diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/1303.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/1303.txt | 10524 |
1 files changed, 10524 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/1303.txt b/old/1303.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce7c7a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1303.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10524 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scapegoat, by Hall Caine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Scapegoat + +Author: Hall Caine + +Release Date: February 15, 2006 [EBook #1303] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCAPEGOAT *** + + + + +Produced by Alan Cleary and David Widger + + + + + +THE SCAPEGOAT + +By Hall Caine + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + PREFACE + 1. ISRAEL BEN OLIEL + 2. THE BIRTH OF NAOMI + 3. THE CHILDHOOD OF NAOMI + 4. THE DEATH OF RUTH + 5. RUTH'S BURIAL + 6. THE SPIRIT-MAID + 7. THE ANGEL IN ISRAEL'S HOUSE + 8. THE VISION OF THE SCAPEGOAT + 9. ISRAEL'S JOURNEY + 10. THE WATCHWORD OF THE MAHDI + 11. ISRAEL'S HOME-COMING + 12. THE BAPTISM OF SOUND + 13. NAOMI'S GREAT GIFT + 14. ISRAEL AT SHAWAN + 15. THE MEETING ON THE SOK + 16. NAOMI'S BLINDNESS + 17. ISRAEL'S GREAT RESOLVE + 18. THE LIGHT-BORN MESSENGER + 19. THE RAINBOW SIGN + 20. LIFE'S NEW LANGUAGE + 21. ISRAEL IN PRISON + 22. HOW NAOMI TURNED MUSLIMA + 23. ISRAEL'S RETURN FROM PRISON + 24. THE ENTRY OF THE SULTAN + 25. THE COMING OF THE MAHDI + 26. ALI'S RETURN TO TETUAN + 27. THE FALL OF BEN ABOO + 28. "AT ALLAH-U-KABAR" + + + + +PREFACE + + +_Within sight of an English port, and within hail of English ships as +they pass on to our empire in the East, there is a land where the ways +of life are the same to-day as they were a thousand years ago; a land +wherein government is oppression, wherein law is tyranny, wherein +justice is bought and sold, wherein it is a terror to be rich and a +danger to be poor, wherein man may still be the slave of man, and women +is no more than a creature of lust--a reproach to Europe, a disgrace to +the century, an outrage on humanity, a blight on religion! That land is +Morocco!_ + +_This is a story of Morocco in the last years of the Sultan Abd +er-Rahman. The ashes of that tyrant are cold, and his grandson sits in +his place; but men who earned his displeasure linger yet in his noisome +dungeons, and women who won his embraces are starving at this hour in +the prison-palaces in which he immured them. His reign is a story of +yesterday; he is gone, he is forgotten; no man so meek and none so mean +but he might spit upon his tomb. Yet the evil work which he did in his +evil time is done to-day, if not by his grandson, then in his grandson's +name--the degradation of man's honour, the cruel wrong of woman's, the +shame of base usury, and the iniquity of justice that may be bought! Of +such corruption this story will tell, for it is a tale of tyranny that +is every day repeated, a voice of suffering going up hourly to the +powers of the world, calling on them to forget the secret hopes and +petty jealousies whereof Morocco is a cause, to think no more of any +scramble for territory when the fated day of that doomed land has come, +and only to look to it and see that he who fills the throne of Abd +er-Rahman shall be the last to sit there._ + +_Yet it is the grandeur of human nature that when it is trodden down +it waits for no decree of nations, but finds its own solace amid the +baffled struggle against inimical power in the hopes of an exalted +faith. That cry of the soul to be lifted out of the bondage of the +narrow circle of life, which carries up to God the protest and yearning +of suffering man, never finds a more sublime expression than where +humanity is oppressed and religion is corrupt. On the one hand, the hard +experience of daily existence; on the other hand, the soul crying out +that the things of this world are not the true realities. Savage vices +make savage virtues. God and man are brought face to face._ + +_In the heart of Morocco there is one man who lives a life that is like +a hymn, appealing to God against tyranny and corruption and shame. This +great soul is the leader of a vast following which has come to him from +every scoured and beaten corner of the land. His voice sounds throughout +Barbary, and wheresoever men are broken they go to him, and wheresoever +women are fallen and wrecked they seek the mercy and the shelter of his +face. He is poor, and has nothing to give them save one thing only, but +that is the best thing of all--it is hope. Not hope in life, but hope +in death, the sublime hope whose radiance is always around him. Man that +veils his face before the mysteries of the hereafter, and science that +reckons the laws of nature and ignores the power of God, have no place +with the Mahdi. The unseen is his certainty; the miracle is all in all +to him; he throngs the air with marvels; God speaks to him in dreams +when he sleeps, and warns and directs him by signs when he is awake._ + +_With this man, so singular a mixture of the haughty chief and the joyous +child, there is another, a woman, his wife. She is beautiful with a +beauty rarely seen in other women, and her senses are subtle beyond the +wonders of enchantment. Together these two, with their ragged fellowship +of the poor behind them, having no homes and no possessions, pass +from place to place, unharmed and unhindered, through that land of +intolerance and iniquity, being protected and reverenced by virtue of +the superstition which accepts them for Saints. Who are they? What have +they been?_ + + + +CHAPTER I + +ISRAEL BEN OLIEL + + +Israel was the son of a Jewish banker at Tangier. His mother was +the daughter of a banker in London. The father's name was Oliel; the +mother's was Sara. Oliel had held business connections with the house of +Sara's father, and he came over to England that he might have a personal +meeting with his correspondent. The English banker lived over his +office, near Holborn Bars, and Oliel met with his family. It consisted +of one daughter by a first wife, long dead, and three sons by a second +wife, still living. They were not altogether a happy household, and the +chief apparent cause of discord was the child of the first wife in the +home of the second. Oliel was a man of quick perception, and he saw the +difficulty. That was how it came about that he was married to Sara. When +he returned to Morocco he was some thousand pounds richer than when he +left it, and he had a capable and personable wife into his bargain. + +Oliel was a self-centred and silent man, absorbed in getting and +spending, always taking care to have much of the one, and no more than +he could help of the other. Sara was a nervous and sensitive little +woman, hungering for communion and for sympathy. She got little of +either from her husband, and grew to be as silent as he. With the people +of the country of her adoption, whether Jews or Moors, she made no +headway. She never even learnt their language. + +Two years passed, and then a child was born to her. This was Israel, and +for many a year thereafter he was all the world to the lonely woman. His +coming made no apparent difference to his father. He grew to be a tall +and comely boy, quick and bright, and inclined to be of a sweet and +cheerful disposition. But the school of his upbringing was a hard one. A +Jewish child in Morocco might know from his cradle that he was not born +a Moor and a Mohammedan. + +When the boy was eight years old his father married a second wife, +his first wife being still alive. This was lawful, though unusual in +Tangier. The new marriage, which was only another business transaction +to Oliel, was a shock and a terror to Sara. Nevertheless, she supported +its penalties through three weary years, sinking visibly under them day +after day. By that time a second family had begun to share her husband's +house, the rivalry of the mothers had threatened to extend to the +children, the domesticity of home was destroyed and its harmony was no +longer possible. Then she left Oliel, and fled back to England, taking +Israel with her. + +Her father was dead, and the welcome she got of her half-brothers was +not warm. They had no sympathy with her rebellion against her husband's +second marriage. If she had married into a foreign country, she should +abide by the ways of it. Sara was heartbroken. Her health had long been +poor, and now it failed her utterly. In less than a month she died. +On her deathbed she committed her boy to the care of her brothers, and +implored them not to send him back to Morocco. + +For years thereafter Israel's life in London was a stern one. If he had +no longer to submit to the open contempt of the Moors, the kicks and +insults of the streets, he had to learn how bitter is the bread that one +is forced to eat at another's table. When he should have been still at +school he was set to some menial occupation in the bank at Holborn Bars, +and when he ought to have risen at his desk he was required to teach the +sons of prosperous men the way to go above him. Life was playing an evil +game with him, and, though he won, it must be at a bitter price. + +Thus twelve years went by, and Israel, now three-and-twenty, was a +tall, silent, very sedate young man, clear-headed on all subjects, and a +master of figures. Never once during that time had his father written +to him, or otherwise recognised his existence, though knowing of his +whereabouts from the first by the zealous importunities of his uncles. +Then one day a letter came written in distant tone and formal manner, +announcing that the writer had been some time confined to his bed, and +did not expect to leave it; that the children of his second wife had +died in infancy; that he was alone, and had no one of his own flesh +and blood to look to his business, which was therefore in the hands of +strangers, who robbed him; and finally, that if Israel felt any duty +towards his father, or, failing that, if he had any wish to consult his +own interest, he would lose no time in leaving England for Morocco. + +Israel read the letter without a throb of filial affection; but, +nevertheless, he concluded to obey its summons. A fortnight later he +landed at Tangier. He had come too late. His father had died the day +before. The weather was stormy, and the surf on the shore was heavy, and +thus it chanced that, even while the crazy old packet on which he sailed +lay all day beating about the bay, in fear of being dashed on to the +ruins of the mole, his father's body was being buried in the little +Jewish cemetery outside the eastern walls, and his cousins, and +cousins' cousins, to the fifth degree, without loss of time or waste of +sentiment, were busily dividing his inheritance among them. + +Next day, as his father's heir, he claimed from the Moorish court the +restitution of his father's substance. But his cousins made the Kadi, +the judge, a present of a hundred dollars, and he was declared to be an +impostor, who could not establish his identity. Producing his father's +letter which had summoned him from London, he appealed from the Kadi +to the Aolama, men wise in the law, who acted as referees in disputed +cases; but it was decided that as a Jew he had no right in Mohammedan +law to offer evidence in a civil court. He laid his case before the +British Consul, but was found to have no claim to English intervention, +being a subject of the Sultan both by birth and parentage. Meantime, his +dispute with his cousins was set at rest for ever by the Governor of the +town, who, concluding that his father had left neither will nor heirs, +confiscated everything he had possessed to the public treasury--that is +to say, to the Kaid's own uses. + +Thus he found himself without standing ground in Morocco, whether as a +Jew, a Moor, or an Englishman, a stranger in his father's country, and +openly branded as a cheat. That he did not return to England promptly +was because he was already a man of indomitable spirit. Besides that, +the treatment he was having now was but of a piece with what he had +received at all times. Nothing had availed to crush him, even as nothing +ever does avail to crush a man of character. But the obstacles and +torments which make no impression on the mind of a strong man often make +a very sensible impression on his heart; the mind triumphs, it is +the heart that suffers; the mind strengthens and expands after every +besetting plague of life, but the heart withers and wears away. + +So far from flying from Morocco when things conspired together to +beat him down, Israel looked about with an equal mind for the means of +settling there. + +His opportunity came early. The Governor, either by qualm of conscience +or further freak of selfishness, got him the place of head of the +Oomana, the three Administrators of Customs at Tangier. He held the post +six months only, to the complete satisfaction of the Kaid, but amid the +muttered discontent of the merchants and tradesmen. Then the Governor of +Tetuan, a bigger town lying a long day's journey to the east, hearing +of Israel that as Ameen of Tangier he had doubled the custom revenues in +half a year, invited him to fill an informal, unofficial, and irregular +position as assessor of tributes. + +Now, it would be a long task to tell of the work which Israel did in +his new calling: how he regulated the market dues, and appointed a +Mut'hasseb, a clerk of the market, to collect them--so many moozoonahs +for every camel sold, so many for every horse, mule, and ass, so many +floos for every fowl, and so many metkals for the purchase and sale of +every slave; how he numbered the houses and made lists of the trades, +assessing their tribute by the value of their businesses--so much for +gun-making, so much for weaving, so much for tanning, and so on through +the line of them, great and small, good and bad, even from the trades +of the Jewish silversmiths and the Moorish packsaddle-makers down to the +callings of the Arab water-carriers and the ninety public women. + +All this he did by the strict law and letter of the Koran, which +entitled the Sultan to a tithe of all earnings whatsoever; but it would +not wrong the truth to say that he did it also by the impulse of a sour +and saddened heart. The world had shown no mercy to him, and he need +show no mercy to the world. Why talk of pity? It was only a name, an +idea a mocking thought. In the actual reckoning of life there was no +such name as pity. Thus did Israel justify himself in all his dealings, +whatever their severity and the rigour wherewith they wrought. + +And the people felt the strong hand that was on them, and they cursed +it. + +"Ya Allah! Allah!" the Moors would cry. "Who is this Jew--this son of +the English--that he should be made our master?" + +They muttered at him in the streets, they scowled upon him, and at +length they insulted him openly. Since his return from England he had +resumed the dress of his race in his country--the long dark gabardine +or kaftan, with a scarf for girdle, the black slippers, and the black +skull-cap. And, going one day by the Grand Mosque, a group of the +beggars; who lay always by the gate, called on him to uncover his feet. + +"Jew! Dog!" they cried, "there is no god but God! Curses on your +relations! Off with your slippers!" + +He paid no heed to their commands, but made straight onward. Then one +blear-eyed and scab-faced cripple scrambled up and struck off his cap +with a crutch. He picked it up again without a look or a word, and +strode away. But next morning, at early prayers, there was a place empty +at the door of the mosque. Its accustomed occupant lay in the prison at +the Kasbah. + +And if the Muslimeen hated Israel for what he was doing for their +Governor, the Jews hated him yet more because it was being done for a +Moor. + +"He has sold himself to our enemy," they said, "against the welfare of +his own nation." + +At the synagogue they ignored him, and in taking the votes of their +people they counted others and passed him by. He showed no malice. Only +his strong face twitched at each fresh insult and his head was held +higher. Only this, and one other sign of suffering in that secret place +of his withering heart, which God's eye alone could see. + +Thus far he had done no more to Moor and Jew than exact that tenth part +of their substance which the faiths of both required that they should +pay. But now his work went further. A little group of old Jews, all held +in honour among their people--Abraham Ohana, nicknamed Pigman, son of +a former rabbi; Judah ben Lolo, an elder of his synagogue; and Reuben +Maliki, keeper of the poor-box--were seized and cast into the Kasbah for +gross and base usury. + +At this the Jewish quarter was thrown into wild hubbub. The hand that +was on their people was a daring and terrible one. None doubted whose +hand it was--it was the hand of young Israel the Jew. + +When the three old usurers had bought themselves out of the Kasbah, they +put their heads together and said, "Let us drive this fellow out of the +Mellah, and so shall he be driven out of the town." Then the owner of +the house which Israel rented for his lodging evicted him by a poor +excuse, and all other Jewish owners refused him as tenant. But the +conspiracy failed. By command of the Governor, or by his influence, +Israel was lodged by the Nadir, the administrator of mosque property, +in one of the houses belonging to the mosque on the Moorish side of the +Mellah walls. + +Seeing this, the usurers laid their heads together again and said, "Let +us see that no man of our nation serve him, and so shall his life be a +burden." Then the two Jews who had been his servants deserted him, and +when he asked for Moors he was told that the faithful might not obey the +unbeliever; and when he would have sent for negroes out of the Soudan he +was warned that a Jew might not hold a slave. But the conspiracy failed +again. Two black female slaves from Soos, named Fatimah and Habeebah, +were bought in the name of the Governor and assigned to Israel's +service. + +And when it was seen at length that nothing availed to disturb Israel's +material welfare, the three base usurers laid their heads together yet +again, that they might prey upon his superstitious fears, and they +said, "He is our enemy, but he is a Jew: let the woman who is named +the prophetess put her curse upon him." Then she who was so called, one +Rebecca Bensabbot, deaf as a stone, weak in her intellect, seventy years +of age, and living fifty years on the poor-box which Reuben Maliki kept, +crossed Israel in the streets, and cursed him as a son of Beelzebub +predicting that, even as he had made the walls of the Kasbah to echo +with the groans of God's elect, so should his own spirit be broken +within them and his forehead humbled to the earth. He stood while he +heard her out, and his strong lip trembled at he words; but he only +smiled coldly, and passed on in silence. + +"The clouds are not hurt," he thought, "by the bark of dogs." + +Thus did his brethren of Judah revile him, and thus did they torture +him; yet there was one among them who did neither. This was the daughter +of their Grand Rabbi, David ben Ohana. Her name was Ruth. She was young, +and God had given her grace and she was beautiful, and many young +Jewish men, of Tetuan had vied with each other in vain for he favour. Of +Israel's duty she knew little, save what report had said of it, that +it was evil; and of the act which had made him an outcast among his +own people, and an Ishmael among the sons of Ishmael she could form +no judgment. But what a woman's eyes might see in him, without help of +other knowledge, that she saw. + +She had marked him in the synagogue, that his face was noble and his +manners gracious; that he was young, but only as one who had been +cheated of his youth and had missed his early manhood, the when he was +ignored he ignored his insult, and when he was reviled he answered not +again; in a word, the he was silent and strong and alone, and, above all +that he was sad. + +These were credentials enough to the true girl's favour, and Israel soon +learnt that the house of the Rabbi was open to him. There the lonely man +first found himself. The cold eyes of his little world had seen him as +his father's son, but the light and warmth of the eyes of Ruth saw +him as the son of his mother also. The Rabbi himself was old, very +old--ninety years of age--and length of days had taught him charity. +And so it was that when, in due time, Israel came with many excuses and +asked for Ruth in marriage, the Rabbi gave her to him. + +The betrothal followed, but none save the notary and his witnesses stood +beside Israel when he crossed hands over the handkerchief; and, when +the marriage came in its course, few stood beside the Chief Rabbi. +Nevertheless, all the Jews of the quarter and all the Moors of Tetuan +were alive to what was happening, and on the night of the marriage a +great company of both peoples, though chiefly of the rabble among them, +gathered in front of the Rabbi's house that they might hiss and jeer. + +The Chacham heard them from where he sat under the stars in his patio, +and when at last the voice of Rebecca the prophetess came to him above +the tumult, crying, "Woe to her that has married the enemy of her +nation, and woe to him that gave her against the hope of his people! +They shall taste death. He shall see them fall from his side and die," +then the old man listened and trembled visibly. In confusion and fierce +anger he rose up and stumbled through the crooked passage to the door, +and flinging it wide, he stood in the doorway facing them that stood +without. + +"Peace! Peace!" he cried, "and shame! shame! Remember the doom of him +that shall curse the high priest of the Lord." + +This he spoke in a voice that shook with wrath. Then suddenly, his voice +failing him, he said in a broken whisper, "My good people, what is this? +Your servant is grown old in your service. Sixty and odd years he has +shared your sorrows and your burdens. What has he done this day that +your women should lift up their voices against him?" + +But, in awe of his white head in the moonlight, the rabble that stood in +the darkness were silent and made no answer. Then he staggered back, and +Israel helped him into his house, and Ruth did what she could to compose +him. But he was woefully shaken, and that night he died. + +When the Rabbi's death became known in the morning, the Jews whispered, +"It is the first-fruits!" and the Moors touched their foreheads and +murmured "It is written!" + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BIRTH OF NAOMI + + +Israel paid no heed to Jew or Moor, but in due time he set about the +building of a house for himself and for Ruth, that they might live in +comfort many years together. In the south-east corner of the Mellah +he placed it, and he built it partly in the Moorish and partly in the +English fashion, with an open court and corridors, marble pillars, and a +marble staircase, walls of small tiles, and ceilings of stalactites, but +also with windows and with doors. And when his house was raised he put +no haities into it, and spread no mattresses on the floors, but sent for +tables and chairs and couches out of England; and everything he did in +this wise cut him off the more from the people about him, both Moors and +Jews. + +And being settled at last, and his own master in his own dwelling, out +of the power of his enemies to push him back into the streets, suddenly +it occurred to him for the first time that whereas the house he had +built was a refuge for himself, it was doomed to be little better than a +prison for his wife. In marrying Ruth he had enlarged the circle of his +intimates by one faithful and loving soul, but in marrying him she had +reduced even her friends to that number. Her father was dead; if she was +the daughter of a Chief Rabbi she was also the wife of an outcast, the +companion of a pariah, and save for him, she must be for ever alone. +Even their bondwomen still spoke a foreign dialect, and commerce with +them was mainly by signs. + +Thinking of all this with some remorse, one idea fixed itself on +Israel's mind, one hope on his heart--that Ruth might soon bear a child. +Then would her solitude be broken by the dearest company that a woman +might know on earth. And, if he had wronged her, his child would make +amends. + +Israel thought of this again and again. The delicious hope pursued him. +It was his secret, and he never gave it speech. But time passed, and no +child was born. And Ruth herself saw that she was barren, and she began +to cast down her head before her husband. Israel's hope was of longer +life, but the truth dawned upon him at last. Then, when he perceived +that his wife was ashamed, a great tenderness came over him. He had been +thinking of her; that a child would bring her solace, and meanwhile she +had thought only of him, that a child would be his pride. After that he +never went abroad but he came home with stories of women wailing at the +cemetery over the tombs of their babes, of men broken in heart for loss +of their sons, and of how they were best treated of God who were given +no children. + +This served his big soul for a time to cheat it of its disappointment, +half deceiving Ruth, and deceiving himself entirely. But one day the +woman Rebecca met him again at the street-corner by his own house, and +she lifted her gaunt finger into his face, and cried, "Israel ben Oliel, +the judgment of the Lord is upon you, and will not suffer you to raise +up children to be a reproach and a curse among your people!" + +"Out upon you, woman!" cried Israel, and almost in the first delirium of +his pain he had lifted his hand to strike her. Her other predictions +had passed him by, but this one had smitten him. He went home and shut +himself in his room, and throughout that day he let no one come near to +him. + +Israel knew his own heart at last. At his wife's barrenness he was now +angry with the anger of a proud man whose pride had been abased. What +was the worth of it, after all, that he had conquered the fate that had +first beaten him down? What did it come to that the world was at his +feet? Heaven was above him, and the poorest man in the Mellah who was +the father of a child might look down on him with contempt. + +That night sleep forsook his eyelids, and his mouth was parched and +his spirit bitter. And sometimes he reproached himself with a thousand +offences, and sometimes he searched the Scriptures, that he might +persuade himself that he had walked blameless before the Lord in the +ordinances and commandments of God. + +Meantime, Ruth, in her solitude, remembered that it was now three years +since she had been married to Israel, and that by the laws, both of +their race and their country, a woman who had been long barren might +straightway be divorced by her husband. + +Next morning a message of business came from the Khaleefa, but Israel +would not answer it. Then came an order to him from the Governor, but +still he paid no heed. At length he heard a feeble knock at the door of +his room. It was Ruth, his wife, and he opened to her and she entered. + +"Send me away from you!" she cried. "Send me away!" + +"Not for the place of the Kaid," he answered stoutly; "no, nor the +throne of the Sultan!" + +At that she fell on his neck and kissed him, and they mingled their +tears together. But he comforted her at length, and said, "Look up, my +dearest! look up! I am a proud man among men, but it is even as the Lord +may deal with me. And which of us shall murmur against God?" + +At that word Ruth lifted her head from his bosom and her eyes were full +of a sudden thought. + +"Then let us ask of the Lord," she whispered hotly, "and surely He will +hear our prayer." + +"It is the voice of the Lord Himself!" cried Israel; "and this day it +shall be done!" + +At the time of evening prayers Israel and Ruth went up hand in hand +together to the synagogue, in a narrow lane off the Sok el Foki. And +Ruth knelt in her place in the gallery close under the iron grating and +the candles that hung above it, and she prayed: "O Lord, have pity on +this Thy servant, and take away her reproach among women. Give her grace +in Thine eyes, O Lord, that her husband be not ashamed. Grant her a +child of Thy mercy, that his eye may smile upon her. Yet not as +she willeth, but as Thou willest, O Lord, and Thy servant will be +satisfied." + +But Israel stood long on the floor with his hand on his heart and his +eyes to the ground, and he called on God as a debtor that will not +be appeased, saying: "How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? My enemies +triumph over me and foretell Thy doom upon me. They sit in the +lurking-places of the streets to deride me. Confound my enemies, O Lord, +and rebuke their counsels. Remember Ruth, I beseech Thee, that she is +patient and her heart is humbled. Give her children of Thy servant, and +her first-born shall be sanctified unto Thee. Give her one child, and +it shall be Thine--if it is a son, to be a Rabbi in Thy synagogues. Hear +me, O Lord, and give heed to my cry, for behold, I swear it before Thee. +One child, but one, only one, son or daughter, and all my desire is +before Thee. How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?" + +The message of the Khaleefa which Israel had not answered in his trouble +was a request from the Shereef of Wazzan that he should come without +delay to that town to count his rent-charges and assess his dues. This +request the Governor had transformed into a command, for the Shereef +was a prince of Islam in his own country, and in many provinces the +believers paid him tribute. So in three days' time Israel was ready +to set out on his journey, with men and mules at his door, and camels +packed with tents. He was likely to be some months absent from Tetuan, +and it was impossible that Ruth should go with him. They had never been +separated before, and Ruth's concern was that they should be so long +parted, but Israel's was a deeper matter. + +"Ruth," he said when his time came, "I am going away from you, but my +enemies remain. They see evil in all my doings, and in this act also +they will find offence. Promise me that if they make a mock at you for +your husband's sake you will not see them; if they taunt you that you +will not hear them; and if they ask anything concerning me that you will +answer them not at all." + +And Ruth promised him that if his enemies made a mock at her she should +be as one that was blind, if they taunted her as one that was deaf, and +if they questioned her concerning her husband as one that was dumb. Then +they parted with many tears and embraces. + +Israel was half a year absent in the town and province of Wazzan, and, +having finished the work which he came to do, he was sent back to Tetuan +loaded with presents from the Shereef, and surrounded by soldiers and +attendants, who did not leave him until they had brought him to the door +of his own house. + +And there, in her chamber, sat Ruth awaiting him, her eyes dim with +tears of joy, her throat throbbing like the throat of a bird, and great +news on her tongue. + +"Listen," she whispered; "I have something to tell you--" + +"Ah, I know it," he cried; "I know it already. I see it in your eyes." + +"Only listen," she whispered again, while she toyed with the neck of his +kaftan, and coloured deeply, not daring to look into his face. + +Their prayer in the synagogue had been heard, and the child they had +asked for was to come. + +Israel was like a man beside himself with joy. He burst in upon the +message of his wife, and caught her to his breast again and again, +and kissed her. Long they stood together so, while he told her of the +chances which had befallen him during his absence from her, and she +told him of her solitude of six long months, unbroken save for the poor +company of Fatimah and Habeebah, wherein she had been blind and deaf and +dumb to all the world. + +During the months thereafter until Ruth's time was full Israel sat with +her constantly. He could scarce suffer himself to leave her company. He +covered her chamber with fruits and flowers. There was no desire of her +heart but he fulfilled it. And they talked together lovingly of how they +would name the child when the time came to name it. Israel concluded +that if it was a son it should be called David, and Ruth decided that if +it was a daughter it should be called Naomi. And Ruth delighted to tell +of how when it was weaned she should take it up to the synagogue and +say, "O Lord: I am the woman that knelt before Thee praying. For this +child I prayed, and Thou hast heard my prayer." And Israel told of how +his son should grow up to be a Rabbi to minister before God, and how +in those days it should come to pass that the children of his father's +enemies should crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of +bread. Thus they built themselves castles in the air for the future of +the child that was to come. + +Ruth's time came at last, and it was also the time of the Feast of +the Passover, being in the month of Nisan. This was a cause of joy to +Israel, for he was eager to triumph over his enemies face to face, and +he could not wait eight other days for the Feast of the circumcision. So +he set a supper fit for a king: the fore-leg of a sheep and the fore-leg +of an ox, the egg roasted in ashes, the balls of Charoseth, the three +Mitzvoth, and the wine, And by the time the supper was ready the midwife +had been summoned, and it was the day of the night of the Seder. + +Then Israel sent messengers round the Mellah to summon his guests. Only +his enemies he invited, his bitterest foes, his unceasing revilers, and +among them were the three base usurers, Abraham Pigman, Judah ben Lolo, +and Reuben Maliki. "They cursed me," he thought, "and I shall look on +their confusion." His heart thirsted to summon Rebecca Bensabbot also, +but well he knew that her dainty masters would not sit at meat with her. + +And when the enemies were bidden, all of them excused themselves and +refused, saying it was the Feast of the Passover, when no man should +sit save in his own house and at his own table. But Israel was not to be +gainsaid. He went out to them himself, and said, "Come, let bygones be +bygones. It is the feast of our nation. Let us eat and drink together." +So, partly by his importunity, but mainly in their bewilderment, yet +against all rule and custom, they suffered themselves to go with him. + +And when they were come into his house and were seated about his table +in the patio, and he had washed his hands and taken the wine and blessed +it, and passed it to all, and they had drunk together, he could not keep +back his tongue from taunting them. Then when he had washed again and +dipped the celery in the vinegar, and they had drunk of the wine once +more, he taunted them afresh and laughed. But nothing yet had they +understood of his meaning, and they looked into each other's faces and +asked, "What is it?" + +"Wait! Only wait!" Israel answered. "You shall see!" + +At that moment Ruth sent for him to her chamber, and he went in to her. + +"I am a sorrowful woman," she said. "Some evil is about to befall--I +know it, I feel it." + +But he only rallied her and laughed again, and prophesied joy on the +morrow. Then, returning to the patio, where the passover cakes had been +broken, he called for the supper, and bade his guests to eat and drink +as much as their hearts desired. + +They could do neither now, for the fear that possessed them at sight of +Israel's frenzy. The three old usurers, Abraham, Judah, and Reuben, rose +to go, but Israel cried, "Stay! Stay, and see what is come!" and under +the very force of his will they yielded and sat down again. + +Still Israel drank and laughed and derided them. In the wild torrent of +his madness he called them by names they knew and by names they did not +know--Harpagon, Shylock, Bildad, Elihu--and at every new name he laughed +again. And while he carried himself so in the outer court the slave +woman Fatimah came from the inner room with word that the child was +born. + +At that Israel was like a man distraught. He leapt up from the table and +faced full upon his guests, and cried, "Now you know what it is; and now +you know why you are bidden to this supper! You are here to rejoice +with me over my enemies! Drink! drink! Confusion to all of them!" And he +lifted a winecup and drank himself. + +They were abashed before him, and tried to edge out of the patio into +the street; but he put his back to the passage, and faced them again. + +"You will not drink?" he said. "Then listen to me." He dashed the +winecup out of his hand, and it broke into fragments on the floor. His +laughter was gone, his face was aflame, and his voice rose to a shrill +cry. "You foretold the doom of God upon me, you brought me low, you made +me ashamed: but behold how the Lord has lifted me up! You set your women +to prophesy that God would not suffer me to raise up children to be a +reproach and a curse among my people; but God has this day given me a +son like the best of you. More than that--more than that--my son shall +yet see--" + +The slave woman was touching his arm. "It is a girl," she said; "a +girl!" + +For a moment Israel stammered and paused. Then he cried, "No matter! +She shall see your own children fatherless, and with none to show them +mercy! She shall see the iniquity of their fathers remembered against +them! She shall see them beg their bread, and seek it in desolate +places! And now you can go! Go! go!" + +He had stepped aside as he spoke, and with a sweep of his arm he was +driving them all out like sheep before him, dumbfounded and with their +eyes in the dust, when suddenly there was a low cry from the inner room. + +It was Ruth calling for her husband. Israel wheeled about and went in +to her hurriedly, and his enemies, by one impulse of evil instinct, +followed him and listened from the threshold. + +Ruth's face was a face of fear, and her lips moved, but no voice came +from them. + +And Israel said, "How is it with you, my dearest joy of my joy and pride +of my pride?" + +Then Ruth lifted the babe from her bosom and said "The Lord has counted +my prayer to me as sin--look, see; the child is both dumb and blind!" + +At that word Israel's heart died within him, but he muttered out of his +dry throat, "No, no, never believe it!" + +"True, true, it is true," she moaned; "the child has not uttered a cry, +and its eyelids have not blinked at the light." + +"Never believe it, I say!" Israel growled, and he lifted the babe in his +arms to try it. + +But when he held it to the fading light of the window which opened upon +the street where the woman called the prophetess had cursed him, the +eyes of the child did not close, neither did their pupils diminish. Then +his limbs began to tremble, so that the midwife took the babe out of his +arms and laid it again on its mother's bosom. + +And Ruth wept over it, saying, "Even if it were a son never could it +serve in the synagogue! Never! Never!" + +At that Israel began to curse and to swear. His enemies had now pushed +themselves into the chamber, and they cried, "Peace! Peace!" And old +Judah ben Lolo, the elder of the synagogue, grunted, and said, "Is it +not written that no one afflicted of God shall minister in His temples?" + +Israel stared around in silence into the faces about him, first into +the face of his wife, and then into the faces of his enemies whom he +had bidden. Then he fell to laughing hideously and crying, "What matter? +Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother!" But after that he staggered, +his knees gave way, he pitched half forward and half aside, like a +falling horse, and with a deep groan he fell with his face to the floor. + +The midwife and the slave lifted him up and moistened his lips with +water; but his enemies turned and left him, muttering among themselves, +"The Lord killeth and maketh alive, He bringeth low and lifteth up, and +into the pit that the evil man diggeth or another He causeth his foot to +slip." + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CHILDHOOD OF NAOMI + + +Throughout Tetuan and the country round about Israel was now an object +of contempt. God had declared against him, God had brought him low, +God Himself had filled him with confusion. Then why should man show him +mercy? + +But if he was despised he was still powerful. None dare openly insult +him. And, between their fear and their scorn of him, the shifts of the +rabble to give vent to their contempt were often ludicrous enough. Thus, +they would call their dogs and their asses by his name, and the dogs +would be the scabbiest in the streets, and the asses the laziest in the +market. + +He would be caught in the crush of the traffic at the town gate or at +the gate of the Mellah, and while he stood aside to allow a line of +pack-mules to pass he would hear a voice from behind him crying huskily, +"Accursed old Israel! Get on home to your mother!" Then, turning quickly +round, he would find that close at his heels a negro of most innocent +countenance was cudgelling his donkey by that title. + +He would go past the Saints' Houses in the public ways, and at the sound +of his footsteps the bleached and eyeless lepers who sat under the white +walls crying "Allah! Allah! Allah!" would suddenly change their cry to +"Arrah! Arrah! Arrah!" "Go on! Go on! Go on!" + +He would walk across the Sok on Fridays, and hear shrieks and peals of +laughter, and see grinning faces with gleaming white teeth turned in his +direction, and he would know that the story-tellers were mimicking his +voice and the jugglers imitating his gestures. + +His prosperity counted for nothing against the open brand of God's +displeasure. The veriest muck-worm in the market-place spat out at sight +of him. Moor and Jew, Arab and Berber--they all despised him! + +Nevertheless, the disaster which had befallen his house had not crushed +him. It had brought out every fibre of his being, every muscle of his +soul. He had quarrelled with God by reason of it, and his quarrel with +God had made his quarrel with his fellow-man the fiercer. + +There was just one man in the town who found no offence in either form +of warfare. The more wicked the one and the more outrageous the other, +the better for his person. + +It was the Governor of Tetuan. His name was El Arby, but he was known +as Ben Aboo, the son of his father. That father had been none other +than the late Sultan. Therefore Ben Aboo was a brother of Abd er-Rahman, +though by another mother, a negro slave. To be a Sultan's brother in +Morocco is not to be a Sultan's favourite, but a possible aspirant to +his throne. Nevertheless Ben Aboo had been made a Kaid, a chief, in the +Sultan's army, and eventually a commander-in-chief of his cavalry. +In that capacity he had led a raid for arrears of tribute on the Beni +Hasan, the Beni Idar, and the Wad Ras These rebellious tribes inhabit +the country near to Tetuan, and hence Ben Aboo's attention had been +first directed to that town. When he had returned from his expedition he +offered the Sultan fifteen thousand dollars for the place of its Basha +or Governor, and promised him thirty thousand dollars a year as tribute. +The Sultan took his money, and accepted his promise. There was a Basha +at Tetuan already, but that was a trifling difficulty. The good man +was summoned to the Sultan's presence, accused of appropriating the +Shereefian tributes, stripped of all he had, and cast into prison. + +That was how Ben Aboo had become Governor of Tetuan, and the story of +how Israel had become his informal Administrator of Affairs is no +less curious. At first Ben Aboo seemed likely to lose by his dubious +transaction. His new function was partly military and partly civil. He +was a valiant soldier--the black blood of his slave-mother had counted +for so much; but he was a bad administrator--he could neither read nor +write nor reckon figures. In this dilemma his natural colleague would +have been his Khaleefa, his deputy, Ali bin Jillool, but because this +man had been the deputy of his predecessor also, he could not trust him. +He had two other immediate subordinates, his Commander of Artillery and +his Commander of Infantry, but neither of them could spell the letters +of his name. Then there was his Taleb the Adel, his scribe the notary, +Hosain ben Hashem, styled Haj, because he had made the pilgrimage to +Mecca, but he was also the Imam, or head of the Mosque, and the wily +Ben Aboo foresaw the danger of some day coming into collision with the +religious sentiment of his people. Finally, there was the Kadi, Mohammed +ben Arby, but the judge was an official outside his jurisdiction, and he +wanted a man who should be under his hand. That was the combination of +circumstances whereby Israel came to Tetuan. + +Israel's first years in his strange office had satisfied his master +entirely. He had carried the Basha's seal and acted for him in all +affairs of money. The revenues had risen to fifty thousand dollars, so +that the Basha had twenty thousand to the good. Then Ben Aboo's ambition +began to override itself. He started an oil-mill, and wanted Israel to +select a hundred houses owned by rich men, that he might compel each +house to take ten kollahs of oil--an extravagant quantity, at seven +dollars for each kollah--an exorbitant price. Israel had refused. "It is +not just," he had said. + +Other expedients for enlarging his revenue Ben Aboo had suggested, but +Israel had steadfastly resisted all of them. Sometimes the Governor +had pretended that he had received an order from the Sultan to impose a +gross and wicked tax, but Israel's answer had been the same. "There is +no evil in the world but injustice," he had said. "Do justice, and you +do all that God can ask or man expect." + +For such opposition to the will of the Basha any other person would have +been cast into a damp dungeon at night, and chained in the hot sun by +day. Israel was still necessary. So Ben Aboo merely longed for the dawn +of that day whereon he should need him no more. + +But since the disaster which had befallen Israel's house everything +had undergone a change. It was now Israel himself who suggested dubious +means of revenue. There was no device of a crafty brain for turning +the very air itself into money--ransoms, promissory notes, and false +judgments--but Israel thought of it. Thus he persuaded the Governor to +send his small currency to the Jewish shops to be changed into silver +dollars at the rate of nine ducats to the dollar, when a dollar was +worth ten in currency. And after certain of the shopkeepers, having +changed fifty thousand dollars at that rate, fled to the Sultan to +complain, Israel advised that their debtors should be called together, +their debts purchased, and bonds drawn up and certified for ten times +the amounts of them. Thus a few were banished from their homes in fear +of imprisonment, many were sorely harassed, and some were entirely +ruined. + +It was a strange spectacle. He whom the rabble gibed at in the public +streets held the fate of every man of them in his hand. Their dogs and +their asses might bear his name, but their own lives and liberty must +answer to it. + +Israel looked on at all with an equal mind, neither flinching at his +indignities nor glorying in his power. He beheld the wreck of families +without remorse, and heard the wail of women and the cry of children +without a qualm. Neither did he delight in the sufferings of them that +had derided him. His evil impulse was a higher matter--his faith in +justice had been broken up. He had been wrong. There was no such thing +as justice in the world, and there could, therefore, be no such thing +as injustice. There was no thing but the blind swirl of chance, and the +wild scramble for life. The man had quarrelled with God. + +But Israel's heart was not yet dead. There was one place, where he who +bore himself with such austerity towards the world was a man of great +tenderness. That place was his own home. What he saw there was enough to +stir the fountains of his being--nay, to exhaust them, and to send him +abroad as a river-bed that is dry. + +In that first hour of his abasement, after he had been confounded before +the enemies whom he had expected to confound, Israel had thought of +himself, but Ruth's unselfish heart had even then thought only of the +babe. + +The child was born blind and dumb and deaf. At the feast of life there +was no place left for it. So Ruth turned her face from it to the wall, +and called on God to take it. + +"Take it!" she cried--"take it! Make haste, O God, make haste and take +it!" + +But the child did not die. It lived and grew strong. Ruth herself +suckled it, and as she nourished it in her bosom her heart yearned over +it, and she forgot the prayer she had prayed concerning it. So, little +by little, her spirit returned to her, and day by day her soul deceived +her, and hour by hour an angel out of heaven seemed to come to her side +and whisper "Take heart of hope, O Ruth! God does not afflict willingly. +Perhaps the child is not blind, perhaps it is not deaf, perhaps it is +not dumb. Who shall ye say? Wait and see!" + +And, during the first few months of its life, Ruth could see no +difference in her child from the children of other women. Sometimes she +would kneel by its cradle and gaze into the flower-cup of its eye, an +the eye was blue and beautiful, and there was nothing to say that the +little cup was broken, and the little chamber dark. And sometimes she +would look at the pretty shell of its ear, and the ear was round and +full as a shell on the shore, and nothing told her that the voice of the +sea was not heard in it, and that all within was silence. + +So Ruth cherished her hope in secret, and whispered her heart and said, +"It is well, all is well with the child. She will look upon my face and +see it, and listen to my voice and hear it, and her own little tongue +will yet speak to me, and make me very glad." And then an ineffable +serenity would spread over her face and transfigure it. + +But when the time was come that a child's eyes, having grown familiar +with the light, should look on its little hands, and stare at its +little fingers, and clutch at its cradle, and gaze about in a peaceful +perplexity at everything, still the eyes of Ruth's child did not open +in seeing, but lay idle and empty. And when the time was ripe that +a child's ears should hear from hour to hour the sweet babble of a +mother's love, and its tongue begin to give back the words in lisping +sounds, the ear of Ruth's child heard nothing, and its tongue was mute. + +Then Ruth's spirit sank, but still the angel out of heaven seemed to +come to her, and find her a thousand excuses, and say, "Wait, Ruth; only +wait, only a little longer." + +So Ruth held back her tears, and bent above her babe again, and watched +for its smile that should answer to her smile, and listened for the +prattle of its little lips. But never a sound as of speech seemed to +break the silence between the words that trembled from her own tongue, +and never once across her baby's face passed the light of her tearful +smile. It was a pitiful thing to see her wasted pains, and most pitiful +of all for the pains she was at to conceal them. Thus, every day at +midday she would carry her little one into the patio, and watch if its +eyes should blink in the sunshine; but if Israel chanced to come upon +her then, she would drop her head and say, "How sweet the air is to-day, +and how pleasant to sit in the sun!" + +"So it is," he would answer, "so it is." + +Thus, too, when a bird was singing from the fig-tree that grew in the +court, she would catch up her child and carry it close, and watch if +its ears should hear; but if Israel saw her, she would laugh--a little +shrill laugh like a cry--and cover her face in confusion. + +"How merry you are, sweetheart," he would say, and then pass into the +house. + +For a time Israel tried to humour her, seeming not to see what he saw, +and pretending not to hear what he heard. But every day his heart bled +at sight of her, and one day he could bear up no longer, for his very +soul had sickened, and he cried, "Have done, Ruth!--for mercy's sake, +have done! The child is a soul in chains, and a spirit in prison. Her +eyes are darkness, like the tomb's, and her ears are silence, like the +grave's. Never will she smile to her mother's smile, or answer to her +father's speech. The first sound she will hear will be the last trump, +and the first face she will see will be the face of God." + +At that, Ruth flung herself down and burst into a flood of tears. +The hope that she had cherished was dead. Israel could comfort her no +longer. The fountain of his own heart was dry. He drew a long breath, +and went away to his bad work at the Kasbah. + +The child lived and thrived. They had called her Naomi, as they had +agreed to do before she was born, though no name she knew of herself, +and a mockery it seemed to name her. At four years of age she was +a creature of the most delicate beauty. Notwithstanding her Jewish +parentage, she was fair as the day and fresh as the dawn. And if her +eyes were darkness, there was light within her soul; and if her ears +were silence, there was music within her heart. She was brighter than +the sun which she could not see, and sweeter than the songs which she +could not hear. She was joyous as a bird in its narrow cage, and never +did she fret at the bars which bound her. And, like the bird that sings +at midnight, her cheery soul sang in its darkness. + +Only one sound seemed ever to come from her little lips, and it was the +sound of laughter. With this she lay down to sleep at night, and rose +again in the morning. She laughed as she combed her hair, and laughed +again as she came dancing out of her chamber at dawn. + +She had only one sentinel on the outpost of her spirit, and that was the +sense of touch and feeling. With this she seemed to know the day from +the night, and when the sun was shining and when the sky was dark. She +knew her mother, too, by the touch of her fingers, and her father by +the brushing of his beard. She knew the flowers that grew in the fields +outside the gate of the town, and she would gather them in her lap, +as other children did, and bring them home with her in her hands. She +seemed almost to know their colours also, for the flowers which she +would twine in her hair were red, and the white were those which she +would lay on her bosom. And truly a flower she was of herself, whereto +the wind alone could whisper, and only the sun could speak aloud. + +Sweet and touching were the efforts she sometimes made to cling to them +that were about her. Thus her heart was the heart of a child, and she +knew no delight like to that of playing with other children. But her +father's house was under a ban; no child of any neighbour in Tetuan was +allowed to cross its threshold, and, save for the children whom she met +in the fields when she walked there by her mother's hand, no child did +she ever meet. + +Ruth saw this, and then, for the first time, she became conscious of +the isolation in which she had lived since her marriage with Israel. She +herself had her husband for companion and comrade, but her little Naomi +was doubly and trebly alone--first, alone as a child that is the only +child of her parents; again, alone as a child whose parents are cut off +from the parents of other children; and yet again, once more, alone as a +child that is blind and dumb. + +But Israel saw it also, and one day he brought home with him from the +Kasbah a little black boy with a sweet round face and big innocent white +eyes which might have been the eyes of an angel. The boy's name was +Ali, and he was four years old. His father had killed his mother for +infidelity and neglect of their child, and, having no one to buy him out +of prison, he had that day been executed. Then little Ali had been left +alone in the world, and so Israel had taken him. + +Ruth welcomed the boy, and adopted him. He had been born a Mohammedan, +but secretly she brought him up as a Jew. And for some years thereafter +no difference did she make between him and her own child that other eyes +could see. They ate together, they walked abroad together, they played +together, they slept together, and the little black head of the boy lay +with the fair head of the girl on the same white pillow. + +Strange and pathetic were the relations between these little exiles of +humanity I One knew not whether to laugh or cry at them. First, on Ali's +part, a blank wonderment that when he cried to Naomi, "Come!" she did +not hear, when he asked "Why?" she did not answer; and when he said +"Look!" she did not see, though her blue eyes seemed to gaze full into +his face. Then, a sort of amused bewilderment that her little nervous +fingers were always touching his arms and his hands, and his neck and +his throat. But long before he had come to know that Naomi was not as +he was, that Nature had not given her eyes to see as he saw, and ears to +hear as he heard, and a tongue to speak as he spoke, Nature herself had +overstepped the barriers that divided her from him. He found that Naomi +had come to understand him, whatever in his little way he did, and +almost whatever in his little way he said. So he played with her as he +would have played with any other playmate, laughing with her, calling +to her, and going through his foolish little boyish antics before her. +Nevertheless, by some mysterious knowledge of Nature's own teaching, he +seemed to realise that it was his duty to take care of her. And when the +spirit and the mischief in his little manly heart would prompt him to +steal out of the house, and adventure into the streets with Naomi by his +side, he would be found in the thick of the throng perhaps at the heels +of the mules and asses, with Naomi's hand locked in his hand, trying to +push the great creatures of the crowd from before her, and crying in his +brave little treble, "Arrah!" "Ar-rah!" "Ar-r-rah!" + +As for Naomi, the coming of little black Ali was a wild delight to her. +Whatever Ali did, that would she do also. If he ran she would run; if he +sat she would sit; and meanwhile she would laugh with a heart of glee, +though she heard not what he said, and saw not what he did, and knew not +what he meant. At the time of the harvest, when Ruth took them out into +the fields, she would ride on Ali's back, and snatch at the ears of +barley and leap in her seat and laugh, yet nothing would she see of the +yellow corn, and nothing would she hear of the song of the reapers, and +nothing would she know of the cries of Ali, who shouted to her while +he ran, forgetting in his playing that she heard him not. And at night, +when Ruth put them to bed in their little chamber, and Ali knelt with +his face towards Jerusalem, Naomi would kneel beside him with a reverent +air, and all her laughter would be gone. Then, as he prayed his prayer, +her little lips would move as if she were praying too, and her little +hands would be clasped together, and her little eyes would be upraised. + +"God bless father, and mother, and Naomi, and everybody," the black boy +would say. + +And the little maid would touch his hands and hi throat, and pass her +fingers over his face from his eyelids to his lips, and then do as he +did, and in her silence seem to echo him. + +Pretty and piteous sights! Who could look on them without tears? One +thing at least was clear if the soul of this child was in prison, +nevertheless it was alive; and if it was in chains, nevertheless it +could not die, but was immortal and unmaimed and waited only for the +hour when it should be linked to other souls, soul to soul in the chains +of speech. But the years went on, and Naomi grew in beauty and increased +in sweetness, but no angel came down to open the darkened windows of her +eyes, and draw aside the heavy curtains of her ears. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE DEATH OF RUTH + + +For all her joy and all her prettiness, Naomi was a burden which only +love could bear. To think of the girl by day, and to dream of her by +night, never to sit by her without pity of her helplessness, and never +to leave her without dread of the mischances that might so easily +befall, to see for her, to hear for her, to speak for her, truly the +tyranny of the burden was terrible. + +Ruth sank under it. Through seven years she was eyes of the child's +eyes, and ears of her ears, and tongue of her tongue. After that her +own sight became dim, and her hearing faint. It was almost as if she had +spent them on Naomi in the yearning of dove and pity. Soon afterwards +her bodily strength failed her also, and then she knew that her time had +come, and that she was to lay down her burden for ever. But her burden +had become dear, and she clung to it. She could not look upon the child +and think it, that she, who had spent her strength for her from the +first, must leave her now to other love and tending. So she betook +herself to an upper room, and gave strict orders to Fatimah and Habeebah +that Naomi was to be kept from her altogether, that sight of the child's +helpless happy face might tempt her soul no more. + +And there in her death-chamber Israel sat with her constantly, settling +his countenance steadfastly, and coming and going softly. He was more +constant than a slave, and more tender than a woman. His love was great, +but also he was eating out his big heart with remorse. The root of his +trouble was the child. He never talked of her, and neither did Ruth +dwell upon her name. Yet they thought of little else while they sat +together. + +And even if they had been minded to talk of the child, what had they to +say of her? They had no memories to recall, no sweet childish sayings, +no simple broken speech, no pretty lisp--they had nothing to bring back +out of any harvest of the past of all the dear delicious wealth that +lies stored in the treasure-houses of the hearts of happy parents. That +way everything was a waste. Always, as Israel entered her room, Ruth +would say, "How is the child?" And always Israel would answer, "She is +well." But, if at that moment Naomi's laughter came up to them from the +patio, where she played with Ali, they would cover their faces and be +silent. + +It was a melancholy parting. No one came near them--neither Moor +nor Jew, neither Rabbi nor elder. The idle women of the Mellah would +sometimes stand outside in the street and look up at their house, +knowing that the black camel of death was kneeling at their gate. Other +company they had none. In such solitude they passed four weeks, and when +the time of the end seemed near, Israel himself read aloud the prayer +for the dying, the prayer Shema' Yisrael, and Ruth repeated the words of +it after him. + +Meantime, while Ruth lay in the upper chamber little Naomi sported and +played in the patio with Ali, but she missed her mother constantly. This +she made plain by many silent acts of helpless love that knew no way to +speak aloud. Thus she would lay flowers on the seats where her mother +had used to sit, and, if at night she found them untouched where she +had left them, her little face would fall, and her laughter die off her +lips; but if they had withered and some one had cast them into the oven, +she would laugh again and fetch other flowers from the fields, until +the house would be full of the odour of the meadow and the scent of the +hill. + +And well they knew, who looked upon her then, whom she missed, and what +the question was that halted on her tongue; yet how could they answer +her? There was no way to do that until she herself knew how to ask. + +But this she did on a day near to the end. It was evening, and she +was being put to bed by Habeebah, and had just risen from her innocent +pantomime of prayer beside Ali, when Israel, coming from Ruth's chamber, +entered the children's room. Then, touching with her hand the seat +whereon Ruth had used to sit, Naomi laid down her head on the pillow, +and then rose and lay down again, and rose yet again and rose yet again +lay down, and then came to where Israel was and stood before him. And at +that Israel knew that the soul of his helpless child had asked him, as +plainly as words of the tongue can speak, how often she should lie to +sleep at night and rise to play in the morning before her mother came to +her again. + +The tears gushed into his eyes, and he left the children and returned to +his wife's chamber. + +"Ruth," he cried, "call the child to you, I beseech you!" + +"No, no, no!" cried Ruth. + +"Let her come to you and touch you and kiss you, and be with you before +it is too late," said Israel. "She misses you, and fills the house with +flowers for you. It breaks my heart to see her." + +"It will break mine also," said Ruth. + +But she consented that Naomi should be called, and Fatimah was sent to +fetch her. + +The sun was setting, and through the window which looked out to the +west, over the river and the orange orchards and the palpitating plains +beyond, its dying rays came into the room in a bar of golden light. It +fell at that instant on Ruth's face, and she was white and wasted. And +through the other window of the room, which looked out over the Mellah +into the town, and across the market-place to the mosque and to the +battery on the hill, there came up from the darkening streets below the +shuffle of the feet of a crowd and the sound of many voices. The Jews +of Tetuan were trooping back to their own little quarter, that their +Moorish masters might lock them into it for the night. + +Naomi was already in bed, and Fatimah brought her away in her +nightdress. She seemed to know where she was to be taken, for she +laughed as Fatimah held her by the hand, and danced as she was led to +her mother's chamber. But when she was come to the door of it, suddenly +her laughter ceased, and her little face sobered, as if something in the +close abode of pain had troubled the senses that were left to her. + +It is, perhaps, the most touching experience of the deaf and blind that +no greeting can ever welcome them. When Naomi stood like a little white +vision at the threshold of the room, Israel took her hand in silence, +and drew her up to the pillow of the bed where her mother rested, and in +silence Ruth brought the child to her bosom. + +For a moment Naomi seemed to be perplexed. She touched her mother's +fingers, and they were changed, for they had grown thin and long. Then +she felt her face, and that was changed also, for it was become withered +and cold. And, missing the grasp of one and the smile of the other, she +first turned her little head aside as one that listens closely, and then +gently withdrew herself from the arms that held her. + +Ruth had watched her with eyes that overflowed, and now she burst into +sobs outright. + +"The child does not know me!" she cried. "Did I not tell you it would +break my heart?" + +"Try her again," said Israel; "try her again." + +Ruth devoured her tears, and called on Fatimah to bring the child back +to her side. Then, loosening the necklace that was about her own neck, +she bound it about the neck of Naomi, and also the bracelets that were +on her wrists she unclasped and clasped them on the wrists of the child. +This she did that Naomi might remember the hands that had been kind to +her always. But when the child felt the ornaments she seemed only to +know, by the quick instinct of a girl, that she was decked out bravely, +and giving no thought to Ruth, who waited and watched for the grasp of +recognition and the kiss of joy, she withdrew herself again from her +mother's arms, and bounded into the middle of the room, and suddenly +began to laugh and to dance. + +The sun's dying light, which had rested on Ruth's wasted face, now +glistened and sparkled on the jewels of the child, and glowed on +her blind eyes, and gleamed on her fair hair, and reddened her white +nightdress, while she danced and laughed to her mother's death. Nothing +did the child know of death, any more than Adam himself before Abel was +slain, and it was almost as if a devil out of hell had entered into her +innocent heart and possessed it, that she might make a mock of the dying +of the dearest friend she had known on earth. + +On and on she danced, to no measure and no time, and not with a child's +uncertain step which breaks down at motion as its tongue breaks down +at speech, but wildly and deliriously. The room was darkening fast, but +still across the nether end, by the foot of the bed, streamed the dull +red bar of sunlight with the little red figure leaping and prancing and +laughing in the midst of it. + +With an awful cry Ruth fell back on the pillow and turned her eyes to +the wall. The black woman dropped her head that she might not see. And +Israel covered his face and groaned in his tearless agony, "O Lord God, +long hast Thou chastised me with whips, and now I am chastised with +scorpions!" + +Ruth recovered herself quickly. "Bring her to me again!" she faltered; +and once more Fatimah brought Naomi back to the bedside. Then, embracing +and kissing the child, and seeming to forget in the torment of her +trouble that Naomi could not hear her, she cried, "It's your mother, +Naomi! your mother, darling, though so sick and changed! Don't you know +her, Naomi? Your mother, your own mother, sweet one, your dear mother +who loves you so, and must leave you now and see you no more!" + +Now what it was in that wild plea that touched the consciousness of the +child at last, only God Himself can say. But first Naomi's cheeks grew +pale at the embrace of the arms that held her, and then they reddened, +and then her little nervous fingers grasped at Ruth's hands again, and +then her little lips trembled, and then, at length, she flung herself +along Ruth's bosom and nestled close in her embrace. + +Ruth fell back on her pillow now with a cry of Joy; the black woman +stood and wept by the wall and Israel, unable to bear up his heart any +longer was melted and unmanned. The sun had gone down, and the room was +darkening rapidly, for the twilight in that land is short; the streets +were quiet, and the mooddin of the neighbouring minaret was chanting in +the silence, "God is great, God is great!" + +After awhile the little one fell asleep at her mother's bosom, and, +seeing this, Fatimah would have lifted her away and carried her back +to her own bed; but Ruth said, "No; leave her, let me have her with me +while I may." + +"No one shall take her from you," said Israel. + +Then she gazed down at the child's face and said, "It is hard to leave +her and never once to have heard her voice." + +"That is the bitterest cup of all," said Israel. + +"I shall not return to her," said Ruth, "but she shall come to me, and +then, perhaps--who knows?