Without giving me time to speak, he clutched my arm with one of his clammy
hands, and raised himself painfully upon his elbow, his eyes burning with
the fever that was in him.
"A priest!" he gasped. "Get me a priest! Oh, if you would be saved from
the flames of everlasting Hell, get me a priest to shrive me. I am dying,
and I would not go hence with the burden of all this sin upon my soul."
I could feel the heat of his hand through the sleeve of my coat. His
condition was plain. A raging fever was burning out his life.
"Be comforted," I said. "I will go at once." And I rose, whilst he poured
forth his blessings upon me.
At the door I checked to ask what was the nearest place.
"Casi," he said hoarsely. "To your right, you will see the path down the
hill-side. You cannot miss it. In half an hour you should be there. And
return at once, for I have not long. I feel it."
With a last word of reassurance and comfort I closed the door, and plunged
away into the darkness.
CHAPTER V
THE RENUNCIATION
I found the path the hermit spoke of, and followed its sinuous downhill
course, now running when the ground was open, now moving more cautiously,
yet always swiftly, when it led me through places darkened by trees.
At the end of a half-hour I espied below me the twinkling lights of a
village on the hill-side, and a few minutes later I was among the houses of
Casi.
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