"Amer," they said, "you have grown into a man since last we saw you. There are marks of victory and strength on your face. You have passed through some great experience." "I have been in the dark forest," he answered gravely, for even now the remembrance was painful to him, "and I found light in the darkness." CHAPTER XII. DANGEROUS HEIGHTS. Amer's path did not lay long beside that of his friends. He parted from them at the top of a beautiful green hill, dotted over with flowers. He had been climbing ever since he had left the dark forest, but now as he looked up and saw the towering mountains before him, the green hill dwindled to a valley in his estimation. Stern rocks and steep precipices confronted him, as after waving his farewell to his friends whose path still lay along the gentle slopes, he eagerly set out alone again on his journey. Where his path would lead him he did not know. He only knew he was on the way to his King, and instead of having to walk through the darkness, he was to scale the heights, and somewhere, far, far above him was the Radiant City. He opened his Guide Book to make quite sure of the way, and though within its pages he found words which strengthened him and encouraged him, he also found a warning which he pondered over for some time. "'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'" Clasping his Guide Book in one hand and his sword in the other, he continued to mount. The way at first was not difficult. It was a gradual slope by the side of high cliffs, and occasionally out of the rock there flowed past him a stream of cool water, with which he quenched his thirst. The scenery was magnificent, but all the time he felt conscious, that though the enemies of the road had as yet made no sign of their presence, they were not likely to be far off, so that it was not wise to loiter on the way. As he ascended higher the path became steeper, the scenery more awful in its character, but the air was exhilarating. Frowning precipices confronted him, masses of rocks piled one on the top of the other rose before his view, deep gorges and chasms lay beneath him. Wherever he looked he was fascinated by its grandeur and awed by its impressiveness. Higher and higher his path led him, till he felt himself to be at so giddy a height that he trembled, though rejoicing. He remembered when he had first started out on his journey, mounting a hill and crying out in his exuberance of spirits and pride, "'I shall never be removed: Thou Lord of Thy goodness hast made my hill so strong:'" and he recollected how the words had scarcely left his mouth, when the enemy, Spiritual Pride, in all his grand trappings, had accosted him and led him to what might have been his ruin. How soon he had had to change his cry and say:— "'Thou didst turn Thy face from me and I was troubled.'"