--perhaps in the resurrection I shall hear it." + +Israel made no answer. + +Ruth gazed down at the child again, and said, "My helpless darling! Who +will care for you when I am gone?" + +"Rest, rest, and sleep!" said Israel. + +"Ah, yes, I know," said Ruth. "How foolish of me! You are her father, +and you love her also. Yet promise me--promise--" + +"For love and tending she shall never lack," said Israel. "And now lie +you still, my dearest; lie still and sleep." + +She stretched out her hand to him. "Yes, that was what I meant," she +said, and smiled. Then a shadow crossed her face in the gloom. "But when +I am gone," she said, "will Naomi ever know that her mother who is dead +had wronged her?" + +"You have never wronged her," said Israel. "Have done, oh, have done!" + +"God punished us for our prayer, my husband," said Ruth. + +"Peace, peace!" said Israel. + +"But God is good," said Ruth, "and surely He will not afflict our child +much longer." + +"Hush! Hush! You will awaken her," said Israel, not thinking what he +said. "Now lie still and sleep, dearest. You are tired also." + +She lay quiet for a time, gazing, while the light remained, into the +face of the sleeping child, and listening, when the light failed, to her +gentle breathing. Then she babbled and crooned over her with a childish +joy. "Yes, yes, father is right, and mother must lie quiet--very quiet, +and so her little Naomi will sleep long--very long, and wake happy and +well in the morning. How bonny she will look! How fresh and rosy!" + +She paused a moment. Her laboured breathing came quick and fast. "But +shall I be here to see her? shall I?" + +She paused again, and then, as though to banish thought, she began to +sing in a low voice that was like a moan. Presently her singing ceased, +and she spoke again, but this time in broken whispers. + +"How soft and glossy her hair is! I wonder if Fatimah will remember to +wash it every day. She should twist it around her fingers to keep it in +pretty curls. . . . Oh, why did God make my child so beautiful?. . . . +Dear me, her morning frock wanted stitching at the sleeves, it's a +chance if Habeebah has seen to it. Then there's her underclothing. . . . +Will she be deaf and blind and dumb always? I wonder if I shall see her +when I. . . . They say that angels are sent. . . . Yes, yes, that's it, +when I am there--there--I will go to God and say, 'O Lord! my little +girl whom I have left behind, she is. . . . You would never think, O +Lord, how many things may happen to one like her. Let me go--only let me +watch over her--O Lord, let me be her guar--'" + +Her weakness had conquered her, and she was quiet at last. Israel sat in +silence by the post of the bed. His heart was surging itself out of his +choking breast. The black woman stood somewhere by the wall. After a +time Ruth seemed to awake as from sleep. She was in great excitement. + +"Israel, Israel!" she cried in a voice of joy, "I have seen a vision. It +was Naomi. She was no longer deaf and blind and dumb. She was grown to +be a woman, but I knew her instantly. Not a woman either, but a young +maiden, and so beautiful, so beautiful! Yes, and she could see and hear +and speak." + +Israel thought Ruth had become delirious, and he tried to soothe her, +but her agitation was not to be overcome. "The Lord hath seen our +tears at last," she cried. "He has put our sin beneath His feet. We are +forgiven. It will be well with the child yet." + +Israel did not try to gainsay her, and at sight and sound of her joy, +seeing it so beautiful, yet thinking it so vain, he could not help at +last but weep. Presently she became quiet again, and then again, after a +little while, she woke as from a sleep. + +"I am ready now," she said in a whisper, "quite ready, sweet Heaven, +quite, quite ready now." + +Then with her one free hand she felt in the darkness for Israel, where +he sat beside her, and touching his forehead she smoothed it, and said +very softly, "Farewell, my husband!" + +And Israel answered her, "Farewell!" + +"Good-night!" she whispered. + +And Israel drew down her hand from his forehead to his lips and sobbed, +and said, "Good-night, beloved!" + +Then she put her white lips to the child's blind eyes, and at that +moment the spirit of the Lord came to her, and the Lord took her, and +she died. + +When lamps had been brought into the room, and Fatimah saw that the end +had come, she would have lifted Naomi from Ruth's bosom, but the child +awoke as she was being moved, and clasped her little fingers about the +dead mother's neck and covered the mouth with kisses. And when she felt +that the lips did not answer to her lips, and that the arms which had +held her did not hold her any longer, but fell away useless, she clung +the closer, and tears started to her eyes. + + + +CHAPTER V + +RUTH'S BURIAL + + +The people of Tetuan were not melted towards Israel by the depth of his +sorrow and the breadth of shadow that lay upon him. By noon of the day +following the night of Ruth's death, Israel knew that he was to be left +alone. It was a rule of the Mellah that on notice being given of a death +in their quarter, the clerk of the synagogue should publish it at the +first service thereafter, in order that a body of men, called the Hebra +Kadisha of Kabranim, the Holy Society of Buriers, might straightway make +arrangements for burial. Early prayers had been held in the synagogue +at eight o'clock that morning, and no one had yet come near to Israel's +house. The men of the Hebra were going about their ordinary occupations. +They knew nothing of Ruth's death by official announcement. The clerk +had not published it. Israel remembered with bitterness that notice +of it had not been sent. Nevertheless, the fact was known throughout +Tetuan. There was not a water-carrier in the market-place but had taken +it to each house he called at, and passed it to every man he met. Little +groups of idle Jewish women had been many hours congregated in the +streets outside, talking of it in whispers and looking up at the +darkened windows with awe. But the synagogue knew nothing of it. +Israel had omitted the customary ceremony, and in that omission lay the +advantage of his enemies. He must humble himself and send to them. Until +he did so they would leave him alone. + +Israel did not send. Never once since the birth of Naomi had he crossed +the threshold of the synagogue. He would not cross it now, whether in +body or in spirit. But he was still a Jew, with Jewish customs, if he +had lost the Jewish faith, and it was one of the customs of the Jews +that a body should be buried within twenty-four hours, at farthest, from +the time of death. He must do something immediately. Some help must be +summoned. What help could it be? + +It was useless to think of the Muslimeen. No believer would lend a hand +to dig a grave for an unbeliever, or to make apparel for his dead. It +was just as idle to think of the Jews. If the synagogue knew nothing of +this burial, no Jew in the Mellah would be found so poor that he would +have need to know more. And of Christians of any sort or condition there +were none in all Tetuan. + +The gall of Israel's heart rose to his throat. Was he to be left alone +with his dead wife? Did his enemies wish to see him howk out her grave +with his own hands? Or did they expect him to come to them with bowed +forehead and bended knee? Either way their reckoning was a mistake. +They might leave him terribly and awfully alone--alone in his hour of +mourning even as they had left him alone in his hour of rejoicing, when +he had married the dear soul who was dead. But his strength and energy +they should not crush: his vital and intellectual force they should +not wither away. Only one thing they could do to touch him--they could +shrivel up his last impulse of sweet human sympathy. They were doing it +now. + +When Israel had put matters to himself so, he despatched a message +to the Governor at the Kasbah, and received, in answer, six State +prisoners, fettered in pairs, under the guard of two soldiers. + +The burial took place within the limit of twenty-four hours prescribed +by Jewish custom. It was twilight when the body was brought down from +the upper room to the patio. There stood the coffin on a trestle that +had been raised for it on chairs standing back to back. And there, too, +sat Israel, with Naomi and little black Ali beside him. + +Israel's manner was composed; his face was as firm as a rock, and +his dress was more costly than Tetuan had ever seen him wear before. +Everything that related to the burial he had managed himself, down to +the least or poorest detail. But there was nothing poor about it in +the larger sense. Israel was a rich man now, and he set no value on his +riches except to subdue the fate that had first beaten him down and to +abash the enemies who still menaced him. Nothing was lacking that money +could buy in Tetuan to make this burial an imposing ceremony. Only one +thing it wanted--it wanted mourners, and it had but one. + +Unlike her father, little Naomi was visibly excited. She ran to and fro, +clutched at Israel's clothes and seemed to look into his face, clasped +the hand of little Ali and held it long as if in fear. Whether she knew +what work was afoot, and, if she knew it, by what channel of soul or +sense she learnt it, no man can say. That she was conscious of the +presence of many strangers is certain, and when the men from the Kasbah +brought the roll of white linen down the stairway, with the two black +women clinging to it, kissing its fringe and wailing over it, she broke +away from Israel and rushed in among them with a startled cry, and her +little white arms upraised. But whatever her impulse, there was no need +to check her. The moment she had touched her mother she crept back in +dread to her father's side. + +"God be gracious to my father, look at that," whispered Fatimah. + +"My child, my poor child," said Israel, "is there but one thing in life +that speaks to you? And is that death? Oh, little one, little one!" + +It was a strange procession which then passed out of the patio. Four of +the prisoners carried the coffin on their shoulders, walking in pairs +according to their fetters. They were gaunt and bony creatures. Hunger +had wasted their sallow cheeks, and the air of noisome dungeons had +sunken their rheumy eyes. Their clothes were soiled rags, and over them, +and concealing them down to their waists and yet lower, hung the deep, +rich, velvet pall, with its long silk fringes. In front walked the two +remaining prisoners, each bearing a great plume in his left hand--the +right arm, as well as the right leg, being chained. On either side was a +soldier, carrying a lighted lantern, which burnt small and feeble in the +twilight, and last of all came Israel himself, unsupported and alone. +Thus they passed through the little crowd of idlers that had congregated +at the door, through the streets of the Mellah and out into the +marketplace, and up the narrow lane that leads to the chief town gate. + +There is something in the very nature of power that demands homage, and +the people of Tetuan could not deny it to Israel. As the procession went +through the town they cleared a way for it, and they were silent until +it had gone. Within the gate of the Mellah, a shocket was killing fowls +and taking his tribute of copper coins, but he stopped his work and fell +back as the procession approached. A blind beggar crouching at the other +side of the gate was reciting passages of the Koran, and two Arabs close +at his elbow were wrangling over a game at draughts which they were +playing by the light of a flare, but both curses and Koran ceased as the +procession passed under the arch. In the market-place a Soosi juggler +was performing before a throng of laughing people, and a story-teller +was shrieking to the twang of his ginbri; but the audience of the +juggler broke up as the procession appeared, and the ginbri of the +storyteller was no more heard. The hammering in the shops of +the gunsmiths was stopped, and the tinkling of the bells of the +water-carriers was silenced. Mules bringing wood from the country were +dragged out of the path, and the town asses, with their panniers full of +street-filth, were drawn up by the wall. From the market-place and out +of the shops, out of the houses and out of the mosque itself, the people +came trooping in crowds, and they made a long close line on either side +of the course which the procession must take. And through this avenue +of onlookers the strange company made its way--the two prisoners +bearing the plumes, the four others bearing the coffin, the two soldiers +carrying the lanterns, and Israel last of all, unsupported and alone. +Nothing was heard in the silence of the people but the tramp of the feet +of the six men, and the clank of their chains. + +The light of the lanterns was on the faces of some of them, and every +one knew them for what they were. It was on the face of Israel also, yet +he did not flinch. His head was held steadily upward; he looked neither +to the right nor to the left, but strode firmly along. + +The Jewish cemetery was outside the town walls, and before the +procession came to it the darkness had closed in. Its flat white +tombstones, all pointing toward Jerusalem, lay in the gloom like a flock +of sheep asleep among the grass. It had no gate but a gap in the fence, +and no fence but a hedge of the prickly pear and the aloe. + +Israel had opened a grave for Ruth beside the grave of the old rabbi +her father. He had asked no man's permission to do so, but if no one had +helped at that day's business, neither had any one dared to hinder. And +when the coffin was set down by the grave-side no ceremony did Israel +forget and none did he omit. He repeated the Kaddesh, and cut the notch +in his kaftan; he took from his breast the little linen bag of the white +earth of the land of promise and laid it under the head; he locked a +padlock and flung away the key. Last of all, when the body had been +taken out of the coffin and lowered to its long home, he stepped in +after it, and called on one of the soldiers to lend him a lantern. And +then, kneeling at the foot of his dead wife, he touched her with both +his hands, and spoke these words in a clear, firm voice, looking down +at her where she lay in the veil that she had used to wear in the +synagogue, and speaking to her as though she heard: "Ruth, my wife, my +dearest, for the cruel wrong which I did you long ago when I suffered +you to marry me, being a man such as I was, under the ban of my people, +forgive me now, my beloved, and ask God to forgive me also." + +The dark cemetery, the six prisoners in their clanking irons, the two +soldiers with their lanterns the open grave, and this strong-hearted +man kneeling within it, that he might do his last duty, according to the +custom of his race and faith, to her whom he had wronged and should meet +no more until the resurrection itself reunited them! The traffic of the +streets had begun again by this time, and between the words which Israel +had spoken the low hum of many voices had come over the dark town walls. + +The six prisoners went back to the Kasbah with joyful hearts, for +each carried with him a paper which procured his freedom on the day +following. But Israel returned to his home with a soured and darkened +mind. As he had plucked his last handful of the grass, and flung it over +his shoulder, saying, "They shall spring in the cities as the grass in +the earth," he had asked himself what it mattered to him though all the +world were peopled, now that she, who had been all the world to him, was +dead. God had left him as a lonely pilgrim in a dreary desert. Only one +glimpse of human affection had he known as a man, and here it was taken +from him for ever. + +And when he remembered Naomi, he quarrelled with God again. She was +a helpless exile among men, a creature banished from all human +intercourse, a living soul locked in a tabernacle of flesh. Was it a +good God who had taken the mother from such a child--the child from such +a mother? Israel was heart-smitten, and his soul blasphemed. It was not +God but the devil that ruled the world. It was not justice but evil that +governed it. + +Thus did this outcast man rebel against God, thinking of the child's +loss and of his own; but nevertheless by the child itself he was yet to +be saved from the devil's snare, and the ways wherein this sweet flower, +fresh from God's hand, wrought upon his heart to redeem it were very +strange and beautiful. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SPIRIT-MAID + + +The promise which Israel made to Ruth at her death, that Naomi should +not lack for love and tending, he faithfully fulfilled. From that time +forward he became as father and mother both to the child. + +At the outset of his charge he made a survey of her condition, and found +it more terrible than imagination of the mind could think or words of +the tongue express. It was easy to say that she was deaf and dumb and +blind, but it was hard to realise what so great an affliction implied. +It implied that she was a little human sister standing close to the rest +of the family of man, yet very far away from them. She was as much apart +as if she had inhabited a different sphere. No human sympathy could +reach her in joy or pain and sorrow. She had no part to play in life. In +the midst of a world of light she was in a land of darkness, and she was +in a world of silence in the midst of a land of sweet sounds. She was a +living and buried soul. + +And of that soul itself what did Israel know? He knew that it had +memory, for Naomi had remembered her mother; and he knew that it had +love, for she had pined for Ruth, and clung to her. But what were love +and memory without sight and speech? They were no more than a magnet +locked in a casket--idle and useless to any purposes of man or the +world. + +Thinking of this, Israel realised for the first time how awful was the +affliction of his motherless girl. To be blind was to be afflicted once, +but to be both blind and deaf was not only to be afflicted twice, but +twice ten thousand times, and to be blind and deaf and dumb was not +merely to be afflicted thrice, but beyond all reckonings of human +speech. + +For though Naomi had been blind, yet, if she could have had hearing, her +father might have spoken with her, and if she had sorrows he must have +soothed them, and if she had joys he must have shared them, and in this +beautiful world of God, so full of things to look upon and to love, he +must have been eyes of her eyes that could not see. On the other hand, +though Naomi had been deaf, yet if she could have had sight her father +might have held intercourse with her by the light of her eyes, and if +she felt pain he must have seen it, and if she had found pleasure he +must have known it, and what man is, and what woman is, and what the +world and what the sea and what the sky, would have been as an open book +for her to read. But, being blind and deaf together, and, by fault of +being deaf, being dumb as well, what word was to describe the desolation +of her state, the blank void of her isolation--cut off, apart, aloof, +shut in, imprisoned, enchained, a soul without communion with other +souls: alive, and yet dead? + +Thus, realising Naomi's condition in; the deep infirmity of her nature, +Israel set himself to consider how he could reach her darkened and +silent soul. And first he tried to learn what good gifts were left to +her, that he might foster them to her advantage and nourish them to his +own great comfort and joy. Yet no gift whatever could he find in her but +the one gift only whereof he had known from the beginning--the gift of +touch and feeling. With this he must make her to see, or else her light +should always be darkness, and with this he must make her to hear, or +silence should be her speech for ever. + +Then he remembered that during his years in England he had heard strange +stories of how the dumb had been made to speak though they could not +hear, and the blind and deaf to understand and to answer. So he sent +to England for many books written on the treatment of these children +of affliction, and when they were come he pondered them closely and was +thrilled by the marvellous works they described. But when he came to +practise the precepts they had given him, his spirits flagged, for the +impediments were great. Time after time he tried, and failed always, +to touch by so much as one shaft of light the hidden soul of the child +through its tenement of flesh and blood. Neither the simplest thought +nor the poorest element of an idea found any way to her mind, so dense +were the walls of the prison that encompassed it. "Yes" was a mystery +that could not at first be revealed to her, and "No" was a problem +beyond her power to apprehend. Smiles and frowns were useless to teach +her. No discipline could be addressed to her mind or heart. Except mere +bodily restraint, no control could be imposed upon her. She was swayed +by her impulses alone. + +Israel did not despair. If he was broken down today he strengthened his +hands for tomorrow. At length he had got so far, after a world of toil +and thought, that Naomi knew when he patted her head that it was for +approval, and when he touched her hand it was for assent. Then he +stopped very suddenly. His hope had not drooped, and neither had his +energy failed, but the conviction had fastened upon him that such effort +in his case must be an offence against Heaven. Naomi was not merely an +infirm creature from the left hand of Nature; she was an afflicted being +from the right hand of God. She was a living monument of sin that was +not her own. It was useless to go farther. The child must be left where +God had placed her. + +But meanwhile, if Naomi lacked the senses of the rest of the human +kind, she seemed to communicate with Nature by other organs than they +possessed. It was as if the spiritual world itself must have taught her, +and from that source alone could she have imbibed her power. To tell of +all she could do to guide her steps, and to minister to her pleasures, +and to cherish her affections, would be to go beyond the limit of +belief. Truly it seemed as if Naomi, being blind with her bodily eyes, +could yet look upon a light that no one else could see, and, being deaf +with her bodily ears, could yet listen to voices that no one else could +hear. + +Thus, if she came skipping through the corridor of the patio, she knew +when any one approached her, for she would hold out her hands and stop. +Nay; but she knew also who it would be as well as if her eyes or ears +had taught her; for always, if it was her father, she reached out her +hands to take his left hand in both of hers, and then she pressed it +against her cheek; and always, if it was little Ali, she curved her arms +to encircle his neck; and always, if it was Fatimah, she leapt up to +her bosom; and always, if it was Habeebah, she passed her by. Did she go +with Ali into the streets, she knew the Mellah gate from the gate of +the town, and the narrow lanes from the open Sok. Did she pass the lofty +mosque in the market-place, she knew it from the low shops that nestled +under and behind and around. Did a troop of mules and camels come near +her, she knew them from a crowd of people; and did she pass where two +streets crossed, she would stand and face both ways. + +And as the years grew she came to know all places within and around +Tetuan, the town of the Moors and the Mellah of the Jews, the Kasbah +and the narrow lane leading up to it, the fort on the hill and the river +under the town walls, the mountains on either side of the valley, and +even some of their rocky gorges. She could find her way among them all +without help or guidance, and no control could any one impose upon her +to keep her out of the way of harm. While Ali was a little fellow he was +her constant companion, always ready for any adventure that her unquiet +heart suggested; but when he grew to be a boy, and was sent to school +every day early and late, she would fare forth alone save for a tiny +white goat which her father had bought to be another playfellow. + +And because feeling was sight to her, and touch was hearing, and the +crown of her head felt the winds of the heavens and the soles of her +feet felt the grass of the fields, she loved best to go bareheaded +whether the sun was high or the air was cool, and barefooted also, from +the rising of the morning until the coming of the stars. So, casting off +her slippers and the great straw hat which a Jewish maiden wears, and +clad in her white woollen shawl, wrapped loosely about her in folds of +airy grace, and with the little goat going before her, though she could +neither see nor hear it, she would climb the hill beyond the battery, +and stand on the summit, like a spirit poised in air. She could see +nothing of the green valley then stretched before her, or of the white +town lying below, with its domes and minarets, but she seemed to exult +in her lofty place, and to drink new life from the rush of mighty winds +about her. Then coming back to the dale, she would seem, to those who +looked up at her, with fear and with awe, to leap as the goat leapt +in the rocky places; and as a bird sweeps over the grass with wings +outstretched, so with her arms spread out, and her long fair hair flying +loose, she would sweep down the hill, as though her very tiptoes did not +touch it. + +By what power she did these things no man could tell, except it were +the power of the spiritual world itself; but the distemper of the mind, +which loved such dangers, increased upon her as she grew from a child +into a maid, and it found new ways of strangeness. Thus, in the spring, +when the rain fell heavily, or in the winter, when the great winds were +abroad, or in the summer, when the lightning lightened and the thunder +thundered, her restless spirit seemed to be roused to sympathetic +tumults, and if she could escape the eyes that watched her she would run +and race in the tempest, and her eyes would be aglitter, and laughter +would be on her lips. Then Israel himself would go out to find her, and, +having found her in the pelting storm without covering on her head or +shoes on her feet, he would fetch her home by the hand, and as they +passed through the streets together his forehead would be bowed and his +eyes bent down. + +But it was not always that Naomi made her father ashamed. More often her +joyful spirit cheered him, for above all things else she was a creature +of joy. A circle of joy seemed to surround her always. Her heart in its +darkness was full of radiance. As she grew her comeliness increased, +though this was strange and touching in her beauty, that her face did +not become older with her years, but was still the face of a child, with +a child's expression of sweetness through the bloom and flush of early +maidenhood. Her love of flowers increased also, and the sense of smell +seemed to come to her, for she filled the house with all fragrant +flowers in their season, twining them in wreaths about the white pillars +of the patio, and binding them in rings around the brown water-jars +that stood in it. And with the girl's expanding nature her love of dress +increased as well; but it was not a young maid's love of lovely things; +it was a wild passion for light, loose garments that swayed and swirled +in native grace about her. Truly she was a spirit of joy and gladness. +She was happy as a day in summer, and fresh as a dewy morning in spring. +The ripple of her laughter was like sunshine. A flood of sunshine seemed +to follow in the air wheresoever she went. And certainly for Israel, her +father, she was as a sunbeam gathering sunshine into his lonely house. + +Nevertheless, the sunbeam had its cloud-shapes of gloom, and if Israel +in his darker hours hungered for more human company, and wished that +the little playfellow of the angels which had come down to his dwelling +could only be his simple human child, he sometimes had his wish, and +many throbs of anguish with it. For often it happened, and especially +at seasons when no winds were stirring, and blank peace and a doleful +silence haunted the air, that Naomi would seem to fall into a sick +longing from causes that were beyond Israel's power to fathom. Then her +sweet face would sadden, and her beautiful blind eyes would fill, and +her pretty laughter would echo no more through the house. And sometimes, +in the dead of the night, she would rise from her bed and go through +the dark corridors, for darkness and light were as one to her, until she +came to Israel's room, and he would awake from his sleep to find her, +like a little white vision, standing by his bedside. What she wanted +there he could never know, for neither had he power to ask nor she to +answer, whether she were sick or in pain, or whether in her sleep she +had seen a face from the invisible world, and heard a voice that called +her away, or whether her mother's arms had seemed to be about her once +again and then to be torn from her afresh, and she had come to him on +awakening in her trouble, not knowing what it is to dream, but thinking +all evil dreams to be true fact and new sorrow. So, with a sigh, he +would arise and light his lamp and lead her back to her bed, and more +scalding than the tears that would be standing in Naomi's eyes would be +the hot drops that would gush into his own. + +"My poor darling," he would say, "can you not tell me your trouble, that +I may comfort you? No, no, she cannot tell me, and I cannot comfort her. +My darling, my darling." + +Most of all when such things befell would Israel long for some miracle +out of heaven to find a way to the little maiden's mind that she might +ask and answer and know, yet he dared not to pray for it, for still +greater than his pity for the child was his fear of the wrath of God. +And out of this fear there came to him at length an awful and terrible +thought: though so severed on earth, his child and he, yet before the +bar of judgment they would one day be brought together, and then how +should it stand with her soul? + +Naomi knew nothing of God, having no way of speech with man. Would God +condemn her for that, and cast her out for ever? No, no, no! God would +not ask her for good works in the land of silence, and for labour in the +land of night. She had no eyes to see God's beautiful world, and no ears +to hear His holy word. God had created her so, and He would not destroy +what He had made. Far rather would He look with love and pity on His +little one, so long and sorely tried on earth, and send her at last to +be a blessed saint in heaven. + +Israel tried to comfort himself so, but the effort was vain. He was a +Jew to the inmost fibre of his being, and he answered himself out of his +own mouth that it was his own sinful wish, and not God's will, that +had sent Naomi into the world as she was. Then, on the day of the great +account, how should he answer to her for her soul? + +Visions stood up before him of endless retribution for the soul that +knew not God. These were the most awful terrors of his sleepless nights, +but at length peace came to him, for he saw his path of duty. It was his +duty to Naomi that he should tell her of God and reveal the word of the +Lord to her! What matter if she could not hear? Though she had senses as +the sands of the seashore, yet in the way of light the Lord alone could +lead her. What matter though she could not see? The soul was the eye +that saw God, and with bodily eyes had no man seen Him. + +So every day thereafter at sunset Israel took Naomi by the hand and led +her to an upper room, the same wherein her mother died, and, fetching +from a cupboard of the wall the Book of the Law, he read to her of +the commandments of the Lord by Moses, and of the Prophets, and of the +Kings. And while he read Naomi sat in silence at his feet, with his one +free hand in both of her hands, clasped close against her cheek. + +What the little maid in her darkness thought of this custom, what +mystery it was to her and wherefore, only the eye that looks into +darkness could see; but it was so at length that as soon as the sun had +set--for she knew when the sun was gone--Naomi herself would take her +father by the hand, and lead him to the upper room, and fetch the book +to his knees. + +And sometimes, as Israel read, an evil spirit would seem to come to him, +and make a mock at him, and say, "The child is deaf and hears not--go +read your book in the tombs!" But he only hardened his neck and laughed +proudly. And, again, sometimes the evil spirit seemed to say, "Why waste +yourself in this misspent desire? The child is buried while she is still +alive, and who shall roll away the stone?" But Israel only answered, "It +is for the Lord to do miracles, and the Lord is mighty." + +So, great in his faith, Israel read to Naomi night after night, and when +his spirit was sore of many taunts in the day his voice would be hoarse, +and he would read the law which says, "_Thou shalt not curse the deaf, +nor put a stumbling-block before the blind._" But when his heart was +at peace his voice would be soft, and he would read of the child Samuel +sanctified to the Lord in the temple, and how the Lord called him and he +answered-- + +"_And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, +and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; and ere the lamp +of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was, +and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel, and he +answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou +calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and +lay down. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel rose and +went to Eli and said, Here am I for thou didst call me. And he answered, +I called not my son; lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the +Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him._" + +And, having finished his reading, Israel would close the book, and sing +out of the Psalms of David the psalm which says, "It is good for me that +I have been in trouble, that I may learn Thy statutes." + +Thus, night after night, when the sun was gone down, did Israel read +of the law and sing of the Psalms to Naomi, his daughter, who was both +blind and deaf. And though Naomi heard not, and neither did she see, yet +in their silent hour together there was another in their chamber always +with them--there was a third, for there was God. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE ANGEL IN ISRAEL'S HOUSE + + +When Israel had been some twenty years at Tetuan, Naomi being then +fourteen years of age, Ben Aboo, the Basha, married a Christian wife. +The woman's name was Katrina. She was a Spaniard by birth, and had +first come to Morocco at the tail of a Spanish embassy, which travelled +through Tetuan from Ceuta to the Sultan at Fez. What her belongings +were, and what her antecedents had been, no one appeared to know, nor +did Ben Aboo himself seem to care. She answered all his present needs in +her own person, which was ample in its proportions and abundant in its +charms. + +In marrying Ben Aboo, the wily Katrina imposed two conditions. The first +was, that he should put away the full Mohammedan complement of +four Moorish wives, whom he had married already as well as the many +concubines that he had annexed in his way through life, and now kept +lodged in one unquiet nest in the women's hidden quarter of the Palace. +The second condition was, that she herself should never be banished +to such seclusion, but, like the wife of any European governor, should +openly share the state of her husband. + +Ben Aboo was in no mood to stand on the rights of a strict Mohammedan, +and he accepted both of her conditions. The first he never meant to +abide by, but the second she took care he should observe, and, as a +prelude to that public life which she intended to live by his side, she +insisted on a public marriage. + +They were married according to the rites of the Catholic Church by a +Franciscan friar settled at Tangier, and the marriage festival lasted +six days. Great was the display, and lavish the outlay. Every morning +the cannon of the fort fired a round of shot from the hill, every +evening the tribesmen from the mountains went through their feats of +powder-play in the market-place, and every night a body of Aissawa from +Mequinez yelled and shrieked in the enclosure called the M'salla, near +the Bab er-Remoosh. Feasts were spread in the Kasbah, and relays of +guests from among the chief men of the town were invited daily to +partake of them. + +No man dared to refuse his invitation, or to neglect the tribute of a +present, though the Moors well knew that they were lending the light +of their countenance to a brazen outrage on their faith, and though +it galled the hearts of the Jews to make merry at the marriage of a +Christian and a Muslim--no man except Israel, and he excused himself +with what grace he could, being in no mood for rejoicing, but sick with +sorrow of the heart. + +The Spanish woman was not to be gainsaid. She had taken her measure of +the man, and had resolved that a servant so powerful as Israel should +pay her court and tribute before all. Therefore she caused him to be +invited again; but Israel had taken his measure of the woman, and with +some lack of courtesy he excused himself afresh. + +Katrina was not yet done. She was a creature of resource, and having +heard of Naomi with strange stories concerning her, she devised a +children's feast for the last day of the marriage festival, and +caused Ben Aboo to write to Israel a formal letter, beginning "To our +well-beloved the excellent Israel ben Oliel, Praise to the one God," +and setting forth that on the morrow, when the "Sun of the world" should +"place his foot in the stirrup of speed," and gallop "from the kingdom +of shades," the Governor would "hold a gathering of delight" for all the +children of Tetuan and he, Israel, was besought to "lighten it with the +rays of his face, rivalled only by the sun," and to bring with him +his little daughter Naomi, whose arrival "similar to a spring breeze," +should "dissipate the dark night of solitude and isolation." This +despatch written in the common cant of the people, concluded with +quotations from the Prophet on brotherly love and a significant and +more sincere assurance that the Basha would not admit of excuses "of the +thickness of a hair." + +When Israel received the missive, his anger was hot and furious. He +leapt to the conclusion that, in demanding the presence of Naomi, the +Spanish woman, who must know of the child's condition desired only to +make a show of it. But, after a fume, he put that thought from him as +uncharitable and unwarranted, and resolved to obey the summons. + +And, indeed, if he had felt any further diffidence, the sight of Naomi's +own eagerness must have driven it away. The little maid seemed to know +that something unusual was going on. Troops of poor villagers from every +miserable quarter of the bashalic came into the town each day, beating +drums, firing long guns, driving their presents before them--bullocks, +cows, and sheep--and trying to make believe that they rejoiced and +were glad. Naomi appeared to be conscious of many tents pitched in +the marketplace, of denser crowds in the streets, and of much bustle +everywhere. + +Also she seemed to catch the contagion of little Ali's excitement. The +children of all the schools of the town, both Jewish and Moorish, had +been summoned through their Talebs to the festival; there was to be +dancing and singing and playing on musical instruments and Ali himself, +who had lately practised the kanoon--the lute, the harp--under his +teacher, was to show his skill before the Governor. Therefore, great +was the little black man's excitement, and, in the fever of it, he would +talk to every one of the event forthcoming--to Fatima, to Habeebah, and +often to Naomi also, until the memory of her infirmity would come to +him, or perhaps the derisive laugh of his schoolfellows would stop him, +and then, thinking they were laughing at the girl, he would fall on them +like a fury, and they would scamper away. + +When the great day came, Ali went off to the Kasbah with his school and +Taleb, in the long procession of many schools and many Talebs. Every +child carried a present for the rich Basha; now a boy with a goat, then +a girl with a lamb, again a poor tattered mite with a hen, all cuddling +them close like pets they must part with, yet all looking radiantly +happy in their sweet innocency, which had no alloy of pain from the tree +of the knowledge of good and evil. + +Israel took Naomi by the hand, but no present with either of them, and +followed the children, going past the booths, the blind beggars, the +lepers, and the shrieking Arabs that lay thick about the gate, through +the iron-clamped door, and into the quadrangle, where groups of women +stood together closely covered in their blankets--the mothers and +sisters of the children, permitted to see their little ones pass into +the Kasbah, but allowed to go no farther--then down the crooked passage, +past the tiny mosque, like a closet, and the bath, like a dungeon, and +finally into the pillared patio, paved and walled with tiles. + +This was the place of the festival, and it was filled already with a +great company of children, their fathers and their teachers. Moors, +Arabs, Berbers, and Jews, clad in their various costumes of white +and blue and black and red--they were a gorgeous, a voluptuous, and, +perhaps, a beautiful spectacle in the morning sunlight. + +As Israel entered, with Naomi by the hand, he was conscious that every +eye was on them, and as they passed through the way that was made +for them, he heard the whispered exclamations of the people. "Shoof!" +muttered a Moor. "See!" "It's himself," said a Jew. "And the child," +said another Jew. "Allah has smitten her," said an Arab "Blind and +dumb and deaf," said another Moor "God be gracious to my father!" said +another Arab. + +Musicians were playing in the gallery that ran round the court, and +from the flat roof above it the women of the Governor's hareem, not yet +dispersed, his four lawful Mohammedan wives, and many concubines, were +gazing furtively down from behind their haiks. There was a fountain in +the middle of the patio, and at the farther end of it, within an +alcove that opened out of a horseshoe arch, beneath ceilings hung with +stalactites, against walls covered with silken haities, and on Rabat +rugs of many colours, sat Ben Aboo and his Christian bride. + +It was there that Israel saw the Spaniard for the first time, and at +the instant of recognition he shivered as with cold. She was a handsome +woman, but plainly a heartless one--selfish, vain, and vulgar. + +Ben Aboo hailed Israel with welcomes and peace-blessings, and Katrina +drew Naomi to her side. + +"So this is the little maid of whom wonderful rumours are so rife?" said +Katrina. + +Israel bent his head and shuddered at seeing the child at the woman's +feet. + +"The darling is as fair as an angel," said Katrina, and she kissed +Naomi. + +The kiss seemed to Israel to smite his own cheeks like a blow. + +Then the performances of the children began, and truly they made a +pretty and affecting sight; the white walls, the deep blue sky, the +black shadows of the gallery, the bright sunlight, the grown people +massed around the patio, and these sweet little faces coming and going +in the middle of it. First, a line of Moorish girls in their embroidered +hazzams dancing after their native fashion, bending and rising, twisting +and turning, but keeping their feet in the same place constantly. Then, +a line of Jewish girls in their kilted skirts dancing after the Jewish +manner tripping on their slippered toes, whirling and turning around +with rapid motions, and playing timbrels and tambourines held high above +their heads by their shapely arms and hands. Then passages of the +Koran chanted by a group of Moorish boys in their jellabs, purple and +chocolate and white, peaked above their red tarbooshes. Then a psalm by +a company of Jewish boys in their black skull-caps--a brave old song +of Zion sung by silvery young voices in an alien land. Finally, little +black Ali, led out by his teacher, with his diminutive Moorish harp in +his hands, showing no fear at all, but only a negro boy's shy looks of +pleasure--his head aside, his eyes gleaming, his white teeth glinting, +and his face aglow. + +Now down to this moment Naomi, at the feet of the woman, had been +agitated and restless, sometimes rising, then sinking back, sometimes +playing with her nervous fingers, and then pushing off her slippers. +It was as though she was conscious of the fine show which was going +forward, and knew that they were children who were making it. Perhaps +the breath of the little ones beat her on the level of her cheeks, or +perhaps the light air made by the sweep of their garments was wafted to +her sensitive body. Whatsoever the sense whereby the knowledge came to +her, clearly it was there in her flushed and twitching face, which was +full of that old hunger for child-company which Israel knew too well. + +But when little Ali was brought out and he began to play on his kanoon, +his harp, it was impossible to repress Naomi's excitement. The girl +leaped up from her place at the woman's feet, and with the utmost +rapidity of motion she passed like a gleam of light across the patio to +the boy's side. And, being there, she touched the harp as he played it, +and then a low cry came from her lips. Again she touched it, and her +eyes, though blind, seemed for an instant to flame like fire. Then, with +both her hands she clung to it, and with her lips and her tongue she +kissed it, while her whole body quivered like a reed in the wind. + +Israel saw what she did, and his very soul trembled at the sight with +wild thoughts that did not dare to take the name of hope. As well as he +could in the confusion of his own senses he stepped forward to draw the +little maiden back but the wife of the Governor called on him to leave +her. + +"Leave her!" she cried. "Let us see what the child will do!" + +At that moment Ali's playing came to as end, and the boy let the harp +pass to Naomi's clinging fingers, and then, half sitting, half kneeling +on the ground beside it, the girl took it to herself. She caressed it, +she patted it with her hand, she touched its strings, and then a faint +smile crossed her rosy lips. She laid her cheek against it and touched +its strings again, and then she laughed aloud. She flung off her +slippers and the garment that covered her beautiful arms, and laid +her pure flesh against the harp wheresoever her flesh might cling, and +touched its strings once more, and then her very heart seemed to laugh +with delight. + +Now, what is to follow will seem to be no better than a superstitious +saying, but true it is, nevertheless, and simple sooth for all it sounds +so strange, that though Naomi was deaf as the grave, and had never yet +heard music, and though she was untaught and knew nothing of the notes +of a harp to strike them yet she swept the strings to strange sounds +such as no man had ever listened to before and none could follow. + +It was not music that the little maiden made to her ear, but only motion +to her body, and just as the deaf who are deaf alone are sometimes found +to take pleasure in all forms of percussion, and to derive from them +some of the sensations of sound--the trembling of the air after thunder, +the quivering of the earth after cannon, and the quaking of vast walls +after the ringing of mighty bells--so Naomi, who was blind as well and +had no sense save touch, found in her fingers, which had gathered up the +force of all the other senses, the power to reproduce on this instrument +of music the movement of things that moved about her--the patter of the +leaves of the fig-tree in the patio of her home, the swirl of the great +winds on the hill-top, the plash of rain on her face, and the rippling +of the levanter in her hair. + +This was all the witchery of Naomi's playing, yet, because every emotion +in Nature had its harmony, so there was harmony of some wild sort in the +music that was struck by the girl's fingers out of the strings of the +harp. But, more than her music, which was perhaps, only a rhapsody of +sound, was the frenzy of the girl herself as she made it. She lifted +her head like a bird, her throat swelled, her bosom heaved, and as she +played, she laughed again and again. + +There was something fascinating and magical in the spectacle of the +beautiful fair face aglow with joy, the rounded limbs (visible through +the robes) clinging to the sides of the harp, and the delicate white +fingers flying across the strings. There was something gruesome and +awful, as well, for the face of the girl was blind, and her ears heard +nothing of the sounds that her fingers were making. + +Every eye was on her, and in the wide circle around every mouth was +agape. And when those who looked on and listened had recovered from +their first surprise, very strange and various were the whispered words +they passed between them. "Where has she learnt it?" asked a Moor. +"From her master himself," muttered a Jew. "Who is it?" asked the Moor. +"Beelzebub," growled the Jew. "God pity me, the evil eye is on her," +said an Arab. "God will show," said a Shereef from Wazzan. "They say +her mother was a childless woman, and offered petitions for Hannah's +blessing at the tomb of Rabbi Amran." "No," said the Arab; "she sent her +girdle." "Anyhow, the child is a saint," whispered the Shereef. "No, but +a devil," snorted the Jew. + +"Brava, brava, brava!" cried the new wife of Ben Aboo, and she cheered +and laughed as the girl played. "What did I tell you?" she said, looking +toward her husband. "The child is not deaf, no, nor blind either. Oh, +it's a brave imposture! Brava, brave!" + +Still the little maiden played, but now her brow was clouded, her head +dropped, her eyelashes were downcast, and she hung over the harp and +sighed audibly. + +"Good again!" cried the woman. "Very good!" and she clapped her +hands, whereupon the Arabs and the Moors, forgetting their dread, felt +constrained to follow her example, and they cheered in their wilder way, +but the Jews continued to mutter, "Beelzebub, Beelzebub!" + +Israel saw it all, and at first, amid the commotion of his mind and the +confusion of his senses, his heart melted at sight of what Naomi did. +Had God opened a gateway to her soul? Were the poor wings of her spirit +to spread themselves out at last? Was this, then, the way of speech +that Heaven had given her? But hardly had Israel overflowed with the +tenderness of such thoughts when the bleating and barking of the faces +about him awakened his anger. Then, like blows on his brain, came the +cries of the wife of the Governor, who cheered this awakening of +the girl's soul as it were no better than a vulgar show; and at that +Israel's wrath rose to his throat. + +"Brava, brava!" cried the woman again; and, turning to Israel, she said, +"You shall leave the child with me. I must have her with me always." + +Israel's throat seemed to choke him at that word. He looked at Katrina, +and saw that she was a woman lustful of breath and vain of heart, who +had married Ben Aboo because he was rich. Then he looked at Naomi, +and remembered that her heart was clear as the water, and sweet as the +morning, and pure as the snow. + +And at that moment the wife of the Governor cheered again, and again the +people echoed her, and even the women on the housetops made bold to +take up her cry with their cooing ululation. The playing had ceased, the +spell had dissolved, Naomi's fingers had fallen from the harp, her head +had dropped into her breast, and with a sigh she had sunk forward on to +her face. + +"Take her in!" said the wife of Ben Aboo, and two Arab soldiers stepped +up to where the little maiden lay. But before they had touched her +Israel strode out with swollen lips and distended nostrils. + +"Stop!" he cried. + +The Arabs hesitated, and looked towards their master. + +"Do as you are bidden--take her in!" said Ben Aboo. + +"Stop!" cried Israel again, in a loud voice that rang through the court. +Then, parting the Arabs with a sweep of his arms, he picked up the +unconscious maiden, and faced about on the new wife of Ben Aboo. + +"Madam," he cried, "I, Israel ben Oliel, may belong to the Governor, but +my child belongs to me." + +So saying, he passed out of the court, carrying the girl in his arms, +and in the dead silence and blank stupor of that moment none seemed to +know what he had done until he was gone. + +Israel went home in his anger; but nevertheless, out of this event he +found courage in his heart to begin his task again. Let his enemies +bleat and bark "Beelzebub," yet the child was an angel, though suffering +for his sin, and her soul was with God. She was a spirit, and the songs +she had played were the airs of paradise. But, comforting himself so, +Israel remembered the vision of Ruth, wherein Naomi had recovered her +powers. He had put it from him hitherto as the delirium of death, but +would the Lord yet bring it to pass? Would God in His mercy some day +take the angel out of his house, though so strangely gifted, so radiant +and beautiful and joyful, and give him instead for the hunger of his +heart as a man this sweet human child, his little, fair-haired Naomi, +though helpless and simple and weak? + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VISION OF THE SCAPEGOAT + + +Israel's instinct had been sure: the coming of Katrina proved to be +the beginning of his end. He kept his office, but he lost his power. No +longer did he work his own will in Tetuan; he was required to work the +will of the woman. Katrina's will was an evil one, and Israel got the +blame of it, for still he seemed to stand in all matters of tribute and +taxation between the people and the Governor. It galled him to take the +woman's wages, but it vexed him yet more to do her work. Her work was to +burden the people with taxes beyond all their power of paying; her wages +was to be hated as the bane of the bashalic, to be clamoured against +as the tyrant of Tetuan, and to be ridiculed by the very offal of the +streets. + +One day a gang of dirty Arabs in the market-place dressed up a blind +beggar in clothes such as Israel wore, and sent him abroad through the +town to beg as one that was destitute and in a miserable condition. But +nothing seemed to move Israel to pity. Men were cast into prison for no +reason save that they were rich, and the relations of such as were there +already were allowed to redeem them for money, so that no felon suffered +punishment except such as could pay nothing. People took fright and fled +to other cities. Israel's name became a curse and a reproach throughout +Barbary. + +Yet all this time the man's soul was yearning with pity for the people. +Since the death of Ruth his heart had grown merciful. The care of the +child had softened him. It had brought him to look on other children +with tenderness, and looking tenderly on other children had led him to +think of other fathers with compassion. Young or old, powerful or weak, +mighty or mean, they were all as little children--helpless children who +would sleep together in the same bed soon. + +Thinking so, Israel would have undone the evil work of earlier years; +but that was impossible now. Many of them that had suffered were +dead; some that had been cast into prison had got their last and long +discharge. At least Israel would have relaxed the rigour whereby his +master ruled, but that was impossible also. Katrina had come, and she +was a vain woman and a lover of all luxury, and she commanded Israel to +tax the people afresh. He obeyed her through three bad years; but many +a time his heart reproached him that he dealt corruptly by the poor +people, and when he saw them borrowing money for the Governor's tributes +on their lands and houses, and when he stood by while they and their +sons were cast into prison for the bonds which they could not pay to the +usurers Abraham or Judah or Reuben, then his soul cried out against him +that he ate the bread of such a mistress. + +But out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth +sweetness, and out of this coming of the Spanish wife of Ben Aboo came +deliverance for Israel from the torment of his false position. + +There was an aged and pious Moor in Tetuan, called Abd Allah, who was +rumoured to have made savings from his business as a gunsmith. Going to +mosque one evening, with fifteen dollars in his waistband, he unstrapped +his belt and laid it on the edge of the fountain while he washed his +feet before entering, for his back was no longer supple. Then a younger +Moor, coming to pray at the same time, saw the dollars, and snatched +them up and ran. Abd Allah could not follow the thief, so he went to the +Kasbah and told his story to the Governor. + +Just at that time Ben Aboo had the Kaid of Fez on a visit to him. "Ask +him how much more he has got," whispered the brother Kaid to Ben Aboo. + +Abd Allah answered that he did not know. + +"I'll give you two hundred dollars for the chance of all he has," the +Kaid whispered again. + +"Five bees are better than a pannier of flies--done!" said Ben Aboo. + +So Abd Allah was sold like a sheep and carried to Fez, and there cast +into prison on a penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars imposed upon +him on the pretence of a false accusation. + +Israel sat by the Governor that day at the gate of the hall of justice, +and many poor people of the town stood huddled together in the court +outside while the evil work was done. No one heard the Kaid of Fez when +he whispered to Ben Aboo, but every one saw when Israel drew the warrant +that consigned the gunsmith to prison, and when he sealed it with the +Governor's seal. + +Abd Allah had made no savings, and, being too old for work, he had lived +on the earnings of his son. The son's name was Absalam (Abd es-Salem), +and he had a wife whom he loved very tenderly, and one child, a boy of +six years of age. Absalam followed his father to Fez, and visited him in +prison. The old man had been ordered a hundred lashes, and the flesh was +hanging from his limbs. Absalam was great of heart, and, in pity of his +father's miserable condition he went to the Governor and begged that the +old man might be liberated, and that he might be imprisoned instead. +His petition was heard. Abd Allah was set free, Absalam was cast into +prison, and the penalty was raised from two hundred and fifty dollars to +three hundred. + +Israel heard of what had happened, and he hastened to Ben Aboo, in great +agitation, intending to say "Pay back this man's ransom, in God's name, +and his children and his children's children will live to bless you." +But when he got to the Kasbah, Katrina was sitting with her husband, and +at sight of the woman's face Israel's tongue was frozen. + +Absalam had been the favourite of his neighbours among all the gunsmiths +of the market-place, and after he had been three months at Fez they +made common cause of his calamities, sold their goods at a sacrifice, +collected the three hundred dollars of his fine, bought him out of +prison, and went in a body through the gate to meet him upon his return +to Tetuan. But his wife had died in the meantime of fear and privation, +and only his aged father and his little son were there to welcome him. + +"Friends," he said to his neighbours standing outside the walls, "what +is the use of sowing if you know not who will reap?" + +"No use, no use!" answered several voices. + +"If God gives you anything, this man Israel takes it away," said +Absalam. + +"True, true! Curse him! Curse his relations!" cried the others. + +"Then why go back into Tetuan?" said Absalam. + +"Tangier is no better," said one. "Fez is worse," said another. "Where +is there to go?" said a third. + +"Into the plains," said Absalam--"into the plains and into the +mountains, for they belong to God alone." + +That word was like the flint to the tinder. + +"They who have least are richest, and they that have nothing are best +off of all," said Absalam, and his neighbours shouted that it was so. + +"God will clothe us as He clothes the fields," said Absalam, "and feed +our children as He feeds the birds." + +In three days' time ten shops in the market-place, on the side of the +Mosque, were sold up and closed, and the men who had kept them were gone +away with their wives and children to live in tents with Absalam on the +barren plains beyond the town. + +When Israel heard of what had been done he secretly rejoiced; but Ben +Aboo was in a commotion of fear, and Katrina was fierce with anger, for +the doctrine which Absalam had preached to his neighbours outside the +walls was not his own doctrine merely, but that of a great man lately +risen among the people, called Mohammed of Mequinez, nicknamed by his +enemies Mohammed the Third. + +"This madness is spreading," said Ben Aboo. + +"Yes," said Katrina; "and if all men follow where these men lead, who +will supply the tables of Kaids and Sultans?" + +"What can I do with them?" said Ben Aboo. + +"Eat them up," said Katrina. + +Ben Aboo proceeded to put a literal interpretation upon his wife's +counsel. With a company of cavalry he prepared to follow Absalam and his +little fellowship, taking Israel along with him to reckon their taxes, +that he might compel them to return to Tetuan, and be town-dwellers +and house-dwellers and buy and sell and pay tribute as before, or else +deliver themselves to prison. + +But Absalam and his people had secret word that the Governor was coming +after them, and Israel with him. So they rolled their tents, and fled to +the mountains that are midway between Tetuan and the Reef country, and +took refuge in the gullies of that rugged land, living in caves of the +rock, with only the table-land of mountain behind them, and nothing but +a rugged precipice in front. This place they selected for its safety, +intending to push forward, as occasion offered, to the sanctuaries of +Shawan, trusting rather to the humanity of the wild people, called the +Shawanis, than to the mercy of their late cruel masters. But the valley +wherein they had hidden is thick with trees, and Ben Aboo tracked them +and came up with them before they were aware. Then, sending soldiers +to the mountain at the back of the caves, with instructions that they +should come down to the precipice steadily, and kill none that they +could take alive, Ben Aboo himself drew up at the foot of it, and +Israel with him, and there called on the people to come out and deliver +themselves to his will. + +When the poor people came from their hiding-places and saw that they +were surrounded, and that escape was not left to them on any side, they +thought their death was sure. But without a shout or a cry they knelt, +as with one accord, at the mouth of the precipice, with their backs +to it, men and women and children, knee to knee in a line, and joined +hands, and looked towards the soldiers, who were coming steadily down on +them. On and on the soldiers came, eye to eye with the people, and their +swords were drawn. + +Israel gasped for his breath, and waited to see the people cut in pieces +at the next instant, when suddenly they began to sing where they knelt +at the edge of the precipice, "God is our refuge and our strength, a +very present help in trouble." + +In another moment the soldiers had drawn up as if swords from heaven +had fallen on them, and Israel was crying out of his dry throat, "Fear +nothing! Only deliver your bodies to the Governor, and none shall harm +you." + +Absalam rose up from his knees and called to his father and his son. +And standing between them to be seen by all, and first looking upon both +with eyes of pity, he drew from the folds of his selham a long knife +such as the Reefians wear, and taking his father by his white hair he +slew him and cast his body down the rocks. After that he turned towards +his son, and the boy was golden-haired and his face was like the +morning, and Israel's heart bled to see him. + +"Absalam!" he cried in a moving voice; "Absalam, wait, wait!" + +But Absalam killed his son also, and cast him down after his father. +Then, looking around on his people with eyes of compassion, as seeming +to pity them that they must fall again into the hands of Israel and his +master, he stretched out his knife and sheathed it in his own breast, +and fell towards the precipice. + +Israel covered his face and groaned in his heart, and said, "It is the +end, O Lord God, it is the end--polluted wretch that I am, with the +blood of these people upon me!" + +The companions of Absalam delivered themselves to the soldiers, who +committed them to the prison at Shawan, and Ben Aboo went home in +content. + +Rumour of what had come to pass was not long in reaching Tetuan, and +Israel was charged with the guilt of it. In passing through the streets +the next day on his way to his house the people hissed him openly. +"Allah had not written it!" a Moor shouted as he passed. "Take care!" +cried an Arab, "Mohammed of Mequinez is coming!" + +It chanced that night, after sundown, when Naomi, according to her wont, +led her father to the upper room, and fetched the Book of the Law from +the cupboard of the wall and laid it upon his knees, that he read the +passage whereon the page opened of itself, scarce knowing what he read +when he began to read it, for his spirit was heavy with the bad doings +of those days. And the passage whereon the book opened was this-- + +"_Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the Lord, and +the other lot for the scapegoat. . . . Then shall he kill the goat of +the sin-offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the +vail. