CHAP. IX.
I shall pray that the Lord call thee out of the desert to join thy voicewith those already preaching, Joseph cried; and the hermit answered him:let us praise the Lord for having sent us the new prophet! But do thouhasten to John, he called after Joseph, who ran and walked alternately,striving up every hillock for sight of the ferryman's boat which mightwell be waiting on this side for him to step on board; Joseph being in ahurry, it would certainly be lying under the opposite bank, the ferrymanasleep in it, and so soundly that no cries would awaken him.
But Joseph's fortune was kinder than he anticipated, for on arriving atthe Jordan he found himself at the very spot where the ferryman had tiedhis boat and--napping--awaited a passenger. So rousing him with a greatshout, Joseph leaped on board and told the old fellow to pull hishardest; but having been pulling across the Jordan for nigh fiftyyears, the ferryman was little disposed to alter his stroke for thepleasure of the young man, who, he remembered, had not paid himover-liberally yester-evening; and in the mid-stream he rested on hisoars, so that he might the better discern the great multitude gatheredon yon bank. For baptism, he said; or making ready to go home afterbaptism, he added; and letting his boat drift, sat discoursing on thecold of the water, which he said was colder than he ever knew it beforeat this season of the year: remarks' that Joseph considered well enoughin themselves, but out of his humour. So ye be craving for baptism, theferryman said, and looked as if he did not care a wild fig whetherJoseph got it that morning or missed it. But there was no use arguingwith the ferryman, who after a long stare fell to his oars, but soleisurely that Joseph seized one of them and--putting his full strengthupon it--turned the boat's head up-stream.
There be no landing up-stream anywhere, so loose my oars or I'll leavethem to thee, the ferryman growled, and we shall be twirling aboutstream till midday and after. But I can row, Joseph said. Then row! andthe ferryman put the other oar into his hand. But we shall be quickeracross if thou'lt leave them to me. And as this seemed to Joseph thetruth, he fell back into his seat, and did not get out of it till theboat touched the bank. But he jumped too soon and fell into the mud,causing much laughter along the bank, and not a few ribald remarks, somesaying that he needed baptism more than those that had gotten it. But ahand was reached out to him, and that he should ask for the Baptistbefore thinking of his clothes showed the multitude that he must beanother prophet, which he denied, calling on heaven to witness that hewas not one: whereupon he was mistaken for a great sinner, and heardthat however great his repentance it would avail him nothing, for theBaptist was gone away with his disciple. Joseph, thinking that he hadleft the Baptist's disciple in the desert, began to argue that thiscould not be, and raved incontinently at the man, bringing others roundhim, till he was hemmed into a circle of ridicule. Among the multitudemany were of the same faith as Joseph himself, and these drew him out ofthe circle and explained to him that the Baptist baptized in the riverfor several hours, till--unable to bear the cold any longer--he had goneaway, his teeth chattering, with Jesus the Essene.
Jesus the Essene! Joseph repeated, but before he could inquire further,men came running along the bank, saying they had sins to repent, and onhearing that the Baptist was gone and would not return that day, theybegan to tell each other stories of the great cloud that was seen in theeast, bearing within it a chariot; and from the chariot angels were seendescending all the morning with flaming swords in their hands. Get theebaptized! they shouted, and clamoured, and pushed to and fro--athronging gesticulating multitude of brown faces and hooked noses, ofbony shoulders and striped shirts. Get thee baptized before sunset!everybody was crying. And Joseph watched the veils floating from theirturbans as they fled southwards. On what errand? he asked; in search ofthe Baptist or the new disciple Jesus? Not the new disciple, was theanswer he got back; for Jesus leaves baptism to John. But why doesn'tJesus baptize? Joseph asked, since he is a disciple of the Baptist. Ifbaptism be good for him, it is good enough for another. And so themultitude seemed to think, and were confounded till one amongst themsaid that Jesus might not be endowed with the gift of baptism; or belikehave accepted baptism from John for a purpose, it having been prophesiedthat the Messiah would have a forerunner. But who, asked many voicestogether, has said that Jesus is the Messiah? some maintaining thatJesus was the lesser prophet. But this contention was not agreeable toall, some having, for, reasons unknown to Joseph, ranged themselvesalready alongside of Jesus, believing him to be greater than John, yetnot the final prophet promised to Israel. And these came to blows withthe others, who looked upon John as the Messiah, and Jesus as the onewhom John had called to his standard: a recruit--nothing. Skinny fistswere striving in the air and--thrusting himself between twodisputants--Joseph begged them to tell him if Jesus, John's disciple,was from the cenoby? Yea, yea, he heard from all sides; the shepherd ofthe brotherhood--that one who follows their flocks over the hills; butnot being sure of his mission, he has gone into the desert to wait for asign. An Essene, but one that was seldom in the cenoby, more often to bemet on the hills with his flocks. A shepherd? Joseph asked. Yea, and itwas among the hills that John met him, and seeing a prophet in him spoketo him, and Jesus, seeing that another prophet was risen up in Israel,had thrown his flute away and gone to the president to ask for leave topreach the baptism of repentance unto men, for the grand day is at hand.Joseph having heard this before, heeded only tidings of the new prophet,when a woman pressing forward shouted: a pleasant voice to hear on themountain-side, said she; and another added: the hills will seem lonelywithout his gait. A great slinger, cried a third. But why did he cometo John for baptism, knowing himself to be the greater prophet? Aquestion that started them all wrangling again, and crying one againstthe other that repentance was necessary, or else the Lord would desertthem or choose another race.
