CHAPTER XIV.

CHRISTIAN AND HOPEFUL.

NOW I saw in my dream that Christian went not forth with none to cheer him; for there was one whose name was Hopeful, who set out with him, and made a grave pact that he would be his friend.

So I saw that when they were just got out of the fair they came up with one that had gone on in front of them, whose name was By-ends. He told them that he came from the town of Fair-speech, and was bound for the Celestial City; but he told them not his name.

_Chr._--"Pray, sir, what may I call you?"

_By._--"I know not you, nor you me: if you mean to go this way, I shall be glad to go with you: if not, I must take things as they come."

Then Christian stept on one side to his friend Hopeful, and said, "It runs in my mind that this is one By-ends, of Fair-speech, and if it be he, we have as keen a knave in our midst as dwells in all these parts." Then said Hopeful, "Ask him; I think he should not blush at his name." So Christian came up with him once more, and said, "Sir, is not your name Mr. By-ends, of Fair-speech?"

_By._--"This is not my name; but, in sooth, it is a name I got in scorn from some that do not like me."

_Chr._--"I thought, in sooth, that you were the man that I had heard of; and, to tell you what I think, I fear this name suits you more than you would wish we should think it doth."

_By._--"Well, if you will thus think, I durst not help it: you shall find me a fair man, if you will make me one of you."

_Chr._--"If you will go with us, you must go in the teeth of wind and tide; you must, in like wise, own Faith in his rags, as well as when in his sheen shoes; and stand by him, too, when bound in chains, as well as when he walks the streets with praise."

_By._--"You must not curb my faith, nor lord it in this way: leave me free to think, and let me go with you."

_Chr._--"Not a step more, save you will do in what I shall speak as we."

Then said By-ends, "I shall not cast off my old views, since they bring no harm, and are of use. If I may not go with you, I must do as I did ere you came up with me, that is, go on with no one, till some will come on who will be glad to meet me."

Now I saw in my dream that Christian and Hopeful left him, and went on in front of him: but one of them did chance to look back, and saw three men in the wake of Mr. By-ends, and lo, as they came up with him, he made them quite a low bow. The men's names were Mr. Hold-the-world, Mr. Money-love, and Mr. Save-all; men that Mr. By-ends had erst known; for when boys they were mates at school, and were taught by one Mr. Gripeman, who keeps a school in Love-gain, which is a large town in the shire of Coveting, in the north.

Well, when they, as I said, did greet in turn, Mr. Money-love said to Mr. By-ends, "Who are they on the road right in front of us?"

_By._--"They are a pair from a land far off, that, in their mode, are bent on a long route."

_Money._--"Ah! why did they not stay; that we might have gone on with them? for they, and we, and you, sir, I hope, are all bent on the same road."

_By._--"Why, they, in their fierce mood, think that they are bound to rush on their way at all times; while I wait for wind and tide. They like to risk all for God at a clap; while I like to seize all means to make safe my life and lands. They are for Faith when in rags and scorn; but I am for him when he walks in his sheen shoes in the sun, and with praise."

_Hold._--"Ay, and hold you there still, good Mr. By-ends: for my part I can count him but a fool, that with the means to keep what he has, he shall be so lack of sense as to lose it. For my part, I like that faith best that will stand with the pledge of God's good gifts to us. Abraham and Solomon grew rich in faith: and Job says that a good man 'shall lay up gold as dust.' But he must not be such as the men in front of us, if they be as you have said of them."

_Save._--"I think that we are all of one mind in this thing; and hence there need no more words be said of it."

Mr. By-ends and his friends did lag and keep back, that Christian and Hopeful might go on in front of them.

Then Christian and Hopeful went till they came to a nice plain known as Ease; which did please them much: but that plain was but strait, so they were soon got through it. Now at the far side of that plain was a small hill, which went by the name of Lucre, and in that hill a gold mine, which some of them that had been that way had gone on one side to see; but, as they got too near the brink of the pit, the ground, as it was not sound, broke when they trod on it, and they were slain.

Then I saw in my dream that a short way off the road, nigh to the gold mine, stood Demas, a man of fair looks, to call to such as went that way to come and see; who said to Christian and his friend, "Ho! turn hence on this side, and I will show you a thing. Here is a gold mine, and some that dig in it for wealth: if you will come, with slight pains you may gain a rich store for your use."

Then Christian did call to Demas, and said, "Is not the way rife with risks? Hath it not let some in their way?"

_Dem._--"Not so much so, save to those that take no care." But a blush came on his face as he spake.

Then said Christian to Hopeful, "Let us not stir a step, but still keep on our way."

By this time By-ends and those who were with him came once more in sight, and they, at the first beck, went straight to Demas. Now, that they fell in the pit, as they stood on the brink of it, or that they went down to dig, or that they lost their breath at the base by the damps that, as a rule, rise from it, of these things I am not sure; but this I saw, that from that time forth they were not seen once more in the way. Which strange sight gave them cause for grave talk.