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Et 3 - 298 “LAavuGgHING Boy AAA AAA A AANA A AN A NNN NS NNN III MAVAAAAAVA AAAI eV Ve a a ta ve Te ae el Never alone, never weeping, never empty, Now on the old age trail, now on the path of beauty I wander, Ahalani, beautiful!’ It was a prayer. He ended with four solemn hozoji’s that seemed to travel out from him and fill the darkness. That is a good song, he thought. I shall sing that often, at evening, when I am alone. But I wish we would get to where there are people. It had been night for more than an hour when he came to the edge of the mesa, looking down into Jaabani. He saw the little pin-pricks of fires, very distant. Then, as he watched, near them another began, and grew, until a tall flame rose, throwing light all about it. He heard a drum beat and faint voices singing, and saw around the blaze a wide circle of branches, and people mov- ing. They were beginning the last night of a Mountain Chant, the ritual within the Dark Circle of Branches. ‘Come on, my pet!’ His horse began slowly descending the trail in the starlight. As they went down, he sang his song again. This was very good. When Reared in a Mountain re- turned to his people from the homes of the gods, he taught them these prayers and songs, and they held the Mountain Chant for him, because he was