These are irksome gossips, a man said to Joseph; but come with me andI'll tell thee much about him. No better shepherd than he ever rangedthe hills. I wouldn't have thee forget, mate, another man said, thathe's gone without leaving us his great cure for scab. True for thee,mate, answered the first, for a great forgetfulness has been on him thistime past.... A great cure, certainly, which he might have left us. Andthe twain fell to discussing their several cures for scab. Anothershepherd came by and passed the remark that Jesus knew the hills likeone born among them. But neither could tell whence he came, nor did theyknow if he brought the cure for scab with him, or learnt it at thecenoby. The brotherhood has secrets that it is forbidden to tell. I bewith thee on this matter, said another shepherd, that wherever he goes,he'll be a prize to a master, for the schooling he has been through willstand to him.
The last of this chatter that came to Joseph's ears was that Jesus coulddo as much with sheep as any man since Abraham, and--satisfied with thisknowledge--he took his leave of the shepherds, certain that Jesus musthave been among the Essenes for many years before God called to him toleave his dogs and to follow John, whom he began to recognise as greaterthan himself, but whom he was destined to supersede, as John's owndisciple, Banu, testified in the desert before Joseph's own eyes. Heremembered how Banu saw John in a vision plunging Jesus into Jordan. Oftrickery and cozenage there was none: for the men along these banks borewitness to the baptism that Joseph would have seen for himself if he hadstarted a little earlier; nor could the Jesus who came to John forbaptism be other than the young shepherd whom Joseph had seen, at thebeginning of his novitiate, walking with the president in deep converse;the president apparently trying to dissuade him from some project.Joseph could not remember having heard anyone speak so familiarly or soauthoritatively to the president, a man some twenty years older; and hewondered at the time how a mere shepherd from the hills could talk on anequality, as if they were friends, with the president. The shepherd, henow heard, was an Essene, but he lived among the hills, and Josephremembered the striped shirt, the sheepskin and the long stride. Hismemory continued to unfold, and he recalled with singular distinctnessand pleasure the fine broad brow curving u
pwards--a noble arch, he saidto himself--the eyes distant as stars and the underlying sadness in hisvoice oftentimes soft and low, but with a cry in it; and he rememberedhow their eyes met, and it seemed to Joseph that he read in theshepherd's eyes a look of recognition and amity.
