When he heard the shouts of those who were in pursuit of him he felt his courage fail and hurried to a hiding-place which he had prepared for himself for precisely such an emergency.

Bernardone, no doubt ill seconded in the search, ransacked every corner, but was obliged at last to return to Assisi without his son.

Francis remained hidden for long days, weeping and groaning, imploring God to show him the path he ought to follow.

Notwithstanding his fears he had an infinite joy at heart, and at no price would he have turned back.[10] This seclusion could not last long.

Francis perceived this, and told himself that for a newly made knight of the Christ he was cutting a very pitiful figure.