The Brook Kerith: A Syrian story

  CHAP. XXXI.

  If thou wouldst not miss Mathias' discourse, Brother Jesus, thou musthasten thy steps. He is telling that the Scriptures are but allegories.Some of us are opposed to this view, believing that Adam and Eveare--Yea, Brother, and my thanks to thee for thy admonishment, Jesussaid, for he did not wish to discredit Mathias' reputation fortheological argument; but no sooner was he out of sight of thegate-keeper than he began to examine the great rock that Joseph hadpredicted would one day come crashing down, and, being no wise in ahurry, fell to wondering how much of the mountain-side it would bringwith it when it fell. At present it projected over the pathway forseveral yards, making an excellent store-house, and, his thoughtssuspended between the discussion that was proceeding regarding Adam andEve--whether the original twain had ever lived or were but allegories(themselves and their garden)--he began to consider if the brethren hadlaid in a sufficient stock of firewood, and how long it would take himto chop it into pieces handy for burning. He would be glad to relievethe brethren from all such humble work, and for taking it upon himselfhe would he able to plead an excuse for absenting himself from Mathias'discourses. Hazael would not refuse to assign to him the task of feedingthe doves and the cleaning out of their coops; he would find occupationamong the vines and fig-trees--he was something of a gardener--andHazael would not refuse him permission to return to the hills to seethat all was well with the flocks. Jacob will need to be looked after;and there are the dogs; and if they cannot be brought to look upon Jacobas master their lives will be wasted, he said.