And now, as he walked from the Jordan to the cenoby, he remembered how,all one night after that meeting, dreams of a mutual destiny plaguedhim: how he slept and was awakened by visions that fled from his mind ashe strove to recall them. But was this young shepherd the one that Banusaw John baptize in the Jordan? It cannot be else, he said to himself.But whither was Jesus gone? Did the brethren know, and if they did knowwould they tell him? It was against the rule to put questions: only thepresident could tell him, and he dared not go to the president. Yetconsult somebody he must; and a few days afterwards he got leave againto visit Banu, whom he found lying in his cave, sick: not very sick;though having eaten nothing for nearly two days he begged Joseph tofetch him a little water from the rock; which Joseph did. After havingdrunk a little the hermit seemed to revive, and Joseph related how hemissed Jesus on the bank and had no tidings of him except that he wasgone into the desert to meditate. But the desert is large, and I knownot which side of the lake he has chosen. To which Banu answered: Johnis baptizing in the Jordan; get thee baptized and repent! On which hereached out his hand to his store of locusts, and while munching a fewhe added: the Baptist is greater than Jesus, and he is still baptizing.Get thee to Jordan! At this Joseph took offence and returned to thecenoby with the intention of resuming his teaching. But he was again sopossessed of Jesus that he could not keep his mind on the lesson beforehim: a pupil was often forced to put a question to him in a loud voice,and perhaps to repeat it, before Joseph's sick reverie was sufficientlybroken for him to formulate an answer. The pain of the effort to returnto them was so apparent in his face that the pupils began to be sorryfor him and kept up a fire of questions, to save him from the melancholyabstractions to which he lately seemed to have become liable. The causeof his grief they could not guess, but he was not sure they did notsuspect the cause; and so the classes in which he heretofore took somuch pleasure came to be dreaded by him. Every moment except those inwhich he sat immersed in dreams was a penance and a pain; and at last hepleaded illness, and Mathias took his class, leaving Joseph to wanderas far as he liked from the cenoby, which had become hateful to him.
He was often met in the public gardens in Jericho, watching the peoplegoing by, vaguely interested and vaguely wearied by the thoughts thattheir different shows called up in his mind; and he was always painfullyconscious that nothing mattered: that the great void would never befilled up again: and that time would not restore to him a single desireor hope. Nothing matters, he often said to himself, as he sat drawingpatterns in the gravel with his stick. Yet he had no will to die, onlyto believe he was the victim of some powerful malign influence.
One day as he sat watching the wind in the palm-trees, it seemed to himthat this influence, this demon, was always moving behind his life,disturbing and setting himself to destroy any project that Joseph mightform. Another day it seemed to Joseph that the demon cast a net overhim, and that--entangled in the meshes--he was being drawn--Somebodyspoke to him, and he awoke so affrighted that the gossip could hardlykeep himself from laughing outright. If the end of the world were athand, let the end come to pass! he said; but he did not go to John forbaptism. He knew not why, only that he could not rouse himself! And itwas not till it came to be rumoured in Jericho that a prophet was goneto Egypt to learn Greek that he awoke sufficiently to ask why a Jewishprophet needed Greek. The answer he got was that the new doctrinerequired a knowledge of Greek; Greek being a world-wide language, andthe doctrine being also world-wide. As there was but one God for allthe world, it was reasonable to suppose that every man might hope forsalvation, be he Jew or Gentile. It seemed to Joseph that this doctrinecould only emanate from the young shepherd he had met in the cenoby, andhe joined a caravan, and for fifteen days dreamed of the meeting thatawaited him at the end of the journey--and of the delightful instructionin Greek that he was going to impart to Jesus. The heights of MountSinai turned his thoughts backward only for a moment, and he continuedhis dream of Jesus, continuing without interruption along theshell-strewn shores of the Sea of Arabah, on and on into the peninsula,till he stepped from the lurching camel into the great caravanserai inAlexandria.
Without exactly expecting to find Jesus waiting for him in the street,he had dreamed of meeting him somewhere in the city. He was sure hewould recognise that lean face, lit with brilliant eyes, in any crowd,and the thought of getting news of Jesus in the synagogues in some sortdrowsed in his mind. As Jesus did not happen to be waiting outside thecaravanserai, Joseph sought him from synagogue to synagogue, withoutgetting tidings of him but of another, for the camel-drivers at MountSinai had not informed him wrongly: a young Jew had passed through thecity on his way to Athens, but as he did not correspond to Joseph'sremembrances of Jesus, Joseph did not deem it to be worth his while tofollow this Jew to Athens. He remained in Alexandria without forming anyresolutions, seeking Jesus occasionally in the Jewish quarters; and whenthey were all searched he returned to the synagogues once more and begana fresh inquisition, but very soon he began to see that the faces abouthim were overspread with incredulous looks and smiles, especially whenhe related that his friend was the young prophet discovered by Johnamong the hills of Judea, tending sheep.