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of +the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their +transgressions in all their sins. . . . And when he hath, made an end of +reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and +the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his +hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the +iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in +all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send +him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat +shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited._" + +That same night Israel dreamt a dream. He had been asleep, and +had awakened in a place which he did not know. It was a great arid +wilderness. Ashen sand lay on every side; a scorching sun beat down on +it, and nowhere was there a glint of water. Israel gazed, and slowly +through the blazing sunlight he discerned white roofless walls like the +ruins of little sheepfolds. "They are tombs," he told himself, "and this +is a Mukabar--an Arab graveyard--the most desolate place in the world +of God." But, looking again, he saw that the roofless walls covered the +ground as far as the eye could see, and the thought came to him that +this ashen desert was the earth itself, and that all the world of +life and man was dead. Then, suddenly, in the motionless wilderness, a +solitary creature moved. It was a goat, and it toiled over the hot sand +with its head hung down and its tongue lolled out. "Water!" it seemed +to cry, though it made no voice, and its eyes traversed the plain as if +they would pierce the ground for a spring. Fever and delirium fell upon +Israel. The goat came near to him and lifted up its eyes, and he saw its +face. Then he shrieked and awoke. The face of the goat had been the face +of Naomi. + +Now Israel knew that this was no more than a dream, coming of the +passage which he had read out of the book at sundown, but so vivid was +the sense of it that he could not rest in his bed until he had first +seen Naomi with his waking eyes, that he might laugh in his heart to +think how the eye of his sleep had fooled him. So he lit his lamp, and +walked through the silent house to where Naomi's room was on the lower +floor of it. + +There she lay, sleeping so peacefully, with her sunny hair flowing over +the pillow on either side of her beautiful face, and rippling in little +curls about her neck. How sweet she looked! How like a dear bud of +womanhood just opening to the eye! + +Israel sat down beside her for a moment. Many a time before, at such +hours, he had sat in that same place, and then gone his ways, and she +had known nothing of it. She was like any other maiden now. Her eyes +were closed, and who should see that they were blind? Her breath came +gently, and who should say that it gave forth no speech? Her face was +quiet, and who should think that it was not the face of a homely-hearted +girl? Israel loved these moments when he was alone with Naomi while she +slept, for then only did she seem to be entirely his own, and he was not +so lonely while he was sitting there. Though men thought he was strong, +yet he was very weak. He had no one in the world to talk to save Naomi, +and she was dumb in the daytime, but in the night he could hold little +conversations with her. His love! his dove! his darling! How easily he +could trick and deceive himself and think, She will awake presently, and +speak to me! Yes; her eyes will open and see me here again, and I +shall hear her voice, for I love it! "Father!" she will say. +"Father--father--" + +Only the moment of undeceiving was so cruel! + +Naomi stirred, and Israel rose and left her. As he went back to his bed, +through the corridor of the patio, he heard a night-cry behind him that +made his hair to rise. It was Naomi laughing in her sleep. + +Israel dreamt again that night, and he believed his second dream to be a +vision. It was only a dream, like the first; but what his dream would be +to us is nought, and what it was to him is everything. The vision as he +thought he saw it was this, and these were the words of it as he thought +he heard them-- + +It was the middle of the night, and he was lying in his own room, when +a dull red light as of dying flame crossed the foot of the bed, and a +voice that was as the voice of the Lord came out of it, crying "Israel!" + +And Israel was sorely afraid, and answered, "Speak, Lord, Thy servant +heareth." + +Then the Lord said, "Thou has read of the goats whereon the high priest +cast lots, one lot for the sin offering and one lot for the scapegoat." + +And Israel answered trembling, "I have read." + +Then the Lord said to Israel, "Look now upon Naomi, thy child, for +she is as the sin-offering for thy sins, to make atonement for thy +transgressions, for thee and for thy household, and therefore she is +dumb to all uses of speech, and blind to all service of sight, a soul +in chains and a spirit in prison, for behold, she is as the lot that is +cast for justice and for the Lord." + +And Israel groaned in his agony and cried, "Would that the lot had +fallen upon me, O Lord, that Thou mightest be justified when thou +speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest, for I alone am guilty before +Thee." + +Then said the Lord to Israel, "On thee, also, hath the lot fallen, even +the lot of the scapegoat of the enemies of the people of God." + +And Israel quaked with fear, and the Lord called to him again, and said, +"Israel, even as the scapegoat carries the iniquities of the people, so +cost thou carry the iniquities of thy master, Ben Aboo, and of his wife, +Katrina; and even as the goat bears the sins of the people into the +wilderness, so, in the resurrection, shalt thou bear the sins of this +man and of this woman into a land that no man knoweth." + +Then Israel wrestled no longer with the Lord, but sweated as it were +drops of blood, and cried, "What shall I do, O Lord?" + +And the Lord said, "Lie unto the morning, and then arise, get thee to +the country by Mequinez and to the man there whereof thou hast heard +tidings, and he shall show thee what thou shalt do." + +Then Israel wept with gladness, and cried, saying, "Shall my soul live? +Shall the lot be lifted from off me, and from off Naomi, my daughter?" + +But the Lord left him, the red light died out from across the bed, and +all around was darkness. + +Now to the last day and hour of his life Israel would have taken oath on +the Scriptures that he saw this vision, and he heard this voice, not in +his sleep and as in a dream, but awake, and having plain sight of all +common things about him--his room and his bed; and the canopy that +covered it. And on rising in the morning, at daydawn, so actual was the +sense of what he had seen and heard, and so powerful the impression of +it, that he straightway set himself to carry out the injunction it had +made, without question of its reality or doubt of its authority. + +Therefore, committing his household to the care of Ali, who was now +grown to be a stalwart black lad his constant right hand and helpmate, +Israel first sent to the Governor, saying he should be ten days absent +from Tetuan, and then to the Kasbah for a soldier and guide, and to the +market-place for mules. + +Before the sun was high everything was in readiness, and the caravan was +waiting at the door. Then Israel remembered Naomi. Where was the girl, +that he had not seen her that morning? They answered him that she had +not yet left her room, and he sent the black woman Fatimah to fetch +her. And when she came and he had kissed her, bidding her farewell in +silence, his heart misgave him concerning her, and, after raising his +foot to the stirrup, he returned to where she stood in the patio with +the two bondwomen beside her. + +"Is she well?" he asked. + +"Oh yes, well--very well," said Fatimah, and Habeebah echoed her. +Nevertheless, Israel remembered that he had not heard the only language +of her lips, her laugh, and, looking at her again, he saw that her face, +which had used to be cheerful, was now sad. At that he almost repented +of his purpose, and but for shame in his own eyes he might have gone +no farther, for it smote him with terror that, though she were sick, +nothing could she say to stay him, and even if she were dying she must +let him go his ways without warning. + +He kissed her again, and she clung to him, so that at last, with many +words of tender protest which she did not hear, he had to break away +from the beautiful arms that held him. + +Ali was waiting by the mules in the streets, and the soldier and guide +and muleteers and tentmen were already mounted, amid a chattering throng +of idle people looking on. + +"Ali, my lad," said Israel, "if anything should befall Naomi while I am +away, will you watch over her and guard her with all your strength?" + +"With all my life," said Ali stoutly. He was Naomi's playfellow no +longer, but her devoted slave. + +Then Israel set off on his journey. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ISRAEL'S JOURNEY + + +MOHAMMED of Mequinez, the man whom Israel went out to seek, had been a +Kadi and the son of a Kadi. While he was still a child his father died, +and he was brought up by two uncles, his father's brothers, both men of +yet higher place, the one being Naib es-sultan, or Foreign Minister, at +Tangier, and the other Grand Vizier to the Sultan at Morocco. Thus in a +land where there is one noble only, the Sultan himself, where ascent and +descent are as free as in a republic, though the ways of both are +mired with crime and corruption, Mohammed was come as from the highest +nobility. Nevertheless, he renounced his rank and the hope of wealth +that went along with it at the call of duty and the cry of misery. + +He parted from his uncles, abandoned his judgeship, and went out into +the plains. The poor and outcast and down-trodden among the people, the +shamed, the disgraced, and the neglected left the towns and followed +him. He established a sect. They were to be despisers of riches and +lovers of poverty. No man among them was to have more than another. They +were never to buy or sell among themselves, but every one was to give +what he had to him that wanted it. They were to avoid swearing, yet +whatever they said was to be firmer than an oath. They were to be +ministers of peace, and if any man did them violence they were never to +resist him. Nevertheless they were not to lack for courage, but to laugh +to scorn the enemies that tormented them, and smile in their pains and +shed no tear. And as for death, if it was for their glory they were to +esteem it more than life, because their bodies only were corruptible, +but their souls were immortal, and would mount upwards when released +from the bondage of the flesh. Not dissenters from the Koran, but +stricter conformers to it; not Nazarenes and not Jews, yet followers of +Jesus in their customs and of Moses in their doctrines. + +And Moors and Berbers, Arabs and Negroes, Muslimeen and Jews, heard the +cry of Mohammed of Mequinez, and he received them all. From the streets, +from the market-places, from the doors of the prisons, from the service +of hard masters, and from the ragged army itself, they arose in hundreds +and trooped after him. They needed no badge but the badge of poverty, +and no voice of pleading but the voice of misery. Most of them brought +nothing with them in their hands, and some brought little on their backs +save the stripes of their tormentors. A few had flocks and herds, which +they drove before them. A few had tents, which they shared with their +fellows; and a few had guns, with which they shot the wild boar for +their food and the hyena for their safety. Thus, possessing little and +desiring nothing, having neither houses nor lands, and only considering +themselves secure from their rulers in having no money, this company of +battered human wrecks, life-broken and crime-logged and stranded, +passed with their leader from place to place of the waste country about +Mequinez. And he, being as poor as they were, though he might have been +so rich, cheered them always, even when they murmured against him, as +Absalam had cheered his little fellowship at Tetuan: "God will feed +us as He feeds the birds of the air, and clothe our little ones as He +clothes the fields." + +Such was the man whom Israel went out to seek. But Israel knew his +people too well to make known his errand. His besetting difficulties +were enough already. The year was young, but the days were hot; a +palpitating haze floated always in the air, and the grass and the broom +had the dusty and tired look of autumn. It was also the month of the +fast of Ramadhan, and Israel's men were Muslims. So, to save himself the +double vexation of oppressive days and the constant bickerings of his +famished people, Israel found it necessary at length to travel in the +night. In this way his journey was the shorter for the absence of some +obstacles, but his time was long. + +And, just as he had hidden his errand from the men of his own caravan, +so he concealed it from the people of the country that he passed +through, and many and various, and sometimes ludicrous and sometimes +very pitiful were the conjectures they made concerning it. While he was +passing through his own province of Tetuan, nothing did the poor people +think but that he had come to make a new assessment of their lands and +holdings, their cattle and belongings, that he might tax them afresh and +more fully. So, to buy his mercy in advance, many of them came out of +their houses as he drew near, and knelt on the ground before his horse, +and kissed the skirts of his kaftan, and his knees, and even his foot +in his stirrup, and called him _Sidi_ (master, my lord), a title never +before given to a Jew, and offered him presents out of their meagre +substance. + +"A gift for my lord," they would say, "of the little that God has given +us, praise His merciful name for ever!" + +Then they would push forward a sheep or a goat, or a string of hens tied +by the legs so as to hang across his saddle-bow, or, perhaps, at the two +trembling hands of an old woman living alone on a hungry scratch of land +in a desolate place, a bowl of buttermilk. + +Israel was touched by the people's terror, but he betrayed no feeling. + +"Keep them," he would answer; "keep them until I come again," intending +to tell them, when that time came, to keep their poor gifts altogether. + +And when he had passed out of the province of Tetuan into the bashalic +of El Kasar, the bareheaded country-people of the valley of the Koos +hastened before him to the Kaid of that grey town of bricks and storks +and palm-trees and evil odours, and the Kaid, with another notion of his +errand, came to the tumble-down bridge to meet him on his approach in +the early morning. + +"Peace be with you!" said the Kaid. "So my lord is going again to the +Shereef at Wazzan; may the mercy of the Merciful protect him!" + +Israel neither answered yea nor nay, but threaded the maze of +crooked lanes to the lodging which had been provided for him near +the market-place, and the same night he left the town (laden with the +presents of the Kaid) through a line of famished and half-naked beggars +who looked on with feverish eyes. + +Next day, at dawn, he came to the heights of Wazzan (a holy city of +Morocco), by the olives and junipers and evergreen oaks that grow at the +foot of the lofty, double-peaked Boo-Hallal, and there the young grand +Shereef himself, at the gate of his odorous orange-gardens, stood +waiting to give audience with yet another conjecture as to the intention +of his journey. + +"Welcome! welcome!" said the Shereef; "all you see is yours until Allah +shall decree that you leave me too soon on your happy mission to our +lord the Sultan at Fez--may God prolong his life and bless him!" + +"God make you happy!" said Israel, but he offered no answer to the +question that was implied. + +"It is twenty and odd years, my lord," the Shereef continued, "since my +father sent for you out of Tetuan, and many are the ups and downs that +time has wrought since then, under Allah's will; but none in the past +have been so grateful as the elevation of Israel ben Oliel, and none in +the future can be so joyful as the favours which the Sultan (God keep +our lord Abd er-Rahman!) has still in store for him." + +"God will show," said Israel. + +No Jew had ever yet ridden in this Moroccan Mecca; but the Shereef +alighted from his horse and offered it to Israel, and took Israel's +horse instead and together they rode through the market-place, and past +the old Mosque that is a ruin inhabited by hawks and the other mosque +of the Aissawa, and the three squalid fondaks wherein the Jews live +like cattle. A swarm of Arabs followed at their heels in tattered greasy +rags, a group of Jews went by them barefoot and a knot of bedraggled +renegades leaning against the walls of the prison doffed the caps from +their dishevelled heads and bowed. + +That day, while the poor people of the town fasted according to the +ordinance of the Ramadhan, Israel's little company of Muslimeen--guests +in the house of the descendants of the Prophet--were, by special +Shereefian dispensation, permitted as travellers to eat and drink at +their pleasure. And before sunset, but at the verge of it, Israel and +his men started on their journey afresh, going out of the town, with +the Shereef's black bodyguard riding before them for guide and badge of +honour, through the dense and noisome market-place, where (like a clock +that is warning to strike) a multitude of hungry and thirsty people with +fierce and dirty faces, under a heavy wave of palpitating heat, and amid +clouds of hot dust, were waiting for the sound of the cannon that should +proclaim the end of that day's fast. Water-carriers at the fountains +stood ready to fill their empty goats' skins, women and children sat on +the ground with dishes of greasy soup on their knees and balls of grain +rolled in their fingers, men lay about holding pipes charged with keef, +and flint and tinder to light them, and the mooddin himself in the +minaret stood looking abroad (unless he were blind) to where the red sun +was lazily sinking under the plain. + +Israel's soul sickened within him, for well he knew that, lavish as were +the honours that were shown him, they were offered by the rich out of +their selfishness and by the poor out of their fear. While they thought +the Sultan had sent for him, they kissed his foot who desired no homage, +and loaded him with presents who needed no gifts. But one word out of +his mouth, only one little word, one other name, and what then of this +lip-service, and what of this mock-honour! + +Two days later Israel and his company reached before dawn the snake-like +ramparts of Mequinez the city of walls. And toiling in the darkness over +the barren plain and the belt of carrion that lies in front of the town, +through the heat and fumes of the fetid place, and amid the furious +barks of the scavenger dogs which prowl in the night around it, they +came in the grey of morning to the city gate over the stream called the +Father of Tortoises. The gate was closed, and the night police that kept +it were snoring in their rags under the arch of the wall within. + +"Selam! M'barak! Abd el Kader! Abd el Kareem!" shouted the Shereef's +black guard to the sleepy gate-keepers. They had come thus far in +Israel's honour, and would not return to Wazzan until they had seen him +housed within. + +From the other side of the gate, through the mist and the gloom, came +yawns and broken snores and then snarls and curses. "Burn your father! +Pretty hubbub in the middle of the night!" + +"Selam!" shouted one of the black guard. "You dog of dogs! Your father +was bewitched by a hyena! I'll teach you to curse your betters. Quick! +get up,--or I'll shave your beard. Open! or I'll ride the donkey on your +head! There!--and there!--and there again!" and at every word the butt +of his long gun rang on the old oaken gate. + +"Hamed el Wazzani!" muttered several voices within. + +"Yes," shouted the Shereef's man. "And my Lord Israel of Tetuan on his +way to the Sultan, God grant him victory. Do you hear, you dogs? Sidi +Israel el Tetawani sitting here in the dark, while you are sleeping and +snoring in your dirt." + +There was a whispered conference on the inside, then a rattle of keys, +and then the gate groaned back on its hinges. At the next moment two +of the four gatemen were on their knees at the feet of Israel's horse, +asking forgiveness by grace of Allah and his Prophet. In the meantime, +the other two had sped away to the Kasbah, and before Israel had +ridden far into the town, the Kaid--against all usage of his class and +country--ran and met him--afoot, slipperless, wearing nothing but selham +and tarboosh, out of breath, yet with a mouth full of excuses. + +"I heard you were coming," he panted--"sent for by the Sultan--Allah +preserve him!--but had I known you were to be here so soon--I--that +is--" + +"Peace be with you!" interrupted Israel. + +"God grant you peace. The Sultan--praise the merciful Allah!" the Kaid +continued, bowing low over Israel's stirrup--"he reached Fez from +Marrakesh last sunset; you will be in time for him." + +"God will show," said Israel, and he pushed forward. + +"Ah, true--yes--certainly--my lord is tired," puffed the Kaid, bowing +again most profoundly. "Well, your lodging is ready--the best in +Mequinez--and your mona is cooking--all the dainties of Barbary--and +when our merciful Abd er-Rahman has made you his Grand Vizier--" + +Thus the man chattered like a jay, bowing low at nigh every word, until +they came to the house wherein Israel and his people were to rest until +sunset; and always the burden of his words was the same--the Sultan, the +Sultan, the Sultan, and Abd er-Rahman, Abd er-Rahman! + +Israel could bear no more. "Basha," he said "it is a mistake; the Sultan +has not sent for me, and neither am I going to see him." + +"Not going to him?" the Kaid echoed vacantly. + +"No, but to another," said Israel; "and you of all men can best tell me +where that other is to be found. A great man, newly risen--yet a poor +man--the young Mahdi Mohammed of Mequinez." + +Then there was a long silence. + +Israel did not rest in Mequinez until sunset of that day. Soon after +sunrise he went out at the gate at which he had so lately entered, and +no man showed him honour. The black guard of the Shereef of Wazzan had +gone off before him, chuckling and grinning in their disgust, and behind +him his own little company of soldiers, guides, muleteers, and tentmen, +who, like himself, had neither slept nor eaten, were dragging along in +dudgeon. The Kaid had turned them out of the town. + +Later in the day, while Israel and his people lay sheltering within +their tents on the plain of Sais by the river Nagar, near the +tent-village called a Douar, and the palm-tree by the bridge, there +passed them in the fierce sunshine two men in the peaked shasheeah of +the soldier, riding at a furious gallop from the direction of Fez, and +shouting to all they came upon to fly from the path they had to pass +over. They were messengers of the Sultan, carrying letters to the Kaid +of Mequinez, commanding him to present himself at the palace without +delay, that he might give good account of his stewardship, or else +deliver up his substance and be cast into prison for the defalcations +with which rumour had charged him. + +Such was the errand of the soldiers, according to the country-people, +who toiled along after them on their way home from the markets at +Fez; and great was the glee of Israel's men on hearing it, for they +remembered with bitterness how basely the Kaid had treated them at last +in his false loyalty and hypocrisy. But Israel himself was too nearly +touched by a sense of Fate's coquetry to rejoice at this new freak of +its whim, though the victim of it had so lately turned him from his +door. Miserable was the man who laid up his treasure in money-bags and +built his happiness on the favour of princes! When the one was taken +from him and the other failed him, where then was the hope of that man's +salvation, whether in this world or the next? The dungeon, the chain, +the lash, the wooden jellab--what else was left to him? Only the wail +of the poor whom he has made poorer, the curse of the orphan whom he +has made fatherless, and the execration of the down-trodden whom he has +oppressed. These followed him into his prison, and mingled their cries +with the clank of his irons, for they were voices which had never yet +deserted the man that made them, but clamoured loud at the last when his +end had come, above the death-rattle in his throat. One dim hour waited +for all men always, whether in the prison or in the palace--one lonely +hour wherein none could bear him company--and what was wealth and +treasure to man's soul beyond it? Was it power on earth? Was it +glory? Was it riches? Oh! glory of the earth--what could it be but a +will-o'-the-wisp pursued in the darkness of the night! Oh! riches of +gold and silver--what had they ever been but marsh-fire gathered in the +dusk! The empire of the world was evil, and evil was the service of the +prince of it! + +Then Israel thought of Naomi, his sweet treasure--so far away. Though +all else fell from him like dry sand from graspless fingers, yet if by +God's good mercy the lot of the sin-offering could be lifted away from +his child, he would be content and happy! Naomi! His love! His darling! +His sweet flower afflicted for his transgression. Oh! let him lose +anything, everything, all that the world and all that the devil had +given him; but let the curse be lifted from his helpless child! For what +was gold without gladness, and what was plenty without peace? + +Israel lit upon the Mahdi at last in the country of the verbena and the +musk that lies outside the walls of Fez. The prophet was a young man of +unusual stature, but no great strength of body, with a head that drooped +like a flower and with the wild eyes of an enthusiast. His people were +a vast concourse that covered the plain a furlong square, and included +multitudes of women and children. Israel had come upon them at an evil +moment. The people were murmuring against their leader. Six months ago +they had abandoned their houses and followed him They had passed from +Mequinez to Rabat, from Rabat to Mazagan, from Mazagan to Mogador, from +Mogador to Marrakesh, and finally from Marrakesh through the treacherous +Beni Magild to Fez. At every step their numbers had increased but +their substance had diminished, for only the destitute had joined them. +Nevertheless, while they had their flocks and herds they had borne their +privations patiently--the weary journeys, the exposure, the long rains +of the spring and the scorching heat of summer. But the soldiers of the +Kaids whose provinces they had passed through had stripped them of both +in the name of tribute. The last raid on their poverty had been made +that very day by the Kaid of Fez, and now they were without goats or +sheep or oxen, or even the guns with which they had killed the wild +bear, and their children were crying to them for bread. + +So the people's faces grew black, and they looked into each other's eyes +in their impotent rage. Why had they been brought out of the cities to +starve? Better to stay there and suffer than come out and perish! What +of the vain promises that had been made to them that God would feed them +as He fed the birds! God was witness to all their calamities; He was +seeing them robbed day by day, He was seeing them famish hour by hour, +He was seeing them die. They had been fooled! A vain man had thought to +plough his way to power. Through their bodies he was now ploughing it. +"The hunger is on us!" "Our children are perishing!" "Find us food!" +"Food!" "Food!" + +With such shouts, mingled with deep oaths, the hungry multitude in their +madness had encompassed Mohammed of Mequinez as Israel and his company +came up with them. And Israel heard their cries, and also the voice of +their leader when he answered them. + +First the young prophet rose up among his people, with flashing eyes and +quivering nostrils. "Do you think I am Moses," he cried, "that I should +smite the rock and work you a miracle? If you are starving, am I full? +If you are naked, am I clothed?" + +But in another instant the fire of anger was gone from his face, and he +was saying in a very moving voice, "My good people, who have followed +me through all these miseries, I know that your burdens are heavier than +you can bear, and that your lives are scarce to be endured, and that +death itself would be a relief. Nevertheless, who shall say but that +Allah sees a way to avert these trials of His poor servants, and that, +unknown to us all, He is even at this moment bringing His mercy to pass! +Patience, I beg of you; patience, my poor people--patience and trust!" + +At that the murmurs of discontent were hushed. Then Israel remembered +the presents with which the Kaid of El Kasar and the Shereef of Wazzan +had burdened him. They were jewels and ornaments such as are sometimes +worn unlawfully by vain men in that country--silver signet rings and +earrings, chains for the neck, and Solomon's seal to hang on the breast +as safeguard against the evil eye--as well as much gold filagree of the +kind that men give to their women. Israel had packed them in a box +and laid them in the leaf pannier of a mule, and then given no further +thought to them; but, calling now to the muleteer who had charge of +them, he said, "Take them quickly to the good man yonder, and say, 'A +present to the man of God and to his people in their trouble.'" + +And when the muleteer had done this, and laid the box of gold and silver +open at the feet of the young Mahdi, saying what Israel had bidden him, +it was the same to the young man and his followers as if the sky had +opened and rained manna on their heads. + +"It is an answer to your prayer," he cried; "an angel from heaven has +sent it." + +Then his people, as soon as they realised what good thing had happened +to them, took up his shout of joy, and shouted out of their own parched +throats-- + +"Prophet of Allah, we will follow you to the world's end!" + +And then down on their knees they fell around him, the vast concourse of +men and women, all grinning like apes in their hunger and glee together, +and sobbing and laughing in a breath, like children, and sent up a great +broken cry of thanks to God that He had sent them succour, that they +might not die. At last, when they had risen to their feet again, every +man looked into the eyes of his fellow and said, as if ashamed, "I could +have borne it myself, but when the children called to me for bread. I +was a fool." + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WATCHWORD OF THE MAHDI + + +Early the next day Israel set his face homeward, with this old word of +the new prophet for his guide and motto: "Exact no more than is just; do +violence to no man; accuse none falsely; part with your riches and give +to the poor." That was all the answer he got out of his journey, and if +any man had come to him in Tetuan with no newer story, it must have been +an idle and a foolish errand; but after El Kasar, after Wazzan, after +Mequinez, and now after Fez, it seemed to be the sum of all wisdom. +"I'll do it," he said; "at all risks and all costs, I'll do it." + +And, as a prelude to that change in his way of life which he meant +to bring to pass he sent his men and mules ahead of him, emptied his +pockets of all that he should not need on his journey, and prepared to +return to his own country on foot and alone. The men had first gaped in +amazement, and then laughed in derision; and finally they had gone their +ways by themselves, telling all who encountered them that the Sultan +at Fez had stripped their master of everything, and that he was coming +behind them penniless. + +But, knowing nothing of this graceless service. Israel began his +homeward journey with a happy heart. He had less than thirty dollars in +his waistband of the more than three hundred with which he had set out +from Tetuan; he was a hundred and fifty miles from that town, or five +long days' travel; the sun was still hot, and he must walk in the +daytime. Surely the Lord would see it that never before had any man done +so much to wipe out God's displeasure as he was now doing and yet would +do. He had said nothing of Naomi to the Mahdi even when he told him of +his vision; but all his hopes had centred in the child. The lot of the +sin-offering must be gone from her now, and in the resurrection he would +meet her without shame. If he had brought fruits meet to repentance, +then must her debt also be wiped away. Surely never before had any child +been so smitten of God, and never had any father of an afflicted child +bought God's mercy at so dear a price! + +Such were the thoughts that Israel cherished secretly, though he dared +not to utter them, lest he should seem to be bribing God out of his love +of the child. And thus if his heart was glad as he turned towards home, +it was proud also, and if it was grateful it was also vain; but vanity +and pride were both smitten out of it in an hour, before he went through +the gates of Fez (wherein he had slept the night preceding), by three +sights which, though stern and pitiful, were of no uncommon occurrence +in that town and province. + +First, it chanced that as he was passing from the south-east of the new +town of Fez to the gate that is at the north-west corner, going by the +high walls of the Sultan's hareem, where there is room for a thousand +women, and near to the Karueein mosque that is the greatest in Morocco +and rests on eight hundred pillars, he came upon two slaveholders +selling twelve or fourteen slaves. The slaves were all girls, and all +black, and of varying ages, ranging from ten years to about thirty. They +had lately arrived in caravans from the Soudan, by way of Tafilet and +the Wargha, and some of them looked worn from the desert passage. Others +were fresh and cheerful, and such as had claims to negro beauty were +adorned, after their doubtful fashion, or the fancy of their masters, +with love-charms of silver worn about their necks, with their fingers +pricked out with hennah, and their eyelids darkened with kohl. Thus they +were drawn up in a line for public auction; but before the sale of them +could begin among the buyers that had gathered about them in the street, +the overseers of the Sultan's hareem had to come and make a selection +for their master. This the eunuchs presently did, and when two of them +nicknamed Areefahs--gaunt and hairless men, with the faces of evil old +women and the hoarse voices of ravens--had picked out three fat black +maidens, the business of the auction began by the sale of a negro girl +of seventeen who was brought out from the rest and passed around. + +"Now, brothers," said the slave-master, "look see; sound of wind and +limb--how much?" + +"Eighty dollars," said a voice from the crowd. + +"Eighty? Well, eighty to start with. Look at her--rosy lips, fit for the +kisses of a king, eh? How much?" + +"A hundred dollars." + +"A hundred dollars offered; only a hundred. It's giving the girl away. +Look at her teeth, brothers, white and sound." + +The slave-master thrust his thumb into the girl's mouth and walked her +round the crowd again. + +"Breath like new-mown hay, brothers. Now's the chance for true +believers. How much?" + +"A hundred and ten." + +"A hundred and ten--thanks, Sidi! A hundred and ten for this jewel of a +girl. Dirt cheap yet, brothers. Try her muscles. Look at her flesh. Not +a flaw anywhere. Pass her round, test her, try her, talk to her--she +speaks good Arabic. Isn't she fit for a Sultan? She's the best thing +I'll offer to-day, and by the Prophet, if you are not quick I'll keep +her for myself. Now, for the third and last time--seventeen years of +age, sound, strong, plump, sweet, and intact--how much?" + +Israel's blood tingled to see how the bidders handled the girl, and to +hear what shameless questions they asked of her, and with a long sigh he +was turning away from the crowd, when another man came up to it. The man +was black and old and hard-featured, and visibly poor in his torn white +selham. But when he had looked over the heads of those in front of him, +he made a great shout of anguish, and, parting the people, pushed his +way to the girl's side, and opened his arms to her, and she fell into +them with a cry of joy and pain together. + +It turned out that he was a liberated slave, who, ten years before, +had been brought from the Soos through the country of Sidi Hosain ben +Hashem, having been torn away from his wife, who was since dead, and +from his only child, who thus strangely rejoined him. This story he +told, in broken Arabic; to those that stood around, and, hard as were +the faces of the bidders, and brutal as was their trade; there was not +an eye among them all but was melted at his story. + +Seeing this, Israel cried from the back of the crowd, "I will give +twenty dollars to buy him the girl's liberty," and straightway another +and another offered like sums for the same purpose until the amount of +the last bid had been reached, and the slave-master took it, and the +girl was free. + +Then the poor negro, still holding his daughter by the hand, came to +Israel, with the tears dripping down his black cheeks, and said in his +broken way: "The blessing of Allah upon you, white brother, and if you +have a child of your own may you never lose her, but may Allah favour +her and let you keep her with you always!" + +That blessing of the old black man was more than Israel could bear, +and, facing about before hearing the last of it, he turned down the +dark arcade that descends into the old town as into a vault, and having +crossed the markets, he came upon the second of the three sights that +were to smite out of his heart his pride towards God. A man in a blue +tunic girded with a red sash, and with a red cotton handkerchief tied +about his head, was driving a donkey laden with trunks of light trees +cut into short lengths to lie over its panniers. He was clearly a +Spanish woodseller and he had the weary, averted, and downcast look of +a race that is despised and kept under. His donkey was a bony creature, +with raw places on its flank and shoulders where its hide had been worn +by the friction of its burdens. He drove it slowly; crying "Arrah!" to +it in the tongue of its own country, and not beating it cruelly. At +the bottom of the arcade there was an open place where a foul ditch was +crossed by a rickety bridge. Coming to this the man hesitated a moment, +as if doubtful whether to drive his donkey over it or to make the beast +trudge through the water. Concluding to cross the bridge, he cried +"Arrah!" again, and drove the donkey forward with one blow of his stick. +But when the donkey was in the middle of it, the rotten thing gave way, +and the beast and its burden fell into the ditch. The donkey's legs were +broken, and when a throng of Arabs, who gathered at the Spaniard's cry, +had cut away its panniers and dragged it out of the water on to the +paving-stones of the street, the film covered its eyes, and in a moment +it was dead. + +At that the man knelt down beside it, and patted it on its neck, and +called on it by its name, as if unwilling to believe that it was gone. +And while the Arabs laughed at him for doing so--for none seemed to pity +him--a slatternly girl of sixteen or seventeen came scudding down the +arcade, and pushed her way through the crowd until she stood where the +dead ass lay with the man kneeling beside it. Then she fell on the +man with bitter reproaches. "Allah blot out your name, you thief!" she +cried. "You've killed the creature, and may you starve and die yourself, +you dog of a Nazarene!" + +This was more than Israel could listen to, and he commanded the girl +to hold her peace. "Silence, you young wanton!" he cried, in a voice +of indignation. "Who are you, that you dare trample on the man in his +trouble?" + +It turned out that the girl was the man's daughter, and he was a +renegade from Ceuta. And when she had gone off, cursing Israel and his +father and his grandfather, the poor fellow lifted his eyes to Israel's +face, and said, "You are very kind, my father. God bless you! I may not +be a good man, sir, and I've not lived a right life, but it's hard when +your own children are taught to despise you. Better to lose them in +their cradles, before they can speak to you to curse you." + +Israel's hair seemed to rise from his scalp at that word, and he turned +about and hurried away. Oh no, no, no! He was not, of all men, the most +sorely tried. Worse to be a slave, torn from the arms he loves! Worse to +be a father whose children join with his enemies to curse him! + +He had been wrong. What was wealth, that it was so noble a sacrifice +to part with it? Money was to give and to take, to buy and to sell, +and that was all. But love was for no market, and he who lost it lost +everything. And love was his, and would be his always, for he loved +Naomi, and she clung to him as the hyssop clings to the wall. Let him +walk humbly before God, for God was great. + +Now these sights, though they reduced Israel's pride, increased his +cheerfulness, and he was going out at the gate with a humbler yet +lighter spirit, when he came upon a saint's house under the shadow of +the town walls. It was a small whitewashed enclosure, surmounted by a +white flag; and, as Israel passed it, the figure of a man came out to +the entrance. He was a poor, miserable creature--ragged, dirty, and with +dishevelled hair--and, seeing Israel's eyes upon him, he began to talk +in some wild way and in some unknown tongue that was only a fierce +jabber of sounds that had no words in them, and of words that had no +meaning. The poor soul was mad, and because he was distraught he was +counted a holy man among his people, and put to live in this place, +which was the tomb of a dead saint--though not more dead to the ways of +life was he who lay under the floor than he who lived above it. The +man continued his wild jabber as long as Israel's eyes were on him, and +Israel dropped two coins into his hand and passed on. + +Oh no, no, no; Naomi was not the most afflicted of all God's creatures. +And yet, and yet, and yet, her bodily infirmities were but the type and +sign of how her soul was smitten. + +On the hill outside the town the young Mahdi, with a great company of +his people, was waiting for him to bid him godspeed on his journey. +And then, while they walked some paces together before parting, and the +prophet talked of the poor followers of Absalam lying in the prison at +Shawan (for he had heard of them from Israel), Israel himself mentioned +Naomi. + +"My father," he said, "there is something that I have not told you." + +"Tell it now, my son," said the Mahdi. + +"I have a little daughter at home, and she is very sweet and beautiful. +You would never think how like sunshine she is to me in my lonely house, +for her mother is gone, and but for her I should be alone, and so she is +very near and dear to me. But she is in the land of silence and in the +land of night. Nothing can she see, and nothing hear, and never has +her voice opened the curtains of the air, for she is blind and dumb and +deaf." + +"Merciful Allah!" cried the Mahdi. + +"Ah! is her state so terrible? I thought you would think it so. Yes, for +all she is so beautiful, she is only as a creature of the fields that +knows not God." + +"Allah preserve her!" cried the Mahdi. + +"And she is smitten for my sin, for the Lord revealed it to me in the +vision, and my soul trembles for her soul. But if God has washed me with +water should not she also be clean?" + +"God knows," said the Mahdi. "He gives no rewards for repentance." + +"But listen!" said Israel. "In a vision of death her mother saw her, and +she was afflicted no more. No, for she could see, and hear, and speak. +Man of God, will it come to pass?" + +"God is good," said the Mahdi. "He needs that no man should teach Him +pity." + +"But I love her," cried Israel, "and I vowed to her mother to guard her. +She is joy of my joy and life of my life. Without her the morning has +no freshness and the night no rest. Surely the Lord sees this, and will +have mercy?" + +The Mahdi held back his tears, and answered, "The Lord sees all. Go your +way in trust. Farewell!" + +"Farewell!" + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ISRAEL'S HOME-COMING + + +ISRAEL'S return home was an experience at all points the reverse of his +going abroad. He had seven dollars in the pocket of his waistband on +setting away from Fez, out of the three hundred and more with which he +had started from Tetuan. His men had gone on before him and told their +story. So the people whom he came upon by the way either ignored him or +jeered at him, and not one that on his coming had run to do him honour +now stepped aside that he might pass. + +Two days after leaving Fez he came again to Wazzan. Women were going +home from market by the side of their camels, and charcoal-burners were +riding back to the country on the empty burdas of their mules. It +was nigh upon sunset when Israel entered the town, and so exactly +was everything the same that he could almost have tricked himself and +believed that scarce two minutes had passed since he had left it. There +at the fountains were the water-carriers waiting with their water-skins, +and there in the market-place sat the women and children with their +dishes of soup; there were the men by the booths with their pipes ready +charged with keef, and there was the mooddin in the minaret, looking +out over the plain. Everything was the same save one thing, and that +concerned Israel himself. No Grand Shereef stood waiting to exchange +horses with him, and no black guard led him through the town. Footsore +and dirty, covered with dust, and tired, he walked through the +streets alone. And when presently the voice rang out overhead, and the +breathless town broke instantly into bubbles of sounds--the tinkling +of the bells of the water-carriers, the shouts of the children, and the +calls of the men--only one man seemed to see him and know him. This was +an Arab, wearing scarcely enough rags to cover his nakedness, who was +bathing his hot cheeks in water which a water-carrier was pouring into +his hands, and he lifted his glistening face as Israel passed, and +called him "Dog!" and "Jew!" and commanded him to uncover his feet. + +Israel slept that night in one of the three squalid fondaks of Wazzan +inhabited by the Jews. His room was a sort of narrow box, in a square +court of many such boxes, with a handful of straw shaken over the earth +floor for a bed. On the doorpost the figure of a hand was painted in +red, and over the lintel there was a rude drawing of a scorpion, with an +imprecation written under it that purported to be from the mouth of +the Prophet Joshua, son of Nun. If the charm kept evil spirits from the +place of Israel's rest, it did not banish good ones. Israel slept in +that poor bed as he had never slept under the purple canopy of his own +chamber, and all night long one angel form seemed to hover over him. +It was Naomi. He could see her clearly. They were together in a little +cottage somewhere. The house was a mean one, but jasmine and marjoram +and pinks and roses grew outside of it, and love grew inside. And Naomi! +How bright were her eyes, for they could see! Yes, and her ears could +hear, and her tongue could speak! + +Two days after Israel left Wazzan he was back in the bashalic of Tetuan. +Each night he had dreamt the same dream, and though he knew each morning +when he awoke with a sigh that his dream was only a reflection of his +dead wife's vision, yet he could not help but think of it the long day +through. He tried to remember if he had ever seen the cottage with his +waking eyes, and where he had seen it, and to recall the voice of Naomi +as he had heard it in his dream, that he might know if it was the same +as he used to think he heard when he sat by her in his stolen watches of +the night while she lay asleep. Sometimes when he reflected he thought +he must be growing childish, so foolish was his joy in looking forward +to the night--for he had almost grown in love with it--that he might +dream his dream again. + +But it was a dear, delicious folly, for it helped him to bear the +troubles of his journey, and they were neither light nor few. After +passing through El Kasar he had been robbed and stripped both of his +small remaining moneys and the better part of his clothes by a gang of +ruffians who had followed him out of the town. Then a good woman--the +old wife, turned into the servant of a Moor who had married a young +one--had taken pity on his condition and given him a disused Moorish +jellab. His misfortune had not been without its advantage. Being forced +to travel the rest of his way home in the disguise of a Moor, he had +heard himself discussed by his own people when they knew nothing of his +presence. Every evil that had befallen them had been attributed to him. +Ben Aboo, their Basha, was a good, humane man, who was often driven to +do that which his soul abhorred. It was Israel ben Oliel who was their +cruel taxmaster. + +When Israel was within a day's journey of Tetuan a terrible scourge fell +upon the country. A plague of locusts came up like a dense cloud from +the direction of the desert, and ate up every leaf and blade of grass +that the scorching sun had left green, so that the plain over which it +had passed was as black and barren as a lava stream. The farmers +were impoverished, and the poorer people made beggars. Even this last +disaster they charged in their despair to Israel, for Allah was now +cursing them for Israel's sake. They were the same people that had +thrust their presents upon him when he was setting out. + +At the lonesome hut of the old woman who had offered him a bowl of +buttermilk Israel rested and asked for a drink of water. She gave him +a dish of zummetta--barley roasted like coffee--and inquired if he +was going on to Tetuan. He told her yes, and she asked if his home was +there. And when he answered that it was, she looked at him again, and +said in a moving way, "Then Allah help you, brother." + +"Why me more than another, sister?" said Israel. + +"Because it is plain to see that you are a poor man," said the old +woman. "And that is the sort he is hardest upon." + +Israel faltered and said, "He? Who, mother? Ah, you mean--" + +"Who else but Israel the Jew?" said she, and then added, as by a sudden +afterthought, "But they say he is gone at last, and the Sultan has +stripped him. Well, Allah send us some one else soon to set right this +poor Gharb of ours! And what a man for poor men he might have been--so +wise and powerful!" + +Israel listened with his head bent down, and, like a moth at the flame, +he could not help but play with the fire that scorched him. "They +tell me," he said, "that Allah has cursed him with a daughter that has +devils." + +"Blind and dumb, poor soul," said the old woman; "but Allah has pity for +the afflicted--he is taking her away." + +Israel rose. "Away?" + +"She is ill since her father went to Fez." + +"Ill?" + +"Yes, I heard so yesterday--dying." + +Israel made one loud cry like the cry of a beast that is slaughtered, +and fled out of the hut. Oh, fool of fools, why had he been dallying +with dreams--billing and cooing with his own fancies--fondling and +nuzzling and coddling them? Let all dreams henceforth be dead and damned +for ever; for only devils out of hell had made them that poor men's +souls might be staked and lost! Oh, why had he not remembered the pale +face of Naomi when he left her, and the silence of her tongue that had +used to laugh? Fool, fool! Why had he ever left her at all? + +With such thoughts Israel hurried along, sometimes running at his +utmost velocity, and then stopping dead short; sometimes shouting his +imprecations at the pitch of his voice and beating his fist against the +sharp aloes until it bled, and then whispering to himself in awe. + +Would God not hear his prayer? God knew the child was very near and dear +to him, and also that he was a lonely man. "Have pity on a lonely man, +O God!" he whispered. "Let me keep my child; take all else that I have, +everything, no matter what! Only let me keep her--yes, just as she is, +let me have her still! Time was when I asked more of Thee, but now I am +humble, and ask that alone." + +On his knees in a lonesome place, with the fierce sun beating down on +his uncovered head, amid the blackened leaves left by the locust, he +prayed this prayer, and then rose to his feet and ran. + +When he got to Tetuan the white city was glistening under the setting +sun. Then he thought of his Moorish jellab, and looked at himself, and +saw that he was returning home like a beggar; and he remembered with +what splendour he had started out. Should he wait for the darkness, and +creep into his house under the cover of it? If the thought had occurred +an hour before he must have scouted it. Better to brave the looks of +every face in Tetuan than be kept back one minute from Naomi. But now +that he was so near he was afraid to go in; and now that he was so soon +to learn the truth he dreaded to hear it. So he walked to and fro on the +heath outside the town, paltering with himself, struggling with himself, +eating out his heart with eagerness, trying to believe that he was +waiting for the night. + +The night came at length, and, under a deep-blue sky fast whitening with +thick stars, Israel passed unknown through the Moorish gate, which was +still open, and down the narrow lane to the market square. At the gate +of the Mellah, which was closed, he knocked, and demanded entrance in +the name of the Kaid. The Moorish guards who kept it fell back at sight +of him with looks of consternation. + +"Israel!" cried one, and dropped his lantern. + +Israel whispered, "Keep your tongue between your teeth!" and hurried on. + +At the door of his own house, which was also closed, he knocked again, +but more fearfully. The black woman Habeebah opened it cautiously, and, +seeing his jellab, she clashed it back in his face. + +"Habeebah!" he cried, and he knocked once more. + +Then Ali came to the door. "What Moorish man are you?" cried Ali, +pushing him back as he pressed forward. + +"Ali! Hush! It is I--Israel." + +Then Ali knew him and cried, "God save us! What has happened?" + +"What has happened here?" said Israel. "Naomi," he faltered, "what of +her?" + +"Then you have heard?" said Ali. "Thank God, she is now well." + +Israel laughed--his laugh was like a scream. + +"More than that--a strange thing has befallen her since you went away," +said Ali. + +"What?" + +"She can hear!" + +"It's a lie!" cried Israel, and he raised his hand and struck Ali to +the floor. But at the next minute he was lifting him up and sobbing and +saying, "Forgive me, my brave boy. I was mad, my son; I did not know +what I was doing. But do not torture me. If what you tell me is true, +there is no man so happy under heaven; but if it is false, there is no +fiend in hell need envy me." + +And Ali answered through his tears, "It is true, my father--come and +see." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BAPTISM OF SOUND + + +WHAT had happened at Israel's house during Israel's absence is a story +that may be quickly told. On the day of his departure Naomi wandered +from room to room, seeming to seek for what she could not find, and in +the evening the black women came upon her in the upper chamber where her +father had read to her at sunset, and she was kneeling by his chair and +the book was in her hands. + +"Look at her, poor child," said Fatimah. "See, she thinks he will come +as usual. God bless her sweet innocent face!" + +On the day following she stole out of the house into the town and made +her way to the Kasbah, and Ali found her in the apartments of the wife +of the Basha, who had lit upon her as she seemed to ramble aimlessly +through the courtyard from the Treasury to the Hall of Justice, and from +there to the gate of the prison. + +The next day after that she did not attempt to go abroad, and neither +did she wander through the house, but sat in the same seat constantly, +and seemed to be waiting patiently. She was pale and quiet and +silent; she did not laugh according to her wont, and she had a look of +submission that was very touching to see. + +"Now the holy saints have pity on the sweet jewel," said Fatimah. "How +long will she wait, poor darling?" + +On the morning of the day following that her quiet had given place to +restlessness, and her pallor to a burning flush of the face. Her hands +were hot, her head was feverish, and her blind eyes were bloodshot. + +It was now plain that the girl was ill, and that Israel's fears on +setting out from home had been right after all. And making his own +reckoning with Naomi's condition, Ali went off for the only doctor +living in Tetuan--a Spanish druggist living in the walled lane leading +to the western gate. This good man came to look at Naomi, felt her +pulse, touched her throbbing forehead, with difficulty examined her +tongue, and pronounced her illness to be fever. He gave some homely +directions as to her treatment--for he despaired of administering drugs +to such a one as she was--and promised to return the next day. + +About the middle of that night Naomi became delirious. Fatimah stood +constantly by her bed, bathing her hot forehead with vinegar and water; +Habeebah slept in a chair at her feet; and Ali crouched in a corner +outside the door of her room. + +The druggist came in the morning, according to his promise; but +there was nothing to be done, so he looked wise, wagged his head very +solemnly, and said, "I will come again after two days more, when the +fever must be near to its height, and bring a famous leech out of +Tangier along with me!" + +Meantime, Naomi's delirium continued. It was gentle as her own +spirit tent there was this that was strange and eerie about her +unconsciousness--that whereas she had been dumb while her mind in its +dark cell must have been mistress of itself and of her soul, she spoke +without ceasing throughout the time of her reason's vanquishment. Not +that her poor tongue in its trouble uttered speech such as those that +heard could follow and understand, but only a restless babble of empty +sounds, yet with tones of varying feeling, sometimes of gladness, +sometimes of sorrow, sometimes of remonstrance, and sometimes of +entreaty. + +All that night, and the next night also, the two black women sat +together by her bedside, holding each other's hands like little children +in great fear. Also Ali crouched again like a dog in the darkness +outside the door, listening in terror to the silvery young voice that +had never echoed in that house before. This was the night when Israel, +sleeping at the squalid inn of the Jews of Wazzan, was hearing Naomi's +voice in his dreams. + +At the first glint of daylight in the morning the lad was up and gone, +and away through the town-gate to the heath beyond, as far as to the +fondak, which stands on the hill above it, that he might strain his +wet eyes in the pitiless sunlight for Israel's caravan that should soon +come. On the first morning he saw nothing, but on the second morning he +came upon Israel's men returning without him, and telling their lying +story that he had been stripped of everything by the Sultan at Fez, and +was coming behind them penniless. + +Now, Israel was to Ali the greatest, noblest, mightiest man among men. +That he should fall was incredible, and that any man should say he had +fallen was an affront and an outrage. So, stripling as he was, the lad +faced the rascals with the courage of a lion. "Liars and thieves!" +he cried; "tell that story to another soul in Tetuan, and I will go +straight to the Kaid at the Kasbah, and have every black dog of you all +whipped through the streets for plundering my master." + +The men shouted in derision and passed on, firing their matchlocks as a +mock salute. But Ali had his will of them; they told their tale no +more, and when they entered Tetuan, and their fellows questioned them +concerning their journey, they took refuge in the reticence that sits by +right of nature on the tongues of Moors--they said and knew nothing. + +While Ali was on the heath looking out for Israel, the doctor out of +Tangier came to Naomi. The girl was still unconscious, and the +wise leech shook his head over her. Her case was hopeless; she was +sinking--in plain words, she was dying--and if her father did not come +before the morrow he would come too late to find her alive. + +Then the black women fell to weeping and wailing, and after that to +spiritual conflict. Both were born in Islam, but Fatimah had secretly +become a Jewess by persuasion of her mistress who was dead. She was, +therefore, for sending for the Chacham. But Habeebah had remained a +Muslim, and she was for calling the Imam. "The Imam is good, the Imam +is holy; who so good and holy as the Imam?" "Nay, but our Sidi holds +not with the Imam, for our lord is a Jew, and our lord is our master, our +lord is our sultan, our lord is our king." "Shoof! What is Sidi against +paradise? And paradise is for her who makes a follower of Moosa into a +follower of Mohammed. Let but the child die with the Kelmah on her +lips, and we are all three blest for ever--otherwise we will burn +everlastingly in the fires of Jehinnum." "But, alack! how can the poor +girl say the Kelmah, being as dumb as the grave?" "Then how can she say +the Shemang either?" + +Having heard the verdict of the doctor, Ali returned in hot haste and +silenced both the bondwomen: "The Imam is a villain, and the Chacham is +a thief." There was only one good man left in Tetuan, and that was his +own Taleb, his schoolmaster, the same that had taught him the harp +in the days of the Governor's marriage. This person was an old negro, +bewrinkled by years, becrippled by ague, once stone deaf, and still +partially so, half blind, and reputed to be only half wise, a liberated +slave from the Sahara, just able to read the Koran and the Torah, and +willing to teach either impartially, according to his knowledge, for he +was neither a Jew nor a Muslim, but a little of both, as he used to say, +and not too much of either. For such a hybrid in a land of intolerance +there must have been no place save the dungeons of the Kasbah, but that +this good nondescript was a privileged pet of everybody. In his dark +cellar, down an alley by the side of the Grand Mosque in the Metamar, +he had sat from early morning until sunset, year in year out, through +thirty years on his rush-covered floor, among successive generations +of his boys; and as often as night fell he had gone hither and thither +among the sick and dying, carrying comfort of kind words, and often meat +and drink of his meagre substance. + +Such was Ali's hero after Israel, and now, in Israel's absence and his +own great trouble, he tried away for him. + +"Father," cried the lad, "does it not say in the good book that the +prayer of a righteous man availeth much?" + +"It does, my son," said the Taleb "You have truth. What then?" + +"Then if you will pray for Naomi she will recover," said Ali. + +It was a sweet instance of simple faith. The old black Taleb dismissed +his scholars, closed down his shutter, locked it with a padlock, hobbled +to Naomi's bedside in his tattered white selham, looked down at her +through the big spectacles that sprawled over his broad black nose, and +then, while a dim mist floated between the spectacles and his eyes, and +a great lump rose at his throat to choke him, he fell to the floor and +prayed, and Ali and the black women knelt beside him. + +The negro's prayer was simple to childishness. It told God everything; +it recited the facts to the heavenly Father as to one who was far away +and might not know. The maiden was sick unto death. She had been three +days and nights knowing no one, and eating and drinking nothing. She was +blind and dumb and deaf. Her father loved her and was wrapped up in her. +She was his only child, and his wife was dead, and he was a lonely man. +He was away from his home now, and if, when he returned, the girl were +gone and lost--if she were dead and buried--his strong heart would be +broken and his very soul in peril. + +Such was the Taleb's prayer, and such was the scene of it--the dumb +angel of white and crimson turning and tossing on the bed in an aureole +of her streaming yellow hair, and the four black faces about her, eager +and hot and aflame, with closed eyelids and open lips, calling down +mercy out of heaven from the God that might be seen by the soul alone. + +And so it was, but whether by chance or Providence let no man dare to +tell, that even while the four black people were yet on their knees by +the bed, the turning and tossing of the white face stopped suddenly and +Naomi lay still on her pillow. The hot flush faded from her cheeks; her +features, which had twitched, were quiet; and her hands, which had been +restless, lay at peace on the counterpane. + +The good old Taleb took this for an answer to his prayer, and he shouted +"El hamdu l'Illah!" (Praise be to God), while the big drops coursed down +the deep furrows of his streaming face. And then, as if to complete +the miracle, and to establish the old man's faith in it, a strange and +wondrous thing befell. First, a thin watery humour flowed from one of +Naomi's ears, and after that she raised herself on her elbow. Her eyes +were open as if they saw; her lips were parted as though they were +breaking into a smile; she made a long sigh like one who has slept +softly through the night and has just awakened in the morning. + +Then, while the black people held their breath in their first moment +of surprise and gladness, her parted lips gave forth a sound. It was +a laugh--a faint, broken, bankrupt echo of her old happy laughter. And +then instantly, almost before the others had heard the sound, and while +the notes of it were yet coming from her tongue, she lifted her idle +hand and covered her ear, and over her face there passed a look of +dread. + +So swift had this change been that the bondwomen had not seen it, and +they were shouting "Hallelujah!" with one voice, thinking only that +she who had been dead to them was alive again. But the old Taleb cried +eagerly, "Hush! my children, hush! What is coming is a marvellous thing! +I know what it is--who knows so well as I? Once I was deaf, my children, +but now I hear. Listen! The maiden has had fever--fever of the brain. +Listen! A watery humour had gathered in her head. It has gone, it has +flowed away. Now she will hear. Listen, for it is I that know it--who +knows it so well as I? Yes; she will be no longer deaf. Her ears will be +opened. She will hear. Once she was living in a land of silence; now +she is coming into the land of sound. Blessed be God, for He has wrought +this wondrous work. God is great! God is mighty! Praise the merciful God +for ever! El hamdu l'Illah!" + +And marvellous and passing belief as the old Taleb's story seemed to be, +it appeared to be coming to pass, for even while he spoke, beginning in +a slow whisper and going on with quicker and louder breath, Naomi turned +her face full upon him; and when the black women in their ready faith, +joined in his shouts of praise, she turned her face towards them also; +and wherever a voice sounded in the room she inclined her head towards +it as one who knew the direction of the sounds, and also as one who was +in fear of them. + +But, seeing nothing of her look of pain, and knowing nothing but one +thing only, and that was the wondrous and mighty change that she who had +been deaf could now hear, that she who had never before heard speech now +heard their voices as they spoke around her, Ali, in his frantic delight +laughing and crying together, his white teeth aglitter, and his round +black face shining with tears, began to shout and to sing, and to dance +around the bed in wild joy at the miracle which God had wrought in +answer to his old Taleb's prayer. No heed did he pay to the Taleb's +cries of warning, but danced on and on, and neither did the bondwomen +see the old man's uplifted arms or his big lips pursed out in hushes, +so overpowered were they with their delight, so startled and so joy +drunken. But over their tumult there came a wild outburst of piercing +shrieks. They were the cries of Naomi in her blind and sudden terror +at the first sounds that