  I seem to read supper in their eyes, he said, and having tied them upsupperless he visited the bitch and her puppies. Brother Ozias hasn'tforgotten to feed her. There is some food still in the platter. But theymust submit, he continued, his thoughts having returned to his dogs,Theusa and Tharsa, and then he stood listening, for he could hearMathias' voice. The door of the lecture-room is closed; if I step softlynone will know that I have returned from the hills, and I can situnsuspected on the balcony till Mathias' allegories are ended, andwatching the evening descending on the cliff it may be that I shall beable to examine the thoughts that assailed me as I ascended thehillside; whether we pursue a corruptible or an incorruptible crown theend is the same, he said. It was not enough for me to love God, I mustneeds ask others to worship him, at first with words of love, and whenlove failed I threatened, I raved; and the sin I fell into others willfall into, for it s natural to man to wish to make his brother likehimself, thereby undoing the work of God. Myself am no paragon; Icondemned the priests whilst setting myself up as a priest, and spoke ofGod and the will of God though in all truth I had very little morereason than they to speak of these things. God has not created us toknow him, or only partially through our consciousness of good and evil.Good and evil do not exist in God's eyes as in our eyes, for he is theauthor of all, but it may be that our sense of good and evil was givento us by him as a token of our divine nature. If this be true, whyshould we puzzle and fret ourselves with distinctions like Mathias? Itwere better to leave the mystery and attend to this life, casting outdesire to know what God is or what nature is, as well as desire forparticular things in this world which long ago I told men todisregard.... A flight of doves distracted his attention, and a momentafter the door of the lecture-room opened and Saddoc and Manahemappeared, carrying somebody dead or who had fainted. As they came acrossthe domed gallery towards the embrasure Jesus heard Manahem say: he willreturn to himself as soon as we get him into the air. And they placedhim where Jesus had been sitting. A little water, Saddoc cried, andJesus ran to the well, and returning with a cup of water he stood bysprinkling the worn, grey face. The heat overcame me, he murmured, but Ishall soon be well and then you will bear me back to hear--The sentencedid not finish, and Jesus said: thou'lt be better here with me, Hazael,than listening to discourses that fatigue the mind. Mathias is veryinsistent, Manahem muttered. He is indeed, Saddoc answered. And whileJesus sat by Hazael, fearing that his life might go out at any moment,Manahem reproved Saddoc, saying that whereas duty is the cause of allgood, we have only to look beyond our own doors to see evil everywhere.Even so, Saddoc answered, what wouldst thou? That the world, Manahemanswered, was created by good and evil angels. Whereupon Saddoc askedhim if he numbered Lilith, Adam's first wife, among the evil angels. Aquestion Manahem did not answer, and, being eager to tell the story, heturned to Jesus, who he guessed did not know it, and began at once totell it, after warning Jesus that it was among their oldest storiesthough not to be found in the Scriptures. She must be numbered among theevil angels, he said, remembering that Saddoc had put the question tohim, for she rebuked Adam, who took great delight in her hair, combingit for his pleasure from morn to eve in the garden, and left him, sayingshe could abide him no longer. At which words, Jesus, Adam sorrowed, andhis grief was such that God heard his sighs and asked him for what hewas grieving, and he said: I live in great loneliness, for Lilith, OLord, has left me, and I beg thee to send messengers who will bring herback. Whereupon God took pity on his servant Adam and bade his threeangels, Raphael, Gabriel and Michael, to go away at once in search ofLilith, whom they found flying over the sea, and her answer to them wasthat her pleasure was now in flying, and for that reason I will notreturn to Adam, she said. Is that the answer we are to bring back toGod? they asked. I have no other answer for him, she answered, being ina humour in which it pleased her to anger God, and the anger that herwords put upon him was so great that to punish her he set himself to thecreation of a lovely companion for Adam. Be thou lonely no more, he saidto Adam. See, I have given Eve to thee. Adam was never lonely again, butwalked through a beautiful garden, enjoying Eve's beauty unceasingly,happy as the day was long, till tidings of their happiness reachedLilith, who by that time had grown weary of flying from sea to sea: Iwill make an end of it, she said, and descending circle by circle shewent about seeking the garden, which she found at last, but failing tofind the gate or any gap in the walls she sat down and began combing herhair. Nor was she long combing it before Lucifer, attracted by therustling, came by, saying: I would be taken captive in the net thouweavest with thy hair, and she answered: not yet; for my business is inyon garden, but into it I can find no way. Wilt lend me thy sinewyshape, Lucifer? for in it I shall be able to glide over the walls andcoil myself into the tree of forbidden fruit, and I shall persuade Eveas she passes to eat of it, for it will be to her great detriment to doso. But of what good will that be to me? Lucifer answered, wouldst thouleave me without a shape whilst thou art tempting Eve? Thy reward willbe that I will come to thee again when I have tempted Eve and made anend of her happiness. We shall repeople the world with sons anddaughters more bright and beautiful and more supple than any that haveever been seen yet. All the same, Lucifer answered, not liking to partwith his shape. But as his desire could not be gainsaid, he lent hisshape to Lilith for an hour. And it was in that hour our first parentsfell into sin, and were chased from the garden. Did she return toLucifer and fulfil her promise or did she cheat him? Saddoc asked. AsManahem was about to answer Saddoc intervened again: Manahem, thouoverlookest the fact that Mathias holds that the Garden of Eden and Adamand Eve, to say nothing of Lilith, are a parable, and his reason forthinking thus is, as thou knowest well, that the Scriptures tell us thatafter eating of the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve sought to hidethemselves from God among the trees.

