The Brook Kerith: A Syrian story

  CHAP. XXIII.

  An hour later, about two hours before midnight, they were riding intothe desert, lighted by a late moon and incommoded by two puppies thatJesus could not be dissuaded from bringing with him: for if Brother Amosgive up his flock to me, he argued, I shall need dogs. But Brother Amoswill give thee his dogs, Joseph said. A shepherd, Jesus answered, cannotwork with any dogs but his own. But what has become of the dogs thatwere left behind? Joseph asked, and not being able to tell him, Jesusfell to wondering how it was he had forgotten his dogs. At that momentone of the puppies cried to be let down: see how well he follows, Jesussaid, but hardly were the words past his lips than the puppy turnedtail, and Jesus had to chase him very nearly back to Bethany before heallowed himself to be overtaken and picked up again. The way is long,Joseph cried, more than seven hours to the city of Jericho, and if thesechases happen again we shall be overtaken by the daylight. One of mycaravans starts from Jericho at dawn; and if we meet it I shall have mycamel-drivers round me asking pertinent questions and may be compelledto return with them to Jericho. Come, Jesus, thine ass seems willing toamble down this long incline; and dropping the reins over the animal'swithers, and leaning back, holding a puppy under each arm, Jesus allowedthe large brown ass he was riding to trot; it was not long before heleft far behind the heavy weighted white ass, which carried Joseph.

  Now seeing the distance lengthening out between them Joseph was temptedto cry to Jesus to stop, but dared not, lest he might awaken robbers(their strongholds having lately been raided by soldiers), and he had inmind the fugitives that might be lurking in the hills, so instead ofcrying to Jesus to hold hard, he urged his ass forward. But the bestspeed he could make was not sufficient to overtake the nimbly trottingbrown ass, and the pursuit might have been continued into Jericho ifJesus had not been suddenly behoven by the silence to stop and wait forJoseph to overtake him, which he did in about ten minutes, whispering:ride not so fast, robbers may be watching for travellers. Not at thishour, Jesus replied; and he prepared to ride on. This time one of thepuppies succeeded in getting away and might have run back again toBethany had not Joseph leapt from his ass and driven him back to Jesuswith loud cries that the ravines repeated again and again. If there wererobbers asleep, thy cries would awaken them. True, true, Joseph replied;I forgot; and he vowed he would not utter another word till they passeda certain part of the road, advantageous, he said, to robbers. Nobetter spot between Jerusalem and Jericho for murder and robbery, hecontinued: cast thine eyes down into the ravine into which he couldthrow us. But if a robber should fall upon me do not stay to defend me;ride swiftly to the inn for help, and, despite the danger, Joseph rodein front of Jesus, sustained by the hope that the good fortune thatattended him so far would attend him to the end. And they rode onthrough the grey moonlight till a wolf howled in the distance. Josephbent over and whispered in Jesus' ear: hold thy puppies close to thybosom, Jesus, for if one be dropped and start running back to Bethany hewill be overtaken easily by that wolf and thou'lt never hear of himagain. Jesus held the puppies tighter, but there was no need to do so,for they seemed to know that the howl was not of their kin. The wolfhowled again, and was answered by another wolf. The twain have missedour trail, Joseph said, and had there been more we might have had toabandon our asses. If we hasten we shall reach the inn withoutmolestation from robbers or wolves. How far are we from the inn, Jesus?About two hours, Jesus answered, and Joseph fell to gazing on the hills,trying to remember them, but unable to do so, so transformed were theyin the haze of the moonlight beyond their natural seeming. Theyattracted him strangely, the hills, dim, shadowy, phantasmal, rising outof their loneliness towards the bright sky, a white cliff showingsometimes through the greyness; the shadow of a rock falling sometimesacross a track faintly seen winding round the hills, every hill being,as it were, a stage in the ascent.