had reached her of human voices. Her face +was blanched, her eyelids were trembling, her lips were restless, her +nostrils quivered, her whole being seemed to be overcome by a vertigo of +dread, and, in the horrible disarray of all her sensations her brain, +on its wakening from its dolorous sleep of three delirious days, was +tottering and reeling at its welcome in this world of noise. + +Then Ali ended suddenly his frantic dance, the bondwomen held their +peace in an instant, and blank silence in the chamber followed the +clamour of tongues. + +It was at this great moment that Israel, returning from his journey in +the jellab of a Moor, knocked like a stranger at his outer door. When he +entered the chamber, still clad as a torn and ragged man, too eager to +remove the sorry garments which had been given to him on the way, Naomi +was resting against the pillar of the bed. He saw that her countenance +was changed, and that every feature of her face seemed to listen. No +longer was it as the face of a lamb that is simple and content, neither +was it as the face of a child that is peaceful and happy; but it was hot +and perplexed. Fear sat on her face, and wonder and questioning; and +as Fatimah stood by her side, speaking tender words to comfort her, no +cheer did she seem to get from them, but only dread, for she drew away +from her when she spoke, as though the sound of the voice smote her ears +with terror of trouble. All this Israel saw on the instant, and then +his sight grew dim, his heart beat as if it would kill him, a thick +mist seemed to cover everything, and through the dense waves of +semi-consciousness he heard the dull hum of Fatimah's muffled voice +coming to him as from far away. + +"My pretty Naomi! My little heart! My sweet jewel of gold and silver! +It is nothing! Nothing! Look! See! Her father has come back! Her dear +father has come back to her!" + +Presently the room ceased to go round and round, and Israel knew that +Naomi's arms surrounded him, that his own arms enlaced her, and that her +head was pressed hard against his bosom. Yes, it was she! It was Naomi! +Ali had told him truth. She lived! She was well! She could hear! The old +hope that had chirped in his soul was justified, and the dear delicious +dream was come true. Oh! God was great, God was good, God had given him +more than he had asked or deserved! + +Thus for some minutes he stood motionless, blessing the God of Jacob, +yet uttering no words, for his heart was too full for speech, only +holding Naomi closely to him, while his tears fell on her blind face. +And the black people in the chamber wept to see it, that not more dumb +in that great hour of gladness was she who was born so than he to whose +house had come the wonderful work that God had wrought. + +No heed had Israel given yet to the bodeful signs in Naomi's face, in +joy over such as were joyful. When he had taken her in his arms she had +known him, and she had clung to him in her glad surprise. But when she +continued to lie on his bosom it was not only because he was her father +and she loved him, and because he had been lost to her and was found, it +was also because he alone was silent of all that were about her. + +When he saw this his heart was humbled; but he understood her fears, +that, coming out of a land of great silence, where the voice of man +was never heard, where the air was songless as the air of dreams and +darkling as the air of a tomb, her soul misgave her, and her spirit +trembled in a new world of strange sounds. For what was the ear but a +little dark chamber, a vault, a dungeon in a castle, wherein the soul +was ever passing to and fro, asking for news of the world without? +Through seventeen dark and silent years the soul of Naomi had been +passing and repassing within its beautiful tabernacle of flesh, crying +daily and hourly, "Watchman, what of the world?" At length it had found +an answer, and it was terrified. The world had spoken to her soul and +its voice was like the reverberations of a subterranean cavern, strange +and deep and awful. + +In that first moment of Israel's consciousness after he entered the +room, all four black folks seemed to be speaking together. + +Ali was saying, "Father, those dogs and thieves of tentmen and muleteers +returned yesterday, and said--" + +And the bondwomen were crying, "Sidi, you were right when you went +away!" "Yes, the dear child was ill!" "Oh, how she missed you when +you were gone." "She has been delirious, and the doctor, the son of +Tetuan--" + +And the old Taleb was muttering, "Master, it is all by God's mercy. We +prayed for the life of the maiden, and lo! He has given us this gateway +to her spirit as well." + +Then Israel saw that as their voices entered the dark vault of Naomi's +ears they startled and distressed her. So, to pacify her, he motioned +them out of the chamber. They went away without a word. The reason of +Naomi's fears began to dawn upon them. An awe seemed to be cast over her +by the solemnity of that great moment. It was like to the birth-moment +of a soul. + +And when the black people were gone from the room, Israel closed the +door of it that he might shut out the noises of the streets, for women +were calling to their children without, and the children were still +shouting in their play. This being done, he returned to Naomi and rested +her head against his bosom and soothed her with his hand, and she put +her arms about his neck and clung to him. And while he did so his heart +yearned to speak to her, and to see by her face that she could hear. +Let it be but one word, only one, that she might know her father's +voice--for she had never once heard it--and answer it with a smile. + +"Daughter! My dearest! My darling." + +Only this, nothing more! Only one sweet word of all the unspoken +tenderness which, like a river without any outlet, had been seventeen +years dammed up in his breast. But no, it could not be. He must not +speak lest her face should frown and her arms be drawn away. To see that +would break his heart. Nevertheless, he wrestled with the temptation. +It was terrible. He dared not risk it. So he sat on the bed in silence, +hardly moving, scarcely breathing--a dust-laden man in a ragged jellab, +holding Naomi in his arms. + +It was still the month of Ramadhan, and the sun was but three hours set. +In the fondak called El Oosaa, a group of the town Moors, who had fasted +through the day, were feasting and carousing. Over the walls of the +Mellah, from the direction of the Spanish inn at the entrance to the +little tortuous quarter of the shoemakers, there came at intervals a +hubbub of voices, and occasionally wild shouts and cries. The day was +Wednesday, the market-day of Tetuan, and on the open space called the +Feddan many fires were lighted at the mouths of tents, and men and +women and children--country Arabs and Barbers--were squatting around the +charcoal embers eating and drinking and talking and laughing, while the +ruddy glow lit up their swarthy faces in the darkness. But presently the +wing of night fell over both Moorish town and Mellah; the traffic of the +streets came to an end; the "Balak" of the ass-driver was no more heard, +the slipper of the Jew sounded but rarely on the pavement, the fires on +the Feddan died out, the hubbub of the fondak and the wild shouts of the +shoemakers' quarter were hushed, and quieter and more quiet grew the air +until all was still. + +At the coming of peace Naomi's fears seemed to abate. Her clinging arms +released their hold of her father's neck, and with a trembling sigh she +dropped back on to the pillow. And in this hour of stillness she +would have slept; but even while Israel was lifting up his heart in +thankfulness to God, that He was making the way of her great journey +easy out of the land of silence into the land of speech, a storm broke +over the town. Through many hot days preceding it had been gathering in +the air, which had the echoing hollowness of a vault. It was loud and +long and terrible. First from the direction of Marteel, over the four +miles which divide Tetuan from the coast, came the warning which the sea +sends before trouble comes to the land--a deep moan as of waters falling +from the sky. Next came the moan of the wind down the valley that opens +on the gate called the Bab el Marsa, and along the river that flows to +the port. Then came the roll of thunder, like a million cannons, down +the gorges of the Reef mountains and across the plain that stretches +far away to Kitan. Last of all, the black clouds of the sky emptied +themselves over the town, and the rain fell in floods on the roof of the +house and on the pavement of the patio, and leapt up again in great loud +drops, making a noise to the ear like to the tramp, tramp, tramp of a +hidden multitude. Thus sound after sound broke over the darkness of the +night in a thousand awful voices, now near, now far, now loud, now +low, now long, now short, now rising, now falling, now rushing, now +running--a mighty tumult and a fearsome anarchy. + +At last Naomi's terror was redoubled. Every sound seemed to smite her +body as a blow. Hitherto she had known one sense only, the sense of +touch, and though now she knew the sense of hearing also, she continued +to refer all sensations to feeling. At the sound of the sea she put out +her arms before her; at the sound of the wind she buried her face in +her palms; and at the sound of the thunder she lifted her hands as if to +protect her head. + +Meanwhile, Israel sat beside her and cherished her close at his bosom. +He yearned to speak words of comfort to her, soft words of cheer, tender +words of love, gentle words of hope. + +"Be not afraid, my daughter! It is only the wind, it is only the rain; +it is only the thunder. Once you loved to run and race in them. They +shall not harm you, for God is good, and He will keep you safe. There, +there, my little heart! See, your father is with you. He will guard you. +Fear not, my child, fear not!" + +Such were the words which Israel yearned to speak in Naomi's ears, +but, alas! what words could she understand any more than the wind which +moaned about the house and the thunder which rolled overhead? And again +and again, alas! as surely as he spoke to her she must shrink from the +solace of his voice even as she shrank from the tumult of the voices of +the storm. + +Israel fell back helpless and heartbroken. He began to see in its +fulness the change which had befallen Naomi, yet not at once to realise +it, so sudden and so numbing was the stroke. He began to know that with +the mighty blessing for which he had hoped and prayed--the blessing of a +pathway to his daughter's soul--a misfortune had come as well. What was +it to him now that Naomi had ears to hear if she could not understand? +And what was this tempest to the maiden new-born out of the land of +silence into the world of sound, yet still both blind and dumb, but +a circle of darkness alive with creatures that groaned and cried and +shrieked and moved around her? + +Thus nothing could Israel do but watch the creeping of Naomi's terror, +and smooth her forehead and chafe her hands. And this he did, until at +length, in a fresh outbreak of the storm, when the vault of the heavens +seemed rent asunder, a strong delirium took hold of her, and she fell +into a long unconsciousness. Then Israel held back his heart no longer, +but wept above her, and called to her, and cried aloud upon her name-- + +"Naomi! Naomi! My poor child! My dearest! Hear me! It is nothing! +nothing! Listen! It is gone! Gone!" + +With such passionate cries of love and sorrow; Israel gave vent to his +soul in its trouble. And while Naomi lay in her unconsciousness, he knew +not what feelings possessed him, for his heart was in a great turmoil. +Desolate! desolate! All was desolate! His high-built hopes were in +ashes! + +Sometimes he remembered the days when the child knew no sorrow, and when +grief came not near her, when she was brighter than the sun which she +could not see and sweeter than the songs which she could not hear, when +she was joyous as a bird in its narrow cage and fretted not at the +bars which bound her, when she laughed as she braided her hair and came +dancing out of her chamber at dawn. And remembering this, he looked down +at her knitted face, and his heart grew bitter, and he lifted up his +voice through the tumult of the storm, and cried again on the God of +Jacob, and rebuked Him for the marvellous work which He had wrought. + +If God were an almighty God, surely He looked before and after, and +foresaw what must come to pass. And, foreseeing and knowing all, why had +God answered his prayer? He himself had been a fool. Why had he craved +God's pity? Once his poor child was blither than the panther of the +wilderness and happier than the young lamb that sports in springtime. If +she was blind, she knew not what it was to see; and if she was deaf, she +knew not what it was to hear; and if she was dumb, she knew not what it +was to speak. Nothing did she miss of sight or sound or speech any more +than of the wings of the eagle or the dove. Yet he would not be content; +he would not be appeased. Oh! subtlety of the devil which had brought +this evil upon him! + +But the God whom Israel in his agony and his madness rebuked in this +manner sent His angel to make a great silence, and the storm lapsed to a +breathless quiet. + +And when the tempest was gone Naomi's delirium passed away. She seemed +to look, and nothing could she see; and then to listen, and nothing +could she hear; and then she clasped the hand of her father that lay +over her hand, and sighed and sank down again. + +"Ah!" + +It was even as if peace had come to her with the thought that she was +back in the land of great silence once again, and that the voices +which had startled her, and the storm which had terrified her, had been +nothing but an evil dream. + +In that sweet respite she fell asleep, and Israel forgot the reproaches +with which he had reproached his God, and looked tenderly down at her, +and said within himself, "It was her baptism. Now she will walk the +world with confidence, and never again will she be afraid. Truly the +Lord our God is king over all kingdoms and wise beyond all wisdom!" + +Then, with one look backward at Naomi where she slept, he crept out of +the room on tiptoe. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +NAOMI'S GREAT GIFT + + +With the coming of the gift of hearing, the other gifts with which Naomi +had been gifted in her deafness, and the strange graces with which she +had been graced, seemed suddenly to fall from her as a garment when she +disrobed. + +It seemed as though her old sense of touch had become confused by her +new sense of hearing, She lost her way in her father's house, and though +she could now hear footsteps, she did not appear to know who approached. +They led her into the street, into the Feddan, into the walled lane to +the great gate, into the steep arcades leading to the Kasbah; and no +more as of old did she thread her way through the people, seeming to see +them through the flesh of her face and to salute them with the laugh on +her lips, but only followed on and on with helpless footsteps. They took +her to the hill above the battery, and her breath came quick as she trod +the familiar ways; but when she was come to the summit, no longer did +she exult in her lofty place and drink new life from the rush of mighty +winds about her, but only quaked like a child in terror as she faced the +world unseen beneath and hearkened to the voices rising out of it, and +heard the breeze that had once laved her cheeks now screaming in her +ears. They gave Ali's harp into her hands, the same that she had played +so strangely at the Kasbah on the marriage of Ben Aboo; but never again +as on that day did she sweep the strings to wild rhapsodies of sound +such as none had heard before and none could follow, but only touched +and fumbled them with deftless fingers that knew no music. + +She lost her old power to guide her footsteps and to minister to her +pleasures and to cherish her affections. No longer did she seem to +communicate with Nature by other organs than did the rest of the human +kind. She was a radiant and joyous spirit maid no more, but only a +beautiful blind girl, a sweet human sister that was weak and faint. + +Nevertheless, Israel recked nothing of her weakness, for joy at the loss +of those powers over which his enemies throughout seventeen evil years +had bleated and barked "Beelzebub!" And if God in His mercy had taken +the angel out of his house, so strangely gifted, so strangely joyful, +He had given him instead, for the hunger of his heart as a man, a sweet +human daughter, however helpless and frail. + +Thus in the first days of Naomi's great change Israel was content. But +day by day this contentment left him, and he was haunted by strange +sinkings of the heart. Naomi's frailty appeared to be not only of the +body but also of the spirit. It seemed as if her soul had suddenly +fallen asleep. She betrayed neither joy nor sorrow. No sound escaped her +lips; no thought for herself or for others seemed to animate her. She +neither laughed nor wept. When Israel kissed her pale brow, she did not +stretch out her arms as she had done before to draw down his head to her +lips. Calmly, silently, sadly, gracefully, she passed from day to day, +without feeling and without thought--a beautiful statue of flesh and +blood. + +What God was doing with her slumbering spirit then, only He Himself +knows; but the time of her awakening came, and with it came her first +delight in the new gift with which God had gifted her. + +To revive her spirits and to quicken her memory, Israel had taken her to +walk in the fields outside the town where she had loved to play in her +childhood--the wild places covered with the peppermint and the pink, the +thyme, the marjoram, and the white broom, where she had gathered flowers +in the old times, when God had taught her. The day was sweet, for it was +the cool of the morning, the air was soft, and the wind was gentle, and +under the shady trees the covert of the reeds lay quiet. And whither +Naomi would, thither they had wandered, without object and without +direction. + +On and on, hand in hand, they had walked through the winding paths +of the oleander, between the creeping fences of the broom, and the +sprawling limbs of the prickly pear, until they came to a stream, a +tributary of the Marteel, trickling down from the wild heights of the +Akhmas, over the light pebbles of its narrow bed. And there--but by what +impulse or what chance Israel never knew--Naomi had withdrawn her hand +from his hand; and at the next moment, in scarcely more time than it +took him to stoop to the ground and rise again, suddenly as if she had +sunk into the earth, or been lifted into the sky, Naomi disappeared from +his sight. + +Israel pushed the low boughs apart, expecting to find her by his side, +but she was nowhere near. He called her by her name, thinking she would +answer with the only language of her lips, the old language of her +laugh. + +"Naomi! Naomi! Come, come, my child, where are you?" + +But no sound came back to him. + +Again he called, not as before in a tone of remonstrance, but with a +voice of fear. + +"Naomi, Naomi! Where are you? where? where?" + +Then he listened and waited, yet heard nothing, neither her laugh nor +the rustle of her robe, nor the light beat of her footstep. + +Nevertheless, she had passed over the grass from the spot where she had +left him, without waywardness or thought of evil, only missing his hand +and trying to recover it, then becoming afraid and walking rapidly, +until the dense foliage between them had hidden her from sight and +deadened the sound of his voice. + +Opening a way between the long leaves of an aloe, Israel found her at +length in the place whereto she had wandered. It was a short bend of the +brook, where dark old trees overshadowed the water with forest gloom. +She was seated on the trunk of a fallen oak, and it seemed as if she had +sat herself down to weep in her dumb trouble, for her blind eyes were +still wet with tears. The river was murmuring at her feet; an old +olive-tree over her head was pattering with its multitudinous tongues; +the little family of a squirrel was chirping by her side, and one tiny +creature of the brood was squirling up her dress; a thrush was swinging +itself on the low bough of the olive and singing as it swung, and a +sheep of solemn face--gaunt and grim and ancient--was standing and +palpitating before her. Bees were humming, grasshoppers were buzzing, +the light wind was whispering, and cattle were lowing in the distance. +The air of that sweet spot in that sweet hour was musical with every +sweet sound of the earth and sky, and fragrant with all the wild odours +of the wood. + +"My darling," cried Israel in the first outburst of his relief, and then +he paused and looked at her again. + +The wet eyes were open, and they appeared to see, so radiant was the +light that shone in them. A tender smile played about her mouth; her +head was held forward; her nostrils quivered; and her cheeks were +flushed. She had pushed her hat back from her head, and her yellow hair +had fallen over her neck and breast. One of her hands covered one ear, +and the other strayed among the plants that grew on the bank beside her. +She seemed to be listening intently, eagerly, rapturously. A rare and +radiant joy, a pure and tender delight, appeared to gush out of her +beautiful face. It was almost as though she believed that everything she +heard with the great new gift which God had given her was speaking to +her, and bidding her welcome and offering her love; as if the garrulous +old olive over her head were stretching down his arms to sport with her +hair, and pattering; "Kiss me, little one! kiss me, sweet one! kiss +me! kiss me!"--as if the rippling river at her feet were laughing and +crying, "Catch me, naked feet! catch me, catch me!" as if the thrush +on the bough were singing, "Where from, sunny locks? where from? where +from?"--as if the young squirrel were chirping, "I'm not afraid, not +afraid, not afraid!" and as if the grey old sheep were breathing slowly, +"Pat me, little maiden! you may, you may!" + +"God bless her beautiful face!" cried Israel. "She listens with every +feature and every line of it." + +It was the awakening of her soul to the soul of music, and from that day +forward she took pleasure in all sweet and gentle sounds whatsoever--in +the voices of children at play--in the bleat of the goat--in the +footsteps of them she loved--in the hiss and whirr of her mother's old +spinning-wheel, which now she learned to work--and in Ali's harp, when +he played it in the patio in the cool of the evening. + +But even as no eye can see how the seed which has been sown in the +ground first dies and then springs into life, so no tongue can tell what +change was wrought in the pure soul of Naomi when, after her baptism of +sound, the sweet voices of earth first entered it. Neither she herself +nor any one else ever fully realised what that change was, for it was a +beautiful and holy mystery. It was also a great joy, and she seemed to +give herself up to it. No music ever escaped her, and of all human music +she took most pleasure in the singing of love songs. These she listened +to with a simple and rapt delight; their joy seemed to answer to her +joy, and the joyousness of a song of love seemed to gather in the air +wheresoever she went. + +There were few of the kind she ever heard, and few of that few were +beautiful, and none were beautifully sung. Fatimah's homely ditties were +all she knew, the same that had been crooned to her a thousand times +when she had not heard. Most of these were songs of the desert and the +caravan, telling of musk and ambergris, and odorous locks and dancing +cypress, and liquid ruby, and lips like wine; and some were warm tales +which the good soul herself hardly understood, of enchanting beauties +whose silence was the door of consent, and of wanton nymphs whose love +tore the veil of their chastity. + +But one of them was a song of pure and true passion that seemed to be +the yearning cry of a hungering, unfilled, unsatisfied heart to call +down love out of the skies, or else be carried up to it. This had been a +favourite song of Naomi's mother, and it was from Ruth that Fatimah had +learned it in those anxious watches of the early uncertain days when she +sang it over the cradle to her babe that was deaf after all and did not +hear. Naomi knew nothing of this, but she heard her mother's song at +last, though silent were the lips that first sang it, and it was her +chief and dear delight. + + O, where is Love? + Where, where is Love? + Is it of heavenly birth? + Is it a thing of earth? + Where, where is Love? + +In her crazy, creechy voice the black woman would sing the song, when +Israel was out of hearing; and the joy Naomi found in it, and the simple +silent arts she used, being mute and blind, to show her pleasure while +it lasted, and to ask for it again when it was done, were very sweet and +touching. + +And so it came about at last, that even as the human mother loves +that child most among many children that most is helpless, so the +earth-mother of Naomi made her ears more keen because her eyes were +blind. Thus she seemed to hear many things that are unheard by the rest +of the human family. It is only a dim echo of the outer world that the +ears of men are allowed to hear, just as it is only a dim shadow of the +outer world that the eyes of men are allowed to see; but the ears of +Naomi seemed to hear all. + +There is one hearing of men, and another hearing of the beasts, and a +third of the birds, and one hearing differs from another in keenness +even as one sight differs from another in strength. And all the earth +is full of voices, and everything that moves upon the face of it has its +sound; but the bird hears that which is unheard of the beast, and the +beast hears that which is unheard of men. But Naomi appeared to hear all +that is heard of each. + +Listening hour after hour, listening always, listening only, with +nothing that she could do but listen, nothing moved on the ground but +she dropped her face, and nothing flew in the sky but she lifted her +eyes. And whereas before the coming of her great gift her face had been +all feeling, and she seemed to feel the sunset, and to feel the sky, and +to feel the thunder and the light, now her face was all hearing, and +her whole body seemed to hear, for she was like a living soul floating +always in a sea of sound. + +Thus, day after day, she was busy in her silence and in her darkness, +building up notions of man and of the world by the new gift with which +God had gifted her; but what strange thing the earth was to her then, +what the sun was with its warmth, and what the sea was with its roar, +and what the face of man was, and the eyes of woman, none could know, +and neither could she tell, for her soul was not linked to other +souls--soul to soul, in the chains of speech. + +And for all that she could not answer; yet Israel did not forget that, +beside the sounds of earth and sky, Naomi was hearing words, and that +words had wings, and were alive, and, for good or ill, made their mark +on the soul that listened to them. So he continued to read to her out of +the Book of the Law, day after day at sunset, according to his wont and +custom. And when an evil spirit seemed to make a mock at him, and to +say, "Fool! she hears, but does she understand?" he remembered how he +had read to her in the days of her deafness, and he said to himself, +"Shall I have less faith now that she can hear?" + +But, though he turned his back on the temptation to let go of Naomi's +soul at last, yet sometimes his heart misgave him; for when he spoke to +her it seemed to him that he was like a man that shouts into a cavern +and gets back no answer but the sound of his own voice. If he told her +of the sky, that it was broad as the ocean, what could she see of the +great deeps to measure them? And if he told her of the sea, that it was +green as the fields, what could she see of the grass to know its colour? +And sometimes as he spoke to her it smote him suddenly that the words +themselves which he used to speak with were no more to Naomi than the +notes which Ali struck from his dead harp, or the bleat of the goat at +her feet. + +Nevertheless, his faith was great, and he said in his heart, "Let the +Lord find His own way to her spirit." So he continued to speak with +her as often as he was near her, telling her of the little things that +concerned their household, as well as of the greater things it was good +for her soul to know. + +It was a touching sight--the lonely man, the outcast among his people, +talking with his daughter though she was blind and dumb, telling her of +God, of heaven, of death and resurrection, strong in his faith that his +words would not fail, but that the casket of her soul would be opened +to receive them, and that they would lie within until the great day of +judgment, when the Lord Himself would call for them. + +Did Naomi hear his words to understand them, or did they fall dead on +her ear like birds on a dead sea? In her darkness and her silence was +she putting them together, comparing them, interpreting them, pondering +them, imitating them, gathering food for her mind from them, and solace +for her spirit? Israel did not know; and, watch her face as he would, +he could never learn. Hope! Faith! Trust! What else was left to him? He +clung to all three, he grappled them to him; they were his sheet-anchor +and his pole-star. But one day they seemed to be his calenture also--the +false picture of green fields and sweet female faces that rises before +the eye of the sailor becalmed at sea. + +It was some three weeks after his return from his journey, and the +fierce blaze of the sun continued. The storm that had broken over the +town had left no results of coolness or moisture, for the ground had +been baked hard, and the rain had been too short and swift to penetrate +it. And what the withering heat had spared of green leaf and shrub a +deadlier blight had swept away. The locusts had lately come up from +the south and the east, in numbers exceeding imagination, millions on +millions, making the air dark as they passed and obscuring the blue +sky. They had swept the country of its verdure, and left a trail of +desolation behind them. The grass was gone, the bark of the olives and +almonds was stripped away, and the bare trees had the look of winter. + +The first to feel the plague had been the cattle and beasts of burden. +Without food to eat or water to drink they had died in hundreds. A +Mukabar, a cemetery, was made for the animals outside the walls of the +town. It was a charnel yard on the hill-side, near to one of the town's +six gates. The dead creatures were not buried there, but merely cast on +the bare ground to rot and to bleach in the sun and the heated wind. It +was a horrible place. + +The skinny dogs of the town soon found it. And after these scavengers +of the East had torn the putrefying flesh and gnawed the multitude of +bones, they prowled around the country, with tongues lolling out, in +search of water. By this time there was none that they could come at +nearer than the sea, and that was salt. Nevertheless, they lapped it, so +burning was their thirst, and went mad, and came back to the town. Then +the people hunted them and killed them. + +Now, it chanced that a mad dog from the Mukabar was being hunted to +death on a day when Naomi, who had become accustomed to the tumult of +the streets, had first ventured out in them alone, save for her goat, +that went before her. The goat was grown old, but it was still her +constant companion and also it was now her guide and guardian, for the +little dumb creature seemed to know that she was frail and helpless. And +so it was that she was crossing the Sok el Foki, a market of the town, +and hearkening only to the patter of the feet of the goat going in +front, when suddenly she heard a hundred footsteps hurrying towards her, +with shouts and curses that were loud and deep. She stood in fear on the +spot where she was, and no eyes had she to see what happened next, and +she had none save the goat to tell her. + +But out of one of the dark arcades on the left, leading downward from +the hill, the mad dog came running, before a multitude of men and boys. +And flying in its despair, it bit out wildly at whatever lay in its way, +and Naomi, in her blindness, stood straight in front of it. Then she +must have fallen before it, but instantly the goat flung itself across +the dog's open jaws, and butted at its foaming teeth, and sent up shrill +cries of terror. + +The dog stopped a moment, for such love was human, and it seemed as if +the madness of the monster shrank before it. But the people came down +with their wild shouts and curses, and the dog sprang upon the goat and +felled it, and fled away. The people followed it, and then Naomi was +alone in the market-place, and the goat lay at her feet. + +Ali found her there, and brought her home to her father's house in the +Mellah, and her dying champion with her. And out of this hard chance, +and not out of Israel's teaching, Naomi was first to learn what life is +and what is death. She felt the goat with her hands, and as she did so +her fingers shook. Then she lifted it to its feet, and when they slipped +from under it she raised her white face in wonder. Again she lifted it, +and made strange noises at its ear; but when it did not answer with its +bleat her lips began to tremble. Then she listened for its breathing, +and felt for its breath; but when neither the one came to her ear, nor +the other to her cheek, her own breath beat hot and fast. At length she +fondled it in her arms, and kissed it with her lips; and when it gave +back no sign of motion nor any sound of voice, a wild labouring rose +at her heart. At last, when the power of life was low in it, the goat +opened its heavy eyes upon her and put forth its tongue and licked her +hand. With that last farewell the brave heart of the little creature +broke, and it stretched itself and died. + +Israel saw it all. His heart bled to see the parting in silence between +those two, for not more dumb was the goat that now was dead than the +human soul that was left alive. He tried to put the goat from Naomi's +arms, saying, "It was only a goat, my child; think of it no more," +though it smote him with pain to say it, for had not the creature given +its life for her life? And where, O God, was the difference between +them? But Naomi clung to the goat, and her throat swelled and her bosom +fluttered, and her whole body panted, and it was almost as if her soul +were struggling to burst through the bonds that bound it, that she might +speak and ask and know. + +"Oh, what does it mean? Why is it? Why? Why?" + +Such were the questions that seemed ready to break from her tongue. And, +thinking to answer her, Israel drew her to him and said, "It is dead, my +child--the goat is dead." + +But as he spoke that word he saw by her face, as by a flash of light in +a dark place, that, often as he had told her of death, never until that +hour had she known what it was. Then, if the words that he had spoken +of death had carried no meaning, what could he hope of the words that +he had spoken of life, and of the little things which concerned their +household? And if Naomi had not heard the words he had said of these--if +she had not pondered and interpreted them--if they had fallen on her ear +only as voices in a dark cavern--only as dead birds on a dead sea--what +of the other words, the greater words, the words of the Book of the Law +and the Prophets, the words of heaven and of the resurrection and of God? + +Had the hope of his heart been vanity? Did Naomi know nothing? Was her +great gift a mockery? + +Israel's feet were set in a slippery place. Why had he boasted himself +of God's mercy? What were ears to hear to her that could not understand? +Only a torment, a terror, a plague, a perpetual desolation! When Naomi +had heard nothing she had known nothing, and never had her spirit asked +and cried in vain. Now she was dumb for the first time, being no longer +deaf. Miserable man that he was, why had the Lord heard his supplication +and why had He received his prayer? + +But, repenting of such reproaches, in memory of the joy that Naomi's new +gift had given her, he called on God to give her speech as well. + +"Give her speech, O Lord!" he cried, "speech that shall lift her above +the creatures of the field, speech whereby alone she may ask and know! +Give her speech, O God my God, and Thy servant will be satisfied!" + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ISRAEL AT SHAWAN + + +AFTER Israel's return from his journey he had followed the precepts of +the young Mahdi of Mequinez. Taking a view of his situation, that by his +hardness of heart in the early days, and by base submission to the will +of Katrina, the Kaid's Christian wife, in the later ones, he had filled +the land with miseries, he now spared no cost to restore what he had +unjustly extorted. So to him that had paid double in the taxings he had +returned double--once for the tax and once for the excess; and if any +man, having been unjustly taxed for the Kaid's tribute, had given +bond on his lands for his debt and been cast into the Kasbah and +died, without ransoming them, then to his children he had returned +fourfold--double for the lands and double for the death. Israel had done +this continually, and said nothing to Ben Aboo, but paid all charges out +of his own purse, so that from being a rich man he had fallen within +a month to the condition of a poor one, for what was one man's wealth +among so many? Yet no goodwill had he won thereby, but only pity and +contempt, for the people that had taken his money had thanked the Kaid +for it, who, according to their supposals, had called on him to correct +what he had done amiss. And with Ben Aboo himself he had fared no +better, for the Basha was provoked to anger with him when he heard from +Katrina of the good money that he had been casting away in pity for the +poor. + +"What have I told you a score of times?" said the woman. "That man has +mints of money." + +"My money, burn his grandfather," said Ben Aboo. + +Thus, on every side Israel had fallen in the world's reckoning. When he +lifted his hand from off that plough wherewith he had done the devil's +work, he had made many enemies, and such as he had before he had made +more powerful. People who had showed him lip-service when he was thought +to be rich did not conceal the joy they had that he was brought down +so near to be a beggar. Upstarts, who owed their promotion to his +intercession, found in his charities an easy handle given them to be +insolent, for, by carrying to Katrina their secret messages of his mercy +to the people, they brought things at length to such a pass between him +and the Kaid that Ben Aboo openly upbraided Israel for his weakness, not +once or twice but many times. + +"And pray what is this I hear of your fine charities, master Israel?" +said Ben Aboo. "Ah, do not look surprised. There are little birds enough +to twitter of such follies. So you are throwing away silver like bones +to the dogs! Pity you've got too much of it, Israel ben Oliel; pity +you've got too much of it, I say." + +"The people are poor, Lord Basha," said Israel; "they are famishing, and +they have no refuge save with God and with us." + +"Tut!" cried Ben Aboo. "A famine in my bashalic! Let no man dare to say +so. The whining dogs are preying upon your simpleness, mistress Israel. +You poor old grandmother! I always suspected," he added, facing about +upon his attendants, "I always suspected that I was served by a woman. +Now I am sure of it." + +Israel felt the indignity. He had given good proof of his manhood in the +past by standing five-and-twenty years scapegoat for Ben Aboo between +him and his people, making him rich by his extortions, keeping him safe +in his seat, and thereby saving him from the wooden jellab which Abd +er-Rahman, the Sultan, kept for Kaids that could not pay. But Israel +mastered his anger and held his peace. + +Word went through the town that Israel had fallen from the favour of +the Basha, and then some of the more bold and free laughed at him in +the streets when they saw him relieve the miseries of the poor, thinking +himself accountable to God for their sufferings. He could have crushed +the better part of his insulters to death in his brawny arms, but he was +slow to anger and long-suffering. All the heed he paid to their insults +was to do his good work with more secrecy. + +Remembering his Moorish jellab, and how effectually it had disguised +him on the night of his return home, he had recourse to it in this +difficulty. When darkness fell he donned it again, drawing the hood well +down over his black Jewish skull-cap and as far as might be over his +face. In this innocent disguise he went out night after night for many +nights among the poorer Moors that lived in the dismal quarters of the +grain markets near the Bab Ramooz. How he bore himself being there, +with what harmless deceptions he unburdened his soul by stealth, what +guileless pretences he made that he might restore to the poor the money +that had been stolen from them, would be a long story to tell. + +"Who are you?" he was asked a hundred times. + +"A friend," he answered + +"Who told you of our trouble?" + +"Allah has angels," he would reply. + +Often, on his nightly rambles, he heard himself reviled, and saw the +very children of the streets spit over their fingers at the mention +of his name. And sometimes as he passed he heard blind people whisper +together and say, "He is a saint. He comes from the Kabar at nightfall. +Allah sends him to help poor men who have been in the clutches of Israel +the Jew." + +Nevertheless, Israel kept his secret. What did the word of man avail for +good or evil? It would count for nothing at the last. Do justice and ask +nought; neither praise, for it was a wayward wind, nor gratitude, for it +was the breath of angels. + +One day, about a month after his return from his journey, when he +was near to the end of his substance, a message came to him that the +followers of Absalam were perishing of hunger in their prison at Shawan. +Their relatives in Tetuan had found them in food until now, but the +plague of the locust had fallen on the bread-winners, and they had no +more bread to send. Israel concluded that it was his duty to succour +them. From a just view of his responsibilities he had gone on to a +morbid one. If in the Judgment the blood of the people of Absalam cried +to God against him, he himself, and not Ben Aboo, would be cast out into +hell. + +Israel juggled with his heart no further, but straightway began to take +a view of his condition. Then he saw, to his dismay, that little as he +had thought he possessed, even less remained to him out of the wreck of +his riches. Only one thing he had still, but that was a thing so dear to +his heart that he had never looked to part with it. It was the casket +of his dead wife's jewels. Nevertheless, in his extremity he resolved to +sell it now, and, taking the key, he went up to the room where he kept +it--a closet that was sacred to the relics of her who lay in his heart +for ever, but in his house no more. + +Naomi went up with him, and when he had broken the seal from the +doorpost, and the little door creaked back on its hinge, the ashy odour +came out to them of a chamber long shut up. It was just as if the buried +air itself had fallen in death to dust, for the dust of the years lay +on everything. But under its dark mantle were soft silks and delicate +shawls and gauzy haiks, and veils and embroidered sashes and light red +slippers, and many dainty things such as women love. And to him that +came again after ten heavy years they were as a dream of her that had +worn them when she was young that now was dead when she was beautiful +that now was in the grave. + +"Ah me, ah me! Ruth! My Ruth!" he murmured. "This was her shawl. I +brought it from Wazzan. . . . And these slippers--they came from Rabat. +Poor girl, poor girl! . . . . This sash, too, it used to be yellow and +white. How well I remember the first time she wore it! She had put it +over her head for a hood, pretending to be a Moorish woman. But her +brown curls fell out over her face, or she could not imprison them. And +then she laughed. My poor dear girl. How happy we were once in spite of +everything! It is all like yesterday. When I think Ah no, I must think +no more, I must think no more." + +Israel had little heart for such visions, so he turned to the casket of +the jewels where it stood by the wall. With trembling hands he took it +and opened it, and here within were necklaces and bracelets, and rings +and earrings, glistening of gold and rubies under their covering of +dust. He lifted them one by one over his wrinkled fingers, and looked at +them while his eyes grew wet. + +"Not for myself," he murmured, "not for myself would I have sold them, +not for bread to eat or water to drink; no, not for a wilderness of +worlds!" + +All this time he had given little thought to Naomi, where she stood +by his side, but in her darkness and silence she touched the silks and +looked serious, and the slippers and looked perplexed, and now at the +jingling of the jewels she stretched out her hand and took one of +them from her father's fingers, and feeling it, and finding it to be a +necklace, she clasped it about her neck and laughed. + +At the sound of her laughter Israel shook like a reed. It brought back +the memory of the day when she danced to her mother's death, decked in +that same necklace and those same ornaments. More on this head Israel +could not think and hold to his purpose, so he took the jewels from +Naomi's neck and returned them to the casket, and hastened away with it +to a man to whom he designed to sell it. + +This was no other than Reuben Maliki, keeper of the poor box of the +Jews; for as well as a usurer he was a silversmith, and kept his shop +in the Sok el Foki. Israel was moved to go to this person by the +remembrance of two things, of which either seemed enough for his +preference--first, that he had bought the jewels of Reuben in the +beginning, and next, the Reuben had never since ceased to speak of +them in Tetuan as priceless beyond the gems of Ethiopia and the gold of +Ophir. + +But when Israel came to him now with the casket that he might buy, he +eyed both with looks of indifference, though it was more dear to his +covetous and revengeful heart that Israel should humble himself in his +need, and bring these jewels, than almost any other satisfaction that +could come to it. + +"And what is this that you bring me?" said Reuben languidly. + +"A case of jewels," said Israel, with a downward look. + +"Jewels? umph! what jewels?" + +"My poor wife's. You know them, Reuben See!" + +Israel opened the casket. + +"Ah, your wife's. Umph! yes, I suppose I must have seen them somewhere." + +"You have seen them here, Reuben." + +"Here?--do you say here?" + +"Reuben, you sold them to me eighteen years ago." + +"Sold them to you? Never. I don't remember it. Surely you must be +mistaken. I can never have dealt in things like these." + +Reuben had taken the casket in his hands, and was pursing up his lips in +expressions of contempt. + +Israel watched him closely. "Give them back to me," he said; "I can go +elsewhere. I have no time for wrangling." + +Reuben's lip straightened instantly. "Wrangling? Who is wrangling, +brother? You are too impatient, Sidi." + +"I am in haste," said Israel. + +"Ah!" + +There was an ominous silence, and then in a cold voice Reuben said, +"The things are well enough in their way. What do you wish me to do with +them?" + +"To buy them," said Israel. + +"_Buy_ them?" + +"Yes." + +"But I don't want them." + +"Are they worth your money?--you don't want that either." + +"Umph!" + +A gleam of mockery passed over Reuben's face, and he proceeded to +examine the casket. One by one he trifled with the gems--the rich onyx, +the sapphire, the crystal, the coral, the pearl, the ruby, and the +topaz, and first he pushed them from him, and then he drew them back +again. And seeing them thus cheapened in Reuben's hairy fingers, the +precious jewels which had clasped his Ruth's soft wrist and her white +neck, Israel could scarcely hold back his hand from snatching them away. +But how can he that is poor answer him that is rich? So Israel put his +twitching hands behind him, remembering Naomi and the poor people of +Absalam, and when at length Reuben tendered him for the casket one half +what he had paid for it, he took the money in silence and went his way. + +"Five hundred dollars--I can give no more," Reuben had said. + +"Do you say five hundred--five?" + +"Five--take it or leave it." + +It was market morning, and the market-square as Israel passed through +was a busy and noisy place. The grocers squatted within their narrow +wooden boxes turned on their sides, one half of the lid propped up as a +shelter from the sun, the other half hung down as a counter, whereon lay +raisins and figs, and melons and dates. On the unpaved ground the bakers +crouched in irregular lines. They were women enveloped in monstrous +straw hats, with big round cakes of bread exposed for sale on rush mats +at their feet. Under arcades of dried leaves--made, like desert graves, +of upright poles and dry branches thrown across--the butchers lay at +their ease, flicking the flies from their discoloured meat. "Buy! buy! +buy!" they all shouted together. A dense throng of the poor passed +between them in torn jellabs and soiled turbans, and haggled and bought. +Asses and mules crushed through amid shouts of "Arrah!" "Arrah!" and +"Balak!" "Ba-lak!" It was a lively scene, with more than enough of +bustle and swearing and vociferation. + +There was more than enough of lying and cheating also, both practised +with subtle and half-conscious humour. Inside a booth for the sale of +sugar in loaf and sack a man sat fingering a rosary and mumbling prayers +for penance. "God forgive me," he muttered, "_God forgive me, God +forgive me,_" and at every repetition he passed a bead. A customer +approached, touched a sugar loaf and asked, "How much?" The merchant +continued his prayers and did his business at a breath. "(_God forgive +me_) How much? (_God forgive me_) Four pesetas (_God forgive me_)," and +round went the restless rosary. "Too much," said the buyer; "I'll give +three." The merchant went on with his prayers, and answered, "(_God +forgive me_) Couldn't take it for as much as you might put in your tooth +(_God forgive me_); gave four myself (_God forgive me_)." "Then I'll +leave it, old sweet-tooth," said the buyer, as he moved away. "Here! +take it for nothing (_God forgive me_)," cried the merchant after the +retreating figure. "(_God forgive me_) I'm giving it away (_God forgive +me_); I'll starve, but no matter (_God forgive me_), you are my brother +(_God forgive me, God forgive me, God forgive me_)." + +Israel bought the bread and the meat, the raisins and the figs which the +prisoners needed--enough for the present and for many days to come. Then +he hired six mules with burdas to bear the food to Shawan, and a man two +days to lead them. Also he hired mules for himself and Ali, for he knew +full well that, unless with his own eyes he saw the followers of Absalam +receive what he had bought, no chance was there, in these days of +famine, that it would ever reach them. And, all being ready for his +short journey, he set out in the middle of the day, when the sun was +highest, hoping that the town would then be at rest, and thinking to +escape observation. + +His expectation was so far justified that the market-place, when he came +to it again, with his little caravan going before him, was silent and +deserted. But, coming into the walled lane to the Bab Toot, the gate +at which the Shawan road enters, he encountered a great throng and a +strange procession. It was a procession of penance and petition, asking +God to wipe out the plague of locusts that was destroying the land and +eating up the bread of its children. A venerable Jew, with long white +beard, walked side by side with a Moor of great stature, enshrouded in +the folds of his snow-white haik. These were the chief Rabbi of the Jews +and the Imam of the Muslims, and behind them other Jews and Moors +walked abreast in the burning sun. All were barefooted, and such as were +Berbers were bareheaded also. + +"In the name of Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful!" the Imam cried, +and the Muslims echoed him. + +"By the God of Jacob!" the Rabbi prayed, and the Jews repeated the words +after him. + +"Spare us! Spare the land!" they all cried together. "Send rain to +destroy the eggs of the locust!" cried the Rabbi. "Else will they +rise on the ground in the sunshine like rice on the granary floor; and +neither fire nor river nor the army of the Sultan will stop them; and we +ourselves will die, and our children with us!" + +And the Jews cried, "God of Jacob, be our refuge." + +And the Muslims shouted, "Allah, save us!" + +It was a strange sight to look upon in that land of intolerance--the +haughty Moor and the despised Jew, with all petty hatreds sunk out of +sight and forgotten in the grip of the death that threatened both alike, +walking and praying in the public streets together. + +Israel drew close to the wall and passed by unobserved. And being come +into the open road outside the town, he began to take a view of the +motives that had brought him away from his home again. Then he saw that, +if he was not a hypocrite like Reuben, no credit could he give himself +for what he was doing, and if he was poor who had before been rich, no +merit could he make of his poverty. + +"Naomi, Naomi, all for her, all for her," he thought. Naomi was his hope +and his salvation. His faith in God was his love of the child. He +was only bribing God to give her grace. And well he knew it, while he +journeyed towards the prison behind his six mules laden with bread for +them that lay there, that, much as he owed them, being a cause of their +miseries, the mercy he was about to show them was but as mercy shown to +himself. So the nearer he came to it the lower his head sank into his +breast, as if the sun itself that beat down so fiercely upon his head +had eyes to peer into his deceiving soul. + +The town of Shawan lies sixty miles south of Tetuan in the northern half +of the territory of the tribe of Akhmas, and the sun was two hours set +when Israel entered its beautiful valley between the two arms of +the mountain called Jebel Sheshawan. Going through the orchards and +vineyards that were round it, he was recognised by certain Jews; tanners +and pannier-makers, who in the days of his harder rule had fled from +Tetuan and his heavy taxings. + +"It's Israel ben Oliel," whispered one. + +"God of Jacob, save us!" whispered another. + +"He has followed us for the arrears of taxes." + +"We must fly." + +"Let us go home first." + +"No time for that." + +"There is Rachel--" + +"She's a woman." + +"But I must warn my son--he has children." + +"Then you are lost. Come on." + +Before he reached the rude old masonry that had once been the fortress +and was now the prison, the poor followers of Absalam, who lay within, +had heard that he was coming, and, in their despair and the wild +disorder of all their senses, they looked for nothing but death from his +visit, as if they were to be cut to pieces instantly. Men and women +and young children, gaunt with hunger and begrimed with dirt, some +with faces that were hard and stony, some with faces that were weak and +simple, some with eyes that were red as blood, all weary with waiting +and wasted with long pain, ran hither and thither in the gloom of the +foul place where they were immured together. Shedding tears, beating +their flesh, and crying out with woeful clamour, these unhappy creatures +of God, who had been great of soul when they sang their death-song with +the precipice behind them and the soldiers in front, now quaked for +the miserable lives which they preserved in hunger and cherished in +bitterness. + +By help of the seal of his master, which he always carried, Israel found +his way into the courtyard of the prison. The prisoners, who had been +gathered there for his inspection, heard his footsteps, and by one +impulse, as if an angel from heaven had summoned them, they fell to +their knees about the door whereby he must enter, men behind and women +in front, and mothers holding out their babes before their breasts so +that he might see them first, and have mercy upon them if he had a heart +made for pity. + +Then the door of the place was thrown open, and Israel entered. His head +was bowed down, and his feet were bare. The people drew their breath in +wonder. + +"Arise," he said; "I mean you no harm! See! Here is bread! Take it, and +God bless you!" + +So saying, he motioned with his trembling hand to where Ali and the +muleteer brought in the burden of food behind him. + +And when the poor souls could believe it at last, that he whom they had +looked for as their judge had come as their saviour, their hearts surged +within them. Their hunger left them, and only the children could eat. +For a moment they stood in silence about Israel, and their tears stained +their wasted faces. And Israel, in their midst, tasted a new joy in his +new poverty such as his riches had never brought him--no, not once in +all the days of his old prosperity. + +At length an old man--he was a Muslim--looked steadily into Israel's +face and said, "May the God of Jacob bless thee also, brother!" + +After that they all recovered their voices and began to thank him out of +their blind gratitude, falling to their knees at his feet as before, yet +with hearts so different. + +"May the Father of the fatherless requite thee!" + +"May the child of thy wife be blessed!" + +"Stop," he cried; "stop! you don't know what you are saying." + +He turned away from them with a look of pain, as if their words had +stung him. They followed him and touched his kaftan with their lips; +they pushed their children under his hands for his blessing. + +"No, no," he cried; "no, no, no!" + +Then he passed out of the place with rapid steps and fled from the town +like one who was ashamed. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MEETING ON THE SOK + + +Although Israel did not know it, and in the hunger of his heart he would +have given all the world to learn it, yet if any man could have peered +into the dark chamber where the spirit of Naomi had dwelt seventeen +years in silence, he would have seen that, dear as the child was to the +father, still dearer and more needful was the father to the child. Since +her mother left her he had been eyes of her eyes and ears of her ears, +touching her hand for assent, patting her head for approval, and guiding +her fingers to teach them signs. + +Thus Israel was more to Naomi than any father before to any daughter, +more to her than mother or sister or brother or kindred; for he was her +sole gateway to the world she lived in, the one alley whereby her spirit +gazed upon it, the key that opened the closed doors of her soul; and +without him neither could the world come in to her, nor could she go out +to the world. Soft and beautiful was the commerce between them, mute on +one side of all language save tears and kisses, like the commerce of a +mother with her first-born child, as holy in love, as sweet in mystery +as pure from taint, and as deep in tenderness. While her father was with +her, then only did Naomi seem to live, and her happy heart to be full of +wonder at the strange new things that flowed in upon it. And when he was +gone from her, she was merely a spirit barred and shut within her body's +close abode, waiting to be born anew. + +When Israel made ready to go to Shawan, Naomi clung to him to hinder +him, as if remembering his long absence when he went to Fez, and +connecting it with the illness that came to her in his absence; or +as seeming to see, with those eyes that were blind to the ways of the +world, what was to befall him before he returned. He put her from him +with many tender words, and smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead, +as though to chide her while he blessed her for so much love. But her +dread increased, and she held to him like a child to its mother's robe. +And at last, when he unloosed her hands and pushed them away as if in +anger, and after that laughed lightly as if to tell her that he knew her +meaning yet had no fear, her trouble rose to a storm and she fell to a +fit of weeping. + +"Tut! tut! what is this?" he said. "I will be back to-morrow. Do you +hear, my child?