  He holds as thou sayest, Saddoc, that the garden means the mind of manas an individual; and he who would escape from God flees from himself,for our lives are swayed between two powers: the mind of the universe,which is God, and the separate mind of the individual. Then, if Iunderstand thee rightly, Manahem, and thy master, Mathias, theScriptures melt into imagery? What says Jesus? This, Saddoc, that it waswith such subtleties of discourse and lengthy periods that Mathiasfatigued our Father till he fainted away in his chair. Jesus is right,Manahem answered; it was certainly Mathias' discourse that fatigued ourFather, so why should we prolong the argument in his face while he iscoming back to life? r />
  It was not the length of Mathias' discourse, nor his eloquence, Hazaelsaid, that caused my senses to swoon away. My age will not permit me tolisten long. I would be with Jesus, and I would that ye, Saddoc andManahem, return to the lecture-room at once, else our brother will thinkhis discourse has failed. Jesus is here to give the attendance Irequire. Go, hasten, lest ye miss any of his points. The brethren wereabout to raise a protest, but at a sign from Jesus they obeyed; Mathias'voice was heard as soon as the door of the lecture-room was opened, butthe brethren did not forget to close it, and when silence came againHazael said: Jesus, come hither, sit near me, for I would speak to thee,but cannot raise my voice. Thou'lt sleep here to-night, and to-morrow weshall meet again. And this is well, for my days are numbered. I shallnot be here to see next year's lambs and to agree that this new shepherdshall be recompensed by a gift of eighteen, as is the custom. And Jesus,understanding that the president was prophesying his own death, said:why speakest like this to me who have returned from the hills tostrangers, for all are strangers to me but thou. I shall be sorry toleave thee, Jesus, for our lives have been twisted together, strands ofthe same rope. But it must be plain to thee that I am growing weaker;month by month, week by week, my strength is ebbing. I am going out; butfor what reason should I lament that God has not chosen to retain me afew months longer, since my life cannot be prolonged for more than a fewmonths? My eighty odd years have left me with barely strength enough tosit in the doorway looking back on the way I have come. Every day thethings of this world grow fainter, and life becomes to me an unrealthing, and myself becomes unreal to those around me; only to thee do Iretain anything of my vanished self. So why should I remain? For thysake, lest thou be lonely here? Well, that is reason enough, and I willbear the burden of life as well as I can for thy sake. A burden it is,and for a reason that thou mayest not divine, for thou art still a youngman in my eyes, and, moreover, hast not lived under a roof for manyyears listening to learned interpretations of Scripture. Thou hast notguessed, nor wilt thou ever guess, till age reveals it to thee, that aswe grow old we no longer concern ourselves to love God as we used tolove him. No one would have thought, not even thou, whose mind is alwaysoccupied with God, and who is more conscious of him perhaps than any oneI have known, no one, I say, not even thou, would have thought that aswe approach death our love of God should grow weaker, but this is so. Ingreat age nothing seems to matter, and it is this indifference that Iwish to escape from. Thou goest forth in the morning to lead thy flockin search of pasture, if need be many hours, and God is nearer to us inthe wilderness than he is among men. This meaning, Jesus said, thatunder this roof I, too, may cease to love God? Not cease to love God:one doesn't cease to love God, Hazael answered. But, Hazael, this nightI've yielded up the flocks to a new shepherd, for my limbs have grownweary, and what thou tellest me of old age frightens me. Thou wouldstwarn me that God is only loved on the hills under the sky---- I am tooweak to choose my thoughts or my words, and many things pass out of mymind, Hazael answered. Had I remembered I shouldn't have spoken. But whynot speak, Father? Jesus asked, so that I may be prepared in a measurefor the new life that awaits me. Life never comes twice in the same way,Hazael replied; nor do the same things befall any two men. I know notwhat may befall thee: but the sky, Jesus, will always be before thineeyes and the green fields under thy feet, even while listening toMathias. But thou didst live once under the sky, Jesus said. Not longenough, Hazael murmured, but the love of God was ardent in me when Iwalked by day and night, sleeping under the stars, seeking young men whocould give up their lives to the love of God and bringing them backhither into the fold of the Essenes. In those days there was little elsein me but love of God, and I could walk from dusk to dusk withoutwearying; twelve and fifteen hours were not too many for my feet: myfeet bounded along the road while my eyes followed white clouds movingover the sky; I dreamed of them as God's palaces, and I saw God not onlyin the clouds but in the grass, and in the fields, and the flower thatcovers the fields. I read God in the air and in the waters: and in everytown in Palestine I sought out those that loved God and those that couldlearn to love God. I could walk well in those days, fifteen hours wereless than as many minutes are now. I have walked from Jerusalem to Joppain one day, and the night that I met thy father outside Nazareth I hadwalked twelve hours, though I had been delayed in the morning: eighthours before midday, and after a rest in the wood I went on again forseveral hours more, how many I do not know, I've forgotten. I did notknow the distance that I had walked till I met thy father coming homefrom his work, his tools in the bag upon his shoulder. His voice isstill in my ear. But if it be to Nazareth thou'rt going, come along withme, he said. And I can still hear ourselves talking, myself asking himto direct me to a lodging, and his answering: there's a house in thevillage where thou'lt get one, and I'll lead thee to it. But all thebeds in that house were full; we knocked at other inns, but the men andwomen and children in them were asleep and not to be roused; and if bychance our knocking awakened somebody we were bidden away with threatsthat the dogs would be loosed upon us. Nazareth looks not kindly on thewayfarer to-night, I said. Yet it shall not be said that a stranger hadto sleep in the streets of Nazareth, were thy father's very words to me,Jesus. Come to my house, he said, though it be small and we have to putsomebody out of his bed, it will be better than that our town shouldgain evil repute. Thou canst not have forgotten me coming, for thyfather shook thee out of thy sleep and told thee that he wanted thy bedfor a stranger. I can see thee still standing before me in thy shift,and though the hours I'd travelled had gone down into my very marrow,and sleep was heavy upon my eyes, yet a freshness came upon me as of thedawn when I looked on thee, and my heart told me that I had found onethat would do honour to the Essenes, and love God more than any I hadever met with yet. But I think I hear thee weeping, Jesus. Now, for whatart thou weeping? There is nothing sad in the story, only that it is along time ago. Our speech next day still rings in my ear--my tellingthee of the Pharisees that merely minded the letter of the law, and ofthe Sadducees that said there was no life outside this world except forangels. It is well indeed that I remember our two selves sitting by thedoor on two stools set under a vine, and it throwing pretty patterns ofshadow on the pavement whilst we talked--whilst I talked to thee of thebrethren, who lived down by the Bitter Lake, no one owning anything morethan his fellow, so that none might be distracted from God by thepleasures of this world. I can see clearly through the years thy faceexpectant, and Nazareth--the deeply rutted streets and the hills above.

