They seemed a part of himself, winged in the blue heaven, and aware of the part of him that trod earth, that was entering the grave and shadowy wood that neighbored Corinth.
"The cranes vanished from overhead, the sky arched without stain.

Ibycus, the sacred poet, with his staff and his lyre, went on into the wood.

Now the light faded and there was green gloom, like the depths of Father Sea.
"Now robbers lay masked in the wood--" Jamie and Alice sat very still, listening.

Strickland kept his eyes on the reading youth.
"Now robbers lay masked in the wood--violent men and treacherous, watching for the unwary, to take from them goods and, if they resisted, life.

In a dark place they lay in wait, and from thence they sprang upon Ibycus.