--tomorrow! At sunset to-morrow." + +When he was gone, the terror that had so suddenly possessed her seemed +to increase. Her face was red, her mouth was dry, her eyelids quivered, +and her hands were restless. If she sat she rose quickly; if she stood +she walked again more fast. Sometimes she listened with head aside, +sometimes moaned, sometimes wept outright, and sometimes she muttered to +herself in noises such as none had heard from her lips before. + +The bondwomen could find no-way to comfort her. Indeed, the trouble of +her heart took hold of them. When she plucked Fatimah by the gown, and +with her blind eyes, that were also wet, seemed to look sadly into the +black woman's face, as if asking for her father, like a dog for its +master that is dead, Fatimah shed tears as well, partly in pity of her +fears, and partly in terror of the unknown troubles still to come which +God Himself might have revealed to her. + +"Alas! little dumb soul, what is to happen now?" cried Fatimah. + +"Alack! girl," said Habeebah, "the maid is sickening again." + +And this was all that the good souls could make of her restless +agitation. She slept that night from sheer exhaustion, a deep lethargic +slumber, apparently broken once or twice by troubled dreams. When she +awoke in the morning at the first sound of the voice of the mooddin, the +evil dreams seemed to be with her still. She appeared to be moving along +in them like one spell-bound by a great dread that she could not utter, +as if she were living through a nightmare of the day. Then long hour +followed long hour, but the inquietude of her mood did not abate. Her +bosom heaved, her throat throbbed, her excitement became hysterical. +Sometimes she broke into wild, inarticulate shouts, and sometimes the +black women could have believed, in spite of knowledge and reason, that +she was muttering and speaking words, though with a wild disorder of +utterance. + +At last the day waned and the sun went down. Naomi seemed to know when +this occurred, for she could scent the cool air. Then, with a fresh +intentness, she listened to the footsteps outside, and, having listened, +her trouble increased. What did Naomi hear? The black women could hear +nothing save the common sounds of the streets--the shouts of children +at play, the calls of women, the cries of the mule-drivers, and now and +again the piercing shrieks of a black story-teller from the town of +the Moors--only this varied flow of voices, and under it the indistinct +murmur of multitudinous life coming and going on every side. + +Did other sounds come to Naomi's ears? Was her spiritual power, which +was unclogged by any grosser sense than that of hearing, conscious of +some terrible undertone of impending trouble? Or was her disquietude no +more than recollection of her father's promise to be back at sunset, and +mere anxiety for his return? Fatimah and Habeebah knew nothing and saw +nothing. All that they could do was to wring their hands. + +Meantime, Naomi's agitation became yet more restless, and nothing would +serve her at last but that she should go out into the streets. And the +black women, seeing her so steadfastly minded, and being affected by her +fears, made her ready, and themselves as well, and then all three went +out together. + +"Where are we going?" said Habeebah. + +"Nay, how should I know?" said Fatimah. + +"We are fools," said Habeebah. + +It was now an hour after sunset, the light was fading, and the traffic +was sinking down. Only at the gate of the Mellah, which, contrary to +custom, had not yet been closed, was the throng still dense. A group of +Jews stood under it in earnest and passionate talk. There was a strange +and bodeful silence on every side. The coffee-house of the Moors beyond +the gate was already lit up, and the door was open, but the floor was +empty. No snake-charmers, no jugglers, no story-tellers, with their +circles of squatting spectators, were to be seen or heard. These +professors of science and magic and jocularity had never before been +absent. Even the blind beggars, crouching under the town walls, were +silent. But out of the mosques there came a deep low chant as of many +voices, from great numbers gathered within. + +"The girl was right," said Fatimah; "something has happened." + +"What is it?" said Habeebah. + +"Nay, how should I know that either?" said Fatimah. + +"I tell you we are a pair of fools," said Habeebah. + +Meantime Naomi held their hands, and they must needs follow where she +led. Her body was between them; they were borne along by her feeble +frame as by an irresistible force. And pitiful it would have seemed, +and perhaps foolish also, if any human eye had seen them then, these +helpless children of God, going whither they knew not and wherefore they +knew not, save that a fear that was like to madness drew them on. + +"Listen! I hear something," said Fatimah. + +"Where?" said Habeebah. + +"The way we are going," said Fatimah. + +On and on Naomi passed from street to street. They were the same streets +whereby she had returned to her father's house on the day that her +goat was slain. Never since then had she trodden them, but she neither +altered not turned aside to the right or the left, but made straight +forward, until she came to the Sok el Foki, and to the place where the +goat had fallen before the foaming jaws of the dog from the Mukabar. +Then she could go no farther. + +"Holy saints, what is this?" cried Habeebah. + +"Didn't I tell you--the girl heard something?" said Fatimah. + +"God's face shine on us," said Habeebah. "What is all this crowd?" + +An immense throng covered the upper half of the market-square, and +overflowed into the streets and arched alleys leading to the Kasbah. It +was not a close and dense crowd of white-hooded forms such as gathered +on that spot on market morning--a seething, steaming, moving mass of +haiks and jellabs and Maghribi blankets, with here and there a bare +shaven head and plaited crown-lock--but a great crowd of dark figures +in black gowns and skull-caps. The assemblage was of Jews only--Jews of +every age and class and condition, from the comely young Jewish butcher +in his blood-stained rags to the toothless old Jewish banker with gold +braid on his new kaftan. + +They were gathered together to consider the posture of affairs in regard +to the plague of locusts. Hence the Moorish officials had suffered them +to remain outside the walls of their Mellah after sunset. Some of the +Moors themselves stood aside and watched, but at a distance, leaving a +vacant space to denote the distinction between them. The scribes sat in +their open booths, pretending to read their Koran or to write with their +reed pens; the gunsmiths stood at their shop-doors; and the country +Berbers, crowded out of their usual camping ground on the Sok, squatted +on the vacant spots adjacent. All looked on eagerly, but apparently +impassively, at the vast company of Jews. + +And so great was the concourse of these people, and so wild their +commotion, that they were like nothing else but a sea-broken by +tempestuous winds. The market-place rang as a vault with the sounds of +their voices, their harsh cries, their protests, their pleadings, their +entreaties, and all the fury of their brazen throats. And out of their +loud uproar one name above all other names rose in the air on every +side. It was the name of Israel ben Oliel. Against him they were +breathing out threats, foretelling imminent dangers from the hand of +man, and predicting fresh judgments from God. There was no evil which +had befallen him early or late but they were remembering it, and +reckoning it up and rejoicing in it. And there was no evil which had +befallen themselves but they were laying it to his charge. + +Yesterday, when they passed through the town in their procession of +penance, following their Grand Rabbi as he walked abreast of the Imam, +that they might call on God to destroy the eggs of the locust, they had +expected the heavens to open over their heads, and to feel the rain +fall instantly. The heavens had not opened, the rain had not fallen, the +thick hot cake as of baked air had continued to hang and to palpitate in +the sky, and the fierce sun had beaten down as before on the parched +and scorching earth. Seeing this, as their petitions ended, while +the Muslims went back to their houses, disappointed but resigned, and +muttering to themselves, "It is written," they had returned to their +synagogues, convinced that the plague was a judgment, and resolved, like +the sailors of the ship going down to Tarshish, to cast lots and to know +for whose cause the evil was upon them. + +They were more than a hundred and twenty families, and had thought they +were therefore entitled to elect a Synhedrin. This was in defiance +of ceremonial law, for they knew full well that the formation of a +Synhedrin and the right to try a capital charge had long been forbidden. +But they were face to face with death, and hence the anachronism had +been adopted, and they had fallen back on the custom of their fathers. +So three-and-twenty judges they had appointed, without usurers, or +slave-dealers, or gamblers, or aged men or childless ones. + +The judges had sat in session the same night, and their judgment had +been unanimous. The lot of Jonah had fallen on Israel. He had sold +himself to their masters and enemies, the Moors, against the hope and +interest of his own people; he had driven some of the sons of his race +and nation into exile in distant cities; he had brought others to the +Kasbah, and yet others to death: he was a man at open enmity with God, +and God had given him, as a mark of His displeasure, a child who was +cursed with devils, a daughter who had been born blind and dumb and +deaf, and was still without sight and speech. + +Could the hand of God's anger be more plain if it were printed in fire +upon the sky? Israel was the evil one for whose sin they suffered this +devastating plague. The Lord was rebuking them for sparing him, even as +He had rebuked Saul for sparing the king and cattle of the Amalekites. +Seventeen years and more he had been among them without being of them, +never entering a synagogue, never observing a fast, never joining in a +feast. Not until their judgment went out against him would God's anger +be appeased. Let them cut him off from the children of his race, and the +blessed rain would fall from heaven, and the thirsty earth would drink +it, and the eggs of the locust would be destroyed. But let them put +off any longer their rightful task and duty before God and before the +people, and their evil time would soon come. Within eight-and-twenty +days the eggs would be hatched, and within eight-and-forty other +days the young locust would have wings. Before the end of those +seventy-and-six days the harvest of wheat and barley would be yellow to +the scythe and ripe for the granary, but the locust would cover the face +of the earth, and there would be no grain to gather. The scythe would be +idle, the granaries would be empty, the tillers of the ground would come +hungry into the markets, and they themselves that were town-dwellers +and tradesmen would be perishing for bread, both they and their children +with them. + +Thus in Israel's absence, while he was away at Shawan, the +three-and-twenty judges of the new Synhedrin of Tetuan had--contrary to +Jewish custom--tried and convicted him. God would not let them perish +for this man's life, and neither would He charge them with his blood. + +Nevertheless, judges though they were, they could not kill him. They +could only appeal against him to the Kaid. And what could they say? That +the Lord had sent this plague of locusts in punishment of Israel's sin? +Ben Aboo would laugh in their faces and answer them, "It is written." +That to appease God's wrath it was expedient that this Jew should die? +Convince the Muslim that a Jew had brought this desolation upon the land +of the Shereefs, and he would arise, and his soldiers with him, and the +whole community of the Jewish people would be destroyed. + +The judges had laid their heads together. It was idle to appeal to Ben +Aboo against Israel on any ground of belief. Nay, it was more than idle, +for it was dangerous. There was nothing in common between his faith and +their own. His God was not their God, save in name only. The one was +Allah, great, stern, relentless, inexorable, not to be moved striding +on to an inevitable end, heedless of man and trampling upon him--though +sometimes mocked with the names of the Compassionate and the Merciful. +But the other was Jehovah, the father of His people Israel, caring for +them, upholding them, guiding the world for them, conquering for them; +but visiting His anger upon them when they fell away from Him. + +The three-and-twenty judges in session in the synagogue up the narrow +lane of the Sok el Foki had sat far into the night, with the light of +the oil-lamps gleaming on their perplexed and ashen faces. Some other +ground of appeal against Israel had to be found, and they could not find +it. At length they had remembered that, by ancient law and custom the +trial of an Israelite, for life or death, must end an hour after sunset. +Also they had been reminded that the day that heard the evidence in a +capital case must not be the same whereon the verdict was pronounced. So +they had broken up and returned home. And, going out at the gate, they +had told the crowds that waited there that judgment had fallen upon +Israel ben Oliel, but that his doom could not be made known until sunset +on the following day. + +That time was now come. In eagerness and impatience, in hot blood and +anger, the people had gathered in the Sok three hours after midday. The +Judges had reassembled in the synagogue in the early morning. They had +not broken bread since yesterday, for the day that condemned a son of +Israel to death must be a fast-day to his judges. + +As the afternoon wore on, the doors of the synagogue were thrown open. +The sentence was not ready yet, but the judges in council were near +to their decision. At the open door the reader of the synagogue had +stationed himself, holding a flag in his hand. Under the gate of the +Mellah a second messenger was standing, so placed that he could see the +movement of the flag. If the flag fell, the sentence would be "death," +and the man under the gate would carry the tidings to the people +gathered in the market-place. Then the three-and-twenty judges would +come in procession and tell what steps had been taken that the doom +pronounced might be carried into effect. + +Amid all their loud uproar, and notwithstanding the wild anger which +seemed to consume them, the people turned at intervals of a few minutes +to glance back towards the Mellah gate. + +If the angels were looking down, surely it was a pitiful sight--these +children of Zion in a strange land, where they were held as dogs and +vermin and human scavengers to the Muslim; thinking and speaking and +acting as their fathers had done any time for five thousand years +before; again judging it expedient that one man should die rather than +the whole people be brought to destruction; again probing their crafty +heads, if not their hearts, for an artifice whereby their scapegoat +might be killed by the hand of their enemy; children indeed, for all +that some of their heads were bald, and some of their beards were +grizzled, and some of their faces were wrinkled and hard and fierce; +little children of God writhing in the grip of their great trouble. + +Such was the scene to which Naomi had come, and such had been the doings +of the town since the hour when her father left her. What hand had led +her? What power had taught her? Was it merely that her far-reaching +ears had heard the tumult? Had some unknown sense, groping in darkness, +filled her with a vague terror, too indefinite to be called a thought, +of great and impending evil? Or was it some other influence, some higher +leading? Was it that the Lord was in His heaven that night as always, +and that when the two black bondwomen in their helpless fear were +following the blind maiden through the darkening streets she in her turn +was following God? + +When Fatimah and Habeebah saw what it was to which Naomi had led them, +though they were sorely concerned at it, yet they were relieved as well, +and put by the worst of the fears with which her strange behaviour had +infected them. And remembering that she was the daughter of Israel, and +they were his servants, and neither thinking themselves safe from +danger if they stayed any longer where his name was bandied about as a +reproach, nor fully knowing how many of the curses that were heaped upon +him found a way to Naomi's mind, they were for turning again and going +back to the house. + +"Come," said Habeebah; "let us go--we are not safe." + +"Yes," said Fatimah; "let us take the poor child back." + +"Come along, then," said Habeebah, and she laid hold of Naomi's hand. + +"Naomi, Naomi," whispered Fatimah in the girl's ear, "we are going home. +Come, dearest, come." + +But Naomi was not to be moved. No gentle voice availed to stir her. +She stood where she had placed herself on the outskirts of the crowd, +motionless save for her heaving bosom and trembling limbs, and silent +save for her loud breathing and the low muttering of her pale lips, yet +listening eagerly with her neck outstretched. + +And if, as she listened, any human eye could have looked in on her +dumb and imprisoned soul, the tumult it would have seen must have been +terrible. For, though no one knew it as a certainty, yet in her darkness +and muteness since the coming of her gift of hearing she had been +learning speech and the different voices of men. All that was spoken in +that crowd she understood, and never a word escaped her, and what others +saw she felt, only nearer and more terrible, because wrapped in the +darkness outside her eyes that were blind. + +First there came a lull in the general clamour, and then a coarse, +jarring, stridulous voice rose in the air. Naomi knew whose voice it +was--it was the voice of old Abraham Pigman, the usurer. + +"Brothers of Tetuan," the old man cried, "what are we waiting for? For +the verdict of the judges? Who wants their verdict? There is only one +thing to do. Let us ask the Kaid to remove this man. The Kaid is a +humane master. If he has sometimes worked wrong by us, he has been +driven to do that which in his soul he abhors. Let us go to him and say: +'Lord Basha, through five-and-twenty years this man of our people has +stood over us to oppress us, and your servants have suffered and been +silent. In that time we have seen the seed of Israel hunted from the +houses of their fathers where they have lived since their birth. We have +seen them buffeted and smitten, without a resting-place for the soles +of their feet, and perishing in hunger and thirst and nakedness and +the want of all things. Is this to your honour, or your glory, or your +profit?'" + +The people broke into loud cries of approval, and when they were once +more silent, the thick voice went on: "And not the seed of Israel +only, but the sons of Islam also, has this man plunged in the depths of +misery. Under a Sultan who desires liberty and a Kaid who loves justice, +in a land that breathes freedom and a city that is favoured of God, +our brethren the Muslimeen sink with us in deep mire where there is no +standing. Every day brings to both its burden of fresh sorrow. At +this moment a plague is upon us. The country is bare; the town is +overflowing; every man stumbles over his fellow our lives hang in doubt; +in the morning we say 'Would it were evening'; in the evening we say, +'Would it were morning'; stretch out your hand and help us!" + +Again the crowd burst into shouts of assent, and the stridulous voice +continued: "Let us say to him 'Lord Basha, there is no way of help but +one. Pluck down this man that is set over us. He belongs to our own race +and nation; but give us a master of any other race and nation; any Moor, +any Arab, any Berber, any negro; only take back this man of our own +people, and your servants will bless you.'" + +The old man's voice was drowned in great shouts of "Ben Aboo!" "To Ben +Aboo!" "Why wait for the judges?" "To the Kasbah!" "The Kasbah!" + +But a second voice came piercing through the boom and clash of those +waves of sound, and it was thin and shrill as the cry of a pea-hen. +Naomi knew this voice also--it was the voice of Judah ben Lolo, +the elder of the synagogue, who would have been sitting among the +three-and-twenty-judges but that he was a usurer also. + +"Why go to the Kaid?" said the voice like a peahen. "Does the Basha +love this Israel ben Oliel? Has he of late given many signs of such +affection? Bethink you, brothers, and act wisely! Would not Ben Aboo +be glad to have done with this servant who has been so long his master? +Then why trouble him with your grievance? Act for yourselves, and the +Kaid will thank you! And well may this Israel ben Oliel praise the Lord +and worship Him, that He has not put it into the hearts of His people +to play the game of breaker of tyrants by the spilling of blood, as the +races around them, the Arabs and the Berbers, who are of a temper more +warm by nature, must long ago have done, and that not unjustly either, +or altogether to the displeasure of a Kaid who is good and humane and +merciful, and has never loved that his poor people should be oppressed." + +At this word, though it made pretence to commend the temperance of the +crowd, the fury broke out more loudly than before. "Away with the man!" +"Away with him!" rang out on every side in countless voices, husky and +clear, gruff and sharp, piping and deep. Not a voice of them all called +for mercy or for patience. + +While the anger of the people surged and broke in the air, a third voice +came through the tumult, and Naomi knew it, for it was the harsh voice +of Reuben Maliki, the silversmith and keeper of the poor-box. + +"And does God," said Reuben, "any more than Ben Aboo--blessings on his +life!--love that His people should be oppressed? How has He dealt with +this Israel ben Oliel? Does He stand steadfastly beside him, or has His +hand gone out against him? Since the day he came here, five-and-twenty +years ago, has God saved him or smitten him? Remember Ruth, his wife, +how she died young! Remember her father, our old Grand Rabbi, David ben +Ohana, how the hand of the Lord fell upon him on the night of the +day whereon his daughter was married! Remember this girl Naomi, this +offspring of sin, this accursed and afflicted one, still blind and +speechless!" + +Then the voices of the crowd came to Naomi's ears like the neigh of a +breathless horse. Fatimah had laid hold of her gown and was whispering. +"Come! Let us away!" But Naomi only clutched her hand and trembled. + +The harsh voice of Reuben Maliki rose in the air again. "Do you say that +the Lord gave him riches? Behold him!--he swallowed them down, but has +he not vomited them up? Examine him!--that which he took by extortions +has he not been made to restore? Does God's anger smoke against him? +Answer me, yes or no!" + +Like a bolt out of the sky there came a great shout of "Yes!" And +instantly afterwards, from another direction, there came a fourth voice, +a peevish, tremulous voice, the voice of an old woman. Naomi knew it--it +was the voice of Rebecca Bensabott, ninety-and-odd years of age, and +still deaf as a stone. + +"Tut! What is all this talking about?" she snapped and grunted. "Reuben +Maliki, save your wind for your widows--you don't give them too much of +it. And, Abraham Pigman, go home to your money-bags. I am an old fool, +am I? Well, I've the more right to speak plain. What are we waiting here +for? The judges? Pooh! The sentence? Fiddle-faddle! It is Israel ben +Oliel, isn't it? Then stone him! What are you afraid of? The Kaid? He'll +laugh in your faces. A blood-feud? Who is to wage it? A ransom? Who is +to ask for it? Only this mute, this Naomi, and you'll have to work her +a miracle and find her a tongue first. Out on you! Men? Pshaw! You are +children!" + +The people laughed--it was the hard, grating, hollow laugh that sets the +teeth on edge behind the lips that utter it. Instantly the voices of the +crowd broke up into a discordant clangour, like to the counter-currents +of an angry sea. "She's right," said a shrill voice. "He deserves it," +snuffled a nasal one. "At least let us drive him out of the town," said +a third gruff voice. "To his house!" cried a fourth voice, that pealed +over all. "To his house!" came then from countless hungry throats. + +"Come, let us go," whispered Fatimah to Naomi, and again she laid hold +of her arm to force her away. But Naomi shook off her hand, and muttered +strange sounds to herself. + +"To his house! Sack it! Drive the tyrant out!" the people howled in a +hundred rasping voices; but, before any one had stirred, a man riding a +mule had forced his way into the middle of the crowd. + +It was the messenger from under the Mellah gate. In their new frenzy the +people had forgotten him. He had come to make known the decision of the +Synhedrin. The flag had fallen; the sentence was death. + +Hearing this doom, the people heard no more, and neither did they wait +for the procession of the judges, that they might learn of the means +whereby they, who were not masters in their own house, might carry +the sentence into effect. The procession was even then forming. It +was coming out of the synagogue; it was passing under the gate of the +Mellah; it was approaching the Sok el Foki. The Rabbis walked in front +of it. At its tail came four Moors with shamefaced looks. They were +the soldiers and muleteers whom Israel had hired when he set out on his +pilgrimage to that enemy of all Kaids and Bashas, Mohammed of Mequinez. +By-and-by they were to betray him to Ben Aboo. + +But no one saw either Rabbis or Moors. The people were twisting and +turning like worms on an upturned turf. "Why sack his house?" cried +some. "Why drive him out?" cried others. "A poor revenge!" "Kill him!" +"Kill him!" + +At the sound of that word, never before spoken, though every ear had +waited for it, the shouts of the crowd rose to madness. But suddenly +in the midst of the wild vociferations there was a shrill cry of "He is +there!" and then there was a great silence. + +It was Israel himself. He was coming afoot down the lane under the town +walls from the gate called the Bab Toot, where the road comes in from +Shawan. At fifty paces behind him Ali, the black boy, was riding one +mule and leading another. + +He was returning from the prison, and thinking how the poor followers +of Absalam, after he had fed them of his poverty, had blest him out +of their dry throats, saying, "May the God of Jacob bless you also, +brother!" and "May the child of your wife be blessed!" Ah! those +blessings, he could hear them still! They followed him as he walked. +He did not fly from them any longer, for they sang in his ears and were +like music in his melted soul. Once before he had heard such music. +It was in England. The organ swelled and the voices rose, and he was a +lonely boy, for his mother lay in her grave at his feet. His mother! How +strangely his heart was softened towards himself and-all the world And +Ruth! He could think of nothing without tenderness. And Naomi! Ah! the +sun was nigh two hours down, and Naomi would be waiting for him at home, +for she was as one that had no life without his presence. What would +befall if he were taken from her? That thought was like the sweeping of +a dead hand across his face. So his body stooped as he walked with his +staff, and his head was held down, and his step was heavy. + +Thus the old lion came on to the market-place, where the people were +gathered together as wolves to devour him. On he came, seeing nothing +and hearing nothing and fearing nothing, and in the silence of the first +surprise at sight of him his footsteps were heard on the stones. + +Naomi heard them. + +Then it seemed to Naomi's ears that a voice fell, as it were, out of the +air, crying, "God has given him into our hands!" After that all sounds +seemed to Naomi to fade far-away, and to come to her muffled and stifled +by the distance. + +But with a loud shout, as if it had been a shout out of one great +throat, the crowd encompassed Israel crying, "Kill him!" Israel stopped, +and lifted his heavy face upon the people; but neither did he cry out +nor make any struggle for his life. He stood erect and silent in their +midst, and massive and square. His brave bearing did not break their +fury. They fell upon him, a hundred hands together. One struck at his +face, another tore at his long grey hair, and a third thrust him down on +to his knees. + +No one had yet observed on the outer rim of the crowd the pale slight +girl that stood there--blind, dumb, powerless, frail, and so softly +beautiful--a waif on the margin of a tempestuous sea. Through the +thick barriers of Naomi's senses everything was coming to her ugly and +terrible. Her father was there! They were tearing him to pieces! + +Suddenly she was gone from the side of the two black women. Like a flash +of light she had passed through the bellowing throng. She had thrust +herself between the people and her father, who was on the ground: she +was standing over him with both arms upraised, and at that instant God +loosed her tongue, for she was crying, "Mercy! Mercy!" + +Then the crowd fell back in great fear. The dumb had spoken. No man +dared to touch Israel any more. The hands that had been lifted against +him dropped back useless, and a wide circle formed around him. In the +midst of it stood Naomi. Her blind face quivered; she seemed to glow +like a spirit. And like a spirit she had driven back the people from +their deed of blood as with the voice of God--she, the blind, the frail, +the helpless. + +Israel rose to his feet, for no man touched him again, and the +procession of judges, which had now come up, was silent. And, seeing how +it was that in the hour of his great need the gift of speech had come +upon Naomi, his heart rose big within him, and he tried to triumph over +his enemies and say, "You thought God's arm was against me, but behold +how God has saved me out of your hands." + +But he could not speak. The dumbness that had fallen from his daughter +seemed to have dropped upon him. + +At that moment Naomi turned to him and said, "Father!" + +Then the cup of Israel's heart was full. His throat choked him. So he +took her by the hand in silence and down a long alley of the people they +passed through the Mellah gate and went home to their house. Her eyes +were to the earth, and she wept as she walked; but his face was lifted +up, and his tears and his blood ran down his cheeks together. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NAOMI'S BLINDNESS + + +Although Naomi, in her darkness and muteness since the coming of her +gift of hearing, had learned to know and understand the different +tongues of men, yet now that she tried to call forth words for herself, +and to put out her own voice in the use of them, she was no more than +a child untaught in the ways of speech. She tripped and stammered and +broke down, and had to learn to speak as any helpless little one must +do, only quicker, because her need was greater, and better, because +she was a girl and not a babe. And, perceiving her own awkwardness, and +thinking shame of it, and being abashed by the patient waiting of her +father when she halted in her talk with him, and still more humbled by +Ali's impetuous help when she miscalled her syllables, she fell back +again on silence. + +Hardly could she be got to speak at all. For some days after the night +when her emancipated tongue had rescued Israel from his enemies on the +Sok, she seemed to say nothing beyond "Yes" and "No," notwithstanding +Ali's eager questions, and Fatimah's tearful blessings, and Habeebah's +breathless invocations, and also notwithstanding the hunger and thirst +of the heart of her father, who, remembering with many throbs of joy the +voice that he heard with his dreaming ears when he slept on the straw +bed of the poor fondak at Wazzan, would have given worlds of gold, if he +had possessed them still, to hear it constantly with his waking ears. + +"Come, come, little one; come, come, speak to us, only speak," Israel +would say. + +His appeals were useless. Naomi would smile and hang her sunny head, and +lift her father's hairy hand to her cheek, and say nothing. + +But just about a week later a beautiful thing occurred. Israel was +returning to the Mellah after one of his secret excursions in the poor +quarter of the Bab Ramooz, where he had spent the remainder of the money +which old Reuben had paid him for the casket of his wife's jewels. The +night was warm, the moon shone with steady lustre, and the stars were +almost obliterated as separate lights by a luminous silvery haze. It was +late, very late, and far and near the town was still. + +With his innocent disguise, his Moorish jellab, hung over his arm, +Israel had passed the Mellah gate, being the only Jew who was allowed +to cross it after sunset. He was feeling happy as he walked home through +the sleeping streets, with his black shadow going in front. The magic of +the summer night possessed him, and his soul was full of joy. + +All his misgivings had fallen away. The coming to Naomi of the gift of +speech had seemed to banish from his mind the dark spirit of the past. +He had no heart for reprisals upon the enemies who had sought to kill +him. Without that blind effort on their part, perhaps his great blessing +had not come to pass. Man's extremity had indeed been God's opportunity +and Ruth's vision was all but realised. + +Ah, Ruth! Ruth! It had escaped Israel's notice until then that he had +been thinking of his dead wife the whole night through. When he put it +to himself so, he saw the reason of it at once. It was because there +was a sort of secret charm in the certainty that where she was she +must surely know that her dream was come true. There was also a kind +of bitter pathos in the regret that she was only an angel now and not a +woman; therefore she could not be with him to share his human joy. + +As he walked through the Mellah, Israel thought of her again: how she +had sung by the cradle to her babe that could not hear. Sung? Yes, he +could almost fancy that he heard her singing yet. That voice so soft, +so clear even in its whispers--there had been nothing like it in all +the world. And her songs! Israel could also fancy that he heard her +favourite one. It was a song of love, a pure but passionate melody +wherein his own delicious happiness in the earlier days, before the +death of the old Grand Rabbi, had seemed to speak and sing. + +Israel began to laugh at himself as he walked. To think that the warmth +and softness of the night, the sweet caressing night, the light and +beauty of the moon and the stillness and slumber of the town, could +betray an old fellow into forgotten dreams like these! + +He had taken out of his pocket the big key of the clamped door to his +house, and was crossing the shadowed lane in front of it, when suddenly +he thought he heard music coating in the air above him. He stopped and +listened. Then he had no longer any doubt. It was music, it was singing; +he knew the song, and he knew the voice. The song was the song he had +been thinking of, and the voice was the voice of Ruth. + + O where is Love? + Where, where is Love? + Is it of heavenly birth? + Is it a thing of earth? + Where, where is Love? + +Israel felt himself rooted to the spot, and he stood some time without +stirring. He looked around. All else was still. The night was as silent +as death. He listened attentively. The singing seemed to come from his +own house. Then he thought he must be dreaming still, and he took a step +forward. But he stopped again and covered both his ears. That was of no +avail, for when he removed his hands the voice was there as before. + +A shiver ran over his limbs, yet he could not believe what his soul was +saying. The key dropped out of his hand and rang on the stone. When the +clangour was done the voice continued. Israel bethought him then that +his household must be asleep, and it flashed on his mind that if this +were a human voice the singing ought to awaken them. Just at that moment +the night guard went by and saluted him. "God bless your morning!" the +guard cried; and Israel answered, "Your morning be blessed!" That was +all. The guard seemed to have heard nothing. His footsteps were dying +away, but the voice went on. + +Then a strange emotion filled Israel's heart, and he reflected that even +if it were Ruth she could have come on no evil errand. That thought gave +him courage, and he pushed forward to the door. As he fumbled the key +into the lock he saw that a beggar was crouching by the doorway in the +shadow cast by the moonlight. The man was asleep. Israel could hear his +breathing, and smell his rags. Also he could hear the thud of his own +temples like the beating of a drum in his brain. + +At length, as he was groping feebly through the crooked passage, a new +thought came to him. "Naomi," he told himself in a whisper of awe. It +was she. By the full flood of the moonlight in the patio he saw her. She +was on the balcony. Her beautiful white-robed figure was half sitting on +the rail, half leaning against the pillar. The whole lustre of the moon +was upon her. A look of joy beamed on her face. She was singing her +mother's song with her mother's voice, and all the air, and the sky, and +the quiet white town seemed to listen:-- + + Within my heart a voice + Bids earth and heaven rejoice + Sings--"Love, great Love + O come and claim shine own, + O come and take thy throne + Reign ever and alone, + Reign, glorious golden Love." + +Then Israel's fear was turned to rapture. Why had he not thought of this +before? Yet how could he have thought of it? He had never once heard +Naomi's voice save in the utterance of single words. But again, why had +he not remembered that before the tongues of children can speak words of +their own they sing the words of others? + +The singing ended, and then Israel, struggling with his dry throat, +stepped a pace forward--his foot grated on the pavement--and he called +to the singer-- + +"Naomi!" + +The girl bent forward, as if peering down into the darkness below, but +Israel could see that her fixed eyes were blind. + +"My father!" she whispered. + +"Where did you learn it?" said Israel. + +"Fatimah, she taught me," Naomi answered; and then she added quickly, +as if with great but childlike pride, saying what she did not mean, "Oh +yes, it was I! Was I not beautiful?" + +After that night Naomi's shyness of speech dropped away from her, and +what was left was only a sweet maidenly unconsciousness of all faults +and failings, with a soft and playful lisp that ran in and out among the +simple words that fell from her red lips like a young squirrel among the +fallen leaves of autumn. It would be a long task to tell how her lisping +tongue turned everything then to favour and to prettiness. On the coming +of the gift of hearing, the world had first spoken to her; and now, on +the coming of the gift of speech, she herself was first speaking to the +world. What did she tell it at that first sweet greeting? She told it +what she had been thinking of it in those mute days that were gone, when +she had neither hearing nor speech, but was in the land of silence as +well as in the land of night. + +The fancies of the blind maid so long shut up within the beautiful +casket of her body were strange and touching ones. Israel took delight +in them at the beginning. He loved to probe the dark places of the mind +they came from, thinking God Himself must surely have illumined it +at some time with a light that no man knew, so startling were some of +Naomi's replies, so tender and so beautiful. + +One evening, not long after she had first spoken, he was sitting with +her on the roof of their house as the sun was going down over the +palpitating plains towards Arzila and Laraiche and the great sea beyond. +Twilight was gathering in the Feddan under the Mosque, and the last +light of day, which had parleyed longest with the snowy heights of the +Reef Mountains, was glowing only on the sky above them. + +"Sweetheart," said Israel, "what is the sun?" + +"The sun is a fire in the sky," Naomi answered; "my Father lights it +every morning." + +"Truly, little one, thy Father lights it," said Israel; "thy Father +which is in heaven." + +"Sweetheart," he said again, "what is darkness?" + +"Oh, darkness is cold," said Naomi promptly, and she seemed to shiver. + +"Then the light must be warmth, little one?" said Israel. + +"Yes, and noise," she answered; and then she added quickly, "Light is +alive." + +Saying this, she crept closer to his side, and knelt there, and by her +old trick of love she took his hand in both of hers, and pressed it +against her cheek, and then, lifting her sweet face with its motionless +eyes she began to tell him in her broken words and pretty lisp what she +thought of night. In the night the world, and everything in it, was cold +and quiet. That was death. The angels of God came to the world in the +day. But God Himself came in the night, because He loved silence, +and because all the world was dead. Then He kissed things, and in the +morning all that God had kissed came to life again. If you were to get +up early you would feel God's kiss on the flowers and on the grass. And +that was why the birds were singing then. God had kissed them in the +night, and they were glad. + +One day Israel took Naomi to the mearrah of the Jews, the little +cemetery outside the town walls where he had buried Ruth. And there he +told her of her mother once more; that she was in the grave, but also +with God; that she was dead, but still alive; that Naomi must not expect +to find her in that place, but, nevertheless, that she would see her yet +again. + +"Do you remember her, Naomi?" he said. "Do you remember her in the old +days, the old dark and silent days? Not Fatimah, and not Habeebah, but +some one who was nearer to you than either, and loved you better than +both; some one who had soft hands, and smooth cheeks, and long, silken, +wavy hair--do you remember, little one?" + +"Y-es, I think--I _think_ I remember," said Naomi. + +"That was your mother, my darling." + +"My mother?" + +"Ah, you don't know what a mother is, sweetheart. How should you? And +how shall I tell you? Listen. She is the one who loves you first and +last and always. When you are a babe she suckles you and nourishes you +and fondles you, and watches for the first light of your smile, and +listens for the first accent of your tongue. When you are a young child +she plays with you, and sings to you, and tells you little stories, and +teaches you to speak. Your smile is more bright to her than sunshine, +and your childish lisp more sweet than music. If you are sick she is +beside you constantly, and when you are well she is behind you still. +Though you sin and fall and all men spurn you, yet she clings to you; +and if you do well and God prospers you, there is no joy like her joy. +Her love never changes, for it is a fount which the cold winds of the +world cannot freeze. . . . And if you are a little helpless girl--blind +and deaf and dumb maybe--then she loves you best of all. She cannot tell +you stories, and she cannot sing to you, because you cannot hear; she +cannot smile into your eyes, because you cannot see; she cannot talk to +you, because you cannot speak; but she can watch your quiet face, and +feel the touch of your little fingers and hear the sound of your merry +laughter." + +"My mother! my mother!" whispered Naomi to herself, as if in awe. + +"Yes," said Israel, "your mother was like that, Naomi, long ago, in the +days before your great gifts came to you. But she is gone, she has left +us, she could not stay; she is dead, and only from the blue mountains of +memory can she smile back upon us now." + +Naomi could not understand, but her fixed blue eyes filled with tears, +and she said abruptly, "People who die are deceitful. They want to go +out in the night to be with God. That is where they are when they go +away. They are wandering about the world when it is dead." + +The same night Naomi was missed out of the house, and for many hours no +search availed to find her. She was not in the Mellah, and therefore +she must have passed into the Moorish town before the gates closed at +sunset. Neither was she to be seen in the Feddan or at the Kasbah, or +among the Arabs who sat in the red glow of the fires that burnt before +their tents. At last Israel bethought him of the mearrah, and there +he found her. It was dark, and the lonesome place was silent. The +reflection of the lights of the town rose into the sky above it, and the +distant hum of voices came over the black town walls. And there, within +the straggling hedge of prickly pear, among the long white stones that +lay like sheep asleep among the grass, Naomi in her double darkness, the +darkness of the night and of her blindness was running to and fro, and +crying, "Mother! Mother!" + +Fatimah took her the four miles to Marteel, that the breath of the sea +might bring colour to her cheeks, which had been whitened by the heat +and fumes of the town. The day was soft and beautiful, the water was +quiet, and only a gentle wind came creeping over it. But Naomi listened +to every sound with eager intentness--the light plash of the blue +wavelets that washed to her feet, the ripple of their crests when +the Levanter chased them and caught them, the dip of the oars of the +boatman, the rattle of the anchor-chains of ships in the bay, and the +fierce vociferations of the negroes who waded up to their waists to +unload the cargoes. + +And when she came home, and took her old place at her father's knees, +with his hand between hers pressed close against her cheek, she told him +another sweet and startling story. There was only one thing in the world +that did not die at night, and it was water. That was because water was +the way from heaven to earth. It went up into the mountains and over +them into the air until it was lost in the clouds. And God and His +angels came and went on the water between heaven and earth. That was why +it was always moving and never sleeping, and had no night and no day. +And the angels were always singing. That was why the waters were always +making a noise, and were never silent like the grass. Sometimes their +song was joyful, and sometimes it was sad, and sometimes the evil +spirits were struggling with the angels, and that was when the waters +were terrible. Every time the sea made a little noise on the shore, an +angel had stepped on to the earth. The angel was glad. + +Israel had begun to listen to Naomi's fancies with a doubting heart. +Where had they come from? Was it his duty to wipe out these beautiful +dream-stories of the maid born blind and newly come upon the joy of +hearing with his own sadder tales of what the world was and what life +was, and death and heaven? The question was soon decided for him. + +Two days after Naomi had been taken to Marteel she was missed again. +Israel hurried away to the sea, and there he came upon her. Alone, +without help, she had found a boat on the beach and had pushed off on +to the water. It was a double-pronged boat, light as a nutshell, made +of ribs of rush, covered with camel-skin, and lined with bark. In this +frail craft she was afloat, and already far out in the bay not rowing, +but sitting quietly, and drifting away with the ebbing tide. The wind +was rising, and the line of the foreshore beyond the boat was white with +breakers. Israel put off after her and rescued her. The motionless eyes +began to fill when she heard his voice. + +"My darling, my darling!" cried Israel; "where did you think you were +going?" + +"To heaven," she answered. + +And truly she had all but gone there. + +Israel had no choice left to him now. He must sadden the heart of this +creature of joy that he might keep her body safe from peril. Naomi was +no more than a little child, swayed by her impulses alone, but in more +danger from herself than any child before her, because deprived of two +of her senses until she had grown to be a maid, and no control could be +imposed upon her. + +At length Israel nerved himself to his bitter task; and one evening +while Naomi sat with him on the roof while the sun was setting, and +there were noises in the streets below of the Jewish people shuffling +back into the Mellah, he told her that she was blind. The word made no +impression upon her mind at first. She had heard it before, and it had +passed her by like a sound that she did not know. She had been born +blind, and therefore could not realise what it was to see. To open a way +for the awful truth was difficult, and Israel's heart smote him while +he persisted. Naomi laughed as he put his fingers over her eyes that +he might show her. She laughed again when he asked if she could see the +people whom she could only hear. And once more she laughed when the sun +had gone down, and the mooddin had come out on the Grand Mosque in the +Metamar, and he asked if she could see the old blind man in the minaret, +where he was crying, "God is great! God is great!" + +"Can you see him, little one?" said Israel. + +"See him?" said Naomi; "why yes, you dear old father, of course I can +see him. Listen," she cried, ceasing her laughter, lifting one finger, +and holding her head aslant, "listen: God is great! God is great! +There--I saw him then." + +"That is only hearing him, Naomi--hearing him with your ears--with this +ear and with this. But can you see him, sweetheart?" + +Did her father mean to ask her if she could _feel_ the mooddin in his +minaret far above them? Once more she laid her head aslant. There was a +pause, and then she cried impulsively-- + +"Oh, _I_ know. But, you foolish old father, how _can_ I? He is too far +away." + +Then she flung her arms about Israel's neck and kissed him. + +"There," she cried, in a tone of one who settles differences, "I have +seen my _father_ anyway." + +It was hard to check her merriment, but Israel had to do it. He told +her, with many throbs in his throat, that she was not like other +maidens--not like her father, or Ali, or Fatimah, or Habeebah; that she +was a being afflicted of God; that there was something she had not got, +something she could not do, a world she did not know, and had never yet +so much as dreamt of. Darkness was more than cold and quiet, and light +was more than warmth and noise. The one was day--day ruled by the fiery +sun in the sky--and the other was night, lit by the pale moon and the +bright stars in heaven. And the face of man and the eyes of woman were +more than features to feel--they were spirit and soul, to watch and to +follow and to love without any hand being near them. + +"There is a great world about you, little one," he said, "which you have +never seen, though you can hear it and feel it and speak to it. Yes, it +is true, Naomi, it is true. You have never seen the mountains and the +dangerous gullies on their rocky sides. You have never seen the mighty +deep, and the storms that heave and swell in it. You have never seen man +or woman or child. Is that very strange, little one? Listen: your mother +died nine years ago, and you had never seen her. Your father is holding +your head in his hands at this moment, but you have never seen his face. +And if the dark curtains were to fall from your eyes, and you were to +see him now, you would not know him from another man, or from woman, or +from a tree. You are blind, Naomi, you are blind." + +Naomi listened intently. Her cheeks twitched, her fingers rested +nervously on her dress at her bosom, and her eyes grew large and solemn, +and then filled with tears. Israel's throat swelled. To tell her of all +this, though he must needs do it for her safety, was like reproaching +her with her infirmity. But it was only the trouble in her father's +voice that had found its way to the sealed chamber of Naomi's mind. +The awful and crushing truth of her blindness came later to her +consciousness, probed in and thrust home by a frailer and lighter hand. + +She had always loved little children, and since the coming of her +hearing she had loved them more than ever. Their lisping tongues, their +pretty broken speech, their simple words, their childish thoughts, all +fitted with her own needs, for she was nothing but a child herself, +though grown to be a lovely maid. And of all children those she loved +best were not the children of the Jews, nor yet the children of the +Moorish townsfolk, but the ragged, barefoot, black and olive-skinned +mites who came into Tetuan with the country Arabs and Berbers on market +mornings. They were simplest, their little tongues were liveliest, and +they were most full of joy and wonder. So she would gather them up in +twos and threes and fours, on Wednesdays and Sundays, from the mouths of +their tents on the Feddan, and carry them home by the hand. + +And there, in the patio, Ali had hung a swing of hempen rope, suspended +from a bar thrown from parapet to parapet, and on this Naomi would sport +with her little ones. She would be swinging in the midst of them, with +one tiny black maiden on the seat beside her, and one little black man +with high stomach and shaven poll holding on to the rope behind her, and +another mighty Moor in a diminutive white jellab pushing at their feet +in front, and all laughing together, or the children singing as the +swing rose, and she herself listening with head aslant and all her fair +hair rip-rip-rippling down her back and over her neck, and her smiling +white face resting on her shoulder. + +It was a beautiful scene of sunny happiness, but out of it came the +first great shadow of the blind girl's life. For it chanced one day +that one of the children--a tiny creature with a slice of the woman in +her--brought a present for Naomi out of her mother's market-basket. +It was a flower, but of a strange kind, that grew only in the distant +mountains where lay the little black one's home. Naomi passed her +fingers over it, and she did not know it. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"It's blue," said the child. + +"What is blue?" said Naomi + +"Blue--don't you know?--blue!" said the child. + +"But what is blue?" Naomi asked again, holding the flower in her +restless fingers. + +"Why, dear me! can't you see?--blue--the flower, you know," said the +child, in her artless way. + +Ali was standing by at the time, and he thought to come to Naomi's +relief. "Blue is a colour," he said. + +"A colour?" said Naomi. + +"Yes, like--like the sea," he added. + +"The sea? Blue? How?" Naomi asked. + +Ali tried again. "Like the sky," he said simply. + +Naomi's face looked perplexed. "And what is the sky like?" she asked. + +At that moment her beautiful face was turned towards Ali's face, and +her great motionless blue orbs seemed to gaze into his eyes. The lad was +pressed hard, and he could not keep back the answer that leapt up to his +tongue. "Like," he said--"like--" + +"Well?" + +"Like your own eyes, Naomi." + +By the old habit of her nervous fingers, she covered her eyes with her +hands, as if the sense of touch would teach her what her other senses +could not tell. But the solemn mystery had dawned on her mind at last: +that she was unlike others; that she was lacking something that every +one else possessed; that the little children who played with her knew +what she could never know; that she was infirm, afflicted, cut off; that +there was a strange and lovely and lightsome world lying round about +her, where every one else might sport and find delight, but that her +spirit could not enter it, because she was shut off from it by the great +hand of God. + +From that time forward everything seemed to remind her of her +affliction, and she heard its baneful voice at all times. Even her +dreams, though they had no visions, were full of voices that told of +them. If a bird sang in the air above her, she lifted her sightless +eyes. If she walked in the town on market morning and heard the din of +traffic--the cries of the dealers, the "Balak!" of the camel-men, +the "Arrah!" of the muleteers, and the twanging ginbri of the +story-tellers--she sighed and dropped her head into her breast. +Listening to the wind, she asked if it had eyes or was sightless; and +hearing of the mountains that their snowy heads rose into the clouds, +she inquired if they were blind, and if they ever talked together in the +sky. + +But at the awful revelation of her blindness she ceased to be a child, +and became a woman. In the week thereafter she had learned more of the +world than in all the years of her life before. She was no longer +a restless gleam of sunlight, a reckless spirit of joy, but a weak, +patient, blind maiden, conscious of her great infirmity, humbled by it, +and thinking shame of it. + +One afternoon, deserting the swing in the patio, she went out with the +children into the fields. The day was hot, and they wandered far down +the banks and dry bed of the Marteel. And as they ran and raced, the +little black people plucked the wild flowers, and called to the cattle +and the sheep and the dogs, and whistled to the linnets that whistled to +their young. + +Thus the hours went on unheeded. The afternoon passed into evening, the +evening into twilight, the twilight into early night. Then the air grew +empty like a vault, and a solemn quiet fell upon the children, and they +crept to Naomi's side in fear, and took her hands and clung to her +gown. She turned back towards the town, and as they walked in the double +silence of their own hushed tongues and the songless and voiceless +world, the fingers of the little ones closed tightly upon her own. + +Then the children cried in terror, "See!" + +"What is it?" said Naomi. + +The little ones could not tell her. It was only the noiseless summer +lightning, but the children had never seen it before. With broad white +flashes it lit up the land as far as from the bed of the river in the +valley to the white peaks of the mountains. At every flash the little +people shrieked in their fear, and there was no one there to comfort +them save Naomi only, and she was blind and could not see what they saw. +With helpless hands she held to their hands and hurried home, over the +darkening fields, through the palpitating sheets of dazzling light, +leading on, yet seeing nothing. + +But Israel saw Naomi's shame. The blindness which was a sense of +humiliation to her became a sense of burning wrong to him. He had asked +God to give her speech, and had promised to be satisfied. "Give her +speech, O Lord," he had cried, "speech that shall lift her above the +creatures of the field, speech whereby alone she may ask and know." But +what was speech without sight to her who had always been blind? What was +all the world to one who had never seen it? Only as Paradise is to Man, +who can but idly dream of its glories. + +Israel took back his prayer. There were things to know that words could +never tell. Now was Naomi blind for the first time, being no longer +dumb. "Give her sight, O Lord," he cried; "open her eyes that she may +see; let her look on Thy beautiful world and know it! Then shall her +life be safe, and her heart be happy, and her soul be Thine, and Thy +servant at last be satisfied!" + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ISRAEL'S GREAT RESOLVE + + +It was six-and-twenty days since the night of the meeting on the Sok, +and no rain had yet fallen. The eggs of the locust might be hatched +at any time. Then the wingless creatures would rise on the face of the +earth like snow, and the poor lean stalks of wheat and barley that were +coming green out of the ground would wither before them. The country +people were in despair. They were all but stripped of their cattle; they +had no milk; and they came afoot to the market. Death seemed to look +them in the face. Neither in the mosques nor in the synagogues did they +offer petitions to God for rain. They had long ceased their prayers. +Only in the Feddan at the mouths of their tents did they lift up their +heavy eyes to the hot haze of the pitiless sky and mutter, "It is +written!" + +Israel was busy with other matters. During these six-and-twenty days he +had been asking himself what it was right and needful that he should do. +He had concluded at length that it was his duty to give up the office he +held under the Kaid. No longer could he serve two masters. Too long had +he held to the one, thinking that by recompense and restitution, by fair +dealing and even-handed justice, he might atone to the other. Recompense +was a mockery of the sufferings which had led to death; restitution was +no longer possible--his own purse being empty--without robbery of the +treasury of his master; fair dealing and even justice were a vain hope +in Barbary, where every man who held office, from the heartless Sultan +in his hareem to the pert Mut'hasseb in the market, must be only as a +human torture-jellab, made and designed to squeeze the life-blood out of +the man beneath him. + +To endure any longer the taunts and laughter of Ben Aboo was impossible, +and to resist the covetous importunities of his Spanish woman, Katrina, +was a waste of shame and spirit. Besides, and above all, Israel +remembered that God had given him grace in the sacrifices which he had +made already. Twice had God rewarded him, in the mercy He had shown to +Naomi, for putting by the pomp and circumstance of the world. Would +His great hand be idle now--now when he most needed its mighty and +miraculous power when Naomi, being conscious of her blindness, was +mourning and crying for sweet sight of the world and he himself was +about to put under his feet the last of his possessions that separated +him from other men--his office that he wrought for in the early days +with sweat of brow and blood, and held on to in the later days through +evil report and hatred, that he might conquer the fate that had first +beaten him down! + +Israel was in the way of bribing God again, forgetting, in the heat +of his desire, the shame of his journey to Shawan. He made his +preparations, and they were few. His money was gone already, and so were +his dead wife's jewels. He had determined that he would keep his house, +if only as a shelter to Naomi (for he owed something to her material +comfort as well as her spiritual welfare), but that its furniture and +belongings were more luxurious than their necessity would require or +altered state allow. + +So he sold to a Jewish merchant in the Mellah the couches and great +chairs which he had bought out of England, as well as the carpets +from Rabat, the silken hangings from Fez, and the purple canopies from +Morocco city. When these were gone, and nothing remained but the simple +rugs and mattresses which are all that the house of a poor man needs in +that land where the skies are kind, he called his servants to him as he +sat in the patio--Ali as well as the two bondwomen--for he had decided +that he must part with them also, and they must go their ways. + +"My good people," he said, "you have been true and faithful servants to +me this many a year--you, Fatimah, and you also, Habeebah, since before +the days when my wife came to me--and you too, Ali, my lad, since you +grew to be big and helpful. Little I thought to part with you until my +good time should come; but my life in our poor Barbary is over already, +and to-morrow I shall be less than the least of all men in Tetuan. So +this is what I have concluded to do. You, Fatimah, and you, Habeebah, +being given to me as bondwomen by the Kaid in the old days when +my power, which now is little and of no moment, was great and +necessary--you belong to me. Well, I give you your liberty. Your papers +are in the name of Ben Aboo, and I have sealed them with his seal--that +is the last use but one that I shall put it to. Here they are, both of +them. Take them to the Kadi after prayers in the morning, and he will +ratify your title. Then you will be free women for ever after." + +The black women had more than once broken in upon Israel's words with +exclamations of surprise and consternation. "Allah!" "Bismillah!" "Holy +Saints!" "By the beard of the Prophet!" And when at length he put the +deeds of emancipation into their hands they fell into loud fits of +hysterical weeping. + +"As for you, Ali, my son," Israel continued, "I cannot give you your +freedom, for you are a freeman born. You have been a son to me these +fourteen years. I have another task for you--a perilous task, a solemn +duty--and when it is done I shall see you no more. My brave boy, you +will go far, but I do not fear for you. When you are gone I shall think +of you; and if you should sometimes think of your old master who could +not keep you, we may not always be apart." + +The lad had listened to these words in blank bewilderment. That strange +disasters had of late befallen their household was an idea that had +forced itself upon his unwilling mind. But that Israel, the greatest, +noblest, mightiest man in the world--let the dogs of rasping Jews and +the scurvy hounds of Moors yelp and bark as they would--should fall to +be less than the least in Tetuan, and, having fallen that he should +send him away--him, Ali, his boy whom he had brought up, Naomi's old +playfellow--Allah! Allah! in the name of the merciful God, what did his +master mean? + +Ali's big eyes began to fill, and great beads rolled down his black +cheeks. Then, recovering his speech he blurted out that he would not go. +He would follow his father and serve him until the end of his life. What +did he want with wages? Who asked for any? No going his ways for him! A +pretty thing, wasn't it, that he should go off, and never see his father +again, no, nor Naomi--Naomi--that-that--but God would show! God would +show! + +And, following Ali's lead, Fatimah stepped up to Israel and offered her +paper back. "Take it," she said; "I don't want any liberty. I've got +liberty enough as I am. And here--here," fumbling in her waistband and +bringing out a knitted purse; "I would have offered it before, only I +thought shame. My wages? Yes. You've paid us wages these nine years, +haven't you; and what right had we to any, being slaves? You will not +take it, my lord? Well, then, my dear master, if I must go, if I must +leave you, take my papers and sell me to some one. I shall not care, +and you have a right to do it. Perhaps I'll get another good master--who +knows?" + +Her brows had been knitted, and she had tried to look stern and angry, +but suddenly her cheeks were a flood of tears. + +"I'm a fool!" she cried. "I'll never get a good master again; but if I +get a bad one, and he beats me, I'll not mind, for I'll think of +you, and my precious jewel of gold and silver, my pretty gazelle, +Naomi--Allah preserve her!--that you took my money, and I'm bearing it +for both of you, as we might say--working for you--night and day--night +and day--" + +Israel could endure no more. He rose up and fled out of the patio +into his own room, to bury his swimming face. But his soul was big +and triumphant. Let the world call him by what names it would--tyrant, +traitor, outcast pariah--there were simple hearts that loved and +honoured him--ay, honoured him--and they were the hearts that knew him +best. + +The perilous task reserved for Ali was to go to Shawan and to liberate +the followers of Absalam, who, less happy than their leader, whose +strong soul was at rest, were still in prison without abatement of +the miseries they lay under. He was to do this by power of a warrant +addressed to the Kaid of Shawan and drawn under the seal of the Kaid of +Tetuan. Israel had drawn it, and sealed it also, without the knowledge +or sanction of Ben Aboo; for, knowing what manner of man Ben Aboo was, +and knowing Katrina also, and the sway she held over him, and thinking +it useless to attempt to move either to mercy, he had determined to make +this last use of his office, at all risks and hazards. + +Ben Aboo might never hear that the people were at large, for Ali was to +forbid them to return to Tetuan, and Shawan was sixty weary miles away. +And if he ever did hear, Israel himself would be there to bear the brunt +of his displeasure, but Ali the instrument of his design, must be +far away. For when the gates of the prison had been opened, and the +prisoners had gone free, Ali was neither to come back to Tetuan nor to +remain in Morocco, but with the money that Israel gave him out of the +last wreck of his fortune he was to make haste to Gibraltar by way +of Ceuta, and not to consider his life safe until he had set foot in +England. + +"England!" cried Ali. "But they are all white men there." + +"White-hearted men, my lad," said Israel; "and a Jewish man may find +rest for the sole of his foot among them." + +That same day the black boy bade farewell to Israel and to Naomi. He was +leaving them for ever, and he was broken-hearted. Israel was his father, +Naomi was his sister, and never again should he set his eyes on either. +But in the pride of his perilous mission he bore himself bravely. + +"Well, good-night," he said, taking Naomi's hand, but not looking into +her blind face. + +"Good-night," she answered, and then, after a moment, she flung her arms +about his neck and kissed him. He laughed lightly, and turned to Israel. + +"Good-night, father," he said in a shrill voice. + +"A safe journey to you, my son," said Israel; "and may you do all my +errands." + +"God burn my great-grandfather if I do not!" said Ali stoutly. + +But with that word of his country his brave bearing at length broke +down, and drawing Israel aside, that Naomi might not hear, he whispered, +sobbing and stammering, "When--when I am gone, don't, don't tell her +that I was black." + +Then in an instant he fled away. + +"In peace!" cried Israel after him. "In peace! my brave boy, simple, +noble, loyal heart!" + +Next morning Israel, leaving Naomi at home, set off for the Kasbah, that +he might carry out his great resolve to give up the office he held under +the Kaid. And as he passed through the streets his head was held up, and +he walked proudly. A great burden had fallen from him, and his spirit +was light. The people bent their heads before him as he passed, and +scowled at him when he was gone by. The beggars lying at the gate of the +Mosque spat over their fingers behind his back, and muttered "Bismillah! +In the name of God!" A negro farmer in the Feddan, who was bent double +over a hoof as he was shoeing a bony and scabby mule, lifted his ugly +face, bathed in sweat, and grinned at Israel as he went along. A +group of Reefians, dirty and lean and hollow-eyed, feeding their +gaunt donkeys, and glancing anxiously at the sky over the heads of the +mountains, snarled like dogs as he strode through their midst. The sky +was overcast, and the heads of the mountains were capped with mist. +"Balak!" sounded in Israel's ears from every side. "Arrah!" came +constantly at his heels. A sweet-seller with his wooden tray swung in +front of him, crying, "Sweets, all sweets, O my lord Edrees, sweets, +all sweets," changed the name of the patron saint of candies, and cried, +"Sweets, all sweets, O my lord Israel, sweets, all sweets!" The girl +selling clay peered up impudently into Israel's eyes, and the oven-boy, +answering the loud knocking of the bodiless female arms thrust out at +doors standing ajar, made his wordless call articulate with a mocking +echo of Israel's name. + +What matter? Israel could not be wroth with the poor people. +Six-and-twenty years he had gone in and out among them as a slave. This +morning he was a free man, and to-morrow he would be one of themselves. + +When he reached the Kasbah, there was something in the air about it that +brought back recollections of the day--now nearly four years past--of +the children's gathering at Katrina's festival. The lusty-lunged Arabs +squatting at the gates among soldiers in white selhams and peaked +shasheeahs the women in blankets standing in the outer court, the dark +passages smelling of damp, the gusts of heavy odour coming from the +inner chambers, and the great patio with the fountain and fig-trees--the +same voluptuous air was over everything. And as on that day so on this, +in the alcove under the horseshoe arch sat Ben Aboo and his Spanish +wife. + +Time had dealt with them after their kind, and the swarthy face of the +Kaid was grosser, the short curls under his turban were more grey and +his hazel eyes were now streaked and bleared, but otherwise he was the +same man as before, and Katrina also, save for the loss of some teeth +of the upper row, was the same woman. And if the children had risen up +before Israel's eyes as he stood on the threshold of the patio, he could +not have drawn his breath with more surprise than at the sight of the +man who stood that morning in their place. + +It was Mohammed of Mequinez. He had come to ask for the release of +the followers of Absalam from their prison at Shawan. In defiance +of courtesy his slippers were on his feet. He was clad in a piece of +untanned camel-skin, which reached to his knees and was belted about his +waist. His head, which was bare to the sun and drooped by nature like a +flower, was held proudly up, and his wild eyes were flashing. He was not +supplicating for the deliverance of the people, but demanding it, and +taxing Ben Aboo as a tyrant to his throat. + +"Give me them up, Ben Aboo," he was saying as Israel came to the +threshold, "or, if they die in their prison, one thing I promise you." + +"And pray what is that?" said Ben Aboo. + +"That there will be a bloody inquiry after their murderer." + +Ben Aboo's brows were knitted, but he only glanced at Katrina, and made +pretence to laugh, and then said, "And pray, my lord, who shall the +murderer be?" + +Then Mohammed of Mequinez stretched out his hand and answered, +"Yourself." + +At that word there-was silence for a moment, while Ben Aboo shifted in +his seat, and Katrina quivered beside him. + +Ben Aboo glanced up at Mohammed. He was Kaid, he was Basha, he was +master of all men within a circuit of thirty miles, but he was afraid of +this man whom the people called a prophet. And partly out of this fear, +and partly because he had more regard to Mohammed's courageous behaviour +in thus bearding him in his Kasbah and by the walls of his dungeons than +to the anger his hot word had caused him, Ben Aboo would have promised +him at that moment that the prisoners at Shawan should be released. + +But suddenly Katrina remembered that she also had cause of indignation +against this man, for it had been rumoured of late that Mohammed had +openly denounced her marriage. + +"Wait, Sidi," she said. "Is not this the fellow that has gone up and +down your bashalic, crying out on our marriage that it was against the +law of Mohammed?" + +At that Ben Aboo saw clearly that there was no escape for him, so he +made pretence to laugh again, and said, "Allah! so it is! Mohammed the +Third, eh? Son of Mequinez, God will repay you! Thanks! Thanks! You +could never think how long I've waited that I might look face to face +upon the prophet that has denounced a Kaid." + +He uttered these big words between bursts of derisive laughter, but +Mohammed struck the laughter from his lips in an instant. "Wait no +longer, O Ben Aboo," he cried, "but look upon him now, and know that +what you have done is an unclean thing, and you shall be childless and +die!" + +Then Ben Aboo's passion mastered him. He rose to his feet in his anger, +and cried, "Prophet, you have destroyed yourself. Listen to me! The +turbulent dogs you plead for shall lie in their prison until they perish +of hunger and rot of their sores. By the beard of my father, I swear +it!" + +Mohammed did not flinch. Throwing back his head, he answered, "If I am +a prophet, O Ben Aboo hear me prophesy. Before that which you say shall +come to pass, both you and your father's house will be destroyed. Never +yet did a tyrant go happily out of the world, and you shall go out of it +like a dog." + +Then Katrina also rose to her feet, and, calling to a group of +barefooted Arab soldiers that stood near, she cried, "Take him! He will +escape!" + +But the soldiers did not move, and Ben Aboo fell back on his seat, and +Mohammed, fearing nothing, spoke again. + +"In a vision of last night I saw you, O Ben Aboo and for the contempt +you had cast upon our holy laws, and for the destruction you had wrought +on our poor people, the sword of vengeance had fallen upon you. And +within this very court, and on that very spot where your feet now rest, +your whole body did lie; and that woman beside you lay over you wailing +and your blood was on her face and on her hands, and only she was with +you, for all else had forsaken you--all save one, and that was your +enemy, and he had come to see you with his eyes, and to rejoice over you +with his heart, because you were fallen and dead." + +Then, in the creeping of his terror, Ben Aboo rose up again and reeled +backward and his eyes were fixed steadfastly downward at his feet where +the eyes of Mohammed had rested. It was almost as if he saw the awful +thing of which Mohammed had spoken, so strong was the power of the +vision upon him. + +But recovering himself quickly, he cried, "Away! In the name of God, +away!" + +"I will go," said Mohammed; "and beware what you do while I am gone." + +"Do you threaten me?" cried Ben Aboo. "Will you go to the Sultan? Will +you appeal to Abd er-Rahman?" + +"No, Ben Aboo; but to God." + +So saying, Mohammed of Mequinez strode out of the place, for no man +hindered him. Then Ben Aboo sank back on to his seat as one that was +speechless, and nothing had the crimson on his body availed him, or the +silver on his breast, against that simple man in camel-skin, who owned +nothing and asked nothing, and feared neither Kaid nor King. + +When Ben Aboo had regained himself, he saw Israel standing at the +doorway, and he beckoned to him with the downward motion, which is the +Moorish manner. And rising on his quaking limbs he took him aside and +said, "I know this fellow. Ya Allah! Allah! For all his vaunts and +visions he has gone to Abd er-Rahman. God will show! God will show! I +dare not take him! Abd er-Rahman uses him to spy and pry on his Bashas! +Camel-skin coat? Allah! a fine disguise! Bismillah! Bismillah!" + +Then, looking back at the place where Mohammed in the vision saw his +body lie outstretched, he dropped his voice to a whisper, and said, +"Listen! You have my seal?" + +Israel without a word, put his hand into the pocket of his waistband, +and drew out the seal of Ben Aboo. + +"Right! Now hear me, in the name of the merciful God. Do not liberate +these infidel dogs at Shawan and do not give them so much as bread to +eat or water to drink, but let such as own them feed them. And if ever +the thing of which that fellow has spoken should come to pass--do you +hear?