  The days that we walked in Nazareth are pleasant memories, for I couldnever tell thee enough about the Essenes: their contempt of riches, andthat if there were one among them who had more than another, on enteringthe order he willingly shared it. We were among the hills the day that Itold thee about the baker; how he put a platter with a loaf on it beforeeach of the brethren, how they broke bread, deeming the meal sacred, andit was the next day that we bade farewell to thy father and thy motherand started on our journey; a long way, but one that did not seem longto us, so engaged were we with our hopes. It was with me thou sawestJerusalem for the first time; and I remember telling thee as wejourneyed by the Jordan seeking a ford that the Essenes looked upon oilas a defilement, and if any one of them be anointed without hisapprobation it is wiped off, for we think to be sweaty is a good thing,and to be clothed in white garments, and never to change these till theybe torn to pieces or worn out by time.

  And of the little band that came with us that day from Galilee thereremain Saddoc, Manahem and thyself. All of you learnt from me on thejourney that we laboured till the fifth hour and then assembled togetheragain clothed in white veils, after having bathed our bodies in coldwater. But, Jesus, why this grief? Because I am going from thee? But,dear friend, to come and to go is the law of life, and it may be that Ishall be with thee longer than thou thinkest for; eighty odd years maybe lengthened into ninety: the patriarchs lived till a hundred and moreyears, and we believe that the soul outliv
es the body. Out of thechrysalis we escape from our corruptible bodies, and the beautifulbutterfly flutters Godward. Grieve for me a little when I am gone, butgrieve not before I go, for I would see thy face always happy, as Iremember it in those years long ago in Nazareth. Jesus, Jesus, thoushouldst not weep like this! None should weep but for sin, and thy lifeis known to me from the day in Nazareth when we sat in the streettogether to the day that thou wentest to the Jordan to get baptism fromJohn.

  Ah! that day was the only day that my words were unheeded. But I amsaying things that would seem to wound thee, and for why I know not!Tell me if my words wound or call up painful memories. Thy suffering isforgotten, or should be, for if ever any man merited love and admirationfor a sincere and holy life thou---- I beg of thee, Father, not to sayanother word, for none is less worthy than I am. The greatest sinneramongst us is sitting by thee, one that has not dared to tell his secretto thee.... The memory of my sin has fed upon me and grown stronger,becoming a devil within me, but till now I have lacked courage to cometo thee and ask thee to cast it out. But now since thou art going fromus this year or the next, I wouldn't let thee go without telling it; tonone may I tell it but to thee, for none else would understand it. I amlistening, Jesus, Hazael answered.

  The mutter of the water in the valley below them arose and grew louderin the silence; as Jesus prepared to speak his secret the doors of thelecture-room opened and the monks came out singing:

  In the Lord put I my trust: How say ye to my soul, Flee As a bird to your mountain? For, lo, the wicked bend their Bow, they make ready their arrow Upon the string, that they may privily Shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what Can the righteous do? For the righteous Lord loveth Righteousness; his countenance Doth behold the upright.