What tale is this that he tells us? the Jews asked apart; but findingJoseph well instructed and of agreeable presence and manner, they mademuch of him. If Galilee could produce such a man as Joseph, Galilee wasgoing up in the world. We will receive thee and gladly, but speak nomore to us of thy shepherd prophet, and betake thyself to our schools ofphilosophy, which thou'lt enjoy, for thy Greek is excellent. But whotaught thee Greek? And while Joseph was telling of Azariah, littlesmiles played about his eyes and mouth, for the incredulity of theAlexandrian Jews had begotten incredulity in him, and he began to seehow much absurdity his adventure made show for. The Alexandrian Jewsliked him better for submitting himself so cheerfully to their learningand their ideas, and he became a conspicuous and interesting person,without knowledge that he was becoming one. Nor was it till havingmoulded himself, or been moulded, into a new shape that he began tothink that he might have done better if he had left the moulding to God.His conscience told him this and reminded him how he vowed himself toJesus, whom Banu saw in a vision. All the same he remained, notunnaturally, a young man enticed by the charm of the Greek language, andthe science of the Alexandrian philosophers, who were every onepossessed of Mathias's skill in dialectics. They all knew Mathias andwere imbued with much respect for him as a teacher, and were willing toinstruct Joseph in psychology, taking up the lesson where Mathias closedthe book. So, putting his conscience behind him, Joseph listened, hisears wide open and his mind alert to understand that it was a child'sstory--the report in Jerusalem that the end of the world wasapproaching, and that God would remould it afresh--as if God were humanlike ourselves, animated with like business and desires! He heard forthe first time that to arrive at any clear notion of divinity we mustbegin by stripping divinity of all human attributes, and when every oneis sloughed, what remains? Divinity, Joseph answered; and his instructorbowed his head, saying: here is no matter for reflection.
The philosophers were surprised to learn that in Jerusalem many stillretained the belief that God was no more than a man of colossal stature,angry, revengeful, and desirous of burnt offerings and of prayers whichwere little better; that the corruptible body could be raised from thedead and given back to the soul for a dwelling. That Jerusalem hadfallen so low in intellect was not known to them; and Joseph, feeling hewas making a noise in the world, admitted that despite the knowledge ofthe Greek language he accepted the theory that the soul was createdbefore the body and waited in a sort of dim hall, hanging like a bat,for the creation of the body which it was predestined to descend into,till the death of the body released it. H
e was, however, now willing tobelieve that the souls of all the wise men mentioned in the books ofMoses were sent down to earth as to a colony; great souls could notabide like bats in the darkness, but are ever desirous of contemplationand learning. And on pursuing this thought in the Greek language, whichlends itself to subtle shades of thought, he discovered that there arethree zones: the first zone is reason, the second passion and the thirdappetite. And this his first psychological discovery was approved by histeacher, and many months were passed over in agreeable exercises of themind of like nature, interrupted only by letters from his father, askinghim when he proposed to return home.
After reading one of these letters, his unhappiness lasted sometimesfor a whole day, and it was revived many times during the week; butphilosophy enabled him to resist the voice of conscience still a littlewhile, and even a letter relating the death of his grandmother did notdecide his departure. It seemed at first to have decided him, and hetold all his friends that he was leaving with the next caravan. But ofwhat use, he asked himself, for me to return to Galilee? Granny is inher grave: could I bring her back to life I would return! So he remainedin Egypt for some time longer, and what enforced his return were thelong plains, in which oxen drew the plough from morning till evening;and he had begun to long for clouds and for the hills, and the desire toescape from the plain grew stronger every day till at last he could notdo else than yield to it. By the next caravan, he said to himself.