--in the hour wherein it befalls--Allah preserve me!--in that hour +draw a warrant on the Kaid of Shawan and seal it with my seal--are you +listening?--a warrant to put every man, woman, and child to the sword. +Ya Allah! Allah! We will deal with these spies of Abd er-Rahman! +So shall there be mourning at my burial--Holy Saints! Holy +Saints!--mourning, I say, among them that look for joy at my death." + +Thus in a quaking voice, sometimes whispering, and again breaking into +loud exclamations, Ben Aboo in his terror poured his broken words into +Israel's ear. + +Israel made no answer. His eyes had become dim--he scarcely saw the +walls of the place wherein they stood. His ears had become dense--he +scarcely heard the voice of Ben Aboo, though the Kaid's hot breath was +beating upon his cheek. But through the haze he saw the shadow of one +figure tramping furiously to and fro, and through the thick air the +voice of another figure came muffled and harsh. For Katrina, having +chased away with smiles the evil looks of Ben Aboo, had turned to Israel +and was saying-- + +"What is this I hear of your beautiful daughter--this Naomi of +yours--that she has recovered her speech and hearing! When did that +happen, pray? No answer? Ah, I see, you are tired of the deception. You +kept it up well between you. But is she still blind? So? Dear me! Blind, +poor child. Think of it!" + +Israel neither answered nor looked up, but stood motionless on the +same place, holding the seal in his hand. And Ben Aboo, in his restless +tramping up and down, came to him again, and said, "Why are you a Jew, +Israel ben Oliel? The dogs of your people hate you. Witness to the +Prophet! Resign yourself! Turn Muslim, man--what's to hinder you?" + +Still Israel made no reply. But Ben Aboo continued: "Listen! The people +about me are in the pay of the Sultan, and after all you are the best +servant I have ever had. Say the Kelmah, and I'll make you my Khaleefa. +Do you hear?--my Khaleefa, with power equal to my own. Man, why don't +you speak? Are you grown stupid of late as well as weak and womanish?" + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE LIGHT-BORN MESSENGER + + +"Basha," said Israel--he spoke slowly and quietly; but with forced +calmness--"Basha, you must seek another hand for work like that--this +hand of mine shall never seal that warrant." + +"Tut, man!" whispered Ben Aboo. "Do your new measles break out +everywhere? Am I not Kaid? Can I not make you my Khaleefa?" + +Israel's face was worn and pale, but his eye burned with the fire of his +great resolve. + +"Basha," he said again calmly and quietly, "if you were Sultan and could +make me your Vizier, I would not do it." + +"Why?" cried Ben Aboo; "why? why?" + +"Because," said Israel, "I am here to deliver up your seal to you." + +"You? Grace of God!" cried Ben Aboo. + +"I am here," continued Israel, as calmly as before, "to resign my +office." + +"Resign your office? Deliver up your seal?" cried Ben Aboo. "Man, man, +are you mad?" + +"No, Basha, not to-day," said Israel quietly. "I must have been that +when I came here first, five-and-twenty years ago." + +Ben Aboo gnawed his lip and scowled darkly, and in the flush of his +anger, his consternation being over, he would have fallen upon Israel +with torrents of abuse, but that he was smitten suddenly by a new and +terrible thought. Quivering and trembling, and muttering short prayers +under his breath, he recoiled from the place where Israel stood, and +said, "There is something under all this? What is it? Let me think! Let +me think!" + +Meantime the face of Katrina beneath its covering of paint had grown +white, and in scarcely smothered tones of wrath, by the swift instinct +of a suspicious nature, she was asking herself the same question, "What +does it mean? What does it mean?" + +In another moment Ben Aboo had read the riddle his own way. "Wait!" he +cried, looking vainly for help and answer into the faces of his people +about him. "Who said that when he was away from Tetuan he went to Fez? +The Sultan was there then. He had just come up from Soos. That's it! I +knew it! The man is like all the rest of them. Abd er-Rahman has bought +him. Allah! Allah! What have I done that every soul that eats my bread +should spy and pry on me?" + +Satisfied with this explanation of Israel's conduct, Ben Aboo waited for +no further assurance, but fell to a wild outburst of mingled prayers and +protests. "O Giver of Good to all! O Creator! It is Abd er-Rahman again. +Ya Allah! Ya Allah! Or else his rapacious satellites--his thieves, +his robbers, his cut-throats! That bloated Vizier! That leprous Naib +es-Sultan! Oh, I know them. Bismillah! They want to fleece me. They want +to squeeze me of my little wealth--my just savings--my hard earnings +after my long service. Curse them! Curse their relations! O Merciful! O +Compassionate! They'll call it arrears of taxes. But no, by the beard of +my father, no! Not one feels shall they have if I die for it. I'm an old +soldier--they shall torture me. Yes, the bastinado, the jellab--but I'll +stand firm! Allah! Allah! Bismillah! Why does Abd er-Rahman hate me? +It's because I'm his brother--that's it, that's it! But I've never risen +against him. Never, never! I've paid him all! All! I tell you I've paid +everything. I've got nothing left. You know it yourself, Israel, you +know it." + +Thus, in the crawling of his fear he cried with maudlin tears, pleaded +and entreated and threatened fumbling meantime the beads of his rosary +and tramping nervously to and fro about the patio until he drew up +at length, with a supplicating look, face to face with Israel. And if +anything had been needed to fix Israel to his purpose of withdrawing for +ever from the service of Ben Aboo, he must have found it in this pitiful +spectacle of the Kaid's abject terror, his quick suspicion, his base +disloyalty, and rancorous hatred of his own master, the Sultan. + +But, struggling to suppress his contempt, Israel said, speaking as +slowly and calmly as at first, "Basha, have no fear; I have not sold +myself to Abd er-Rahman. It is true that I was at Fez--but not to see +the Sultan. I have never seen him. I am not his spy. He knows nothing +of me. I know nothing of him, and what I am doing now is being done for +myself alone." + +Hearing this, and believing it, for, liars and prevaricators as were the +other men about him, Israel had never yet deceived him, Ben Aboo made +what poor shift he could to cover his shame at the sorry weakness he +had just betrayed. And first he gazed in a sort of stupor into Israel's +steadfast face; and then he dropped his evil eyes, and laughed in scorn +of his own words, as if trying to carry them off by a silly show of +braggadocio, and to make believe that they had been no more than a +humorous pretence, and that no man would be so simple as to think he had +truly meant them. But, after this mockery, he turned to Israel again, +and, being relieved of his fears, he fell back to his savage mood once +more, without disguise and without shame. + +"And pray, sir," said he, with a ghastly smile, "what riches have you +gathered that you are at last content to hoard no more?" + +"None," said Israel shortly. + +Ben Aboo laughed lustily, and exchanged looks of obvious meaning with +Katrina. + +"And pray, again," he said, with a curl of the lip, "without office and +without riches how may you hope to live?" + +"As a poor man among poor men," said Israel, "serving God and trusting +to His mercy." + +Again Ben Aboo laughed hoarsely, and Katrina joined him, but Israel +stood quiet and silent, and gave no sign. + +"Serving God is hard bread," said Ben Aboo. + +"Serving the devil is crust!" said Israel. + +At that answer, though neither by look nor gesture had Israel pointed +it, the face of Ben Aboo became suddenly discoloured and stern. + +"Allah! What do you mean?" he cried. "Who are you that you dare wag your +insolent tongue at me?" + +"I am your scapegoat, Basha," said Israel, with an awful calm--"your +scapegoat, who bears your iniquities before the eyes of your people. +Your scapegoat, who sins against them and oppresses them and brings them +by bitter tortures to the dust and death. That's what I am, Basha, and +have long been, shame upon me! And while I am down yonder in the streets +among your people--hated, reviled, despised, spat upon, cut off--you are +up here in the Kasbah above them, in honour and comfort and wealth, and +the mistaken love of all men." + +While Israel said this, Ben Aboo in his fury came down upon him from the +opposite side of the patio with a look of a beast of prey. His swarthy +cheeks were drawn hard, his little bleared eyes flashed, his heavy nose +and thick lips and massive jaw quivered visibly, and from under his +turban two locks of iron-grey fell like a shaggy mane over his ears. + +But Israel did not flinch. With a look of quiet majesty, standing face +to face with the tyrant, not a foot's length between them, he spoke +again and said, "Basha, I do not envy you, but neither will I share your +business nor your rewards. I mean to be your scapegoat no more. Here is +your seal. It is red with the blood of your unhappy people through these +five-and-twenty bad years past. I can carry it no longer. Take it." + +In a tempest of wrath Ben Aboo struck the seal out of Israel's hand as +he offered it, and the silver rolled and rang on the tiled pavement of +the patio. + +"Fool!" he cried. "So this is what it is! Allah! In the name of the most +merciful God, who would have believed it? Israel ben Oliel a prophet! A +prophet of the poor! O Merciful! O Compassionate!" + +Thus, in his frenzy, pretending to imitate with airs of manifest mockery +his outbreak of fear a few minutes before, Ben Aboo raved and raged and +lifted his clenched fist to the sky in sham imprecation of God. + +"Who said it was the Sultan?" he cried again. "He was a fool. Abd +er-Rahman? No; but Mohammed of Mequinez! Mohammed the Third! That's it! +That's it!" + +So saying, and forgetting in his fury what he had said before of +Mohammed himself, he laughed wildly, and beat about the patio from side +to side like a caged and angry beast. + +"And if I am a tyrant," he said in a thick voice, "who made me so? If +I oppress the poor, who taught me the way to do it? Whose clever brain +devised new means of revenue? Ransoms, promissory notes, bonds, false +judgments--what did I know of such things? Who changed the silver +dollars at nine ducats apiece? And who bought up the debts of the people +that murmured against such robbery? Allah! Allah! Whose crafty head +did all this? Why, yours--yours--Israel ben Oliel! By the beard of the +Prophet, I swear it!" + +Israel stood unmoved, and when these reproaches were hurled at him, he +answered calmly and sadly, "God's ways are not our ways, neither are +His thoughts our thoughts. He works His own will, and we are but His +ministers. I thought God's justice had failed, but it has overtaken +myself. For what I did long ago of my own free will and intention to +oppress the poor, I have suffered and still am suffering." + +All this time the Spanish wife of Ben Aboo had sat in the alcove with +lips whitening under their crimson patches of paint, beating her fan +restlessly on the empty air, and breathing rapid and audible breath. And +now, at this last word of Israel, though so sadly spoken, and so solemn +in its note of suffering, she broke into a trill of laughter, and said +lightly, "Ah! I thought your love of the poor was young. Not yet cut its +teeth, poor thing! A babe in swaddling clothes, eh? When was it born?" + +"About the time that you were, madam," said Israel, lifting his heavy +eyes upon her. + +At that her lighter mood gave place to quick anger. "Husband," she +cried, turning upon Ben Aboo with the bitterness of reproach, "I hope +you now see that I was right about this insolent old man. I told you +from the first what would come of him. But no, you would have your own +foolish way. It was easy to see that the devil's dues were in him. Yet +you would not believe me! You would believe him. Simpleton as you are, +you are believing him now! The poor? Fiddle-faddle and fiddlesticks! I +tell you again this man is trying to put his foot on your neck. How? Oh, +trust him, he's got his own schemes! Look to it, El Arby, look to it! +He'll be master in Tetuan yet!" + +Saying this, she had wrought herself up to a pitch of wrath, sometimes +laughing wildly, and then speaking in a voice that was like an angry +cry. And now, rising to her feet and facing towards the Arab soldiers, +who stood aside in silence and wonder, she cried, "Arabs, Berbers, +Moors, Christians, fight as you will, follow the Basha as you may, +you'll lie in the same bed yet! But where? Under the heels of the Jew!" + +A hoarse murmur ran from lip to lip among the men, and the ghostly smile +came back into the face of Ben Aboo. + +"You must be right," he said, "you must be right! Ya Allah! Ya Allah! +This is the dog that I picked out of the mire. I found him a beggar, and +I gave him wealth. An impostor, a personator, a cheat, and I gave him +place and rank. When he had no home, I housed him, and when he could +find no one to serve him, I gave him slaves. I have banished his +enemies, and imprisoned those he hated. After his wife had died, and +none came near him, and he was left to howk out her grave with his own +hands, I gave him prisoners to bury her, and when he was done with them +I set them free. All these years I have heaped fortune upon him. Ya +Allah! His master! No, but his servant, doing his will at the lifting of +his finger. And all for what? For this! For this! For this! Ingrate!" he +cried in his thick voice, turning hotly upon Israel again, "if you must +give up your seal, why should you do it like a fool? Could you not come +to me and say, 'Kaid, I am old and weary; I am rich, and have enough; I +have served you long and faithfully; let me rest'--why not? I say, why +not?" + +Israel answered calmly, "Because it would have been a lie, Basha." + +"So it would," cried Ben Aboo sharply, "so it would: you are right--it +would have been a lie, an accursed lie! But why must you come to me and +say, 'Basha, you are a tyrant, and have made me a tyrant also; you have +sucked the blood of your people, and made me to drink it." + +"Because it is true, Basha," said Israel. + +At that Ben-Aboo stopped suddenly, and his swarthy face grew hideous and +awful. Then, pointing with one shaking hand at the farther end of the +patio, he said, "There is another thing that is true. It is true that on +the other side of that wall there is a prison," and, lifting his voice +to a shriek, he added, "you are on the edge of a gulf, Israel ben Oliel. +One step more--" + +But just at that moment Israel turned full upon him, face to face, and +the threat that he was about to utter seemed to die in his stifling +throat. If only he could have provoked Israel to anger he might have +had his will of him. But that slow, impassive manner, and that worn +countenance so noble in sadness and suffering, was like a rebuke of his +passion, and a retort upon his words. + +And truly it seemed to Israel that against the Basha's story of his +ingratitude he could tell a different tale. This pitiful slave of +rage and fear, this thing of rags and patches, this whining, maudlin, +shrieking, bleating, barking-creature that hurled reproaches at him, was +the master in whose service he had spent his best brain and best blood. +But for the strong hand that he had lent him, but for the cool head +wherewith he had guarded him, where would the man be now? In the +dungeons of Abd er-Rahman, having gone thither by way of the Sultan's +wooden jellabs and his houses of fierce torture. By the mind's eye +Israel could see him there at that instant--sightless, eyeless, hungry, +gaunt. But no, he was still here--fat, sleek, voluptuous, imperious. And +good men lay perishing in his prisons, and children, starved to death, +lay in their graves, and he himself, his servant and scapegoat, whose +brains he had drained, whose blood he had sweated, stood before him +there like an old lion, who had been wandering far and was beaten back +by his cubs. + +But what matter? He could silence the Basha with a word; yet why should +he speak it? Twenty times he had saved this man, who could neither +read nor write nor reckon figures, from the threatened penalties of the +Shereefean Court, and he could count them all up to him; yet why should +he do so? Through five-and-twenty evil years he had built up this man's +house; yet why should he boast of what was done, being done so foully? +He had said his say, and it was enough. This hour of insult and outrage +had been written on his forehead, and he must have come to it. Then +courage! courage! + +"Husband," cried the woman, showing her toothless jaw in a bitter smile +to Ben Aboo as he crossed the patio, "you must scour this vermin out of +Tetuan!" + +"You are right," he answered. "By Allah, you are right! And henceforth I +will be served by soldiers, not by scribblers." + +Then, wheeling about once more to where Israel stood, he said in a voice +of mockery, "Master, my lord, my Sultan, you came to resign your office? +But you shall do more than that. You shall resign your house as well, +and all that's in it, and leave this town as a beggar." + +Israel stood unmoved. "As you will," he said quietly. + +"Where are the two women--the slaves?" asked Ben Aboo. + +"At home," said Israel. + +"They are mine, and I take them back," said Ben Aboo. + +Israel's face quivered, and he seemed to be about to protest, but he +only drew a longer breath, and said again, "As you will, Basha." + +Ben Aboo's voice gathered vehemence at every fresh question. "Where +is your money?" he cried; "the money that you have made out of my +service--out of me--_my_ money--where is it?" + +"Nowhere," said Israel. + +"It's a lie--another lie!" cried Ben Aboo. "Oh yes, I've heard of your +charities, master. They were meant to buy over my people, were they? +Were they? Were they, I ask?" + +"So you say, Basha," said Israel. + +"So I know!" cried Ben Aboo; "but all you had is not gone that way. +You're a fool, but not fool enough for that! Give up your keys--the keys +of your house!" + +Israel hesitated, and then said, "Let me return for a minute--it is all +I ask." + +At that the woman laughed hysterically. "Ah! he has something left after +all!" she cried. + +Israel turned his slow eyes upon her, and said, "Yes, madam, I _have_ +something left--after all." + +Paying no heed to the reply, Katrina cried to Ben Aboo again, saying, +"El Arby, make him give up the key of that house. He has treasure +there!" + +"It is true, madam," said Israel; "it is true that I have a treasure +there. My daughter--my little blind Naomi." + +"Is that all?" cried Katrina and Ben Aboo together. + +"It is all," said Israel, "but it is enough. Let me fetch her." + +"Don't allow it!" cried Katrina. + +Israel's face betrayed feeling. He was struggling to suppress it. "Make +me homeless if you will," he said, "turn me like a beggar out of your +town, but let me fetch my daughter." + +"She'll not thank you," cried Katrina. + +"She loves me," said Israel, "I am growing old, I am numbering the steps +of death. I need her joyous young life beside me in my declining age. +Then, she is helpless, she is blind, she is my scapegoat, Basha, as I am +yours, and no one save her father--" + +"Ah! Ah! Ah!" + +Israel had spoken warmly, and at the tender fibres of feeling that had +been forced out of him at last the woman was laughing derisively. "Trust +me," she cried, "I know what daughters are. Girls like better things. +No, I'll give her what will be more to her taste. She shall stay here +with me." + +Israel drew himself up to his full height and answered, "Madam, I would +rather see her dead at my feet." + +Then Ben Aboo broke in and said, "Don't wag your tongue at your +mistress, sir." + +"_Your_ mistress, Basha," said Israel; "not mine." + +At that word Katrina, with all her evil face aflame came sweeping down +upon Israel, and struck him with her fan on the forehead. He did not +flinch or speak. The blow had burst the skin, and a drop of blood +trickled over the temple on to the cheek. There was a short deep pause. + +Then the hard tension of silence was broken by a faint cry. It came from +behind, from the doorway; it was the voice of a girl. + +In the blank stupor of the moment, every eye being on the two that stood +in the midst, no one had observed until then that another had entered +the patio. It was Naomi. How long she had been there no one knew, and +how she had come unnoticed through the corridors out of the streets +scarce any one--even when time sufficed to arrange the scattered +thoughts of the Makhazni, the guard at the gate--could clearly tell. She +stood under the arch, with one hand at her breast, which heaved visibly +with emotion, and the other hand stretched out to touch the open +iron-clamped door, as if for help and guidance. Her head was held up, +her lips were apart, and her motionless blind eyes seemed to stare +wildly. She had heard the hot words. She had heard the sound of the blow +that followed them. Her father was smitten! Her father! Her father! +It was then that she uttered the cry. All eyes turned to her. Quaking, +reeling, almost falling, she came tottering down the patio. Soul and +sense seemed to be struggling together in her blind face. What did it +all mean? What was happening? Her fixed eyes stared as if they must +burst the bonds that bound them, and look and see, and know! + +At that moment God wrought a mighty work, a wondrous change, such as He +has brought to pass but twice or thrice since men were born blind into +His world of light. In an instant, at a thought, by one spontaneous +flash, as if the spirit of the girl tore down the dark curtains which +had hung for seventeen years over the windows of her eyes, Naomi saw! + +They all knew it at once. It seemed to them as if every feature of the +girl's face had leapt into her eyes; as if the expression of her lips, +her brow, her nostrils, had sprung to them: as if her face, so fair +before, so full of quivering feeling, must have been nothing until then +but a blank. Nay, but they seemed to see her now for the first time. +This, only this, was she! + +And to Naomi also, at that moment, it was almost as if she had been +newly born into life. She was meeting the world at last face to face, +eye to eye. Into her darkened chamber, that had never known the light, +everything had entered at a blow--the white glare of the sun, the +blue sky, the tiled patio, the faces of the Kaid and his wife and his +soldiers, and of the old man also, with the unshed tears hanging on the +fringe of his eyelid. She could not realise the marvel. She did not know +what vision was. She had not learned to see. Her trembling soul had gone +out from its dark chamber and met the mighty light in his mansion. "Oh! +oh!" she cried, and stood bewildered and helpless in the midst. The +picture of the world seemed to be falling upon her, and she covered her +eyes with her hands, that she might abolish it altogether. + +Israel saw everything. "Naomi!" he cried in a choking voice, and +stretched out his hands to her. Then she uncovered her eyes, and looked, +and paused and hesitated. + +"Naomi!" he cried again, and made a step towards her. She covered her +eyes once more that she might shut out the stranger they showed her, and +only listen to the voice that she knew so well. Then she staggered into +her father's arms. And Israel's heart was big, and he gathered her to +his breast, and, turning towards the woman, he said, "Madam, we are +in the hands of God. Look! See! He has sent His angel to protect His +servant." + +Meantime, Ben Aboo was quaking with fear. He too, saw the finger of God +in the wondrous thing which had come to pass. And, falling back on his +maudlin mood, he muttered prayers beneath his breath, as he had done +before when the human majesty, the Sultan Abd er-Rahman, was the object +of his terror. "O Giver of good to all! What is this? Allah save us! +Bismillah! Is it Allah or the Jinoon? Merciful! Compassionate! Curses on +them both! Allah! Allah!" + +The soldiers were affected by the fears of the Basha, and they huddled +together in a group. But Katrina fell to laughing. + +"Brava!" she cried. "Brava! Oh! a brave imposture! What did I say long +ago? Blind? No more blind than you were! But a pretty pretence! Well +acted! Very well acted! Brava! Brava!" + +Thus she laughed and mocked, and the Basha, hearing her, took shame of +his crawling fears, and made a poor show of joining her. + +Israel heard them, and for a moment, seeing how they made sport of +Naomi, a fire was kindled in his anger that seemed to come up from the +lowest hell. But he fought back the passion that was mastering him, and +at the next instant the laughter had ceased, and Ben Aboo was saying-- + +"Guards, take both of them. Set the man on an ass, and let the girl walk +barefoot before him; and let a crier cry beside them, 'So shall it be +done to every man who is an enemy of the Kaid, and to every woman who +is a play-actor and a cheat!' Thus let them pass through the streets and +through the people until they are come to a gate of the town, and then +cast them forth from it like lepers and like dogs!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +THE RAINBOW SIGN + + +While this bad work had been going forward in the Kasbah a great +blessing had fallen on the town. The long-looked for, hoped for, prayed +for--the good and blessed rain--had come at last. In gentle drops like +dew it had at first been falling from the rack of dark cloud which had +gathered over the heads of the mountains, and now, after half an hour of +such moisture, the sky over the town was grey, and the rain was pouring +down like a flood. + +Oh! the joy of it, the sweetness, the freshness, the beauty, the odour! +The air overhead, which had been dense with dust, was clearing and +whitening as if the water washed it. And the ground underfoot, which +had reeked of creeping and crawling things, was running like a wholesome +river, and bearing back to the lips a taste as of the sea. + +And the people of the town, in their surprise and gladness at the +falling of the rain, had come out of their houses to meet it. The +streets and the marketplace were full of them. In childish joy they +wandered up and down in the drenching flood, without fear or thought +of harm, with laughing eyes and gleaming white teeth, holding out their +palms to the rain and drinking it. Hailing each other in the voices of +boys, jesting and shouting and singing, to and fro they went and came +without aim or direction. The Jews trooped out of the Mellah, chattering +like jays, and the Moors at the gate salaamed to them. Mule-drivers +cried "Balak" in tones that seemed to sing; gunsmiths and saddle-makers +sat idle at their doors, greeting every one that passed; solemn Talebs +stood in knots, with faces that shone under the closed hoods of their +dark jellabs; and the bareheaded Berbers encamped in the market-square +capered about like flighty children, grinned like apes, fired their long +guns into the air for love of hearing the powder speak, often wept, and +sometimes embraced each other, thinking of their homes that were far +away. + +Now, it was just when the town was alive with this strange scene that +the procession which had been ordered by Ben Aboo came out from +the Kasbah. At the head of it walked a soldier, staff in hand and +gorgeous--notwithstanding the rain--in peaked shasheeah and crimson +selham. Behind him were four black police, and on either side of the +company were two criers of the street, each carrying a short staff +festooned with strings of copper coin, which he rattled in the air for a +bell. Between these came the victims of the Basha's order--Naomi first, +barefooted, bareheaded, stripped of all but the last garment that +hid her nakedness, her head held down, her face hidden, and her eyes +closed--and Israel afterwards, mounted on a lean and ragged ass. A +further guard of black police walked at the back of all. Thus they came +down the steep arcades into the market-square, where the greater body of +the townspeople had gathered together. + +When the people saw them, they made for them, hastening in crowds from +every side of the Feddan, from every adjacent alley, every shop, tent, +and booth. And when they saw who the prisoners were they burst into loud +exclamations of surprise. + +"Ya Allah! Israel the Jew!" cried the Moors. + +"God of Jacob, save us! Israel ben Oliel!" cried the people of the +Mellah. + +"What is it? What has happened? What has befallen them?" they all asked +together. + +"Balak!" cried the soldier in front, swinging his staff before him to +force a passage through the thronging multitude. "Attention! By your +leave! Away! Out of the way!" + +And as they walked the criers chanted, "So shall it be done to every man +who is an enemy of the Kaid, and to every woman who is a play-actor and +a cheat." + +When the people had recovered from their consternation they began to +look black into each other's face, to mutter oaths between their teeth, +and to say in voices of no pity or rush, "He deserved it!" "Ya Allah, +but he's well served!" "Holy Saints, we knew what it would come to!" +"Look at him now!" "There he is at last!" "Brave end to all his great +doings!" "Curse him! Curse him!" + +And over the muttered oaths and pitiless curses, the yelping and barking +of the cruel voices of the crowd, as the procession moved along, came +still the cry of the crier, "So shall it be done to every man who is an +enemy of the Kaid, and to every woman who is a play-actor and a cheat." + +Then the mood of the multitude changed. The people began to titter, +and after that to laugh openly. They wagged their heads at Israel; they +derided him; they made merry over his sorry plight. Where he was now +he seemed to be not so much a fallen tyrant as a silly sham and an +imposture. Look at him! Look at his bony and ragged ass! Ya Allah! To +think that they had ever been afraid of him! + +As the procession crossed the market-place, a woman who was enveloped in +a blanket spat at Israel as he passed. Then it was come to the door of +the Mosque, an old man, a beggar, hobbled through the crowd and struck +Israel with the back of his hand across the face. The woman had lost her +husband and the man his son by death sentences of Ben Aboo. Israel +had succoured both when he went about on his secret excursions after +nightfall in the disguise of a Moor. + +"Balak! Balak!" cried the soldier in front, and still the chant of the +crier rang out over all other noises. + +At every step the throng increased. The strong and lusty bore down the +weak in the struggle to get near to the procession. Blind beggars and +feeble cripples who could not see or stir shouted hideous oaths at +Israel from the back of the crowd. + +As the procession went past the gates of the Mellah, two companies came +out into the town. The one was a company of soldiers returning to +the Kasbah after sacking and wrecking Israel's house; the other was a +company of old Jews, among whom were Reuben Maliki, Abraham Pigman, and +Judah ben Lolo. At the advent of the three usurers a new impulse seized +the people. They pretended to take the procession for a triumphal +progress--the departure of a Kaid, a Shereef, a Sultan. The soldier +and police fell into the humour of the multitude. Salaams were made +to Israel; selhams were flung on the ground before the feet of Naomi. +Reuben Maliki pushed through the crowd, and walked backward, and cried, +in his harsh, nasal croak-- + +"Brothers of Tetuan, behold your benefactor! Make way for him! Make way! +make way!" + +Then there were loud guffaws, and oaths, and cries like the cry of the +hyena. Last of all, old Abraham Pigman handed over the people's heads a +huge green Spanish umbrella to a negro farrier that walked within; and +the black fellow, showing his white teeth in a wide grim, held it over +Israel's head. + +Then from fifty rasping throats came mocking cries. + +"God bless our Lord!" + +"Saviour of his people!" + +"Benefactor! King of men!" + +And over and between these cries came shrieks and yells of laughter. + +All this time Israel had sat motionless on his ass, neither showing +humiliation nor fear. His face was worn and ashy, but his eyes burned +with a piteous fire. He looked up and saw everything; saw himself mocked +by the soldier and the crier, insulted by the Muslimeen, derided by the +Jews, spat upon and smitten by the people whose hungry mouths he had fed +with bread. Above all, he saw Naomi going before him in her shame, and +at that sight his heart bled and his spirit burred. And, thinking that +it was he who had brought her to this ignominy, he sometimes yearned to +reach her side and whisper in her ear, and say, "Forgive me, my child, +forgive me." But again he conquered the desire, for he remembered +what God had that day done for her; and taking it for a sign of God's +pleasure, and a warranty that he had done well, he raised his eyes on +her with tears of bitter joy, and thought, in the wild fever of his +soul, "She is sharing the triumph of my humiliation. She is walking +through the mocking and jeering crowd, but see! God Himself is walking +beside her!" + +The procession had now come to the walled lane to the Bab Toot, the gate +going out to Tangier and to Shawan. There the way was so narrow and the +concourse so great that for a moment the procession was brought to a +stand. Seizing this opportunity, Reuben Maliki stepped up to Israel and +said, so that all might hear, "Look at the crowds that have come out to +speed you, O saviour of your people! Look! look! We shall all remember +this day!" + +"So you shall!" cried Israel. "Until your days of death you shall all +remember it!" + +He had not spoken before, and some of the Moors tried to laugh at his +answer; but his voice, which was like a frenzied cry, went to the hearts +of the Jews, and many of them fell away from the crowd straightway, and +followed it no farther. It was the cry of the voice of a brother. They +had been insulting calamity itself. + +"Balak!" shouted the soldier, and the crier cried once more, and the +procession moved again. + +It was the hour of Israel's last temptation. Not a glance in his face +disclosed passion, but his heart was afire. The devil seemed to be +jarring at his ear, "Look! Listen! Is it for people like these that you +have come to this? Were they worth the sacrifice? You might have been +rich and great, and riding on their heads. They would have honoured you +then, but now they despise you. Fool! You have sold all and given to the +poor, and this is the end of it." But in the throes and last gasp of his +agony, hearing his voice in his ear, and seeing Naomi going barefooted +on the stones before him, an angel seemed to come to him and whisper, +"Be strong. Only a little longer. Finish as you have begun. Well done, +servant of God, well done!" + +He did not flinch, but rode on without a word or a cry. Once he lifted +his head and looked down at the steaming, gaping, grinning cauldron +of faces black and white. "O pity of men!" he thought. "What devil is +tempting _them_?" + +By this time the procession had come to the town walls at a point near +to the Bab Toot. No one had observed until then that the rain was no +longer falling, but now everybody was made aware of this at once by +sight of a rainbow which spanned the sky to the north-west immediately +over the arch of the gate. + +Israel saw the rainbow, and took it for a sign. It was God's hand in the +heavens. To this gate then, and through it, out of Tetuan, into the land +beyond--the plains, the hills, the desert where no man was wronged--God +Himself, and not these people, had that day been leading them! + +What happened next Israel never rightly knew. His proper sense of life +seemed lost. Through thick waves of hot air he heard many voices. + +First the voice of the crier, "So shall it be done to every man who +is an enemy of the Kaid, and to every woman who is a play-actor and a +cheat." + +Then the voice of the soldier, "Balak! Balak!" + +After that a multitudinous din that seemed to break off sharply and then +to come muffled and dense as from the other side of the closed gate. + +When Israel came to himself again he was walking on a barren heath that +was dotted over with clumps of the long aloe, and he was holding Naomi +by the hand. + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +LIFE'S NEW LANGUAGE + +Two days after they had been cast out of Tetuan, Israel and Naomi were +settled in a little house that stood a day's walk to the north of the +town, about midway between the village of Semsa and the fondak which +lies on the road to Tangier. From the hour wherein the gates had closed +behind them, everything had gone well with both. The country people who +lay encamped on the heath outside had gathered around and shown them +kindness. One old Arab woman, seeing Naomi's shame, had come behind +without a word and cast a blanket over her head and shoulders. Then +a girl of the Berber folk had brought slippers and drawn them on to +Naomi's feet. The woman wore no blanket herself, and the feet of the +girl were bare. Their own people were haggard and hollow-eyed and +hungry, but the hearts of all were melted towards the great man in his +dark hour. "Allah had written it," they muttered, but they were more +merciful than they thought their God. + +Thus, amid silent pity and audible peace-blessings, with cheer of kind +words and comfort of food and drink, Israel and Naomi had wandered on +through the country from village to village, until in the evening, an +hour after sundown, they came upon the hut wherein they made their home. +It was a poor, mean place--neither a round tent, such as the mountain +Berbers build, nor a square cube of white stone, with its garden in a +court within, such as a Moorish farmer rears for his homestead, but an +oblong shed, roofed with rushes and palmetto leaves in the manner of an +Irish cabin. And, indeed, the cabin of an Irish renegade it had been, +who, escaping at Gibraltar from the ship that was taking him to Sidney, +had sailed in a Genoese trader to Ceuta, and made his way across the +land until he came to this lonesome spot near to Semsa. Unlike the +better part of his countrymen, he had been a man of solitary habit and +gloomy temper, and while he lived he had been shunned by his neighbours, +and when he died his house had been left alone. That was the chance +whereby Israel and Naomi had come to possess it, being both poor and +unclaimed. + +Nevertheless, though bare enough of most things that man makes and +values, yet the little place was rich in some of the wealth that comes +only from the hand of God. Thus marjoram and jasmine and pinks and roses +grew at the foot of its walls, and it was these sweet flowers which had +first caught the eyes of Israel. For suddenly through the mazes of his +mind, where every perception was indistinct at that time, there seemed +to come back to him a vague and confused recollection of the abandoned +house, as if the thing that his eyes then saw they had surely seen +before. How this should be Israel could not tell, seeing that never +before to his knowledge had he passed on his way to Tangier so near to +Semsa. But when he questioned himself again, it came to him, like light +beaming into a dark room, that not in any waking hour at all had he seen +the little place before, but in a dream of the night when he slept on +the ground in the poor fondak of the Jews at Wazzan. + +This, then, was the cottage where he had dreamed that he lived with +Naomi; this was where she had seemed to have eyes to see and ears to +hear and a tongue to speak; this was the vision of his dead wife, which +when he awoke on his journey had appeared to be vainly reflected in +his dream; and now it was realised, it was true, it had come to pass. +Israel's heart was full, and being at that time ready to see the leading +of Heaven in everything, he saw it in this fact also; and thus, without +more ado than such inquiries as were necessary, he settled himself with +Naomi in the place they had chanced upon. + +And there, through some months following, from the height of the summer +until the falling of winter, they lived together in peace and content, +lacking much, yet wanting nothing; short of many things that are thought +to make men's condition happy, but grateful and thanking God. + +Israel was poor, but not penniless. Out of the wreck of his fortune, +after he sold the best contents of his house, he had still some three +hundred dollars remaining in the pocket of his waistband when he was +cast out of the town. These he laid out in sheep and goats and oxen. He +hired land also of a tenant of the Basha, and sent wool and milk by the +hand of a neighbour to the market at Tetuan. The rains continued, the +eggs of the locust were destroyed, the grass came green out of the +ground, and Israel found bread for both of them. With such simple +husbandry, and in such a home, giving no thought to the morrow, he +passed with cheer and comfort from day to day. + +And truly, if at any weaker moment he had been minded to repine for the +loss of his former poor greatness, or to fail of heart in pursuit of +his new calling, for which heavier hands were better fit, he had always +present with him two bulwarks of his purpose and sheet-anchors of his +hope. He was reminded of the one as often as in the daytime he climbed +the hillside above his little dwelling and saw the white town lying far +away under its gauzy canopy of mist, and whenever in the night the town +lamps sent their pale sheet of light into the dark sky. + +"They are yonder," he would think, "wrangling, contending, fighting, +praying, cursing, blessing, and cheating; and I am here, cut off from +them by ten deep miles of darkness, in the quiet, the silence, and sweet +odour of God's proper air." + +But stronger to sustain him than any memory of the ways of his former +life was the recollection of Naomi. God had given back all her gifts, +and what were poverty and hard toil against so great a blessing? They +were as dust, they were as ashes, they were what power of the world and +riches of gold and silver had been without it. And higher than the joy +of Israel's constant remembrance that Naomi had been blind and could now +see, and deaf and could now hear, and dumb and could now speak, was +the solemn thought that all this was but the sign and symbol of God's +pleasure and assurance to his soul that the lot of the scapegoat had +been lifted away. + +More satisfying still to the hunger of his heart as a man was his +delicious pleasure in Naomi's new-found life. She was like a creature +born afresh, a radiant and joyful being newly awakened into a world of +strange sights. + +But it was not at once that she fell upon this pleasure. What had +happened to her was, after all, a simple thing. Born with cataract on +the pupils of her eyes, the emotion of the moment at the Kasbah, when +her father's life seemed to be once more in danger, had--like a fall +or a blow--luxated the lens and left the pupils clear. That was all. +Throughout the day whereon the last of her great gifts came to her, when +they were cast out of Tetuan, and while they walked hand in hand through +the country until they lit upon their home, she had kept her eyes +steadfastly closed. The light terrified her. It penetrated her delicate +lids, and gave her pain. When for a moment she lifted her lashes and saw +the trees, she put out her hand as if to push them away; and when she +saw the sky, she raised her arms as if to hold it off. Everything seemed +to touch her eyes. The bars of sunlight seemed to smite them. Not until +the falling of darkness did her fears subside and her spirits revive. +Throughout the day that followed she sat constantly in the gloom of the +blackest corner of their hut. + +But this was only her baptism of light on coming out of a world of +darkness, just as her fear of the voices of the earth and air had been +her baptism of sound on coming out of a land of silence. Within three +days afterwards her terror began to give place to joy; and from that +time forward the world was full of wonder to her opened eyes. Then +sweet and beautiful, beyond all dreams of fancy, were her amazement and +delight in every little thing that lay about her--the grass, the weeds, +the poorest flower that blew, even the rude implements of the house and +the common stones that worked up through the mould--all old and familiar +to her fingers, but new and strange to her eyes, and marvellous as if an +angel out of heaven had dropped them down to her. + +For many days after the coming of her sight she continued to recognise +everything by touch and sound. Thus one morning early in their life in +the cottage, and early also in the day, after Israel had kissed her on +the eyelids to awaken her, and she had opened them and gazed up at him +as he stooped above her, she looked puzzled for an instant, being still +in the mists of sleep, and only when she had closed her eyes again, and +put out her hand to touch him, did her face brighten with recognition +and her lips utter his name. "My father," she murmured, "my father." + +Thus again, the same day, not an hour afterwards, she came running back +to the house from the grass bank in front of it, holding a flower in her +hand, and asking a world of hot questions concerning it in her broken, +lisping, pretty speech. Why had no one told her that there were flowers +that could see? Here was one which while she looked upon it had opened +its beautiful eye and laughed at her. "What is it?" she asked; "what is +it?" + +"A daisy, my child," Israel answered. + +"A daisy!" she cried in bewilderment; and during the short hush and +quick inspiration that followed she closed her eyes and passed her +nervous fingers rapidly over the little ring of sprinkled spears, and +then said very softly, with head aslant as if ashamed, "Oh, yes, so it +is; it is only a daisy." + +But to tell of how those first days of sight sped along for Naomi, with +what delight of ever-fresh surprise, and joy of new wonder, would be a +long task if a beautiful one. They were some miles inside the coast, but +from the little hill-top near at hand they could see it clearly; and one +day when Naomi had gone so far with her father, she drew up suddenly +at his side, and cried in a breathless voice of awe, "The sky! the sky! +Look! It has fallen on to the land." + +"That is the sea, my child," said Israel. + +"The sea!" she cried, and then she closed her eyes and listened, and +then opened them and blushed and said, while her knitted brows smoothed +out and her beautiful face looked aside, "So it is--yes, it is the sea." + +Throughout that day and the night which followed it the eyes of her +mind were entranced by the marvel of that vision, and next morning she +mounted the hill alone, to look upon it again; and, being so far, she +walked farther and yet farther, wandering on and on, through fields +where lavender grew and chamomile blossomed, on and on, as though drawn +by the enchantment of the mighty deep that lay sparkling in the sun, +until at last she came to the head of a deep gully in the coast. Still +the wonder of the waters held her, but another marvel now seized +upon her sight. The gully was a lonesome place inhabited by countless +sea-birds. From high up in the rocks above, and from far down in the +chasm below, from every cleft on every side, they flew out, with white +wings and black ones and grey and blue, and sent their voices into the +air, until the echoing place seemed to shriek and yell with a deafening +clangour. + +It was midday when Naomi reached this spot, and she sat there a long +hour in fear and consternation. And when she returned to her father, she +told him awesome stories of demons that lived in thousands by the sea, +and fought in the air and killed each other. "And see!" she cried; "look +at this, and this, and this!" + +Then Israel glanced at the wrecks she had brought with her of the +devilish warfare that she had witnessed and "This," said he, lifting +one of them, "is a sea-bird's feather; and this," lifting another, "is +a sea-bird's egg; and this," lifting the third, "is a dead sea-bird +itself." + +Once more Naomi knit her brows in thought, and again she closed her eyes +and touched the familiar things wherein her sight had deceived her. +"Ah yes," she said meekly, looking into her father's eye, with a smile, +"they are only that after all." And then she said very quietly, as if +speaking to herself, "What a long time it is before you learn to see!" + +It was partly due to the isolation of her upbringing in the company of +Israel that nearly every fresh wonder that encountered her eyes took +shapes of supernatural horror or splendour. One early evening, when she +had remained out of the house until the day was well-nigh done, she came +back in a wild ecstasy to tell of angels that she had just seen in the +sky. They were in robes of crimson and scarlet, their wings blazed like +fire, they swept across the clouds in multitudes, and went down behind +the world together, passing out of the earth through the gates of +heaven. + +Israel listened to her and said, "That was the sunset my child. Every +morning the sun rises and every night it sets." + +Then she looked full into his face and blushed. Her shame at her sweet +errors sometimes conquered her joy in the new heritage of sight, and +Israel heard her whisper to herself and say, "After all, the eyes are +deceitful." Vision was life's new language, and she had yet to learn it. + +But not for long was her delight in the beautiful things of the world +to be damped by any thought of herself. Nay, the best and rarest part of +it, the dearest and most delicious throb it brought her, came of herself +alone. On another early day Israel took her to the coast, and pushed off +with her on the waters in a boat. The air was still, the sea was smooth, +the sun was shining, and save for one white scarf of cloud the sky +was blue. They were sailing in a tiny bay that was broken by a little +island, which lay in the midst like a ruby in a ring, covered with +heather and long stalks of seeding grass. Through whispering beds of +rushes they glided on, and floated over banks of coral where gleaming +fishes were at play. Sea-fowl screamed over their heads, as if in anger +at their invasion, and under their oars the moss lay in the shallows on +the pebbles and great stones. It was a morning of God's own making, and, +for joy of its loveliness no less than of her own bounding life, Naomi +rose in the boat and opened her lips and arms to the breeze while it +played with the rippling currents of her hair, as if she would drink and +embrace it. + +At that moment a new and dearer wonder came to her, such as every maiden +knows whom God has made beautiful, yet none remembers the hour when she +knew it first. For, tracing with her eyes the shadow of the cliff and of +the continent of cloud that sailed double in two seas of blue to where +they were broken by the dazzling half-round of the sun's reflected disc +on the shadowed quarter of the boat, she leaned over the side of it, and +then saw the reflection of another and lovelier vision. + +"Father," she cried with alarm, "a face in the water! Look! look!" + +"It is your own, my child," said Israel. "Mine!" she cried. + +"The reflection of your face," said Israel; "the light and the water +make it." + +The marvel was hard to understand. There was something ghostly in this +thing that was herself and yet not herself, this face that looked up at +her and laughed and yet made no voice. She leaned back in the boat and +asked Israel if it was still in the water. But when at length she had +grasped the mystery, the artlessness of her joy was charming. She was +like a child in her delight, and like a woman that was still a child +in her unconscious love of her own loveliness. Whenever the boat was at +rest she leaned over its bulwark and gazed down into the blue depths. + +"How beautiful!" she cried, "how beautiful!" + +She clapped her hands and looked again, and there in the still water +was the wonder of her dancing eyes. "Oh! how very beautiful!" she cried +without lifting her face, and when she saw her lips move as she spoke +and her sunny hair fall about her restless head she laughed and laughed +again with a heart of glee. + +Israel looked on for some moments at this sweet picture, and, for all +his sense of the dangers of Naomi's artless joy in her own beauty, he +could not find it in his heart to check her. He had borne too long +the pain and shame of one who was father of an afflicted child to deny +himself this choking rapture of her recovery. "Live on like a child +always, little one," he thought; "be a child as long as you can, be a +child for ever, my dove, my darling! Never did the world suffer it that +I myself should be a child at all." + +The artlessness of Naomi increased day by day, and found constantly +some new fashion of charming strangeness. All lovely things on the +earth seemed to speak to her, and she could talk with the birds and the +flowers. Also she would lie down in the grass and rest like a lamb, with +as little shame and with a grace as sweet. Not yet had the great mystery +dawned that drops on a girl like an unseen mantle out of the sky, and +when it has covered her she is a child no more. Naomi was a child still. +Nay, she was a child a second time, for while she had been blind she had +seemed for a little while to become a woman in the awful revelation of +her infirmity and isolation. Now she was a weak, patient, blind maiden +no longer, but a reckless spirit of joy once again, a restless gleam of +human sunlight gathering sunshine into her father's house. + +It was fit and beautiful that she who had lived so long without the +better part of the gifts of God should enjoy some of them at length +in rare perfection. Her sight was strong and her hearing was keen, but +voice was the gift which she had in abundance. So sweet, so full, so +deep, so soft a voice as Naomi's came to be, Israel thought he had never +heard before. Ruth's voice? Yes, but fraught with inspiration, replete +with sparkling life, and passionate with the notes of a joyous heart. +All day long Naomi used it. She sang as she rose in the morning, and was +still singing when she lay down at night. Wherever people came upon her, +they came first upon the sound of her voice. The farmers heard it across +the fields, and sometimes Israel heard it from over the hill by their +hut. Often she seemed to them like a bird that is hidden in a tree, and +only known to be there by the outbursts of its song. + +Fatimah's ditties were still her delight. Some of them fell strangely +from her pure lips, so nearly did they border on the dangerous. But her +favourite song was still her mother's:-- + + Oh, come and claim thine own, + Oh, come and take thy throne, + Reign ever and alone + Reign glorious, golden Love. + +Into these words, as her voice ripened, she seemed to pour a deeper +fervour. She was as innocent as a child of their meaning, but it was +almost as if she were fulfilling in some way a law of her nature as a +maid and drifting blindly towards the dawn of Love. Never did she think +of Love, but it was just as if Love were always thinking of her; it was +even as if the spirit of Love were hovering over her constantly, and she +were walking in the way of its outstretched wings. + +Israel saw this, and it set him to chasing day-dreams that were like +the drawing up of a curtain. A beautiful phantom of Naomi's future +would rise up before him. Love had come to her. The great mystery! the +rapture, the blissful wonder, the dear, secret, delicious palpitating +joy. He knew it must come some day--perhaps to day, perhaps to-morrow. +And when it came it would be like a sixth sense. + +In quieter moments--generally at night, when he would take a candle and +look at her where she lay asleep--Israel would carry his dreams into +Naomi's future one stage farther, and see her in the first dawn of young +motherhood. Her delicate face of pink an cream; her glance of pride and +joy and yearning, an then the thrill of the little spreading red fingers +fastening on her white bosom--oh, what a glimpse was there revealed to +him! + +But struggle as he would to find pleasure in these phantoms, he could +not help but feel pain from them also. They had a perilous fascination +for him, but he grudged them to Naomi. He thought he could have given +his immortal soul to her, but these shadows he could not give. That was +his poor tribute to human selfishness; his last tender, jealous frailty +as a father. He dreaded the coming of that time when another--some other +yet unseen--should come before him, and he should lose the daughter that +was now his own. + +Sometimes the memory of their old troubles in Tetuan seemed to cross +like a thundercloud the azure of Naomi's sky, but at the next hour it +was gone. The world was too full of marvels for any enduring sense +but wonder. Once she awoke from sleep in terror, and told Israel of +something which she believed to have happened to her in the night. She +had been carried away from him--she could not say when--and she knew +no more until she found herself in a great patio, paved and wailed with +tiles. Men were standing together there in red peaked caps and flowing +white kaftans. And before them all was one old man in garments that +were of the colour of the afternoon sun, with sleeves like the mouths of +bells, a curling silver knife at his waistband, and little leather bags +hung by yellow cords about his neck. Beside this man there was a woman +of a laughing cruel face; and she herself, Naomi--alone her father being +nowhere near--stood in the midst with all eyes upon her. What happened +next she did not know, for blank darkness fell upon everything, and in +that interval they who had taken her away must have brought her back. +For when she opened her eyes she was in her own bed, and the things of +their little home were about her, and her father's eyes were looking +down at her, and his lips were kissing her, and the sun was shining +outside, and the birds were singing, and the long grass was whispering +in the breeze, and it was the same as if she had been asleep during the +night and was just awakening in the morning. + +"It was a dream, my child," said Israel, thinking only with how vivid +a sense her eyes had gathered up in that instant of first sight the +picture of that day at the Kasbah. + +"A dream!" she cried; "no, no! I _saw_ it!" + +Hitherto her dreams had been blind ones, and if she dreamt of her own +people it had not been of their faces, but of the touch of their hands +or the sound of their voices. By one of these she had always known them, +and sometimes it had been her mother's arms that had been about her, and +sometimes her father's lips that had pressed her forehead, and sometimes +Ali's voice that had rung in her ears. + +Israel smoothed her hair and calmed her fears, but thinking both of her +dream and of her artless sayings, he said in his heart, "She is a child, +a child born into life as a maid, and without the strength of a child's +weakness. Oh! great is the wisdom which orders it so that we come into +the world as babes." + +Thus realising Naomi's childishness, Israel kept close guard and watch +upon her afterwards. But if she was a gleam of sunlight in his lonely +dwelling, like sunlight she came and went in it, and one day he found +her near to the track leading up to the fondak in talk with a passing +traveller by the way, whom he recognised for the grossest profligate out +of Tetuan. Unveiled, unabashed, with sweet looks of confidence she was +gazing full into the man's gross face, answering his evil questions with +the artless simplicity of innocence. At one bound Israel was between +them; and in a moment he had torn Naomi away. And that night, while she +wept out her very heart at the first anger that her father had shown +her, Israel himself, in a new terror of his soul, was pouring out a new +petition to God. "O Lord, my God," he cried, "when she was blind and +dumb and deaf she was a thing apart, she was a child in no peril from +herself for Thy hand did guide her, and in none from the world, for no +man dared outrage her infirmity. But now she is a maid, and her dangers +are many, for she is beautiful, and the heart of man is evil. Keep me +with her always, O Lord, to guard and guide her! Let me not leave her, +for she is without knowledge of good and evil. Spare me a little +while longer, though I am stricken in years. For her sake spare me, Oh +Lord--it is the last of my prayers--the last, O Lord, the last--for her +sake spare me!" + +God did not hear the prayer of Israel. Next morning a guard of soldiers +came out from Tetuan and took him prisoner in the name of the Kaid. The +release of the poor followers of Absalam out of the prison at Shawan had +become known by the blind gratitude of one of them, who, hastening to +Israel's house in the Mellah, had flung himself down on his face before +it. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ISRAEL IN PRISON + + +Short as the time was--some three months and odd days--since the prison +at Shawan had been emptied by order of the warrant which Israel had +sealed without authority in the name of Ben Aboo, it was now occupied +by other prisoners. The remoteness of the town in the territory of +the Akhmas, and the wild fanaticism of the Shawanis, had made the +old fortress a favourite place of banishment to such Kaids of other +provinces as looked for heavier ransoms from the relatives of victims, +because the locality of their imprisonment was unknown or the danger +of approaching it was terrible. And thus it happened that some fifty or +more men and boys from near and far were already living in the dungeon +from which Israel and Ali together had set the other prisoners free. + +This was the prison to which Israel was taken when he was torn from +Naomi and the simple home that he had made for himself near Semsa. +"Ya Allah! Let the dog eat the crust which he thought too hard for his +pups!" said Ben Aboo, as he sealed the warrant which consigned Israel to +the Kaid of Shawan. + +Israel was taken to the prison afoot, and reached it on the morning of +the second day after his arrest. The sun was shining as he approached +the rude old block of masonry and entered the passage that led down +to the dungeon. In a little court at the door of the place the Kaid el +habs, the jailer, was sitting on a mattress, which served him for chair +by day and bed by night. He was amusing himself with a ginbri, playing +loud and low according as the tumult was great or little which came from +the other side of a barred and knotted doorway behind him, some four +feet high, and having a round peephole in the upper part of it. On the +wall above hung leather thongs, and a long Reefian flintlock stood in +the corner. + +At Israel's approach there were some facetious comments between the +jailer and the guard. Why the ginbri? Was he practising for the fires +of Jehinnum? Was he to fiddle for the Jinoon? Well, what was a man to do +while the dogs inside were snarling? Were the thongs for the correction +of persons lacking understanding? Why, yes; everybody knew their old +saying, "A hint to the wise, a blow to the fool." + +A bunch of great keys rattled, the low doorway was thrown open, Israel +stooped and went in, the door closed behind him, the footsteps of the +guard died away, and the twang of the ginbri began again. + +The prison was dark and noisome, some sixty feet long by half as many +broad, supported by arches resting on rotten pillars, lighted only by +narrow clefts at either hand, exuding damp from its walls, dropping +moisture from its roof, its air full of vermin, and its floor reeking of +filth. And only less horrible than the prison itself was the condition +of the prisoners. Nearly all wore iron fetters on their legs, and some +were shackled to the pillars. At one side a little group of them--they +were Shereefs from Wazzan--were conversing eagerly and gesticulating +wildly; and at the other side a larger company--they were Jews from +Fez--were languidly twisting palmetto leaves into the shape of baskets. +Four Berbers at the farther end were playing cards, and two Arabs that +were chained to a column near the door squatted on the ground with a +battered old draughtboard between them. From both groups of players +came loud shouts and laughter and a running fire of expostulation and +of indignant and sarcastic comment. Down went the cards with triumphant +bangs, and the moves of the "dogs" were like lightning. First a mocking +voice: "_You_ call yourself a player! There!--there!--there!" Then a +meek, piping tone: "So--so--verily, you are my master. Well, let us +praise Allah for your wisdom." But soon a wild burst of irony: "You are +like him who killed the dog and fell into the river. See! thus I teach +you to boast over your betters! I shave your beard! There!--there!