldn’t take my camel on your yacht!” “There’s telepathy,” she suggested. “Thanks for the idea! If we’ve arrived in this pleasant garden after a thousand-year journey I certainly shan’t complain!” “It wouldn’t profit you much if you did! And besides, my feelings would be hurt!” she laughed softly. “I do so love the sound of my own voice--I wonder if that’s because I’ve been silent a thousand years!” “I hope you weren’t, for--I admire your voice! Looking at the stars does make you think large thoughts. If they had all been flung into space by chance, as a child scatters sand, we’d have had a badly scrambled universe by this time--it must be for something--something pretty important.” “I wonder....” She bent forward, her elbow on the arm of the chair, her hand laid against her cheek. “Let’s pretend we can see all mankind, from the beginning, following a silken cord that Some One ahead is unwinding and dropping behind as a guide. And we all try to hold fast to it--we lose it over and over again and stumble over those who have fallen in the dark places of the road--then we clutch it again. And we never quite see the leader, but we know he is there, away on ahead trying to guide us to the goal----” “Yes,” he said eagerly, “the goal----” “Is happiness! That’s what we’re all searching for! And our Leader has had so many names--those ahead are always crying back a name caught from those ahead of them--down through the ages. But it helps to know that many are on ahead clutching the cord, not going too fast for fear the great host behind may lose their hope and drop the cord altogether!” “I like that; it’s bully! It’s the life line, the great clue----” “Yes, yes,” she said, “and even the half gods are not to be sneered at; they’ve tangled up the cord and tied hard knots in it---- Oh, dear! I’m soaring again!”