“Had he not come we should all have died in our sins. We were dying in despair, murmuring against God and man. But he set us on our feet again; and through him we learned to know God, and to believe that there is good in man. May the Lord bless him! We used to live like animals; he made human beings of us.”

After giving Efím food and drink, they showed him where he was to sleep; and lay down to sleep themselves.

But though Efím lay down, he could not sleep. He could not get Elisha out of his mind, but remembered how he had seen him three times at Jerusalem, standing in the foremost place.

“So that is how he got ahead of me,” thought Efím. “God may or may not have accepted my pilgrimage, but He has certainly accepted his!”

Next morning Efím bade farewell to the people, who put some patties in his sack before they went to their work, and he continued his journey.