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Rh three were walking upon the water as if it were dry ground; they ran, and yet their feet moved not up and down.

They had not yet succeeded in stopping the ship, when lo! the old men came alongside of it and came on board, and raised their heads, and cried with one voice, "We have forgotten, O servant of God, we have forgotten thy teaching! So long as we repeated it we remembered it; we left off repeating it for a moment, and lo! one word leaped out of it, and we forgot it all—it all oozed away. We remember nothing of it; teach us over again."

The Archbishop crossed himself, turned to the old men, and said, "Betake you to God and your own prayer, ye godly elders; 'tis not for me to teach you. Pray ye for us sinners!" And the Archbishop did obeisance to the old men.

And the old men stood still, and presently they turned them about and went back upon the sea. And the bright light that shone in the direction whither the old men had gone was visible till morning. 259