Gabriel was still walking towards the sheepfold. The sheep too were walking towards it. Once he entered into that sheepfold he would be safe. But as fast as he walked, so the fold sank away. He ran. It ran away. He walked. It walked away.

But the words he carried in his book for today were so clear:

I am the good shepherd
I know my own.
As my own know me.
(John 10:11-18)

But because the gate grew no nearer, Gabriel felt sure he was not known. Was the gate real? A mirage?

Surely not. In that green English valley. The green was now so bright it hurt his eyes. Great trees, birches, now enveloped his path.

They towered up beautifully arching the road.

Of this world, of nature, but the gate was now obscured totally.