"
"I have more than I had.... Yes, I know it--"
"There is birth.... Then comes the joy of birth. At last comes the
knowledge of why there is joy. Strive to be fully born."
"And if I were so--?"
"Then life alters and there is strong embrace."
A great stillness lay upon the oasis and the desert around. Men and
beasts were sleeping, only these two waking, just here, just now.
After a moment the dervish spoke again. "The holder-back is the sense
of disunity. Sit fast and gather yourself to yourself.... Then will
you find how large is your brood!"
He rose, stood a moment above Glenfernie, then went away. The man whom
he left sat on, struck from within by fresh shafts. Perception now
came in this way, with inner beam. How huge was the landscape that it
lighted up!... Alexander sat still. He bent his head--there was a
sense, extending to the physical, of a broken shell, of escape,
freedom.... He found that he was weeping. He lay upon the sand, and
the tears came as they might from a young boy. When they were past,
when he lifted himself again, the morning star was in the sky.
CHAPTER XXXI
Strickland, in the deep summer glen, saw before him the feather of
smoke from Mother Binning's cot. The singing stream ran clearly, the
sky arched blue above. The air held calm and fine, filled as it were
with golden points.
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