--and +there!" + +In the middle of the reeking floor, so placed that the thin shaft of +light from the clefts at the ends might fall on them--a barber-doctor +was bleeding a youth from a vein in the arm. "We're all having it done," +he was saying. "It's good for the internals. I did it to a shipload of +pilgrims once." A wild-looking creature sat in a corner--he was a saint, +a madman, of the sect of the Darkaoa--rocking himself to and fro, and +crying "Allah! All-lah! All-l-lah! All-l-l-lah!" Near to this person +a haggard old man of the Grega sect was shaking and dancing at his +prayers. And not far from either a Mukaddam, a high-priest of the Aissa, +brotherhood--a juggler who had travelled through the country with a lion +by a halter--was singing a frantic mockery of a Christian hymn to a tune +that he had heard on the coast. + +Such was the scene of Israel's imprisonment, and such were the +companions that were to share it. There had been a moment's pause in +the clamour of their babel as the door opened and Israel entered. The +prisoners knew him, and they were aghast. Every eye looked up and every +mouth was agape. Israel stood for a time with the closed door behind +him. He looked around, made a step forward, hesitated, seemed to peer +vainly through the darkness for bed or mattress, and then sat down +helplessly by a pillar on the ground. + +A young negro in a coarse jellab went up to him and offered a bit of +bread. "Hungry, brother? No?" said the youth. "Cheer up, Sidi! No good +letting the donkey ride on your head!" + +This person was the Irishman of the company--a happy, reckless, +facetious dog, who had lost little save his liberty and cared nothing +for his life, but laughed and cheated and joked and made doggerel songs +on every disaster that befell them. He made one song on himself-- + + El Arby was a black man + They called him "'Larby Kosk:" + He loved the wives of the Kasbah, + And stole slippers in the Mosque. + +Israel was stunned. Since his arrest he had scarcely spoken. "Stay +here," he had said to Naomi when the first outburst of her grief was +quelled; "never leave this place. Whatever they say, stay here. I will +come back." After that he had been like a man who was dumb. Neither +insult nor tyranny had availed to force a word or a cry out of him. +He had walked on in silence doggedly, hardly once glancing up into the +faces of his guard, and never breaking his fast save with a draught of +water by the way. + +At Shawan, as elsewhere in Barbary, the prisoners were supported by +their own relatives and friends, and on the day after Israel's arrival a +number of women and children came to the prison with provisions. It was +a wild and gruesome scene that followed. First, the frantic search of +the prisoners for their wives and sons and daughters, and their wild +shouts as each one found his own. "Blessed be God! She's here! here!" +Then the maddening cries of the prisoners whose relatives had not come. +"My Ayesha! Where is she? Curses on her mother! Why isn't she here?" +After that the shrieks of despair from such as learned that their +breadwinners were dying off one by one. "Dead, you say?" "Dead!" "No, +no!" "Yes, yes!" "No, no, I say!" "I say yes! God forgive me! died +last week. But don't you die too. Here take this bag of zummetta." Then +inquiries after absent children. "Little Selam, where is he?" "Begging +in Tetuan." "Poor boy! poor boy! And pretty M'barka, what of her?" +"Alas! M'barka's a public woman now in Hoolia's house at Marrakesh. No, +don't curse her, Jellali; the poor child was driven to it. What were we +to do with the children crying for bread? And then there was nothing to +fetch you this journey, Jellali." "I'll not eat it now it's brought. My +boy a beggar and my girl a harlot? By Allah! May the Kaid that keeps me +here roast alive in the fires of hell!" Then, apart in one quiet corner, +a young Moor of Tangier eating rice out of the lap of his beautiful +young wife. "You'll not be long coming again, dearest?" he whispers. She +wipes her eyes and stammers, "No--that is--well--" "What's amiss?" "Ali, +I must tell you--" "Well?" "Old Aaron Zaggoory says I must marry him, or +he'll see that both of us starve." "Allah! And you--_you_?" "Don't look +at me like that, Ali; the hunger is on me, and whatever happens I--I can +love nobody else." "Curses on Aaron Zaggoory! Curses on you! Curses on +everybody!" + +No one had come with food for Israel, and seeing this 'Larby the negro +swaggered up to him, singing a snatch and offering a round cake of +bread-- + + Rusks are good and kiks are sweet + And kesksoo is both meat and drink; + It's this for now, and that for then, + But khalia still for married men. + +"You're like me, Sidi," he said, "you want nothing," and he made an +upward movement of his forefinger to indicate his trust in Providence. +That was the gay rascal's way of saying that he stole from the bags of +his comrades while they slept. + +"No? Fasting yet?" he said, and went off singing as he came-- + + It will make your ladies love you; + It will make them coo and kiss-- + +"What?" he shouted to some one across the prison "eating khalia in the +bird-cage? Bad, bad, bad!" + +All this came to Israel's mind through thick waves of +half-consciousness, but with his heart he heard nothing, or the very air +of the place must have poisoned him. He sat by the pillar at which he +had first placed himself, and hardly ever rose from it. With great slow +eyes he gazed at everything, but nothing did he see. Sometimes he had +the look of one who listens, but never did he hear. Thus in silence and +languor he passed from day to day, and from night to night, scarcely +sleeping, rarely eating, and seeming always to be waiting, waiting, +waiting. + +Fresh prisoners came at short intervals, and then only was Israel's +interest awakened. One question he asked of all. "Where from?" If they +answered from Fez, from Wazzan, from Mequinez, or from Marrakesh, Israel +turned aside and left them without more words. Then to his fellows they +might pour out their woes in loud wails and curses, but Israel would +hear no more. + +Strangers from Europe travelling through the country were allowed to +look into the prison through the round peephole of the door kept by the +Kaid el habs, who played the ginbri. The Jews who made baskets took this +opportunity to offer their work for sale; and so that he might see the +visitors and speak with them Israel would snatch up something and hang +it out. Always his question was the same. "Where from last?" he would +say in English, or Spanish, or French, or Moorish. Sometimes it chanced +that the strangers knew him. But he showed no shame. Never did their +answers satisfy him. He would turn back to his pillar with a sigh. + +Thus weeks went on, and Israel's face grew worn and tired. His fellow +prisoners began to show him deference in their own rude way. When he +came among them at the first they had grinned and laughed a little. +To do that was always the impulse of the poor souls, so miserably +imprisoned, when a new comrade joined him. But the majesty and the +suffering in Israel's face told on their hearts at last. He was a great +man fallen, he had nothing left to him; not even bread to eat or water +to drink. So they gathered about him and hit on a way to make him share +their food. Bringing their sacks to his pillar, they stacked them about +it, and asked him to serve out provisions to all, day by day, share and +share alike. He was honest, he was a master, no one would steal from +him, it was best, the stuff would last longest. It was a touching sight. + +Still the old eagerness betrayed itself in Israel's weary manner as +often as the door opened and fresh prisoners arrived. Once it happened +that before he uttered his usual question he saw that the newcomers +were from Tetuan, and then his restlessness was feverish. "When--were +you--have you been of late--" he stammered, and seemed unable to go +farther. + +But the Tetawanis knew and understood him. "No," said one in answer to +the unspoken question; "Nor I," said another; "Nor I," said a third, +"Nor I neither," said a fourth, as Israel's rapid eyes passed down the +line of them. + +He turned away without a word more, sat down by the pillar and looked +vacantly before him while the new prisoners told their story. Ben Aboo +was a villain. The people of Tetuan had found him out. His wife was a +harlot whose heart was a deep pit. Between them they were demoralising +the entire bashalic. The town was worse than Sodom. Hardly a child in +the streets was safe, and no woman, whether wife or daughter, whom God +had made comely, dare show herself on the roofs. Their own women +had been carried off to the palace at the Kasbah. That was why they +themselves were there in prison. + +This was about a month after the coming of Israel to Shawan. Then his +reason began to unsettle. It was pitiful to see that he was conscious of +the change that was befalling him. He wrestled with madness with all the +strength of a strong man. If it should fall upon him, where then would +be his hope and outlook? His day would be done, his night would be +closed in, he would be no more than a helpless log, rolling in an +ice-bound sea, and when the thaw came--if it ever came--he would be +only a broken, rudderless, sailless wreck. Sometimes he would swear at +nothing and fling out his arms wildly, and then with a look of shame +hang down his head and mutter, "No, no, Israel; no, no, no!" + +Other prisoners arrived from Tetuan, and all told the same story. Israel +listened to them with a stupid look, seeming hardly to hear the tale +they told him. But one morning, as life began again for the day in that +slimy eddy of life's ocean, every one became aware that an awful change +had come to pass. Israel's face had been worn and tired before, but now +it looked very old and faded. His black hair had been sprinkled with +grey, and now it was white; and white also was his dark beard, which +had grown long and ragged. But his eye glistened, and his teeth were +aglitter in his open mouth. He was laughing at everything, yet not +wildly, not recklessly, not without meaning or intention, but with the +cheer of a happy and contented man. + +Israel was mad, and his madness was a moving thing to look upon. He +thought he was back at home and a rich man still, as he had been in +earlier days, but a generous man also, as he was in later ones. With +liberal hand he was dispensing his charities. + +"Take what you need; eat, drink, do not stint; there is more where this +has come from; it is not mine; God has lent it me for the good of all." + +With such words, graciously spoken, he served out the provisions +according to his habit, and only departed from his daily custom in +piling the measures higher, and in saluting the people by titles--Sid, +Sidi, Mulai, and the like--in degree as their clothes were poor and +ragged. It was a mad heart that spoke so, but also it was a big one. + +From that time forward he looked upon the prisoners as his guests, and +when fresh prisoners came to the prison he always welcomed them as if +he were host there and they were friends who visited him. "Welcome!" he +would say; "you are very welcome. The place is your own. Take all. What +you don't see, believe we have not got it. A thousand thousand welcomes +home!" It was grim and painful irony. + +Israel's comrades began to lose sense of their own suffering in +observing the depth of his, and they laid their heads together to +discover the cause of his madness. The most part of them concluded +that he was repining for the loss of his former state. And when one +day another prisoner came from Tetuan with further tales of the Basha's +tyranny, and of the people's shame at thought of how they had dealt by +Israel, the prisoners led the man back to where Israel was standing in +the accustomed act of dispensing bounty, that he might tell his story +into the rightful ears. + +"They're always crying for you," said the Tetawani; "'Israel ben Oliel! +Israel ben Oliel!' that's what you hear in the mosques and the streets +everywhere.' Shame on us for casting him out, shame on us! He was our +father!' Jews and Muslimeen, they're all saying so." + +It was useless. The glad tidings could not find their way. That black +page of Israel's life which told of the people's ingratitude was sealed +in the book of memory. Israel laughed. What could his good friend mean? +Behold! was he not rich? Had he not troops of comrades and guests about +him? + +The prisoners turned aside, baffled and done. At length one man--it was +no other than 'Larby the wastrel--drew some of them apart and said, "You +are all wrong. It's not his former state that he's thinking of. _I_ know +what it is--who knows so well as I? Listen! you hear his laughter! Well, +he must weep, or he will be mad for ever. He must be _made_ to weep. +Yes, by Allah! and I must do it." + +That same night, when darkness fell over the dark place, and the +prisoners tied up their cotton headkerchiefs and lay down to sleep, +'Larby sat beside Israel's place with sighs and moans and other symptoms +of a dejected air. + +"Sidi, master," he faltered, "I had a little brother once, and he was +blind. Born blind, Sidi, my own mother's son. But you wouldn't think how +happy he was for all that? You see, Sidi he never missed anything, and +so his little face was like laughing water! By Allah! I loved that boy +better than all the world! Women? Why--well, never mind! He was six and +I was eighteen, and he used to ride on my back! Black curls all over, +Sidi, and big white eyes that looked at you for all they couldn't see. +Well a bleeder came from Soos--curse his great-grandfather! Looked at +little Hosain--'Scales!' said he--burn his father! Bleed him and he'll +see! So they bled him, and he did see. By Allah! yes, for a minute--half +a minute! 'Oh, 'Larby,' he cried--I was holding him; then he--he--' +'Larby,' he cried faint, like a lamb that's lost in the mountains--and +then--and then--'Oh, oh, 'Larby,' he moaned Sidi, Sidi, I _paid_ that +bleeder--there and then--_this_ way! That's why I'm here!" + +It was a lie, but 'Larby acted it so well that his voice broke in his +throat, and great drops fell from his eyes on to Israel's hand. + +The effect on Israel himself was strange and even startling. While +'Larby was speaking, he was beating his forehead and mumbling: "Where? +When? Naomi!" as if grappling for lost treasures in an ebbing sea. +And when 'Larby finished, he fell on him with reproaches. "And you are +weeping for that?" he cried. "You think it much that the sweet child is +dead--God rest him! So it is to the like of you, but look at me!" + +His voice betrayed a grim pride in his miseries. "Look at me! Am +I weeping? No; I would scorn to weep. But I have more cause a +thousandfold. Listen! Once I was rich; but what were riches without +children? Hard bread with no water for sop. I asked God for a child. He +gave me a daughter; but she was born blind and dumb and deaf. I asked +God to take my riches and give her hearing. He gave her hearing; but +what was hearing without speech? I asked God to take all I had and give +her speech. He gave her speech, but what was speech without sight? +I asked God to take my place from me and give her sight. He gave her +sight, and I was cast out of the town like a beggar. What matter? She +had all, and I was forgiven. But when I was happy, when I was content, +when she filled my heart with sunshine, God snatched me away from her. +And where is she now? Yonder, alone, friendless, a child new-born into +the world at the mercy of liars and libertines. And where am I? Here, +like a beast in a trap, uttering abortive groans, toothless, stupid, +powerless, mad. No, no, not mad, either! Tell me, boy, I am not mad!" + +In the breaking waters of his madness he was struggling like a drowning +man. "Yet I do not weep," he cried in a thick voice. "God has a right to +do as He will. He gave her to me for seventeen years. If she dies she'll +be mine again soon. Only if she lives--only if she falls into evil +hands--Tell me, _have_ I been mad?" + +He gave no time for an answer. "Naomi!" he cried, and the name broke +in his throat. "Where are you now? What has--who have--your father +is thinking of you--he is--No, I will not weep. You see I have a good +cause, but I tell you I will never weep. God has a right--Naomi!--Na--" + +The name thickened to a sob as he repeated it, and then suddenly he rose +and cried in an awful voice, "Oh, I'm a fool! God has done nothing for +me. Why should I do anything for God? He has taken all I had. He has +taken my child. I have nothing more to give Him but my life. Let Him +take that too. Take it, I beseech Thee!" he cried--the vault of the +prison rang--"Take it, and set me free!" + +But at the next moment he had fallen back to his place, and was sobbing +like a little child. The other prisoners had risen in their amazement, +and 'Larby, who was shedding hot tears over his cold ones, was capering +down the floor, and singing, "El Arby was a black man." + +Then there was a rattling of keys, and suddenly a flood of light shot +into the dark place. The Kaid el habs was bringing a courier, who +carried an order for Israel's release. Abd er-Rahman, the Sultan, was to +keep the feast of the Moolood at Tetuan, and Ben Aboo, to celebrate the +visit, had pardoned Israel. + +It was coals of fire on Israel's head. "God is good," he muttered. "I +shall see her again. Yes, God has a right to do as He will. I shall see +her soon. God is wise beyond all wisdom. I must lose no time. Jailer +can I leave the town to-night? I wish to start on my journey. +To-night?--yes, to-night! Are the gates open? No? You will open them? +You are very good. Everybody is very good. God is good. God is mighty." + +Then half in shame, and partly as apology for his late intemperate +outburst, with a simpleness that was almost childish, he said, "A man's +a fool when he loses his only child. I don't mean by death. Time heals +that. But the living child--oh, it's an unending pain! You would never +think how happy we were. Her pretty ways were all my joy. Yes, for her +voice was music, and her breath was like the dawn. Do you know, I was +very fond of the little one--I was quite miserable if I lost sight +of her for an hour. And then to be wrenched away! . . . . But I must +hasten back. The little one will be waiting. Yes, I know quite well +she'll be looking out from the door in the sunshine when she awakes in +the morning. It's always the way of these tender creatures, is it not? +So we must humour them. Yes, yes, that's so that's so." + +His fellow-prisoners stood around him each in his night-headkerchief +knotted under his chin--gaunt, hooded figures, in the shifting light of +the jailer's lantern. + +"Farewell, brothers!" he cried; and one by one they touched his hand and +brought it to their breasts. + +"Farewell, master!" "Peace, Sidi!" "Farewell!" "Peace!" "Farewell!" + +The light shot out; the door clasped back; there were footsteps +dying away outside; two loud bangs as of a closing gate, and then +silence--empty and ghostly. + +In the darkness the hooded figures stood a moment listening, and then a +croaking, breaking, husky, merry voice began to sing-- + + El Arby was a black man, + They called him "'Larby Kosk;" + He loved the wives of the Kasbah, + And stole slippers in the Mosque. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOW NAOMI TURNED MUSLIMA + + +What had happened to Naomi during the two months and a half while Israel +lay at Shawan is this: After the first agony of their parting, in which +she was driven back by the soldiers when she attempted to follow them, +she sat down in a maze of pain, without any true perception of the evil +which had befallen her, but with her father's warning voice and his last +words in her ear: "Stay here. Never leave this place. Whatever they say, +stay here. I will come back." + +When she awoke in the morning, after a short night of broken sleep and +fitful dreams, the voice and the words were with her still, and then she +knew for the first time what the meaning was, and what the penalty, of +this strange and dread asundering. She was alone, and, being alone, she +was helpless; she was no better than a child, without kindred to look +to her and without power to look to herself, with food and drink beside +her, but no skill to make and take them. + +Thus her awakening sense was like that of a lamb whose mother has been +swallowed up in the night by the sand-drifts of the simoom. It was +not so much love as loss. What to do, where to look, which way to turn +first, she knew no longer, and could not think, for lack of the hand +that had been wont to guide her. + +The neighbouring Moors heard of what had happened to Naomi, and some +of the women among them came to see her. They were poor farming people, +oppressed by cruel taxmasters; and the first things they saw were +the cattle and sheep, and the next thing was the simple girl with the +child-face, who knew nothing yet of the ways wherein a lonely woman must +fend for herself. + +"You cannot live here alone, my daughter," they said; "you would perish. +Then think of the danger--a child like you, with a face like a flower! +No, no, you must come to us. We will look to you like one of our own, +and protect you from evil men. And as for the creatures--" + +"But he said I was never to leave this place," said Naomi. "'Stay here,' +he said; 'whatever they say, stay here. I will come back.'" + +The women protested that she would starve, be stolen, ruined, and +murdered. It was in vain. Naomi's answer was always the same: "He told +me to stay here, and surely I must do so." + +Then one after another the poor folks went away in anger. "Tut!" they +thought, "what should we want with the Jew child? Allah! Was there ever +such a simpleton? The good creatures going to waste, too! And as for her +father, he'll never come back--never. Trust the Basha for that!" + +But when the humanity of the true souls had conquered their selfishness, +they came again one by one and vied with each other in many simple +offices--milking and churning, and baking and delving--in pity of the +sweet girl with the great eyes who had been left to live alone. And +Naomi, seeing her helplessness at last, put out all her powers to remedy +it, so that in a little while she was able to do for herself nearly +everything that her neighbours at first did for her. Then they would say +among themselves, "Allah! she's not such a baby after all; and if +she wasn't quite so beautiful, poor child, or if the world wasn't so +wicked--but then, God is great! God is great!" + +Not at first had Naomi understood them when they told her that her +father had been cast into prison, and every night when she left her lamp +alight by the little skin-covered window that was half-hidden under +the dropping eaves, and every morning when she opened her door to the +radiance of the sun she had whispered to herself and said, "He will come +back, Naomi; only wait, only wait; maybe it will be tonight, maybe it +will be to-day; you will see, you will see." + +But after the awful thought of what prison was had fully dawned upon +her as last, by help of what she saw and heard of other men who had been +there, her old content in her father's command that she should never +leave that place was shaken and broken by a desire to go to him. + +"Who's to feed him, poor soul? He will be famishing. If the Kaid finds +him in bread, it will only be so much more added to his ransom. That +will come to the same thing in the end, or he'll die in prison." + +Thus she had heard the gossips talk among themselves when they thought +she did not listen. And though it was little she understood of Kaids and +ransoms, she was quick to see the nature of her father's peril, and at +length she concluded that, in spite of his injunction, go to him she +should and must. With that resolve, her mind, which had been the mind +of a child seemed to spring up instantly and become the mind of a woman, +and her heart, that had been timid, suddenly grew brave, for pity and +love were born in it. "He must be starving in prison," she thought, "and +I will take him food." + +When her neighbours heard of her intention they lifted their hands in +consternation and horror. "God be gracious to my father!" they cried. +"Shawan? You? Alone? Child, you'll be lost, lost--worse, a thousand +times worse! Shoof! you're only a baby still." + +But their protests availed as little to keep Naomi at her home now as +their importunities had done before to induce her to leave it. "He must +be starving in prison," she said, "and I will take him food." + +Her neighbours left her to her stubborn purpose. + +"Allah!" they said, "who would have believed it, that the little +pink-and-white face had such a will of her own!" + +Without more ado Naomi set herself to prepare for her journey. She +saved up thirty eggs, and baked as many of the round flat cakes of the +country; also she churned some butter in the simple way which the women +had taught her, and put the milk that was left in a goat's-skin. In +three days she was ready, and then she packed her provisions in the leaf +panniers of a mule which one of the neighbours had lent to her, and got +up before them on the front of the burda, after the manner of the wives +whom she had seen going past to market. + +When she was about to start her gossips came again, in pity of her wild +errand, to bid her farewell and to see the last of her. "Keep to the +track as far as Tetuan," they said to her, "and then ask for the road +to Shawan." One old creature threw a blanket over her head in such a +way that it might cover her face. "Faces like yours are not for the +daylight," the old body whispered, and then Naomi set forward on her +journey. The women watched her while she mounted the hill that goes up +to the fondak, and then sinks out of sight beyond it. "Poor mad little +fool," they whimpered; "that's the end of her! She'll never come back. +Too many men about for that. And now," they said, facing each other with +looks of suspicion and envy, "what of the creatures?" + +While the good souls were dividing her possessions among them, Naomi was +awakening to some vague sense of her difficulties and dangers. She had +thought it would be easy to ask her way, but now that she had need to do +so she was afraid to speak. The sight of a strange face alarmed her, +and she was terrified when she met a company of wandering Arabs changing +pasture, with the young women and children on camels, the old women +trudging on foot under loads of cans and kettles, the boys driving the +herds, and the men, armed with long flintlocks, riding their prancing +barbs. Her poor little mule came to a stand in the midst of this +cavalcade, and she was too bewildered to urge it on. Also her fear +which had first caused her to cover her face with the blanket that her +neighbour had given her, now made her forget to do so, and the men as +they passed her peered close into her eyes. Such glances made her blood +to tingle. They seared her very soul, and she began to know the meaning +of shame. + +Nevertheless, she tried to keep up a brave heart and to push forward. +"He is starving in prison," she told herself; "I must lose no time." It +was a weary journey. Everything was new to her, and nearly everything +was terrible. She was even perplexed to see that however far she +travelled she came upon men and women and children. It was so strange +that all the world was peopled. Yet sometimes she wished there were more +people everywhere. That was when she was crossing a barren waste with no +house in sight and never a sign of human life on any side. But oftener +she wished that the people were not so many; and that was when the +children mocked at her mule, or the women jeered at her as if she must +needs be a base person because she was alone, or the men laughed and +leered into her uncovered face. + +Before she had gone many miles her heart began to fail. Everything was +unlike what she expected. She had thought the world so good that she had +but to say to any that asked her of her errand, "My father is in prison, +they say that he is starving; I am taking him food," and every one would +help her forward. Though she had never put it to herself so, yet she had +reckoned in this way in spite of the warnings of her neighbours. But no +one was helping her forward; few were looking on her with goodwill, and +fewer still with pity and cheer. + +The jogging of the mule, a most bony and stiff-limbed beast, had +flattened the panniers that hung by its side, and made the round cakes +of bread to protrude from the open mouth of one of them. Seeing this, +a line of market-women going by, with bags of charcoal on their backs, +snatched a cake each as they passed and munched them and laughed. Naomi +tried to protest. "The bread is for my father," she faltered; "he is +in prison; they say he--" But the expostulation that began thus timidly +broke down of itself, for the women laughed again out of their mouths +choked with the bread, and in another moment they were gone. + +Naomi's spirit was crushed, but she tried to keep up a brave front +still. To speak of her father again would be to shame him. The poor +little illusions of the sweetness and goodness of the world which, in +spite of vague recollections of Tetuan, she had struggled, since the +coming of her sight, to build up in her fresh young soul, were now +tumbling to pieces. After all, the world was very cruel. It was the same +as if an angel out of the clouds had fallen on to the earth and found +her feet mired with clay. + +Six hours after she had set out from her home Naomi came to a +fondak which stood in those days outside the walls of Tetuan on the +south-western side. The darkness had closed in by this time, and she +must needs rest there for the night, but never until then had she +reflected that for such accommodation she would need money. Only a few +coppers were necessary, only twenty moozoonahs, that she might lie in +the shelter and safety of one of the pens that were built for the sleep +of human creatures, and that her mule might be tethered and fed on +the manure heap that constituted the square space within. At last she +bethought her of her eggs, and, though it went to her heart to use for +herself what was meant for her father, she parted with twelve of them, +and some cakes of the bread besides, that she might be allowed to pass +the gate, telling herself repeatedly, with big throbs of remorse between +her protestations, that unless she did so her father might never get +anything at all. + +The fondak was a miserable place, full of farming people who were to go +on to market at Tetuan in the morning, of many animals of burden, and +of countless dogs. It was the eve of the month of Rabya el-ooal, and +between the twilight and the coming of night certain of the men watched +for the new moon, and when its thin bow appeared in the sky they +signalled its advent after their usual manner by firing their flintlocks +into the air, while their women, who were squatting around, kept up a +cooing chorus. Then came eating and drinking, and laughing and singing, +and playing the ginbri, and feats of juggling, as well as snarling and +quarrelling and fighting, and also peacemaking by means of a cudgel +wielded by the keeper of the fondak. With such exercises the night +passed into morning. + +Naomi was sick. Her head ached. The smell of rotten fish, the stench of +the manure heap, the braying of the donkeys, the barking of the dogs, +the grunt of the camels, and the tumult of human voices made her +light-headed. She could neither eat nor sleep. Almost as soon as it +was light she was up and out and on her way. "I must lose no time," she +thought, trying not to realise that the blue sky was spinning round her, +that noises were ringing in her head, and that her poor little heart, +which had been so stout only yesterday, was sinking very low. + +"He must be starving," she told herself again, and that helped her to +forget her own troubles and to struggle on. But oh, if the world were +only not so cruel, oh, if there were anyone to give her a word of cheer, +nay, a glance of pity! But nobody had looked at her except the women who +stole her bread and the men who shamed her with their wicked eyes. + +That one day's experience did more than all her life before it to fill +her with the bitter fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and +evil. Her illusions fell away from her, and her sweet childish faith was +broken down. She saw herself as she was: a simple girl, a child ignorant +of the ways of the world, going alone on a long journey unknown to her, +thinking to succour her father in prison, and carrying a handful of eggs +and a few poor cakes of bread. When at length the scales fell from the +eyes of her mind, and as she trudged along on her bony mule, afraid to +ask her way, she saw herself, with all her fine purposes shrivelled up, +do what she would to be brave, she could not help but cry. It was all +so vain, so foolish; she was such a weak little thing. Her father knew +this, and that was why he told her to stay where he left her. What if he +came home while she was absent! Should she go back? + +She had almost resolved to return, struggle as she might to push +forward, when going close under the town walls, near to the very gate, +the Bab Toot whereat she had been cast out with her father remembering +this scene of their abasement with a new sense of its cruelty and shame +born of her own simple troubles, she lit upon a woman who was coming +out. + +It was Habeebah. She was now the slave of Ben Aboo, and was just then +stealing away from the Kasbah in the early morning that she might go in +search of Naomi, whose whereabouts and condition she had lately learned. + +The two might have passed unknown, for Habeebah was veiled, but that +Naomi had forgotten her blanket and was uncovered. In another moment the +poor frightened girl, with all her brave bearing gone, was weeping on +the black woman's breast. + +"Whither are you going?" said Habeebah. + +"To my father," Naomi began. "He is in prison; they say he is starving; +I was taking food to him, but I am lost, I don't know my way; and +besides--" + +"The very thing!" cried Habeebah. + +Habeebah had her own little scheme. It was meant to win emancipation at +the hands of her master, and paradise for her soul when she died. Naomi, +who was a Jewess, was to turn Muslima. That was all. Then her troubles +would end, and wondrous fortune would descend upon her, and her father +who was in prison would be set free. + +Now, religion was nothing to Naomi; she hardly understood what it meant. +The differences of faith were less than nothing, but her father was +everything, and so she clutched at Habeebah's bold promises like a +drowning soul at the froth of a breaker. + +"My father will be let out of prison? You are sure--quite sure?" she +asked. + +"Quite sure," answered Habeebah stoutly. + +Naomi's hopes of ever reaching her father were now faint, and her +poor little stock of eggs and bread looked like folly to her new-born +worldliness. + +"Very well," she said. "I will turn Muslima." + +A few minutes afterwards she was riding by Habeebah's side into the +town, through the Bab Toot across the Feddan, and up to the courtyard +of the Kasbah, which had witnessed the beginning of her own and her +father's degradation. Then, tethering the beast in the open stables +there, Habeebah took Naomi into her own little room and left her alone +for some minutes, while she hastened to Ben Aboo in secret with her +wondrous news. + +"Lord Basha," she said, "the beautiful Jewess Naomi, the daughter of +Israel ben Oliel, will turn Muslima." + +"Where is she?" said Ben Aboo. + +"Sidi," said Habeebah, "I have promised that you will liberate her +father." + +"Fetch her," said Ben Aboo, "and it shall be done." + +But meanwhile Fatimah had gone to Habeebah's room and found Naomi there, +and heard of the vain hope which had brought her. + +"My sweet jewel of gold and silver," the black woman cried, "you don't +know what you are doing. Turn Muslima, and you will be parted from your +father for ever. He is a Jew, and will have no right to you any more. +You will never, never see him again. He will be lost to you--lost--I +say--lost!" + +Habeebah, with two of the guard, came back to take Naomi to Ben Aboo. +The poor girl was bewildered. She had seen nothing but her father +in Fatimah's protest, just as she had seen nothing but her father in +Habeebah's promises. She did not know what to do, she was such a poor +weak little thing, and there was no strong hand to guide her. + +They led her through dark passages to an open place which she thought +she had seen before. It was a great patio, paved and walled with tiles. +Men were standing together there in red peaked caps and flowing white +kaftans. And before them all was one old man in garments that were of +the colour of the afternoon sun, with sleeves like the mouths of bells, +a silver knife at his waistband, and little leather bags, hung by yellow +cords, about his neck. Beside this man there was a woman of a laughing +cruel face, and she herself, Naomi, stood in the midst, with every eye +upon her. Where had she seen all this before? + +Ben Aboo had often bethought him of the beautiful girl since he +committed her father to prison. He cherished schemes concerning her +which he did not share with his wife Katrina. But he had hitherto been +withheld by two considerations: the first being that he was beset with +difficulties arising out of the demands of the Sultan for more money +than he could find, and the next that he foresaw the necessity that +might perchance arise of recalling Israel to his post. Out of these +grave bedevilments he had extricated himself at length by imposing +dues on certain tribes of Reefians, who had never yet acknowledged the +Sultan's authority, and by calling on the Sultan's army to enforce them. +The Sultan had come in answer to his summons, the Reefians had been +routed, their villages burnt, and that morning at daybreak he had +received a message saying that Abd er-Rahman intended to keep the feast +of the Moolood at Tetuan. So this capture of Naomi was the luckiest +chance that could have befallen him at such a moment. She should witness +to the Prophet; her father, the Jew, would thereby lose his rights +in her; and he himself, as her sole guardian, would present her as a +peace-offering to the Sultan on crossing the boundary of his bashalic. + +Such was the new plan which Ben Aboo straightway conceived at hearing +the news of Habeebah, and in another moment he had propounded it to +Katrina. But when Naomi came into the patio, looking so soft, so timid, +so tired, yet so beautiful, so unlike his own painted beauties, with the +light of the dawn on her open face, with her clear eyes and the sweet +mouth of a child, his evil passions had all they could do not to go back +to his former scheme. + +"So you wish to turn Muslima?" he said. + +Naomi gave one dazed look around, and then cried in a voice of fear "No, +no, no!" + +Ben Aboo glanced at Habeebah, and Habeebah fell upon Naomi with +protests and remonstrances. "She said so," Habeebah cried. "'I will turn +Muslima,' she said. Yes, Sidi, she said so, I swear it!" + +"Did you say so?" asked Ben Aboo. + +"Yes," said Naomi faintly. + +"Then, by Allah, there can be no going back now," said Ben Aboo; and he +told her what was the penalty of apostasy. It was death. She must choose +between them. + +Naomi began to cry, and Ben Aboo to laugh at her and Habeebah to plead +with her. Still she saw one thing only. "But what of my father?" she +said. + +"He shall be liberated," said Ben Aboo. + +"But shall I see him again? Shall I go back to him?" said Naomi. + +"The girl is a simpleton!" said Katrina. + +"She is only a child," said Ben Aboo, and with one glance more at her +flower-like face, he committed her for three days to the apartments of +his women. + +These apartments consisted of a garden overgrown by straggling weeds, +with a fountain of muddy water in the middle, an oblong room that was +stifling from many perfumes, and certain smaller chambers. The garden +was inhabited by a gazelle, whose great startled eyes looked out through +the long grass; and the oblong room by a number of women of varying +ages, among whom were a matronly Mooress, called Tarha, in a scarlet +head-dress, and with a string of great keys swung from shoulder to +waist; a Circassian, called Hoolia, in a gorgeous rida of red silk and +gold brocade; a Frenchwoman, called Josephine, with embroidered red +slippers and black stockings; and a Jewess, called Sol, with a band of +silk handkerchiefs tied round her forehead above her coal-black curls, +with her fingers pricked out with henna and her eyes darkened with kohl. + +Such were Ben Aboo's wives and concubines and captives, whom he had not +divorced according to his promise; and when Naomi came among them they +did their duty by their master faithfully. Being trapped themselves, +they tried to entrap Naomi also. They overwhelmed her with caresses, +they went into ecstasies over her beauty, and caused the future which +awaited her to shine before her eyes. She would have a noble husband, +magnificent dresses, a brilliant palace, and the world would be at her +feet. "And what's the difference between Moosa and Mohammed?" said Sol; +"look at me!" "Tut!" said Josephine, "there's nothing to choose between +them." "For my part," said Tarha, "I don't see what it matters to us; +they say Paradise is for the men!" "And think of the jewels, and the +earrings as big as a bracelet," said Hoolia, "instead of this," and she +drew away between her thumb and first finger the blanket which Naomi's +neighbour had given her. + +It was all to no purpose. "But what of my father?" Naomi asked again and +again. + +The women lost patience at her simplicity, gave up their solicitations, +ignored her, and busied themselves with their own affairs. "Tut!" they +said, "why should we want her to be made a wife of the Sultan? She would +only walk over us like dirt whenever she came to Tetuan." + +Then, sitting alone in their midst, listening to their talk, their +tales, their jests, and their laughter, the unseen mantle fell upon +Naomi at last, which made her a woman who had hitherto been a child. +In this hothouse of sickly odours these women lived together, having no +occupation but that of eating and drinking and sleeping, no education +but devising new means of pleasing the lust of their husband's eye, no +delight than that of supplanting one another in his love, no passion but +jealousy, no diversion but sporting on the roofs, no end but death and +the Kabar. + +Seeing the uselessness of the siege, Ben Aboo transferred Naomi to the +prison, and set Habeebah to guard her. The black woman was in terror at +the turn that events had taken. There was nothing to do now but to +go on, so she importuned Naomi with prayers. How could she be so +hard-hearted? Could she keep her father famishing in prison when one +word out of her lips would liberate him? Naomi had no answer but her +tears. She remembered the hareem, and cried. + +Then Ben Aboo thought of a daring plan. He called the Grand Rabbi, and +commanded him to go to Naomi and convert her to Islam. The Rabbi +obeyed with trembling. After all, it was the same God that both peoples +worshipped, only the Moors called Him Allah and the Jews Jehovah. Naomi +knew little of either. It was not of God that she was thinking: it was +only of her father. She was too innocent to see the trick, but the Rabbi +failed. He kissed her, and went away wiping his eyes. + +Rumour of Naomi's plight had passed through the town, and one night a +number of Moors came secretly to a lane at the back of the Kasbah, where +a narrow window opened into her cell. They told her in whispers that +what she held as tragical was a very simple matter. "Turn Muslima," they +pleaded, "and save yourself. You are too young to die. Resign yourself, +for God's sake." But no answer came back to them where they were +gathered in the darkness, save low sobs from inside the wall. + +At last Ben Aboo made two announcements. The first, a public one, was +that Abd er-Rahman would reach Tetuan within two days, on the opening +of the feast of the Moolood, and the other, a private one, that if +Naomi had not said the Kelmah by first prayers the following morning she +should die and her father be cut off as the penalty of her apostasy. + +That night the place under the narrow window in the dark lane was +occupied by a group of Jews. "Sister," they whispered, "sister of our +people, listen. The Basha is a hard man. This day he has robbed us of +all we had that he may pay for the Sultan's visit. Listen! We have heard +something. We want Israel ben Oliel back among us. He was our father, +he was our brother. Save his life for the sake of our children, for the +Basha has taken their bread. Save him, sister, we beg, we entreat, we +pray." + +Naomi broke down at last. Next morning at dawn, kneeling among men in +the Grand Mosque in the Metamar, she repeated the Word after the Iman: +"I testify that there is no God but God, and that our Lord Mohammed is +the messenger of God; I am truly resigned." + +Then she was taken back to the women's apartments, and clad gorgeously. +Her child face was wet with tears. She was only a poor weak little +thing, she knew nothing of religion, she loved her father better than +God, and all the world was against her. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ISRAEL'S RETURN FROM PRISON + + +Such was the method of Israel's release. But, knowing nothing of the +price which had been paid for it, he was filled with an immense joy. +Nay, his happiness was quite childish, so suddenly had the darkness +which hung over his life been lifted away. Any one who had seen him in +prison would have been puzzled by the change as he came away from it. +He laughed with the courier who walked with him to the town gate, and +jested with the gate porter as with an old acquaintance. His voice was +merry, his eye gleamed in the rays of the lantern, his face was flushed, +and his step was light. "Afraid to travel in the night? No, no, I'll +meet nothing worse than myself. Others _may_ who meet me? Ha, ha! +Perhaps so, perhaps so!" "No evil with you, brother?" "No evil, praise +be God." "Well, peace be to you!" "On you be peace!" "May your morning +be blessed! Good-night!" "Good-night!" Then with a wave of the hand he +was gone into the darkness. + +It was a wonderful night. The moon, which was in its first quarter, +was still low in the east, but the stars were thick overhead, making a +silvery dome that almost obliterated the blue. Rivers were rumbling on +the hillside, an owl was hooting in the distance, kine that could not be +seen were chewing audibly near at hand, and sheep like patches of white +in the gloom were scuttling through the grass before Israel's footsteps. +Israel walked quickly, tracing his course between the two arms of the +Jebel Sheshawan, whose summits were visible against the sky. The air was +cool and moist, and a gentle breeze was blowing from the sea. Oh! the +joy of it to him who had lain long months in prison! Israel drank in the +night air as a young colt drinks in the wind. + +And if it was night in the world without, it was day in Israel's heart. +"I am going to be happy," he told himself, "yes, very happy, very +happy." He raised his eyes to heaven, and a star, bigger and brighter +than the rest, hung over the path before him. "It is leading me to +Naomi," he thought. He knew that was folly, but he could not restrain +his mind from foolishness. And at least she had the same moon and stars +above her sleep, for she would be sleeping now. "I am coming," he cried. +He fixed his eye on the bright star in front and pushed forward, never +resting, never pausing. + +The morning dawned. Long rippling waves of morning air came down the +mountains, cool, chill, and moist. The grey light became tinged with +red. Then the sun rose somewhere. It had not yet appeared, but the peak +of the western hill was flushed and a raven flew out and perched on the +point of light. Israel's breast expanded, and he strode on with a firmer +step. "She will be waking soon," he told himself. + +The world awoke. From unseen places birds began to sing--the wheatear +in the crevices of the rocks, the sedge-warbler among the rushes of the +rivers. The sun strode up over the hill summit, and then all the earth +below was bright. Dewdrops sparkled on the late flowers, and lay like +vast spiders' webs over the grass; sheep began to bleat, dogs to bark, +kine to low, horses to cross each other's necks, and over the freshness +of the air came the smell of peat and of green boughs burning. Israel +did not stop, but pushed on with new eagerness. "She will have risen +now," he told himself. He could almost fancy he saw her opening the door +and looking out for him in the sunlight. + +"Poor little thing," he thought, "how she misses me! But I am coming, I +am coming!" + +The country looked very beautiful, and strangely changed since he saw +it last. Then it had been like a dead man's face; now it was like a face +that was always smiling. And though the year was so old it seemed to +be quite young. No tired look of autumn, no warning of winter; only the +freshness and vigour of spring. "I am going to see my child, and I shall +be happy yet," thought Israel. The dust of life seemed to hang on him no +longer. + +He came to a little village called Dar el Fakeer--"the house of the poor +one." The place did not even justify its name, for it was a cinereous +wreck. Not a living creature was to be seen anywhere. The village had +been sacked by the Sultan's army, and its inhabitants had fled to the +mountains. Israel paused a moment, and looked into one of the ruined +houses. He knew it must have been the house of a Jew, for he could +recognise it by its smell. The floor was strewn over with rubbish--cans, +kettles, water-bottles, a woman's handkerchief, and a dainty red +slipper. On the ragged grass in the court within there were some little +stones built up into tiny squares, and bits of stick stuck into the +ground in lines. A young girl had lived in that house; children had +played there; the gaunt and silent place breathed of their spirits +still. "Poor souls!" thought Israel, but the troubles of others could +not really touch him. At that very moment his heart was joyful. + +The day was warm, but not too hot for walking. Israel did not feel +weary, and so he went on without resting. He reckoned how far it was +from Shawan to his home near Semsa. It was nearly seventy miles. That +distance would take two days and two nights to cover on foot. He had +left the prison on Wednesday night, and it would be Friday at sunset +before he reached Naomi. It was now Thursday morning. He must lose +no time. "You see, the poor little thing will be waiting, waiting, +waiting," he told himself. "These sweet creatures are all so impatient; +yes, yes, so foolishly impatient. God bless them!" + +He met people on the road, and hailed them with good cheer. They +answered his greetings sadly, and a few of them told him of their +trouble. Something they said of Ben Aboo, that he demanded a hundred +dollars which they could not pay, and something of the Sultan, that he +had ransacked their houses and then gone on with his great army, his +twenty wives, and fifteen tents to keep the feast at Tetuan. But Israel +hardly knew what they told him, though he tried to lend an ear to their +story. He was thinking out a wonderful scheme for the future. With Naomi +he was to leave Morocco. They were to sail for England. Free, mighty, +noble, beautiful England! Ah, how it shone in his memory, the little +white island of the sea! His mother's home! England! Yes, he would go +back to it. True, he had no friends there now; but what matter of that? +Ah, yes, he was old, and the roll-call of his kindred showed him pitiful +gaps. His mother! Ruth! But he had Naomi still. Naomi! He spoke her name +aloud, softly, tenderly, caressingly, as if his wrinkled hand were on +her hair. Then recovering himself, he laughed to think that he could be +so childish. + +Near to sunset he came upon a dooar, a tent village, in a waste place. +It was pitched in a wide circle, and opened inwards. The animals were +picketed in the centre, where children and dogs were playing, and the +voices of men and women came from inside the tents. Fires were burning +under kettles swung from triangles, and sight of this reminded Israel +that he had not eaten since the previous day. "I must have food," he +thought, "though I do not feel hungry." So he stopped, and the wandering +Arabs hailed him. "Markababikum!" they cried from where they sat within. + +"You are very welcome! Welcome to our lofty land!" Their land was the +world. + +Israel went into one of the tents, and sat down to a dish of boiled +beans and black bread. It was very sweet. A man was eating beside him; a +woman, half dressed, and with face uncovered, was suckling a child while +she worked a loom which was fastened to the tent's two upright poles. +Some fowls were nestling for the night under the tent wing, and a young +girl was by turns churning milk by tossing it in a goat's-skin and +baking cakes on a fire of dried thistles crackling in a hole over three +stones. All were laughing together, and Israel laughed along with them. + +"On a long journey, brother?" said the man. + +"No, oh no, no," said Israel. "Only to Semsa, no farther." + +"Well, you must sleep here to-night," said the Arab. + +"Ah, I cannot do that," said Israel. + +"No?" + +"You see, I am going back to my little daughter. She is alone, poor +child, and has not seen her old father for months. Really it is wrong of +a man to stay away such a time. These tender creatures are so impatient, +you know. And then they imagine such things, do they not? Well, I +suppose we must humour them--that's what I always say." + +"But look, the night is coming, and a dark one, too!" said the woman. + +"Oh, nothing, that's nothing, sister," said Israel. "Well, peace! +Farewell all, farewell!" + +Waving his hand he went away laughing, but before he had gone far the +darkness overtook him. It came down from the mountains like a dense +black cloud. Not a star in the sky, not a gleam on the land, darkness +ahead of him, darkness behind, one thick pall hanging in the air on +every side. Still for a while he toiled along. Every step was an effort. +The ground seemed to sink under him. It was like walking on mattresses. +He began to feel tired and nervous and spiritless. A cold sweat broke +out on his brow, and at length, when the sound of a river came from +somewhere near, though on which side of him he could not tell, he had no +choice but to stop. "After all, it is better," he thought. "Strange, how +things happen for the best! I must sleep to-night, for to-morrow night I +will get no sleep at all. No, for I shall have so many things to say and +to ask and to hear." + +Consoling him thus, he tried to sleep where he was, and as slumber crept +upon him in the darkness, with five-and-twenty heavy miles of dense +night between him and his home, he crooned and talked to himself in +a childish way that he might comfort his aching heart. "Yes, I must +sleep--sleep--to-morrow _she_ must sleep and I must watch by her--watch +by her as I used to do--used to do--how soft and beautiful--how +beautiful--sleeping--sleep--Ah!" + +When he awoke the sun had risen. The sea lay before him in the distance, +the blue Mediterranean stretching out to the blue sky. He was on the +borders of the country of the Beni-Hassan, and, after wading the river, +which he had heard in the night, he began again on his journey. It was +now Friday morning, and by sunset of that day he would be back at his +home near Semsa. Already he could see Tetuan far away, girt by its white +walls, and perched on the hillside. Yonder it lay in the sunlight, with +the snow-tipped heights above it, a white blaze surrounded by orange +orchards. + +But how dizzy he was! How the world went round! How the earth trembled! +Was the glare of the sun too fierce that morning, or had his eyes grown +dim? Going blind? Well, even so, he would not repine, for Naomi could +see now. She would see for him also. How sweet to see through Naomi's +eyes! Naomi was young and joyous, and bright and blithe. All the world +was new to her, and strange and beautiful. It would be a second and far +sweeter youth. + +Naomi--Naomi--always Naomi! He had thought of her hitherto as she had +appeared to him during the few days of their happy lives at Semsa. +But now he began to wonder if time had not changed her since then. Two +months and a half--it seemed so long! He had visions of Naomi grown from +a sweet girl to a lovely woman. A great soul beamed out of her big, +slow eyes. He himself approached her meekly, humbly, reverently. +Nevertheless, he was her father still--her old, tired, dim-eyed father; +and she led him here and there, and described things to him. He could +see and hear it all. First Naomi's voice: "A bow in the sky--red, blue, +crimson--oh!" Then his own deeper one, out of its lightsome darkness: "A +rainbow, child!" Ah! the dreams were beautiful! + +He tried to recall the very tones of Naomi's voice--the voice of his +poor dead Ruth--and to remember the song that she used to sing--the song +she sang in the patio on that great night of the moonlight, when he +was returning home from the Bab Ramooz, and heard her singing from the +street-- + + Within my heart a voice + Bids earth and heaven rejoice. + +He sang the song to himself as he toiled along. With a little lisp he +sang it, so that he might cheat himself and think that the voice he was +making was Naomi's voice and not his own. + +Towards midday Israel came under the walls of Tetuan, between the +Sultan's gardens and the flour-mills that are turned by the escaping +sewers, and there he lit upon a company of Jews. They were a deputation +that had come out from the town to meet him, and at first sight of his +face they were shocked. He had left Tetuan a stricken man, it was true, +but strong and firm, fifty years of age and resolute. Six months had +passed, and he was coming back as a weak, broken, shattered, doddering, +infirm old man of eighty. Their hearts fell low before they spoke, but +after a pause one of them--Israel knew him: a grey-bearded man, his name +was Solomon Laredo--stepped up and said, "Israel ben Oliel, our poor +Tetuan is in trouble. It needs you. Alas! we dealt ill with you, but God +has punished us, and we are brothers now. Come back to us, we pray of +you; for we have heard of a great thing that is coming to pass. Listen!" + +Something they told him then of Mohammed of Mequinez, follower of +Seedna Aissa (Jesus of Nazareth), but a good man nevertheless, and also +something they said of the Spaniards and of one Marshal O'Donnel, +who was to bombard Marteel. But Israel heard very little. "I think my +hearing must be failing me," he said; and then he laughed lightly, as if +that did not greatly matter. "And to tell you the truth, though I pity +my poor brethren, I can no longer help them. God will raise up a better +minister." + +"Never!" cried the Jews in many voices. + +"Anyhow," said Israel, "my life among you is ended. I set no store by +place and power. What does the English poet say, 'In the great hand of +God I stand.' Shakespeare--oh, a mighty creature--one who knew where +the soul of a man lay. But I forget, you've not lived in England. Do +you know I am to go there again, and to take my little daughter? You +remember her--Naomi--a charming girl. She can see now, and hear, and +speak also! Yes for God has lifted His hand away from her, and I am +going to be very happy. Well, I must leave you, brothers. The little one +will be waiting. I must not keep her too long, must I? Peace, peace!" + +Seeing his profound faith, no one dared to tell him the truth that was +on every tongue. A wave of compassion swept over all. The deputation +stood and watched him until he had sunk under the hill. + +And now, being come thus near to home, Israel's impatience robbed him +of some of his happy confidence and filled him with fears. He began +to think of all the evil chances that might have befallen Naomi. His +absence had been so long, and so many things might have happened since +he went away. In this mood he tried to run. It was a poor uncertain +shamble. At nearly every step the body lurched for poise and balance. + +At last he came to a point of the path from which, as he knew, the +little rush-covered house ought to be seen. "It's yonder," he cried, and +pointed it out to himself with uplifted finger. The sun was sinking, and +its strong rays were in his face. "She's there, I see her!" he shouted. +A few minutes later he was near the door. "No, my eyes deceived me," +he said in a damp voice. "Or perhaps she has gone in--perhaps she's +hiding--the sweet rogue!" + +The door was half open; he pushed it and entered the house. "Naomi!" he +called in a voice like a caress. "Naomi!" His voice trembled now. "Come +to me, come, dearest; come quickly, quickly, I cannot see!" He listened. +There was not a sound, not a movement. "Naomi!" The name was like a +gurgle in his throat. There was a pause, and then he said very feebly +and simply, "She's not here." + +He looked around, and picked up something from the floor. It was a +slipper covered with mould. As he gazed upon it a change came over his +face. Dead? Was Naomi dead? He had thought of death before--for himself, +for others, never for Naomi. At a stride the awful thing was on him. +Death! Oh, oh! + +With a helpless, broken, blind look he was standing in the middle of the +floor with the slipper in his hand, when a footstep came to the door. He +flung the slipper away and threw open his arms. Naomi--it must be she! + +It was Fatimah. She had come in secret, that the evil news of what had +been done at the Kasbah and the Mosque might not be broken to Israel too +suddenly. He met her with a terrible question. "Where is she laid?" he +said in a voice of awe. + +Fatimah saw his error instantly. "Naomi is alive," she said, and, seeing +how the clouds lifted off his face, she added quickly, "and well, very +well." + +That is not telling a falsehood, she thought; but when Israel, with a +cry of joy which was partly pain, flung his arms about her, she saw what +she had done. + +"Where is she?" he cried. "Bring her, you dear, good soul. Why is she +not here? Lead me to her, lead me!" + +Then Fatimah began to wring her hands. "Alas!" she said, weeping, "that +cannot be." + +Israel steadied himself and waited. "She cannot come to you, and neither +can you go to her." said Fatimah. "But she is well, oh! very well. +Poor child, she is at the Kasbah--no, no, not the prison--oh no, she +is happy--I mean she is well, yes, and cared for--indeed, she is at the +palace--the women's palace--but set your mind easy--she--" + +With such broken, blundering words the good woman blurted out the truth, +and tried to deaden the blow of it. But the soul lives fast, and Israel +lived a lifetime in that moment. + +"The palace!" he said in a bewildered way. "The women's palace--the +women's--" and then broke off shortly. "Fatimah, I want to go to Naomi," +he said. + +And Fatimah stammered, "Alas! alas! you cannot, you never can--" + +"Fatimah," said Israel, with an awful calm. "Can't you see, woman, +I have come home? I and Naomi have been long parted. Do you not +understand?--I want to go to my daughter." + +"Yes, yes," said Fatimah; "but you can never go to her any more. She is +in the women's apartments--" + +Then a great hoarse groan came from Israel's throat. + +"Poor child, it was not her fault. Listen," said Fatimah; "only listen." + +But Israel would hear no more. The torrent of his fury bore down +everything before it. Fatimah's feeble protests were drowned. "Silence!" +he cried. "What need is there for words? She is in the palace!