  The words of the psalm are intended for me, Jesus whispered, and nowthat the brethren are here I may not speak, but to-morrow---- There maybe no to-morrow for us, the president answered. Even so, Jesus answered,I cannot speak to-night. It is as if I were bidden to withhold my secrettill to-morrow. We know not why we speak or why we are silent, butsilence has been put upon me by the words of the psalm. Be it so, thepresident answered, and he was helped by Saddoc and Manahem to his feet.Our Brother Jesus, he said, has given over the charge of our flocks to ayoung shepherd in whom he has confidence, and Jesus sleeps under a roofto-night, the first for many years, for, like us, he is getting older,and the rains and blasts of last winter have gone into his bones. Allthe cells, Father, Saddoc replied, are filled. I know that well, Saddoc,Hazael said as he went out; Jesus can sleep here on these benches; amattress and a cloak will be sufficient for him who has slept incaverns, or in valleys on heaps of stones that he piled so that he mightnot drown in the rains. Manahem will get thee a mattress, Jesus; heknows where to find one. I am strong enough to walk alone, Saddoc. Anddisengaging himself from Saddoc's arm he walked with the monks towardshis cell, joining them in the psalm:

  All the powers of the Lord Bless ye the Lord; praise and Exalt him above all for ever.

  As the doors of the cell closed Saddoc approached Jesus, and, breakinghis reverie, he said: thou hast returned to us at last; and it was nottoo soon, for the winter rains are cold on bones as old as thine. Buthere comes Manahem with a mattress for thee. On the bench here, Manahem;on the bench he'll lie comfortably, and we'll get him a covering, forthe nights are often chilly though the days be hot, we must try to makea comfortable resting-place for him that has guarded our flocks theselong years. Wilt tell us if thou beest glad to yield thy flock to Jacoband if he will sell ewes and rams to the Temple for sacrifice? Ask menot any questions to-night, Brother Saddoc, for I'm troubled in mind.Forgive me my question, Jesus, Saddoc answered, and the three Essenes,leaning over the edge of the gorge, stood listening to the mutter of thebrook. At last, to break the silence that the brook rumpled withoutbreaking, Jesus asked if a wayfarer never knocked at the door of thecenoby after dark asking for bread and board. None knows the path wellenough to keep to it after dark, Saddoc said; though the moon be highand bright the shadows disguise the path yonder. The path is always indarkness where it bends round the rocks, and the wayfarer would miss hisfooting and fall over into the abyss, even though he were a shepherd.Thyself wouldst miss it. Saddoc speaks well; none can follow the path,Manahem said, and fortunately, else we should have all the vagrants ofthe country knocking at our door.

  We shall have one to-night--vagrant or prophet, Jesus said, and askedhis brethren to look yonder; for it seemed to him that a man had justcome out of the shadow of an overhanging rock. Manahem could see nobody,for, he said, none could find the way in the darkness, and if it be ademon, he continued, and fall, it will not harm him: the devil will holdhim up lest he dash himself at the bottom of the ravine. But if it be aman of flesh and blood like ourselves he will topple over yon rock, andManahem pointed to a spot, and they waited, expecting to see the shadowor the man they were watching disappear, but the man or the shadow keptclose to the cliffs, avoiding what seemed to be the path so skilfullythat Saddoc and Manahem said he must know the way. He will reach thebridge safely, cried Saddoc, and we shall have to open our doors to him.Now he is crossing the bridge, and now he begins the ascent. Let us praythat he may miss the path through the terraces. But would you have himmiss it, Saddoc, Jesus asked, for the sake of thy rest? He shall have mymattress; I'll sleep on this bench in the window under the sky, andshall be better there: a roof is not my use nor wont. But who, saidSaddoc, can he be?--for certainly the man, if he be not an evil spirit,is coming to ask for shelter for the night; and if he be not a demon hemay be a prophet or robber: once more the hills are filled with robbers.Or it may be, Jesus said, the preacher of whom Jacob spoke to me thisevening; he came up from the Jordan with a story of a preacher that themultitude would not listen to and sought to drown in the river, and ourfuture shepherd told me how the rabble had followed him over the hillswith the intent to kill him. Some great and terrible heresy he must bepreaching to stir them like that, Manahem said, and he asked if theshepherd had brought news of the prophet's escape or death. Jesusanswered that the shepherd thought the prophet had escaped into a cave,for he saw the crowd dispersing, going home like dogs from a hunt whenthey have lost their prey. If so, he has been lying by in the cave. Whocan he be? Saddoc asked. Only a shepherd could have kept to the path.Now he sees us ... and methinks he is no shepherd, but a robber.

