Then, as he stood still as if turned to stone, he suddenly fell to the ground, for an enemy whom he had never met before had fallen upon him. Rebellion had thrown his arrow successfully at him, and now stood over his fallen prey so that he was unable to rise. For the time his shadow was so deep and dark that Amer nearly lost the sight of the Radiant City: and so well did Rebellion do his work that his victim lay without so much as an effort to rid himself of him. He could only think of the one he had found but to lose again, and was full of hard thoughts of the way by which he was being led. He could not live without Gabrielle, he cried. So successfully had he hitherto managed to banish her from his thoughts, that he had imagined that his love for her could never again be roused to its full heat. But now that he had once more seen her, had looked into her eyes, had heard her voice, and had found her so infinitely sweeter than he could have pictured, he felt his will rise up against the will of his King, and so lay unresistingly in the grip of Rebellion. His strength all seemed to have vanished, his work to have lost its interest, his path impossible to tread any longer. Suddenly in the distance he heard the sound of singing. "If God Himself be for me I can a host defy." It was the band of singing pilgrims, Iddo and Chisleu amongst them, praising, as they passed on the heights above the Dark Valley. Then, with a sudden spring, Amer leapt up, and drawing his sword, he fought. Fought in the strength of his King, crying out all the time for help to overcome. And the enemy, taken by surprise, and perceiving that this soldier, who had looked so weak and helpless, was now resolved to conquer, gradually drew back, till a favourable moment came to turn and fly. Then once more Amer took up his work in the Valley, and found that the thought of Gabrielle having passed to the Radiant City made it seem nearer to him than ever before, and recognized the fact that though divided from him by the River, she was really much closer to him than she had ever been while in the Dark City. CHAPTER XVII. "TILL HE COME." Amer's path now led him across a plain, it was bare and treeless, but every now and then he came by green pastures and still waters and was refreshed on his monotonous journey. He was able to hold communion too with his King, and though this part of his journey was free from any special incident, he learnt lessons of trust and patience which he might not have been able to learn in the stress and noise of hard warfare. It was not long before he came to a town, the inhabitants of which struck him as looking more miserable than those he had ever met before. "What is the name of this place?" he asked of one. "It is the City of Despair," he answered, with a fierce and angry stare. "You have but to look around you to learn its name." And as Amer's path led him into it he was filled with horror at all he saw.