--that's +enough. The women's palace--the hareem--what more is there to say?" + +Putting the fact so to his own consciousness, and seeing it grossly in +all its horror, his passion fell like a breaking in of waters. "O +God!" he cried, "my enemy casts me into prison. I lie there, rotting, +starving. I think of my little daughter left behind alone. I hasten home +to her. But where is she? She is gone. She is in the house of my enemy. +Curse her! . . . . Ah! no, no; not that, either! Pardon me, O God; not +that, whatever happens! But the palace--the women's palace. Naomi! My +little daughter! Her face was so sweet, so simple. I could have sworn +that she was innocent. My love! my dove! I had only to look at her to +see that she loved me! And now the hareem--that hell, and Ben Aboo--that +libertine! I have lost her for ever! Yet her soul was mine--I wrestled +with God for it--" + +He stopped suddenly, his face became awfully discoloured, he dropped to +his knees on the floor, lifted his eyes and his hands towards heaven, +and cried in a voice at once stern and heartrending, "Kill her, O God! +Kill her body, O my God, that her soul may be mine again!" + +At this awful cry Fatimah fled out of the hut. It was the last voice of +tottering reason. After that he became quiet, and when Fatimah returned +the following morning he was talking to himself in a childish way +while sitting at the door, and gazing before him with a lifeless look. +Sometimes he quoted Scriptures which were startlingly true to his own +condition: "I am alone, I am a companion to owls. . . . I have cleansed +my heart in vain. . . . My feet are almost gone, my steps have well-nigh +slipped. . . . I am as one whom his mother comforteth." + +Between these Scriptures there were low incoherent cries and simple +foolish play-words. Again and again he called on Naomi, always softly +and tenderly, as if her name were a sacred thing. At times he appeared +to think that he was back in prison, and made a little prayer--always +the same--that some one should be kept from harm and evil. Once he +seemed to hear a voice that cried, "Israel ben Oliel! Israel ben Oliel!" +"Here! Israel is here!" he answered. He thought the Kaid was calling +him. The Kaid was the King. "Yes, I will go back to the King," he said. +Then he looked down at his tattered kaftan, which was mired with dirt, +and tried to brush it clean, to button it, and to tie up the ragged +threads of it. At last he cried, as if servants were about him and he +were a master still, "Bring me robes--clean robes--white robes; I am +going back to the King!" + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE ENTRY OF THE SULTAN + + +Meantime Tetuan was looking for the visit of His Shereefian Majesty, +the Sultan Abd er-Rahman. He had been heard of about four hours away, +encamped with his Ministers, a portion of his hareem, and a detachment +of his army, somewhere by the foot of Beni Hosmar. His entry was fixed +for eight o'clock next morning, and preparations for his coming were +everywhere afoot. All other occupations were at a standstill, and +nothing was to be heard but the noise and clamour of the cleansing of +the streets, and the hanging of flags and of carpets. + +Early on the following morning a street-crier came, beating a drum, +and crying in a hoarse voice, "Awake! Awake! Come and greet your Lord! +Awake! Awake!" + +In a little while the streets were alive with motley and noisy crowds. +The sun was up, if still red and hazy, and sunlight came like a tunnel +of gold down the swampy valley and from over the sea; the orange +orchards lying to the south, called the gardens of the Sultan, were red +rather than yellow, and the snowy crests of the mountain heights above +them were crimson rather than white. In the town itself the small red +flag that is the Moorish ensign hung out from every house, and carpets +of various colours swung on many walls. + +The sun was not yet high before the Sultan's army began to arrive. It +was a mixed and noisy throng that came first, a sort of ragged regiment +of Arabs, with long guns, and with their gun-cases wrapped about their +heads--a big gang of wild country-folk lately enlisted as soldiers. They +poured into the town at the western gate, and shuffled and jostled and +squeezed their way through the narrow streets firing recklessly into the +air, and shouting as they went, "Abd er-Rahman is coming! The Sultan is +coming! Dogs! Men! Believers! Infidels! Come out! come out!" + +Thus they went puffing along, covered with dust and sweltering in +perspiration, and at every fresh shot and shout the streets they passed +through grew denser. But it was a grim satire on their lawless loyalty +that almost at their heels there came into the town, not the Sultan +himself, but a troop of his prisoners from the mountains. Ten of them +there were in all, guarded by ten soldiers, and they made a sorry +spectacle. They were chained together, man to man in single file, +not hand to hand or leg to leg but neck to neck. So had they walked a +hundred miles, never separated night or day, either sleeping or waking, +or faint or strong. The feet of some were bare and torn, and dripping +blood; the faces of all were black with grime, and streaked with lines +of sweat. And thus they toiled into the streets in that sunlight +of God's own morning, under the red ensigns of Morocco, by the +many-coloured carpets of Rabat, to the Kasbah beyond the market-place. +They were Reefians whose homes the Sultan had just stripped, whose +villages he had just burnt, whose wives and children he had just driven +into the mountains. And they were going to die in his dungeons. + +It was seven o'clock by this time, and rumour had it that the Sultan's +train was moving down the valley. From the roofs of the houses a vast +human ant-hill could be seen swarming across the plain in the distance. +Then came some rapid transformations of the scene below. First the +streets were deserted by every decent blue jellab and clean white turban +within range of sight. These presently reappeared on the roofs of the +principal thoroughfare, where groups of women, closely covered in their +haiks, had already begun to congregate with their dark attendants. Next, +a body of the townsmen who possessed firearms mounted guard on the +walls to protect the town from the lawlessness of the big army that was +coming. Then into the Feddan, the square marketplace, came pouring from +their own little quarter within its separate walls a throng of Jewish +people, in their black gabardines and skull-caps, men and women and +children, carrying banners that bore loyal inscriptions, twanging at +tambourines and crying in wild discords, "God bless our Lord!" "God give +victory to our Lord the Sultan!" + +The poor Jews got small thanks for such loyalty to the last of the +Caliphs of the Prophet. Every ragged Moor in the streets greeted them +with exclamations of menace and abhorrence. Even the blind beggar +crouching at the gate lifted up his voice and cursed them. + +"Get out, you Jew! God burn your father! Dogs, take off your +slippers--Abd er-Rahman is coming!" + +Thus they were scolded and abused on every side, kicked, cuffed, +jostled, and wedged together well-nigh to suffocation. Their banners +were torn out of their hands, their tambourines were broken, their +voices were drowned, and finally they were driven back into their Mellah +and shut up there, and forbidden to look upon the entry of the Sultan +even from their roofs. + +And the vagabonds and ragamuffins among the faithful in the streets, +having got rid of the unbelievers had enough ado to keep peace among +themselves. They pushed and struggled and stormed and cried and laughed +and clamoured down this main artery of the town through which the +Sultan's train must pass. Men and boys, women also and young girls, +donkeys with packs, bony mules too, and at least one dirty and terrified +old camel. It was a confused and uproarious babel. Angry black faces +thrust into white ones, flashing eyes and gleaming white teeth, and +clenched fists uplifted. Human voices barking like dogs, yelping like +hyenas, shrill and guttural, piercing and grating. Prayings, beggings, +quarrellings, cursings. + +"Arrah! Arrah! Arrah!" + +"O Merciful! O Giver of good to all!" + +"Curses on your grandfather!" + +"Allah! Allah! Allah!" + +"Balak! Balak! Balak!" + +But presently the wild throng fell into order and silence. The gate of +the Kasbah was thrown open, and a line of soldiers came out, headed by +the Kaid of Tetuan, and moved on towards the city wall. The rabble were +thrust back, the soldiers were drawn up in lines on either side of the +street, and the Kaid, Ben Aboo himself, took a position by the western +gate. + +By this time there was commotion on the town walls among the townsmen +who had gathered there. The Sultan's army was drawing near, a confused +and disorderly mass of human beings moving on from the plain. As they +came up to the walls, the people who were standing on the house-roofs +could see them, and as they were ordered away to encamp by the river, +none could help but hear their shouts and oaths. + +When the motley and noisy concourse had been driven off to their +camping-ground, the gates of the town were thrown wide, for the Sultan +himself was at hand. + +First came two soldiers afoot, and then followed five artillerymen, with +their small pieces packed on mules. Next came mounted standard-bearers +four deep, some in red, some in blue, and some in green. Then came the +outrunners and the spearmen, and then the Sultan's six led horses. And +then at length with the great red umbrella of royalty held over him, +came the Sultan himself, the elderly sensualist, with his dusky cheeks, +his rheumy eyes, his thick lips, and his heavy nostrils. The fat Father +of Islam was mounted that day on a snow-white stallion, bedecked in +gorgeous trappings. Its bridle was of green silk, embroidered in gold. +Solomon's seal was stamped on its headgear, and the tooth of a boar--a +safeguard against the evil eye--was suspended from its neck. Its saddle +was of orange damask, with girths of stout silk, and its stirrups were +of chased silver. The Sultan's own trappings were of the colour of +his horse. His kaftan was of white cloth, with an embroidered leathern +girdle; his turban was of white cotton, and his kisa was also white and +transparent. + +As he passed under the archway of the town's gate the cannon of the +Kasbah boomed forth a salute, Ben Aboo dismounted and kissed his +stirrup, and the crowds in the streets burst upon him with blessings. + +"God bless our Lord!" + +"Sultan Abd er-Rahman!" + +"God prolong the life of our Lord!" + +He seemed hardly to hear them. Once his hand touched his breast when the +Kaid approached him. After that he looked neither to the right nor to +the left, nor gave any sign of pleasure or recognition. Nevertheless +the people in the streets ceased not to greet him with deafening +acclamations. + +"All's well, all's well," they told each other, and pointed to the white +horse--the sign of peace--which the Sultan rode, and to the riderless +black horse--the sign of strife--that pranced behind him. + +The women on the housetops also, in their hooded cloaks, welcomed the +Sultan with a shrill ululation: "Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo!" + +Not content with this, the usual greeting of their sex and nation, some +of them who had hitherto been closely veiled threw back their muslin +coverings, exposed their faces to his face, and welcomed him with more +articulate cries. + +He gave them neither a smile nor a glance, but rode straight onward. +Beside him walked the fly-flappers, flapping the air before his podgy +cheeks with long scarfs of silk, and behind him rode his Ministers of +State, five sleek dogs who daily fed his appetites on carrion that his +head might be like his stomach, and their power over him thereby the +greater. After the Ministers of State came a part of the royal hareem. +The ladies rode on mules, and were attended by eunuchs. + +Such was the entry into Tetuan of the Sultan Abd er-Rahman. In their +heart of hearts did the people rejoice at his visit? No. Too well they +knew that the tyrant had done nothing for his subjects but take their +taxes. Not a man had he protected from injustice; not a woman had he +saved from dishonour. Never a rich usurer among them but trembled at his +messages, nor a poor wretch but dreaded his dungeons. His law existed +only for himself; his government had no object but to collect his dues. +And yet his people had received him amid wild vociferations of welcome. + +Fear, fear! Fear it was in the heart of the rich man on the housetops, +whose moneys were hidden, as well as in the darkened soul of the blind +beggar at the gate, whose eyes had been gouged out long ago because he +dared not divulge the secret place of his wealth. + +But early in the evening of that same day, at the corners of quiet +streets, in the covered ways, by the doors of bazaars, among the horses +tethered in the fondaks, wheresoever two men could stand and talk +unheard and unobserved by a third, one secret message of twofold +significance passed with the voice of smothered joy from lip to lip. And +this was the way and the word of it: + +"She is back in the Kasbah!" + +"The daughter of Ben Oliel? Thank God! But why? Has she recanted?" + +"She has fallen sick." + +"And Ben Aboo has sent her to prison?" + +"He thinks that the physician who will cure her quickest." + +"Allah save us! The dog of dogs! But God be praised! At least she is +saved from the Sultan." + +"For the present, only for the-present." + +"For ever, brother, for ever! Listen! your ear. A word of news for your +news: the Mahdi is coming! The boy has been for him." + +"Bismillah! Ben Oliel's boy?" + +"Ali. He is back in Tetuan. And listen again! Behind the Mahdi comes +the--" + +"Ya Allah! well?" + +"Hark! A footstep on the street--some one is near--" + +"But quick. Behind the Mahdi--what?" + +"God will show! In peace, brother, in peace!" + +"In peace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE COMING OF THE MAHDI + + +The Mahdi came back in the evening. He had no standard-bearers going +before him, no outrunners, no spearmen, no fly-flappers, no ministers of +state; he rode no white stallion in gorgeous trappings, and was himself +bedecked in no snowy garments. His ragged following he had left behind +him; he was alone; he was afoot; a selham of rough grey cloth was all +his bodily adornment; yet he was mightier than the monarch who had +entered Tetuan that day. + +He passed through the town not like a sultan, but like a saint; not like +a conquering prince, but like an avenging angel. Outside the town he had +come upon the great body of the Sultan's army lying encamped under +the walls. The townspeople who had shut the soldiers out, with all the +rabble of their following, had nevertheless sent them fifty camels' load +of kesksoo, and it had been served in equal parts, half a pound to each +man. Where this meal had already been eaten, the usual charlatans of +the market-place had been busily plying their accustomed trades. +Black jugglers from Zoos, sham snake-charmers from the desert, and +story-tellers both grave and facetious, all twanging their hideous +ginbri, had been seated on the ground in half-circles of soldiers and +their women. But the Mahdi had broken up and scattered every group of +them. + +"Away!" he had cried. "Away with your uncleanness and deception." + +And the foulest babbler of them all, hot with the exercise of the +indecent gestures wherewith he illustrated his filthy tale, had slunk +off like a pariah dog. + +As the Mahdi entered the town a number of mountaineers in the Feddan +were going through their feats of wonder-play before a multitude of +excited spectators. Two tribes, mounted on wild barbs, were charging in +line from opposite sides of the square, some seated, some kneeling, some +standing. Midway across the market-place they were charging, horses at +full gallop, firing their muskets, then reining in at a horse's length, +throwing their barbs on their haunches, wheeling round and galloping +back, amid deafening shouts of "Allah! Allah! Allah!" + +"Allah indeed!" cried the Mahdi, striding into their midst without +fear. "That is all the part that God plays in this land of iniquity and +bloodshed. Away, away!" + +The people separated, and the Mahdi turned towards the Kasbah. As he +approached it, the lanes leading to the Feddan were being cleared for +the mad antics of the Aissawa. Before they saw him the fanatics came out +in all the force of their acting brotherhood, a score of half-naked +men, and one other entirely naked, attended by their high-priests, the +Mukaddameen, three old patriarchs with long white beards, wearing dark +flowing robes and carrying torches. Then goats and dogs were riven alive +and eaten raw; while women and children; crouching in the gathering +darkness overhead looked down from the roofs and shuddered. And as the +frenzy increased among the madmen, and their victims became fewer, each +fanatic turned upon himself, and tore his own skin and battered his head +against the stones until blood ran like water. + +"Fools and blind guides!" cried the Mahdi sweeping them before him like +sheep. "Is this how you turn the streets into a sickening sewer? Oh, the +abomination of desolation! You tear yourselves in the name of God, but +forget His justice and mercy. Away! You will have your reward. Away! +Away!" + +At the gate of the Kasbah he demanded to see the Kaid, and, after +various parleyings with the guards and negroes who haunted the winding +ways of the gloomy place, he was introduced to the Basha's presence. +The Basha received him in a room so dark that he could but dimly see his +face. Ben Aboo was stretched on a carpet, in much the position of a dog +with his muzzle on his forepaws. + +"Welcome," he said gruffly, and without changing his own unceremonious +posture, he gave the Mahdi a signal to sit. + +The Mahdi did not sit. "Ben Aboo," he said in a voice that was half +choked with anger, "I have come again on an errand of mercy, and woe to +you if you send me away unsatisfied." + +Ben Aboo lay silent and gloomy for a moment, and then said with a growl, +"What is it now?" + +"Where is the daughter of Ben Oliel?" said the Mahdi. + +With a gesture of protestation the Basha waved one of the hands on which +his dusky muzzle had rested. + +"Ah, do not lie to me," cried the Mahdi. "I know where she is--she is in +prison. And for what? For no fault but love of her father, and no crime +but fidelity to her faith. She has sacrificed the one and abandoned the +other. Is that not enough for you, Ben Aboo? Set her free." + +The Basha listened at first with a look of bewilderment, and some +half-dozen armed attendants at the farther end of the room shuffled +about in their consternation. At length Ben Aboo raised his head, and +said with an air of mock inquiry, "Ya Allah! who is this infidel?" + +Then, changing his tone suddenly, he cried, "Sir, I know who you are! +You come to me on this sham errand about the girl, but that is not your +purpose, Mohammed of Mequinez! Mohammed the Third! What fool said you +were a spy of the Sultan? Abd er-Rahman is here--my guest and protector. +You are a spy of his enemies, and a revolutionary, come hither to ruin +our religion and our State. The penalty for such as you is death, and by +Allah you shall die!" + +Saying this, he so wrought upon his indignation, that in spite of his +superstitious fears, and the awe in which he stood of the Mahdi, he half +deceived himself, and deceived his attendants entirely. But the Mahdi +took a step nearer and looked straight into his face, and said-- + +"Ben Aboo, ask pardon of God; you are a fool. You talk of putting me to +death. You dare not and you cannot do it." + +"Why not?" cried Ben Aboo, with a thrill of voice that was like a +swagger. "What's to hinder me? I could do it at this moment, and no man +need know." + +"Basha," said the Mahdi, "do you think you are talking to a child? Do +you think that when I came here my visit was not known to others than +ourselves outside? Do you think there are not some who are waiting for +my return? And do you think, too," he cried, lifting one hand and his +voice together, "that my Master in heaven would not see and know it on +an errand of mercy His servant perished? Ben Aboo, ask pardon of God, I +say; you are a fool." + +The Basha's face became black and swelled with rage. But he was +cowed. He hesitated a moment in silence, and then said with an air of +braggadocio-- + +"And what if I do not liberate the girl?" + +"Then," said the Mahdi, "if any evil befalls her the consequences shall +be on your head." + +"What consequences?" said the Basha. + +"Worse consequences than you expect or dream," said the Mahdi. + +"What consequences?" said the Basha again. + +"No matter," said the Mahdi. "You are walking in darkness, and do not +know where you are going." + +"What consequences?" the Basha cried once more. + +"That is God's secret," said the Mahdi. + +Ben Aboo began to laugh. "Light the infidel out of the Kasbah," he +shouted to his people. + +"Enough!" cried the Mahdi. "I have delivered my message. Now woe to you, +Ben Aboo! A second time I have come to you as a witness, but I will come +no more. Fill up the measure of your iniquity. Keep the girl in prison. +Give her to the Sultan. But know that for all these things your reward +awaits you. Your time is near. You will die with a pale face. The sword +will reach to your soul." + +Then taking yet another step nearer, until he stood over the Basha where +he lay on the ground, he cried with sudden passion, "This is the last +word that will pass between you and me. So part we now for ever, Ben +Aboo--I to the work that waits for me, and you to shame and contempt, +and death and hell." + +Saying this, he made a downward sweep of his open hand over the place +where the Basha lay, and Ben Aboo shrank under it as a worm shrinks +under a blow. Then with head erect he went out unhindered. + +But he was not yet done. In the garden of the palace, as he passed +through it to the street, he stood a moment in the darkness under the +stars before the chamber where he knew the Sultan lay, and cried, "Abd +er-Rahman! Abd er-Rahman! slave of the Merciful! Listen: I hear the +sound of the trumpet and the alarum of war. My heart makes a noise in me +for my country, but the day of her tribulation is near. Woe to you, Abd +er-Rahman! You have filled up the measure of your fathers. Woe to you, +slave of the Compassionate!" + +The Sultan heard him, and so did the Ministers of State; the women of +the hareem heard him, and so did the civil guards and the soldiers. But +his voice and his message came over them with the terror of a ghostly +thing, and no man raised a hand to stop him. + +"The Mahdi," they whispered with awe, and fell back when he approached. + +The streets were quiet as he left the Kasbah. The rabble of mountaineers +of Aissawa were gone. Hooded Talebs, with prayer-mats under their arms, +were picking their way in the gloom from the various mosques; and from +these there came out into the streets the plash of water in the porticos +and the low drone of singing voices behind the screens. + +The Mahdi lodged that night in the quarter of the enclosure called the +M'Salla, and there a slave woman of Ben Aboo's came to him in secret. +It was Fatimah, and she told him much of her late master, whom she had +visited by stealth, and just left in great trouble and in madness; also +of her dead mistress, Ruth who was like rose-perfume in her memory, as +well as of Naomi, their daughter, and all her sufferings. In spasms, in +gasps, without sequence and without order, she told her story; but he +listened to her with emotion while the agitated black face was before +him, and when it was gone he tramped the dark house in the dead of +night, a silent man, with tender thoughts of the sweet girl who was +imprisoned in the dungeons of the Kasbah, and of her stricken father, +who supposed that she was living in luxury in the palace of his enemy +while he himself lay sick in the poor hut which had been their home. +These false notions, which were at once the seed and the fruit of +Israel's madness, should at least be dispelled. Let come what would, the +man should neither live nor die in such bitterness of cruel error. + +The Mahdi resolved to set out for Semsa with the first grey of morning, +and meantime he went up to the house-top to sleep. The town was quiet, +the traffic of the street was done, the raggabash of the Sultan's +following had slunk away ashamed or lain down to rest. It was a +wonderful night. The air was cool, for the year was deep towards winter, +but not a breath of wind was stirring, and the orange-gardens behind the +town wall did not send over the river so much as the whisper of a leaf. +Stars were out and the big moon of the East shone white on the white +walls and minarets. Nowhere is night so full of the spirit of sleep as +in an Eastern city. Below, under the moonlight, lay the square white +roofs, and between them were the dark streets going in and out, trailing +through and along, like to narrow streams of black water in a bed of +quarried chalk. Here or there, where a belated townsman lit himself +homeward with a lamp, a red light gleamed out of one of the thin +darknesses, crept along a few paces, and then was gone. Sometimes a +clamour of voices came up with their own echo from some unseen place, +and again everything was still. Sleep, sleep, all was sleep. + +"O Tetuan," thought the Mahdi, "how soon will your streets be uprooted +and your sanctuaries destroyed!" + +The Mooddin was chanting the call to prayers, and the old porter at the +gate was muttering over his rosary as the Mahdi left the town in the +dawn. He had to pick his way among the soldiers who were lying on the +bare soil outside, uncovered to the sky. Not one of them seemed to +be awake. Even their camels were still sleeping, nose to nose, in the +circles where they had last fed. Only their mules and asses, all hobbled +and still saddled, were up and feeding. + +The Mahdi found Israel ben Oliel in the hut at Semsa. So poor a place he +had not seen in all his wanderings through that abject land. Its walls +were of clay that was bulged and cracked, and its roof was of rushes, +which lay over it like sea-wreck on a broken barrel. Israel was in his +right mind. He was sitting by the door of his house, with a dejected +air, a hopeless look, but the slow sad eyes of reason. His clothing was +one worn and torn kaftan; his feet were shoeless, and his head was bare. +But so grand a head the Mahdi thought he had never beheld before. Not +until then had he truly seen him, for the poverty and misery that sat on +him only made his face stand out the clearer. It was the face of a man +who for good or ill, for struggle or submission, had walked and wrestled +with God. + +With salutations, barely returned to him, the Mahdi sat down beside +Israel at a little distance. He began to speak to him in a tender way, +telling him who he was, and where they had met before, and why he came, +and whither he was going. And Israel listened to him at first with a +brave show of composure as if the very heart of the man were a frozen +clod, whereby his eyes and the muscles of his face and even the nerves +of his fingers were also frozen. + +Then the Mahdi spoke of Naomi, and Israel made a slow shake of the +head. He told him what had happened to her when her father was taken to +prison, and Israel listened with a great outward calmness. After that he +described the girl's journey in the hope of taking food to him, and how +she fell into the hands of Habeebah; and then he saw by Israel's face +that the affection of the father was tearing his old heart woefully. +At last he recited the incidents of her cruel trial, and how she had +yielded at length, knowing nothing of religion, being only a child, +seeing her father in everything and thinking to save his life, though +she herself must see him no more (for all this he had gathered from +Fatimah), and then the great thaw came to Israel, and his fingers +trembled, and his face twitched, and the hot tears rained down his +cheeks. + +"My poor darling!" he muttered in a trembling undertone, and then he +asked in a faltering voice where she was at that time. + +The Mahdi told him that she was back in prison, for rebelling against +the fortune intended for her--that of becoming a concubine of the +Sultan. + +"My brave girl!" he muttered, and then his face shone with a new light +that was both pride and pain. + +He lifted his eyes as if he could see her, and his voice as if she +could hear: "Forgive me, Naomi! Forgive me, my poor child! Your weak old +father; forgive him, my brave, brave daughter!" + +This was as much as the Mahdi could bear; and when Israel turned to him, +and said in almost a childish tone, "I suppose there is no help for +it now, sir. I meant to take her to England--to my poor mother's home, +but--" + +"And so you shall, as sure as the Lord lives," said the Mahdi, rising to +his feet, with the resolve that a plan for Naomi's rescue which he +had thought of again and again, and more than once rejected, which had +clamoured at the door of his heart, and been turned away as a barbarous +impulse, should at length be carried into effect. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ALI'S RETURN TO TETUAN + + +The plan which the Mahdi thought of had first been Ali's, for the black +lad was back in Tetuan. After he had fulfilled his errand of mercy at +Shawan; he had gone on to Ceuta; and there, with a spirit afire for the +wrongs of his master, from whom he was so cruelly parted, he had set +himself with shrewdness and daring to incite the Spanish powers to +vengeance upon his master's enemies. This had been a task very easy of +execution, for just at that time intelligence had come from the Reef, of +barbarous raids made by Ben Aboo upon mountain tribes that had hitherto +offered allegiance to the Spanish crown. A mission had gone up to Fez, +and returned unsatisfied. War was to be declared, Marteel was to be +bombarded, the army of Marshal O'Donnel was to come up the valley of the +river, and Tetuan was to be taken. + +Such were the operations which by the whim of fate had been so strangely +revealed to Ali, but Ali's own plan was a different matter. This was +the feast of the Moolood, and on one of the nights of it, probably the +eighth night, the last night, Friday night, Ben Aboo the Basha was to +give a "gathering of delight," to the Sultan, his Ministers, his Kaids, +his Kadis, his Khaleefas, his Umana, and great rascals generally. Ali's +stout heart stuck at nothing. He was for having the Spaniards brought up +to the gates of the town, on the very night when the whole majesty and +iniquity of Barbary would be gathered in one room; then, locking the +entire kennel of dogs in the banqueting hall, firing the Kasbah and +burning it to the ground, with all the Moorish tyrants inside of it like +rats in a trap. + +One danger attended his bold adventure, for Naomi's person was within +the Kasbah walls. To meet this peril Ali was himself to find his way +into the dungeon, deliver Naomi, lock the Kasbah gate, and deliver up to +another the key that should serve as a signal for the beginning of the +great night's work. + +Also one difficulty attended it, for while Ali would be at the Kasbah +there would be no one to bring up the Spaniards at the proper moment for +the siege--no one in Tetuan on whom the strangers could rely not to +lead them blindfold into a trap. To meet this difficulty Ali had gone in +search of the Mahdi, revealed to him his plan, and asked him to help +in the downfall of his master's enemies by leading the Spaniards at the +right moment to the gates that should be thrown open to receive them. + +Hearing Ali's story, the Mahdi had been aflame with tender thoughts +of Naomi's trials, with hatred of Ben Aboo's tyrannies, and pity of +Israel's miseries. But at first his humanity had withheld him from +sympathy with Ali's dark purpose, so full, as it seemed, of barbarity +and treachery. + +"Ali," he had said, "is it not all you wish for to get Naomi out of +prison and take her back to her father?" + +"Yes, Sidi," Ali had answered promptly. + +"And you don't want to torture these tyrants if you can do what you +desire without it?" + +"No-o, Sidi," Ali had said doubtfully. + +"Then," the Mahdi had said, "let us try." + +But when the Mahdi was gone to Tetuan on his errand of warning that +proved so vain, Ali had crept back behind him, so that secretly and +independently he might carry out his fell design. The towns-people were +ready to receive him, for the air was full of rebellion, and many had +waited long for the opportunity of revenge. To certain of the Jews, his +master's people, who were also in effect his own, he went first with his +mission, and they listened with eagerness to what he had come to say. +When their own time came to speak they spoke cautiously, after the +manner of their race, and nervously, like men who knew too well what +it was to be crushed and kept under; but they gave their help +notwithstanding, and Ali's scheme progressed. + +In less than three days the entire town, Moorish and Jewish, was +honeycombed with subterranean revolt. Even the civil guard, the soldiers +of the Kasbah, the black police that kept the gates, and the slaves that +stood before the Basha's table were waiting for the downfall to come. + +The Mahdi had gone again by this time, and the people had resumed their +mock rejoicings over the Sultan's visit. These were the last kindlings +of their burnt-out loyalty, a poor smouldering pretence of fire. Every +morning the town was awakened by the deafening crackle of flintlocks, +which the mountaineers discharged in the Feddan by way of signal that +the Sultan was going to say his prayers at the door of some saint's +house. Beside the firing of long guns and the twanging of the ginbri the +chief business of the day seemed to be begging. One bow-legged rascal +in a ragged jellab went about constantly with a little loaf of bread, +crying, "An ounce of butter for God's sake!" and when some one gave him +the alms he asked he stuck the white sprawling mess on the top of the +loaf and changed his cry to "An ounce of cheese for God's sake!" A pert +little vagabond--street Arab in a double sense--promenaded the town +barefoot, carrying an odd slipper in his hand, and calling on all men +by the love of God and the face of God and the sake of God to give him a +moozoonah towards the cost of its fellow. Every morning the Sultan went +to mosque under his red umbrella, and every evening he sat in the hall +of the court of justice, pretending to hear the petitions of the poor, +but actually dispensing charms in return for presents. First an old +wrinkled reprobate with no life left in him but the life of lust: "A +charm to make my young wife love me!" Then an ill-favoured hag behind +a blanket: "A charm to wither the face of the woman that my husband has +taken instead of me!" Again, a young wife with a tearful voice: "A charm +to make me bear children!" A greasy smile from the fat Sultan, a scrap +of writing to every supplicant, chinking coins dropped into the bag of +the attendant from the treasury, and then up and away. It was a nauseous +draught from the bitterest waters of Islam. + +But, for all the religious tumult, no man was deceived by the outward +marks of devotion. At the corners of the streets, on the Feddan, by the +fountains, wherever men could meet and talk unheard, there they stood +in little groups, crossing their forefingers, the sign of strife, +or rubbing them side by side, the sign of amity. It was clear that, +notwithstanding the hubbub of their loyalty to the sultan, they knew +that the Spaniard was coming and were glad of it. + +Meantime Ali waited with impatience for the day that was to see the end +of his enterprise. To beguile himself of his nervousness in the night, +during the dark hours that trailed on to morning, he would venture out +of the lodging where he lay in hiding throughout the day, and pick +his steps in the silence up the winding streets, until he came under a +narrow opening in an alley which was the only window to Naomi's prison. +And there he would stay the long dark hours through, as if he thought +that besides the comfort it brought to him to be near to Naomi, the +tramp, tramp, tramp of his footsteps, which once or twice provoked the +challenge of the night-guard on his lonely round, would be company to +her in her solitude. And sometimes, watching his opportunity that he +might be unseen and unheard, he would creep in the darkness under the +window and cry up the wall in an underbreath, "Naomi! Naomi! It is I, +Ali! I have come back! All will be well yet!" + +Then if he heard nothing from within he would torture himself with +a hundred fears lest Naomi should be no longer there, but in a worse +place; and if he heard a sob he would slink away like a dog with his +muzzle to the dust, and if he heard his own name echoed in the softer +voice he knew so well he would go off with head erect, feeling like a +man who walked on the stars rather than the stones of the street. But, +whatever befell, before the day dawned he went back to his lodging less +sore at heart for his lonely vigil, but not less wrathful or resolute. + +The day of the feast came at length, and then Ali's impatience rose +to fever. All day he longed for the night, that the thing he had to do +could be done. At last the sunset came and the darkness fell, and from +his place of concealment Ali saw the soldiers of the assaseen going +through the streets with lanterns to lead honoured guests to the +banquet. Then he set out on his errand. His foresight and wit had +arranged everything. The negro at the gate of the Kasbah pretended to +recognise him as a messenger of the Vizier's, and passed him through. He +pushed his way as one with authority along the winding passages to the +garden where the Mahdi had called on Abd er-Rahman and foretold his +fate. The garden opened upon the great hall, and a number of guests were +standing there, cooling themselves in the night air while they waited +for the arrival of the Sultan. His Shereefian Majesty came at length, +and then, amid salaams and peace-blessings, the company passed in to +the banquet. "Peace on you!" "And on you the peace!" "God make your +evening!" "May your evening be blessed!" + +Did Ali shrink from the task at that moment? No, a thousand times no! +While he looked on at these men in their muslin and gauze and linen and +scarlet, sweeping in with bows and hand-touchings to sup and to laugh +and to tell their pretty stories, he remembered Israel broken and alone +in the poor hut which had been described to him, and Naomi lying in her +damp cell beyond the wall. + +Some minutes he stood in the darkness of the garden, while the guests +entered, and until the barefooted servants of the kitchen began to troop +in after them with great dishes under huge covers. Then he held a short +parley with the negro gatekeeper, two keys were handed to him, and in +another minute he was standing at the door of Naomi's prison. + +Now, carefully as Ali had arranged every detail of his enterprise, down +to the removal of the black woman Habeebah from this door, one fact he +had never counted with, and that seemed to him then the chief fact of +all--the fact that since he had last looked upon Naomi she had come by +the gift of sight, and would now first look upon _him_. That he would +be the same as a stranger to her, and would have to tell her who he was; +that she would have to recognise him by whatsoever means remained to +belie the evidence of the newborn sense--this was the least of Ali's +trouble. By a swift rebound his heart went back to the fear that had +haunted him in the days before he left her with her father on his errand +to Shawan. He was black, and she would see him. + +With the gliding of the key into the lock all this, and more than this, +flashed upon his mind. His shame was abject. It cut him to the quick. +On the other side of that door was she who had been as a sister to him +since times that were lost in the blue clouds of childhood. She had +played with him and slept by his side, yet she had never seen his face. +And she was fair as the morning, and he was black as the night! He had +come to deliver her. Would she recoil from him? + +Ali had to struggle with himself not to fly away and leave everything. +But his stout heart remembered itself and held to its purpose. "What +matter?" he thought. "What matter about me?" he asked himself aloud in +a shrill voice and with a brave roll of his round head. Then he found +himself inside the cell. + +The place was dark, and Ali drew a long breath of relief. Naomi must +have been lying at the farther end of it. She spoke when the door was +opened. As though by habit, she framed the name of her jailer Habeebah, +and then stopped with a little nervous cry and seemed to rise to her +feet. In his confusion Ali said simply, "It is I," as though that meant +everything. Recovering himself in a moment he spoke again, and then she +knew his voice: "Naomi!" + +"It's Ali," she whispered to herself. After that she cried in a +trembling undertone "Ali! Ali! Ali!" and came straight in the accustomed +darkness to the spot where he stood. + +Then, gathering courage and voice together, Ali told her hurriedly why +he was there. When he said that her father was no longer in prison, but +at their home near Semsa and waiting to receive her, she seemed almost +overcome by her joy. Half laughing, half weeping, clutching at her +breast as if to ease the wild heaving of her bosom she was transformed +by his story. + +"Hush!" said Ali; "not a sound until we are outside the town," and Naomi +knitted her fingers in his palm, and they passed out of the place. + +The banquet was now at its height, and hastening down dark corridors +where they were apt to fall, for they had no light to see by, and coming +into the garden, they heard the ripple and crackle of laughter from the +great hall where Ben Aboo and his servile rascals feasted together. They +reached the quiet alley outside the Kasbah (for the negro was gone from +his post), and drew a lone breath, and thanked Heaven that this much was +over. There had been no group of beggars at the gate, and the streets +around it were deserted; but in the distance, far across the town in the +direction of the Bab el Marsa, the gate that goes out to Marteel, they +heard a low hum as of vast droves of sheep. The Spaniard was coming, and +the townsmen were going out to meet him. Casual passers-by challenged +them, and though Ali knew that even if recognised they had nothing to +fear from the people, yet more than once his voice trembled when he +answered, and sometimes with a feeling of dread he turned to see that no +one was following. + +As he did so he became aware of something which brought back the shame +of that awful moment when he stood with the key in hand at the door of +Naomi's prison. By the light of the lamps in the hands of the passers-by +Naomi was looking at him. Again and again, as the glare fell for an +instant, he felt the eyes of the girl upon his face. At such moments he +thought she must be drawing away from him, for the space between them +seemed wider. But he firmly held to the outstretched arm, kept his head +aside, and hastened on. + +"What matter about me?" he whispered again. But the brave word brought +him no comfort. "Now she's looking at my hand," he told himself, but +he could not draw it away. "She is doubting if I am Ali after all," he +thought. "Naomi!" he tried to say with averted head, so that once again +the sound of his voice might reassure her; but his throat was thick, and +he could not speak. Still he pushed on. + +The dark town just then was like a mountain chasm when a storm that has +been gathering is about to break. In the air a deep rumble, and then a +loud detonation. Blackness overhead, and things around that seemed to +move and pass. + +Drawing near to the Bab Toot, the gate that witnessed the last scene of +Israel's humiliation and Naomi's shame, Ali, with the girl beside him, +came suddenly into a sheet of light and a concourse of people. It was +the Mahdi and his vast following with lamps in their hands, entering the +town on the west, while the Spaniards whom they had brought up to the +gates were coming in on the east. The Mahdi himself was locking the +synagogues and the sanctuaries. + +"Lock them up," he was saying. "It is enough that the foreigner must +burn down the Sodom of our tyrant; let him not outrage the Zion of our +God." + +Ali led Naomi up to the Mahdi, who saw her then for the first time. + +"I have brought her," he said breathlessly; "Naomi, Israel's daughter, +this is she." And then there was a moment of surprise and joy, and pain +and shame and despair, all gathered up together into one look of the +eyes of the three. + +The Mahdi looked at Naomi, and his face lightened. Naomi looked at Ali, +and her pale face grew paler, and she passed a tress of her fair hair +across her lips to smother a little nervous cry that began to break from +her mouth. Then she looked at the Mahdi, and her lips parted and her +eyes shone. Ali looked at both, and his face twitched and fell. + +This was only the work of an instant, but it was enough. Enough for +the Mahdi, for it told him a secret that the wisdom of life had not yet +revealed; enough for Naomi, for a new sense, a sixth sense, had surely +come to her; enough for Ali also, for his big little heart was broken. + +"What matter about me?" thought Ali again. "Take her, Mahdi," he said +aloud in a shrill voice. "Her father is waiting for her--take her to +him." + +"Lady," said the Mahdi, "can you trust me?" + +And then without a word she went to him; like the needle to the magnet +she went to the Mahdi--a stranger to her, when all strangers were as +enemies--and laid her hand in his. + +Ali began to laugh, "I'm a fool," he cried. "Who could have believed +it? Why, I've forgotten to lock the Kasbah! The villains will escape. No +matter, I'll go back." + +"Stop!" cried the Mahdi. + +But Ali laughed so loudly that he did not hear. "I'll see to it yet," he +cried, turning on his heel. "Good night, Sidi! God bless you! My love to +my father! Farewell!" + +And in another moment he was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE FALL OF BEN ABOO + + +The roysterers in the Kasbah sat a long half-hour in ignorance of the +doom that was impending. Squatting on the floor in little circles, +around little tables covered with steaming dishes, wherein each plunged +his fingers, they began the feast with ceremonious wishes, pious +exclamations, cant phrases, and downcast eyes. First, "God lengthen your +age," "God cover you," and "God give you strength." Then a dish of dates, +served with abject apologies from Ben Aboo: "You would treat us better +in Fez, but Tetuan is poor; the means, Seedna, the means, not the will!" +Then fish in garlic, eaten with loud "Bismillah's." Then kesksoo covered +with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and meat on skewers, and browned +fowls, and fowls and olives, and flake pastry and sponge fritters, each +eaten in its turn amid a chorus of "La Ilah illa Allah's." Finally three +cups of green tea, as thick and sweet as syrup, drunk with many "Do me +the favour's," and countless "Good luck's." Last of all, the washing +of hands, and the fumigating of garments and beard and hair by the +live embers of scented wood burning in a brass censer, with incessant +exchanges of "The Prophet--God rest him--loved sweet odours almost as +much as sweet women." + +But after supper all this ceremony fell away, and the feasters thawed +down to a warm and flowing brotherhood. Lolling at ease on their rugs, +trifling with their egg-like snuff-boxes, fumbling their rosaries for +idleness more than piety, stretching their straps, and jingling on the +pavement the carved ends of their silver knife-shields, they laughed and +jested, and told dubious stories, and held doubtful discourse generally. +The talk turned on the distinction between great sins and little ones. +In the circle of the Sultan it was agreed that the great sins were two: +unbelief in the Prophet, whereby a man became Jew and dog; and smoking +keef and tobacco, which no man could do and be of correct life and +unquestionable Islam. The atonement for these great sins were five +prayers a day, thirty-four prostrations, seventeen chapters of the +Koran, and as many inclinations. All the rest were little sins; and +as for murder and adultery, and bearing false witness--well, God was +Merciful, God was Compassionate, God forgave His poor weak children. + +This led to stories of the penalises paid by transgressors of the great +sins. These were terrible. Putting on a profound air, the Vizier, a fat +man of fifty, told of how one who smoked tobacco and denied the Prophet +had rotted piecemeal; and of how another had turned in his grave with +his face from Mecca. Then the Kaid of Fez, head of the Mosque and +general Grand Mufti, led away with stories of the little sins. These +were delightful. They pictured the shifts of pretty wives, married +to worn out old men, to get at their youthful lovers in the dark by +clambering in their dainty slippers from roof to roof. Also of the +discomfiture of pious old husbands and the wicked triumph of rompish +little ladies, under pretences of outraged innocence. + +Such, and worse, and of a kind that bears not to be told, was the +conversation after supper of the roysterers in the Kasbah. At every +fresh story the laughter became louder, and soon the reserve and dignity +of the Moor were left behind him and forgotten. At length Ben Aboo, +encouraged by the Sultan's good fellowship, broke into loud praises of +Naomi, and yet louder wails over the doom that must be the penalty of +her apostasy; and thereupon Abd er-Rahman, protesting that for his +part he wanted nothing with such a vixen, called on him to uncover her +boasted charms to them. "Bring her here, Basha," he said; "let us see +her," and this command was received with tumultuous acclamations. + +It was the beginning of the end. In less than a minute more, while the +rascals lolled over the floor in half a hundred different postures, with +the hazy lights from the brass lamps and the glass candelabras on their +dusky faces, their gleaming teeth, and dancing eyes, the messenger who +had been sent for Naomi came back with the news that she was gone. Then +Ben Aboo rose in silent consternation, but his guests only laughed the +louder, until a second messenger, a soldier of the guard, came running +with more startling news. Marteel had been bombarded by the Spaniards; +the army of Marshall O'Donnel was under the walls of Tetuan, and their +own people were opening the gates to him. + +The tumult and confusion which followed upon this announcement does not +need to be detailed. Shoutings for the mkhaznia, infuriated commands to +the guards, racings to the stables and the Kasbah yard, unhobbling of +horses, stamping and clattering of hoofs, and scurryings through dark +corridors of men carrying torches and flares. There was no attempt at +resistance. That was seen to be useless. Both the civil guard and the +soldiery had deserted. The Kasbah was betrayed. Terror spread like fire. +In very little time the Sultan and his company with their women and +eunuchs, were gone from the town through the straggling multitude of +their disorderly and dissolute and worthless soldiery lying asleep on +the southern side of it. + +Ben Aboo did not fly with Abd er-Rahman. He remembered that he had +treasure, and as soon as he was alone he went in search of it. There +were fifty thousand dollars, sweat of the life-blood of innocent people. +No one knew the strong-room except himself, for with his own hand he +had killed the mason who built it. In the dark he found the place, and +taking bags in both his hands and hiding them under the folds of his +selham, he tried to escape from the Kasbah unseen. + +It was too late; the Spanish soldiers were coming up the arcades, and +Ben Aboo, with his money-bags, took refuge in a granary underground, +near the wall of the Kasbah gate. From that dark cell, crouching on the +grain, which was alive with vermin, he listened in terror to the sounds +of the night. First the galloping of horses on the courtyard overhead; +then the furious shouts of the soldiers, and, finally, the mad cries of +the crowd. "Damn it--they've given us the slip." "Yes; they've crawled +off like rats from a sinking ship." "Curse it all, it's only a bungle." +This in the Spanish tongue, and then in the tongue of his own country +Ben Aboo heard the guttural shouts of his own people: "Sidi, try the +palace." "Try the apartments of his women, Sidi." "Abd er-Rahman's gone, +but Ben Aboo's hiding." "Death to the tyrant!" "Down with the Basha!" +"Ben Aboo! Ben Aboo!" Last of all a terrific voice demanding silence. +"Silence, you shrieking hell-babies, silence!" + +Ben Aboo was in safety; but to lie in that dark hole underground and to +hear the tumult above him was more than he could bear without going mad. +So he waited until the din abated, and the soldiers, who had ransacked +the Kasbah, seemed to have deserted it; and then he crept out, made for +the women's apartments, and rattled at their door. It was folly, it was +lunacy; but he could not resist it, for he dared not be alone. He could +hear the sounds of voices within--wailing and weeping of the women--but +no one answered his knocking. Again and again he knocked with his elbows +(still gripping his money-bags with both hands), until the flesh was raw +through selham and kaftan by beating against the wood. Still the door +remained unopened, and Ben Aboo, thinking better of his quest for +company, fled to the patio, hoping to escape by a little passage that +led to the alley behind the Kasbah. + +Here he encountered Katrina and a guard of five black soldiers who were +helping her flight. "We are safe," she whispered--"they've gone back into +the Feddan--come;" and by the light of a lamp which she carried she made +for the winding corridor that led past the bath and the sanctuary to the +Kasbah gate. But Ben Aboo only cursed her, and fumbled at the low +door of the passage that went out from the alcove to the alley. He was +lumbering through with his armless roll, intending to clash the door +back in Katrina's face, when there was a fierce shout behind him, and +for some minutes Ben Aboo knew no more. + +The shout was Ali's. After leaving the Mahdi on the heath outside the +Bab Toot, the black lad had hunted for the Basha. When the Spanish +soldiers abandoned the Kasbah he continued his search. Up and down he +had traversed the place in the darkness; and finding Ben Aboo at last, +on the spot where he had first seen him, he rushed in upon him and +brought him to the ground. Seeing Ben Aboo down, the black soldiers +fell upon Ali. The brave lad died with a shout of triumph. "Israel ben +Oliel," he cried, as if he thought that name enough to save his soul and +damn the soul of Ben Aboo. + +But Ben Aboo was not yet done with his own. The blow that had been aimed +at his heart had no more than grazed his shoulder. "Get up," whispered +Katrina, half in wrath; and while she stooped to look for his wounds, +her face and hands as seen in the dim light of the lantern were bedaubed +with his blood. At that moment the guards were crying that the Kasbah +was afire, and at the next they were gone, leaving Katrina alone with +the unconscious man. "Get up," she cried again, and tugging at Ben +Aboo's unconscious body she struck it in her terror and frenzy. It was +every one for himself in that bad hour. Katrina followed the guards, and +was never afterwards heard of. + +When Ben Aboo came to himself the patio was aglow with flames. He +staggered to his feet, still grappling to his breast the money-bags +hidden under his selham. Then, bleeding from his shoulder and with +blood upon his beard, he made afresh for the passage leading to the back +alley. The passage was narrow and dark. There were three winding steps +at the end of it. Ben Aboo was dizzy and he stumbled. + +But the passage was silent, it was safe, and out in the alley a sea of +voices burst upon him. He could hear the tramp of countless footsteps, +the cries of multitudes of voices, and the rattle of flintlocks. +Lanterns, torches, flares and flashes of gunpowder came and went at both +ends of the long dark tunnel. In the light of these he saw a struggling +current of angry faces. The living sea encircled him. He knew what had +happened. At the first certainty that his power was gone and that there +was nothing to fear from his vengeance, his own people had gathered +together to destroy him. + +There were two small mean houses on the opposite side of the alley, and +Ben Aboo tried to take refuge in the first of them. But the woman who +came with uncovered face to the door was the widow of the mason who had +built his strong-room. "Murderer and dog!" she cried, and shut the door +against him. He tried the other house. It was the house of the mason's +son. "Forgive me," he cried. "I am corrected by Allah! Yes, yes, it is +true I did wrong by your father, but forgive me and save me." Thus he +pleaded, throwing himself on the ground and crawling there. "Dog and +coward," the young man shouted, and beat him back into the street. + +Ben Aboo's terror was now appalling to look upon. His face was that of +a snared beast. With bloodshot eyes, hollow cheeks, and short thick +breath, he ran from dark alley to dark alley, trying every house where +he thought he might find a friend. "Alee, don't you know me?" "Mohammed, +it is I, Ben Aboo." "See, El Arby, here's money, money; it's yours, +only save me, save me!" With such frantic cries he raced about in +the darkness like a hunted wolf. But not a house would shelter him. +Everywhere he met relatives of men who had died through his means, and +he was driven away with curses. + +Meantime, a rumour that Ben Aboo was in the streets had been bruited +abroad among the people, and their lust of blood was thereby raised to +madness. Screaming and spitting and raving, and firing their flintlocks, +they poured from street into street, watching for their victim and +seeing him in every shadow. "He's here!" "He's there!" "No, he's +yonder!" "He's scaling the high wall like a cat!" + +Ben Aboo heard them. Their inarticulate cries came to him laden with +one message only--death. He could see their faces, their snarling teeth. +Sometimes he would rave and blaspheme. Then he would make another effort +for his life. But the whirlpool was closing in upon him; and at last, +like one who flings himself over a precipice from dizziness, fears, +and irresistible fascination, he flung himself into the middle of the +infuriated throng as they scurried across the open Feddan. + +From that moment Ben Aboo's doom was sealed. The people received him +with a long furious roar, a cry of triumphant execration, as if their +own astuteness at length had entrapped him. He stood with his back to +the high wall; the bellowing crowd was before him on either side. By the +torches that many carried all could see him. Turban and shasheeah had +fallen off, and the bald crown of his head was bare. His face retained +no human expression but fear. He was seen to draw his arms from beneath +his selham, to hold both his money-bags against his breast, to plunge a +hand into the necks of them, and fling handfuls of coins to the people. +"Silver," he cried; "silver, silver for everybody." + +The despairing appeal was useless. Nobody touched the money. It flashed +white through the air, and fell unheard. "Death to the Kaid!" was +shouted on every side. Nevertheless, though half the men carried guns, +no man fired. By unspoken consent it seemed to be understood that the +death of Ben Aboo was not to be the act of one, but of all. "Stones," +cried somebody out of the crowd, and in another moment everybody was +picking stones, and piling them at his feet or gathering them in the +skirt of his jellab. + +Ben Aboo knew his awful fate. Gesticulating wildly, having flung the +money-bags from him, slobbering and screaming, the blighted soul was +seen to raise his eyes towards the black sky, his thick lubber lips +working visibly, as if in wild invocation of heaven. At the next instant +the stones began to fall on him. Slowly they fell at first, and he +reeled under them like a drunken man; the back of his neck arched itself +like the neck of a bull, and like the roar of a bull was the groan that +came from his throat. Then they fell faster, and he swayed to and +fro, and grunted, with his beard bobbing at his breast, and his tongue +lolling out. Faster and faster, and thicker and thicker they showered +upon him, darting out of the darkness like swallows of the night. His +clothes were rent, his blood spirted over them, he staggered as a beast +staggers in the slaughter, and at length his thick knees doubled up, and +he fell in a round heap like a ball. + +The ferocity of the crowd was not yet quelled. They hailed the fall of +Ben Aboo with a triumphant howl, but their stones continued to shower +upon his body. In a little while they had piled a cairn above it. +Then they left it with curses of content and went their ways. When the +Spanish soldiers, who had stood aside while the work was done, came up +with their lanterns to look at this monument of Eastern justice, the +heap of stones was still moving with the terrific convulsions of death. + +Such was the fall of El Arby, nicknamed Ben Aboo. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +"ALLAH-U-KABAR" + + +Travelling through the night,--Naomi laughing and singing snatches in +her new-found joy, and the Mahdi looking back at intervals at the huge +outline of Tetuan against the blackness of the sky,--they came to the +hut by Semsa before dawn of the following day. But they had come too +late. Israel ben Oliel was not, after all, to set out for England. He +was going on a longer journey. His lonely hour had come to him, his dark +hour wherein none could bear him company. On a mattress by the wall he +lay outstretched, unconscious, and near to his end. Two neighbours +from the village were with him, and but for these he must have been +alone--the mighty man in his downfall deserted by all save the great +Judge and God. + +What Naomi did when the first shock of this hard blow fell upon her, +what she said, and how she bore herself, it would be a painful task to +tell. Oh, the irony of fate! Ay, the irony of God! That scene, and what +followed it, looked like a cruel and colossal jest--none the less cruel +because long drawn out and as old as the days of Job. + +It was useless to go out in search of a doctor. The country was as +innocent of leechcraft as the land of Canaan in the days of Abraham. All +they could do was to submit, absolutely and unconditionally. They were +in God's hands. + +The light was coming yellow and pink through the window under the eaves +as Israel awoke to consciousness. He opened his eyes as if from sleep, +and saw Naomi beside him. No surprise did he show at this, and neither +did he at first betray pleasure. Dimly and softly he looked upon her, +and then something that might have been a smile but for lack of strength +passed like sunshine out of a cloud across his wasted face. Naomi +pressed a pillow-under his loins, and another under his head, +thinking to ease the one and raise the other. But the iron hand of +unconsciousness fell upon him again, and through many hours thereafter +Naomi and the Mahdi sat together in silence with the multitudinous +company of invisible things. + +During that interval Fatimah came in hot haste, and they had news of +Tetuan. The Spaniards had taken the town, but Abd er-Rahman and most of +his Ministers had escaped. Ben Aboo had tried to follow them, but he +had been killed in the alcove of the patio. Ali had killed him. He had +rushed in upon him through a line of his guards. One of the guards had +killed Ali. The brave black lad had fallen with the name of Israel on +his lips and with a dauntless shout of triumph. The Kasbah was afire; it +had been burning since the banquet of the night before. + +Towards sunset peace fell upon Israel ben Oliel, and then they knew that +the end was very near. Naomi was still kneeling at his right hand, and +the Mahdi was standing at his left. Israel looked at the girl with a +world of tenderness, though the hard grip of death was fast stiffening +his noble face. More than once he glanced at the Mahdi also as if he +wished to say something, and yet could not do so, because the power of +life was low; but at last his voice found strength. + +"I have left it too late," he said. "I cannot go to England." + +Naomi wept more than ever at the sound of these faltering words, and it +was not without effort that the Mahdi answered him. + +"Think no more of that," he said, and then he stopped, as if the word +that he had been about to speak had halted on his tongue. + +"It is hard to leave her," said Israel, "for she is alone; and who will +protect her when I am gone?" + +"God lives," said the Mahdi, "and He is Father to the fatherless." + +"But what Jew," said Israel, "would not repeat for her her father's +troubles, and what Muslim could save her from her own?" + +"Who that trusts in God," said the Mahdi, "need fear the Kaid?" + +"But what man can save her?" cried Israel again. + +And then the Mahdi, touched by Naomi's tears as well as her father's +importunities, answered out of a hot heart and said-- + +"Peace, peace! If there is no one else to take her, from this day +forward she shall go with me." + +Naomi looked up at him then with such a light in her beautiful eyes +as he has often since, but had never before seen there, and Israel ben +Oliel who had been holding at his hand, clutched suddenly at his wrist. + +"God bless you!" he said, as well as he could for the two angels, the +angel of love and the angel of death, were struggling at his throat. + +Israel looked steadily at the Mahdi for a moment more, and then said +very softly-- + +"Death may come to me now; I am ready. Farewell, my father! I tried to +do your bidding. Do you remember your watchword? But God _has_ given me +rewards for repentance--see," and he turned his eyes towards the eyes of +Naomi with a wasting yet sunny smile. + +"God is good," said the Mahdi; "lie still, lie still," and he laid his +cool hand on Israel's forehead. + +"I am leaving her to you," said Israel; "and you alone can protect her +of all men living in this land accursed of God, for God's right arm is +round you. Yes, God is good. As long as you live you will cherish her. +Never was she so dear to me as now, so sweet, so lovable, so gentle. But +you will be good to her. God is very good to me. Guard her as the apple +of your eye. It will reward you. And let her think of me sometimes--only +sometimes. Ah! how nearly I shipwrecked all this! Remember! Remember!" + +"Hush, hush! Do not increase your pains," said the Mahdi. "Are you +feeling better now?" + +"I am feeling well," said Israel, "and happy--so happy." + +The sun had set, and the swift twilight was passing into night, when +another messenger arrived from Tetuan. It was Ali's old Taleb, shedding +tears for his boy, but boasting loudly of his brave death. He had +heard of it from the black guards themselves. After Ali fell he lived +a moment, though only in unconsciousness. The boy must have thought +himself back at Israel's side, "I've done it, father," he said; "he'll +never hurt you again. You won't drive me away from you any more; will +you, father?" + +They could see that Israel had heard the story. The eyes of the dying +are dry, but well they knew that the heart of the man was weeping. + +The Taleb came with the idea that Israel also was gone, for a rumour to +that effect had passed through the town. "El hamdu l'Illah!" he +cried, when he saw that Israel was still alive. But then he remembered +something, and whispered in the Mahdi's farther ear that a vast +concourse of Moors and Jews including his own vast fellowship was even +then coming out to bury Israel, thinking he was dead. + +Israel overheard him and smiled. It seemed as if he laughed a little +also. "It will soon be true," he muttered under his breath, that came +so quick. And hardly had he spoken when a low deep sound came from the +distance. It was the funeral wail of Israel ben Oliel. + +Nearer and nearer it came, and clearer and more clear. First a mighty +bass voice: "Allah Akbar!" Again another and another voice: +"Allah Akbar!" and then the long roar of a vast multitude: +"Al--l--lah-u-kabar!" Finally a slow melancholy wail, rising and falling +on the darkening air: "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the +Prophet of God." + +It was a solemn sound--nay, an awful one, with the man himself alive to +hear it. + +O gratitude that is only a death-song! O fame that is only a funeral! + +Israel listened and smiled again. "Ah, God is great!" he whispered; "God +is great!" + +To ease his labouring chest a moment the Mahdi rose and stepped to +the door, and then in the distance he could descry the procession +approaching--a moving black shadow against the sky. Also over their +billowy heads he could see a red glow far away in the clouds. It was the +last smouldering of the fire of the modern Sodom. + +While he stood there he was startled by the sound of a thick voice +behind him. It was Israel's voice. He was speaking to Naomi. "Yes," he +was saying, "it is hard to part. We were going to be very happy. . . . +But you must not cry. Listen! When I am there--eh? you know, _there_--I +will want to say, 'Father, you did well to hear my prayer. My little +daughter--she is happy, she is merry, and her soul is all sunshine.' +So you must not weep. Never, never, never! Remember! . . . . Ah! that's +right, that's right. My simple-hearted darling! My sunny, merry, happy +girl!" + +Naomi was trying to laugh in obedience to her father's will. She +was combing his white beard with her fingers--it was knotted and +tangled--and he was labouring hard to speak again. + +"Naomi, do you remember?" he said; and then he tried to sing, and even +to lisp the words as he sang them, just as a child might have done. "Do +you remember-- + + Within my heart a voice + Bids earth and heaven rejoice, + Sings 'Love'--" + +But his strength was spent, and he had to stop. + +"Sing it," he whispered, with a poor broken smile at his own failure. +And then the brave girl--all courage and strength, a quivering bow of +steel--took up the song where he had left it, though her voice trembled +and the tears started to her eyes. + +As Naomi sang Israel made some poor shift to beat the time to her, +though once and again his feeble hand fell back into his breast. When +she had done singing Israel looked at the Mahdi and then at her, and +smiled, as if he and she and the song were one to him. + +But indeed Naomi had hardly finished when the wail came again, now +nearer than before, and louder. Israel heard it. "Hark! They are coming. +Keep close," he muttered. + +He fumbled and tugged with one hand at the breast of his kaftan. The +Mahdi thought his throat wanted air, but Naomi, with the instinct of +help that a woman has in scenes like these, understood him better. In +the disarray of his senses this was his way of trying to raise himself +that he might listen the easier to the song outside. The girl slid her +arm under his neck, and then his shrunken hand was at rest. "Ah! closer. +'God is great'!" he murmured again. "'God--is--great'!" With that word +on his lips he smiled and sighed, and sank back. It was now quite dark. + +When the Mahdi returned to his place at Israel's feet the dying man +seemed to have been feeling for his hand. Taking it now, he brought it +to his breast, where Naomi's hand lay under his own trembling one. With +that last effort, and a look into the girl's face that must have pursued +him home, his grand eyes closed for ever. + +In the silence that followed after the departing spirit the deep swell +of the funeral wail came rolling heavily on the night air: "Allah Akbar! +Al-lah-u-kabar!" + +In a few minutes more the procession of the people of Tetuan who had +come out to bury Israel ben Oliel had arrived at the house. + +"He has gone," said the Mahdi, pointing down; and then lifting his eyes +towards heaven, he added, "TO THE KING!" + + + + +Notes: 1. Italic text starts and ends with an underscore. 2. Where +spelling inconsistencies in the printed text appear to be unintentional, +they have been made consistent in this Etext version, either by adopting +the dictionary spelling or the spelling most frequently used in the +printed text. 3. In the printed text, many representations of Arabic +words use accented characters; in this Etext version, the accents have +been removed to allow transmission by email using the 7-bit character +set. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scapegoat, by Hall Caine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCAPEGOAT *** + +***** This file should be named 1303.txt or 1303.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/1303/ + +Produced by Alan Cleary and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |