THE VISION Was it swoon or sleep?
At least it seemed to Owen that presently once again he was gazing into the dense intolerable blackness of the night.

Then a marvel came to pass, for the blackness opened, or rather on it, framed and surrounded by it, there appeared a vision.

It was the vision of a native town, having a great bare space in the centre of it encircled by hundreds or thousands of huts.

But there was no one stirring about the huts, for it was night--not this his night of trial indeed, since now the sky was strewn with innumerable stars.

Everything was silent about that town, save that now and again a dog barked or a fretful child wailed within a hut, or the sentries as they passed saluted each other in the name of the king.
Among all those hundreds of huts, to Owen it seemed that his attention was directed to one which stood apart surrounded with a fence.