"
I could bear it no longer, for I believed that the Presence was real.
I sprang out of bed, dressed, went to the stable, saddled my horse,
and though everybody said I was mad, and wanted to thrust me back to
bed again, I galloped out into the night.
I rode for five hours across country, as though it were a matter of life
and death, over rock and through swamps, making for Shtora, the diligence
station. I shall never forget that night's ride. Those who know the
ground well will understand what it meant to tear over slippery boulders
and black swamps in the darkness of the night. My little horse did it
all, for I scarcely knew where I was going half the time. But no one
will ever persuade me that in that ride I was alone. Another Presence
was with me and beside me, and guarded my ways, lest I dashed my foot
against a stone.
Three or four of my servants were frightened, and followed me afar off,
but I did not know it then. At last I came in sight of Shtora, the
diligence station. The half-hour's rest had expired, the travellers had
taken their places, and the diligence was just about to start. But God
was good to me. Just as the coachman was about to raise his whip, he
turned his head in the direction whence I was galloping. I was hot,
torn, and covered with mud and dust from head to foot; but he knew me.
I was too exhausted to shout, but I dropped the reins on my horse's neck,
and held up both my arms as they do to stop a train.
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