  The Essenes waited a few moments longer and the knocking they hadexpected came at their door. Do not open it, Saddoc cried. He is forsure a robber sent in advance of his band, or it may be a prisoner ofthe Romans, and to harbour him may put us on crosses above the hills. Weshall hang! Open not the door! If it be a wayfarer lost among the hillsa little food and water will save him, Jesus answered. Open not thedoor, Jesus; though he be a prophet I would not open to him. A prophethe may be, and no greater danger besets us, for our later prophetsinduced men to follow them into the desert, promising that they shouldwitness the raising of the dead with God riding the clouds and comingdown for judgment. I say open not the door to him, Jesus! He may be oneof the followers of the prophets, of which we have seen enough in theselast years, God knows! The cavalry of Festus may be in pursuit of himand his band, and they have cut down many between Jerusalem and Jericho.I say open not the door! We live among terrors and dangers, Jesus; opennot the door! Hearken, Saddoc, he calls us to open to him, Jesus said,moving towards the door. He is alone. We know he is, for we have seenhim coming down a path on which two men pass each other with difficulty.He is a wayfarer, and we've been safe on this ledge of rock for manyyears; and times are quieter now than they have been since the dispersalof the great multitude that followed Theudas and were destroyed, and thelesser multitude that followed Banu; they, too, have perished.

  Open not the door, Jesus! Saddoc cried again. There are Sicarii who killmen in the daytime, mingling themselves among the multitude with daggershidden in their garments, their mission being to stab those th
at disobeythe law in any fraction. We're Essenes, and have not sent bloodofferings to the Temple. Open not the door. Sicarii or Zealots travel insearch of heretics through the cities of Samaria and Judea. Open not thedoor! Men are for ever fooled, Saddoc continued, and will never cease toopen their doors to those who stand in need of meat and drink. It willbe safer, Jesus, to bid him away. Tell him rather that we'll let down abasket of meat and drink from the balcony to him. Art thou, Manahem, forturning this man from the door or letting him in? Jesus asked. There isno need to be frightened, Manahem answered; he is but a wanderer,Saddoc. A wanderer he cannot be, for he has found his way along the pathin the darkness of the night, Saddoc interjected. Open not the door, Itell thee, or else we all hang on crosses above the hills to-morrow.But, Saddoc, we are beholden to the law not to refuse bed and board tothe poor, Manahem replied, returning from the door. If we do not open,Jesus said, he will leave our door, and that will be a greatermisfortune than any that he may bring us. Hearken, Saddoc! He speaksfair enough, Saddoc replied; but we may plead that after sunset in thetimes we live in---- But, Manahem, Jesus interjected, say on which sidethou art.... We know there is but one man; and we are more than a matchfor one. Put a sword in Saddoc's hand. No! Manahem! for I should seemlike a fool with a sword in my hand. Since thou sayest there is but oneman and we are three, it might be unlucky to turn him from our doors.May I then open to him? Jesus asked, and he began to unbar the greatdoor, and a heavy, thick-set man, weary of limb and mind, staggered intothe gallery, and stood looking from one to the other, as if trying toguess which of the three would be most likely to welcome him. His largeand bowed shoulders made his bald, egg-shaped skull (his turban hadfallen in his flight) seem ridiculously small; it was bald to the ears,and a thick black beard spread over the face like broom, and nearly tothe eyes; thick black eyebrows shaded eyes so piercing and brilliantthat the three Essenes were already aware that a man of great energy hadcome amongst them. He had run up the terraces despite his greatgirdlestead and he stood before them like a hunted animal, breathinghard, looking from one to the other, a red, callous hand scratching inhis shaggy chest, his eyes fixed first on Saddoc and then on Manahem andlastly on Jesus, whom he seemed to recognise as a friend. May I rest alittle while? If so, give me drink before I sleep, he asked. No food,but drink. Why do ye not answer? Do ye fear me, mistaking me for arobber? Or have I wandered among robbers? Where am I? Hark: I am but awayfarer and thou'rt a shepherd of the hills, I know thee by thy garb,thou'lt not refuse me shelter. And Jesus, turning to Saddoc and Manahem,said: he shall have the mattress I was to sleep upon. Give it to him,Manahem. Thou shalt have food and a coverlet, he said, turning to thewayfarer. No food! he cried; but a drink of water. There is some ewe'smilk on the shelf, Manahem. Thou must be footsore, he said, giving themilk to the stranger, who drank it greedily. I'll get thee a linengarment so that thou mayst sleep more comfortable; and I'll bathe thyfeet before sleep; sleep will come easier in a fresh garment. But towhose dwelling have I come? the stranger asked. A shepherd told me theEssenes lived among the rocks.... Am I among them? He told me to keepclose to the cliff's edge or I should topple over. We watched thee, andit seemed every moment that thou couldst not escape death. It will bewell to ask him his name and whence he comes, Saddoc whispered toManahem. The shepherd told thee that we are Essenes, and it remains forthee to tell us whom we entertain. A prisoner of the Romans---- Aprisoner of the Romans! Saddoc cried. Then indeed we are lost; aprisoner of the Romans with soldiers perhaps at thy heels! A prisonerfled from Roman justice may not lodge here.... Let us put him beyond ourdoors. And becoming suddenly courageous Saddoc went up to Paul and triedto lift him to his feet. Manahem, aid me!