In Egypt he had met no prophet, only philosophers, and becoming oncemore obsessed by miracles, he hastened to Banu, but of Jesus Banu couldonly tell him that he was doing the work that our Father had given himto do. Which is more than thou art doing. Go and get baptism from John!Go back to Jericho and wait for a sign, leaving me in peace, for I needit, having been troubled by many, eager and anxious about things that donot matter. I will indeed, Joseph replied, for nothing matters to mesince I cannot find him. And he returned to Jericho, saying to himselfthat Jesus must be known to every shepherd; perhaps to that one, hesaid, running to head back his flock, which has been tempted by a patchof young corn; Joseph stood at gaze, for the shepherd wore the samegarb as Jesus had done: a turban fixed on the head with two tiring-ringsof camel's hair, with veils floating from the shoulders to save the neckfrom the sun. Jesus, too, wore a striped shirt, and over it was buckleda dressed sheepskin; and Joseph pondered on the shepherd's shoon, on hisleathern water-bottle, on his long slender fingers twitching the thongsof the sling. He had been told that no better slinger had been known inthese hills than Jesus. But he had left the hills and had gone, whithernone could tell! He was gone, whither no man knew, not even Banu. He isabout his Father's work, was all Banu could say; and Joseph wandered onfrom shepherd to shepherd, questioning them all, and when none was insight he cried again Jesus's name to the winds, and never passed a cavewithout looking into it, though he had lost hope of finding him. But hecontinued his search, for it whiled the time away, though it did nothingelse, and one day as he lay under a rock, watching a shepherd passingacross the opposite hillside, he tried to summon courage to call him;but judging him to be one of those whom he had already asked for tidingsof Jesus, he let him go, and fell to thinking of the look that wouldcome into the shepherd's face on hearing the same question put to himagain. A poor demented man! he would mutter to himself as he went away.Nor was Joseph sure that his mind was not estranged from him. He couldno longer fix it upon anything: it wandered as incontinently as the windamong the hills, and very often he seemed to have come back to himselfafter a long absence, but without any memory. Yet he must have beenthinking of something; and he was trying to recall his thoughts, whenthe shepherd came back into view again and Joseph remarked to himselfthat he was without a flock. He seemed to be seeking something, forfrom a sheer edge he peered down into the valley. A ewe that has fallenover, no doubt, Joseph thought; but what concern of mine is thatshepherd who has lost a ewe, and whether he will find his ewe or willfail to find it? Of no concern whatever, he said to himself,and--forgetful of the shepherd--he began to watch the evening gatheringin the sky. Very soon, he said, the hills will be folded in a dim blueveil, and sleep will perchance blot out the misery that has brooded inme all this livelong day, he muttered. May I never see another, butclose my eyes for ever on the broad ruthless light. Of what avail towitness another day? All days are alike to me.
It seemed to Joseph that he was of a sort dead already, for he coulddetach himself from himself, and consider himself as indifferently as hemight a blade of grass. My life, he said, is like these bare hills, andthe one thing left for me to desire is death.
A footstep aroused him from his dream. The man whom he had seen on thehillside yonder had crossed the valley, and he began to describe theanimals he had lost, before Joseph recovered from his reverie. No, hesaid, I have seen no camels. Camels might have passed him by without hisseeing them, but there was no obligation on him to confide his misery tothe shepherd, a rough, bearded man in a sheepskin, who thanked him andwas about to go, when Joseph called after him: if you want help to seekyour camels, I'll come with you. Even the company of this man werebetter than his loneliness; and together they crossed some hills. Why,there be my camels, as I'm alive! the camel-driver cried. Joseph hadbrought him luck, for in a valley close at hand the camels were found,staring into emptiness. Strange abstractions! Joseph said to himself,and then to the camel-driver: since I have found your camels, who knowsbut that you may tell me of one Jesus, an Essene from the cenoby on theeastern bank of the Jordan? A shepherd of these hills? the man asked,and Joseph replied: yes, indeed. To which the camel-driver answered: ifI hear of him, I'll send him a message that you are looking for him, andI'll send you word that he has been found. But you'll never find him,Joseph answered. You didn't think you would find my camels, the driverreplied; but so it fell out, and if I could only find a few more camels,or the money to buy them, I could lay down a great trade in figs betweenJericho and Jerusalem; he related simply, not knowing that the man hewas talking to could give him all the money he required; telling thatfigs ripen earlier in Jericho, especially if the trees have theadvantage of high rocks behind them.
It pleased Joseph to listen to his patter: it seemed to him that hisfather was talking to him, and he was plunged in such misery that he hadto extricate himself somehow. So he signed the deed that evening, andwithin a month a caravan laden with figs went forth and wended its waysafely to Jerusalem. Another caravan followed a few weeks after, andstill larger profits were made, and these becoming known to certainthieves, the next caravan was waylaid and driven away to the coast, andthe figs shipped to some foreign part or sold to unscrupulous dealers,who knew them to be stolen. The loss was so great that Gaddi said toJoseph: if we lose a second caravan we shall be worse off than we werewhen we began, and we shall lose a third and a fourth, unless therobbers be driven out of their caves. Let us then go to the Romangovernor, Pilate, and lay our case before him. Joseph had no fault tofind with Gaddi's words, and he said: it may be that I shall go toPilate myself, for I am known to him through my father, who tradeslargely between Tiberias and Antioch with salt fish.