  As the hills fell back behind the wayfarers the inn began to take shapein the pearl-coloured haze, and the day Joseph rested for the first timein this inn rose up in his memory with the long-forgotten wanderers whomhe had succoured on the occasion: the wizened woman in her black ragsand the wizened child in hers. They came up from the great desert andfor the last fifteen days had only a little camel's milk, so they hadsaid, and like rats they huddled together to eat the figs hedistributed.

  He had seen the inn many times since then and the thought came into hismind that he would never see it again. But men are always haunted bythoughts of an impending fate, he said to himself, which never befalls.But it has befallen mine ass to tire under my weight, he cried. He mustbe very tired, Jesus answered, for mine is tired, and I've not much morethan half thy weight; and the puppies are tired, tired of runningalongside of the asses, and tired of being carried, and ourselves aretired and thirsty; shall we knock at the door and cry to the innkeeperthat he rouse out of his bed and give us milk for the puppies if he haveany? I wouldn't have him know that I journeyed hither with thee, Josephreplied, for stories are soon set rolling. Esora has put a bottle ofwater into the wallet; the puppies will have to lap a little. We canspare them a little though we are thirstier than they. She had put breadand figs into the wallet, so they were not as badly off as they thoughtfor; and eating and drinking and talking to the puppies and feeding themthe while, the twain stood looking through the blue, limpid, Syriannight.

  At the end of a long silence Jesus said: the dawn begins; look, Joseph,the stars are not shining as brightly over the Jericho hills as theywere. But Joseph could not see that the stars were dimmer. Are they notwith-drawing? Jesus asked, and then, forgetful of the stars, histhoughts went to the puppies: see how they crouch and tremble under thewall of the garth, he said. There must be a wolf about, he said, andafter he had thrown a stone to hasten the animal's departure he began totalk to the puppies, telling them they need have no fear of wolves, forwhen they were full-grown and were taught by him they would not hold onbut snap and snap again. That is how the Thracian dogs fight, like thewolves, he said, turning to Joseph. He is thinking, Joseph said tohimself, of sheep and dogs and being a shepherd again. But of-what artthou thinking, Joseph?--of that strip of green sky which is the dawn? Ican see, now, that thy shepherd eyes did not deceive thee, Josephanswered. The day begins again; and how wonderful is the return of theday, hill after hill rising out of the shadow. An old land, he said,like the end of the world. Why like the end of the world? Jesus asked.Joseph had spoken casually; he regretted the remark, and while he soughtfor words that would explain it away a train of camels came through thedusk rocking up the hillside, swinging long necks, one bearing on itsback what looked like a gigantic bird. A strange burden, Joseph said,and what it may be I cannot say, but the camels are my camels, and thouart safe out of sight under the wall of this garth.

  A moment after the word that the master had bidden a halt was passed upthe line, and one of the camel-drivers said: she stopped half-an-hourago to drop her young one, and we put him on the dam's back, and shedoesn't feel his weight. We shall rest for an hour between this andJerusalem, and when we lift him down he'll find the dug. But I've aletter for you, Master, from Gaddi, who wishes to see you. I thought todeliver it in Jerusalem. It was fortunate to meet you here. Gaddi willsee you half-a-day sooner than he hoped for. I shall get to him bymidday, Joseph said, raising his eyes from the letter. By midday,Master? Why, in early morning I should have thought for, unless, indeed,you bide here till the innkeeper opens his doors. I have business,Joseph answered, with the Essenes that have settled in a cave above theBrook Kerith. About whom, the camel-driver interjected, there be muchtalk going in Jericho. They've disputed among themselves, some remainingwhere they always were on the eastern bank of the Jordan, but ten or adozen going to the Brook Kerith, with Hazael for their president. Andfor what reason? Joseph inquired. I have told you, Master, all I know,and since you be going to the Brook Kerith the brethren themselves willgive reasons better than I can, even if I had heard what their reasonsbe for differing among themselves. Whereupon Joseph bade his caravanproceed onward
to Jerusalem.

  We shall be surprised here by the daylight if we delay any longer, hesaid, returning to Jesus, and, mounting their asses, they rode down thehillside into a long, shallow valley out of which the track rose upwardsand upwards penetrating into the hills above Jericho.