Not a sound, not a moving object, broke the utter stillness of the glen of Scetis.

The shadows of the crags, though paling every moment before the spreading dawn, still shrouded all the gorge in gloom.

A winding line of haze slept above the course of the rivulet.

The plumes of the palm-trees hung motionless, as if awaiting in resignation the breathless blaze of the approaching day.

At length, among the green ridges of the monastery garden, two gray figures rose from their knees, and began, with slow and feeble strokes, to break the silence by the clatter of their hoes among the pebbles.
'These beans grow wonderfully, brother Aufugus.