It so happened that Pilate had received instructions from Rome to giveevery protection to trade, it being hoped thereby to win the Jews fromreligious disputations, which always ended in riots. Pilate thereforenow found the occasion he needed. Joseph had brought it to him, for theridding of the road between Jerusalem and Jericho would evince hisability as administrator; and with his hand in his beard, his fine eyesbent favourably upon Joseph, he promised that all the forces of theRoman Empire would be employed to smoke out these nests of robbers. Fromthe account given by Joseph of the caves, he did not deem it worthwhile to send soldiers groping through the darkness of rocks; he was ofopinion that bundles of damp straw would serve the purpose admirably;and turning to the captain of the guard he appealed to him, and got foranswer that a few trusses of damp straw would send forth such a reekthat all within the cave would be choked, or reel out half blinded.
Jo
seph reminded Pilate and the captain of the guard that the openings ofthe caves were not always accessible, but abutted over a ledge away downa precipitous cliff. It might be necessary to lower soldiers down inbaskets, or the caves might be closed with mortised stones. Joseph'scounsel was wise; the closing of the caves proved very efficacious inridding the hills of robbers, though in some cases the robbers managedto pick a way out, and then sought other caves, which were not difficultto find, the hills abounding in such places of hiding. A cave wouldsometimes have two outlets, and it was hard to get the shepherds tobetray the robbers, their fear of them was so great. But within sixmonths the larger dens were betrayed, and while the robbers writhed thelast hours of their lives away on crosses, long trains of camels andasses pursued their way from Jericho to Jerusalem and back again,without fear of molestation, the remnant of robbers never daring to domore than draw away a single camel or ass found astray from theencampment.
The result of all this labour was that figs were no longer scarce inJerusalem; and when a delay in bringing wheat from Moab was announced toPilate, he sent a messenger to Joseph, it having struck him that thetransport service so admirably organised by them both was capable ofdevelopment. A hundred camels, Joseph answered, needs a great sum, butperhaps Gaddi, my partner, may have some savings or my father may giveme the money.
And with Pilate's eyes full upon him, Joseph sat thinking of the lake,recalling every bight and promontory, and asking himself how it was thathe had not thought of Galilee for so long a time. He longed to set eyeson Magdala, and he would have ridden away at once, but an escort wouldhave to be ordered, for a single horseman could not ride through Samariawithout a certainty of being robbed before he got to the end of hisjourney. Pilate's voice roused Joseph from his reverie, and afterapologising to the Roman magistrate for his absentmindedness, he wentaway to consult hurriedly with Gaddi, and then to make preparations forthe journey. It was a journey of three days on horseback, he was told,but of two days only on camel-back, for a camel can walk three miles anhour for eighteen hours. But what should I be doing on a camel's backfor eighteen hours? Joseph cried, and the driver showed Joseph how withhis legs strapped on either side of the beast he could lie back in thepack and sleep away many hours. Your head, sir, would soon getaccustomed to the rocking. But I should have to leave my horse behind,Joseph said. He was fain to see his father and the lake; he was alreadythere in spirit, and would like to transport his cumbersome body therein the least possible time; but he could not separate himself fromXerxes, a beautiful horse that he had brought with him from Egypt--adark grey--a sagacious animal that would neigh at the sound of his voiceand follow him like a dog, and when they encamped for the night, wanderin search of herbage and come back when he was called, or wait for himlike a wooden horse at an inn door.
