longed to revisit their old home again and hear the voices and see the

faces that were dear unto their youth. Therefore they went through such

parties as fell in their way where they sojourned at that time, and

journeyed back toward Ephesus again. For the good King Maximilianus was

become converted unto the new faith, and the Christians rejoiced because

they were no longer persecuted. One day as the sun went down, they came

to the cave in the Mount of Pion, and they said, each to his fellow, Let

us sleep here, and go and feast and make merry with our friends when the

morning cometh. And each of the seven lifted up his voice and said, It

is a whiz. So they went in, and lo, where they had put them, there lay

the bottles of strange liquors, and they judged that age had not impaired

their excellence. Wherein the wanderers were right, and the heads of the

same were level. So each of the young men drank six bottles, and behold

they felt very tired, then, and lay down and slept soundly.

When they awoke, one of them, Johannes--surnamed Smithianus--said, We

are

naked. And it was so. Their raiment was all gone, and the money which

they had gotten from a stranger whom they had proceeded through as they

approached the city, was lying upon the ground, corroded and rusted and

defaced. Likewise the dog Ketmehr was gone, and nothing save the brass

that was upon his collar remained. They wondered much at these things.

But they took the money, and they wrapped about their bodies some leaves,

and came up to the top of the hill. Then were they perplexed. The

wonderful temple of Diana was gone; many grand edifices they had never

seen before stood in the city; men in strange garbs moved about the

482

The Innocents Abroad