  Jesus, who had gone to fetch a basin of water and a garment, returnedand asked Saddoc and Manahem the cause of their unseemly struggle withtheir guest. They replied that their guest had told them he was aprisoner of the Romans. Even so, Jesus answered, we cannot turn him fromour doors. These men have little understanding, Paul answered. I'm not acriminal fled from Roman justice, but a man escaped from Jewishpersecution. Why then didst thou say, cried Saddoc, that thou'rt aprisoner of the Romans? Because I would not be taken to Jerusalem to betried before the Jews. I appealed to Caesar, and while waiting on theship to take me to Italy, Festus gave me leave to come here, for I heardthat there were Jews in Jericho of great piety, men unlike the Jews ofJerusalem, who though circumcised in the flesh are uncircumcised inheart and ear. Of all of this I will tell you to-morrow, and do you tellme now of him that followed me along the cliff. We saw no one followingthee; thou wast alone. He may have missed me before I turned down thepath coming from Jericho. I speak of Timothy, my beloved son in thefaith. What strange man is this that we entertain for the night? Saddocwhispered to Manahem. And if any disciple of mine fall into the hands ofthe Jews of Jerusalem---- We know not of what thou'rt speaking, Jesusanswered; and it is doubtless too long a story to tell to-night. I mustgo at once in search of Timothy, Paul said, and he turned towards thedoor. The moon is setting, Jesus cried, and returning to-night will meanthy death over the cliffs edge. There is no strength in thy legs to keepthee to the path. I should seek him in vain, Paul answered. Rest alittle while, Jesus said, and drink a little ewe's milk, and when thouhast drunken I'll bathe thy feet.

  Without waiting for Paul's assent he knelt to untie his sandals. We camefrom Caesarea to Jericho to preach the abrogation of the law. Whatstrange thing is he saying now? The abrogation of the law! Saddocwhispered to Manahem. The people would not listen to us, and, stirred upby the Jews, they sought to capture us, but we escaped into the hillsand hid in a cave that an angel pointed out to us. Hark, an angelpointed out a cave to him! Manahem whispered in Saddoc's ear. Then hemust be a good man, Saddoc answered, but we know not if he speaks thetruth. We have had too many prophets; he is another, and of the sametribe, setting men by the ears. We have had too many prophets!

  Now let me bathe thy feet, which are swollen, and after bathing Paul'sfeet Jesus relieved him of his garment and passed a white robe over hisshoulders. Thou'lt sleep easier in it. They would have done well tohearken to me, Paul muttered. Thou'lt tell us thy story of ill treatmentto-morrow, Jesus said, and he laid Paul back on his pillow, and a momentafter he was asleep.