Horse and horseman seemed a match the morning they went away to Galileetogether, Xerxes all bits and bridles, stirrups and trappings, andJoseph equipped for the journey not less elaborately than his horse. Hewore a striped shirt and an embroidered vest with two veils falling fromhis turban over his shoulders, and as he was not going to visit theEssenes, he did not forget to provide himself with weapons: a curvedscimitar hung by his side and the jewelled hilt of a dagger showed abovehis girdle. His escort not having arrived yet, he waited; takingpleasure in the arch of Xerxes' neck when the horse turned his headtowards him, and in the dark courageous eyes and the beautifully turnedhoof that pawed the earth so prettily. At last the five spearmen andtheir captain appeared, and Xerxes, who seemed to recognise the escortas a sign for departure, presented his left side for Joseph to mounthim. As soon as his master was in the saddle, he shook his accoutrementsand sprang forward at the head of the cavalcade, Joseph crying back: hemust have the sound of hoofs behind him. He could refuse his horsenothing, and suffered him to canter some few hundred yards up the road,though it was not customary to leave the escort behind, and when Josephreturned, the foreman told him, as he expected he would, that it wouldbe well not to tire his horse by galloping him at the beginning of thejourney, for a matter of thirty miles lay in front of them. Thirty milesthe first day, he said, and fifty the second day; for by this divisionhe would leave twenty-five miles for the third day; and Joseph learntthat the captain had arranged the journey in this wise for the sake ofthe inns, for though they would meet an inn every twenty miles, therewere but three good inns between Jerusalem and Tiberias. He hadarranged too with a view to the rest at midday. Our way lies, he said,through the large shallow valley, and that is why I started at six. Itis about four hours hence, so we shall be through it well before noon.But why must we pass through it before noon? Joseph asked. Because, thecaptain answered, the rocks on either side are heated after noon likethe walls of an oven, and man and beast choke in it. But once we get outof the valley, we shall have pleasant country. You know the hills, Sir;and Joseph remembered the rounded hills and Azariah's condemnation ofthe felling of the forests, a condemnation that the captain agreed with;for though it was true that the woods afforded cover for wolves, stillit was not wise to fell the trees; for when the woods go, the captainsaid, the country will lose its fertility. He was a loquacious fellow,knowing the country well, wherefore pleasant to ride alongside of, andthe hours passed quickly, hearing him relate his life. And when aftertwo days' riding Joseph wearied of his foreman's many various relations,his eyes admired the slopes, now greener than they would be again tillanother year passed. The fig-trees were sending out shoots, the vineswere in little leaf, and the fragrance of the vineyards and fig gardenswas sweet in the cool morning when the dusk melted away androse-coloured clouds appeared above the hills; and as Joseph rode heliked to think that the spectacle of the cavalcade faring through thevine-clad hills would abide in his memory, and that in years to come hewould be able to recall it exactly as he now saw it--all the faces ofthe spearmen and their odd horses; even his foreman's discourses wouldbecome a pleasure to remember when time would redeem them of tritenessand commonplace; the very weariness he now experienced in listening tothem would, too, become a perennial source of secret amusement to himlater on. But for the moment he could not withstand his foreman a momentlonger, and made no answer when he came interrupting his meditationswith tiresome learning regarding the great acacia-tree into whose shadeJoseph had withdrawn himself. He was content to enjoy the shade and thebeauty of the kindly tree that flourished among rocks where no one wouldexpect a tree to flourish, and did not need to be told that the roots ofa tree seek water instinctively, and that the roots of the acacia seekwater and find it, about three feet down. The acacia gave the captain anopportunity to testify of his knowledge, and Joseph remembered suddenlythat he would be returning to Jerusalem with him in three days, for notmore than three days would his escort remain in Galilee, resting theirhorses, unless they were paid a large sum of money; and with that escortidle in the village the thought would never be out of his mind that in afew days he would be listening to his foreman all the way back toJerusalem.
Impossible! He couldn't go back to Jerusalem in three days, nor in threeweeks. His father would be mortally grieved if he did; and Pilatehimself would be surprised to see him back so soon and think him lackingaltogether in filial affection if, after an absence of more than twoyears, he could stay only three days with his father. He must, however,send a letter to Pilate and one that consisted with all thecircumstances. The barely stirring foliage of the acacia inspired adesire of composition: a more favourable moment than the present, or amore inspiring spot, he did not think he would be likely to find. Hecalled for his tablets and fell to thinking, but hardly filled in thefirst dozen lines when his foreman--this time apologising for theintrusion--came to tell him that if he wished to reach Magdala thatevening they must start at once. He could not but acquiesce, and--as ifcontemptuous of the protection of his escort--he rode on in front,wishing to be left alone so that he might seek out the terms of hisletter, and his mood of irritated perplexity did not pass away till hecame within sight of the great upland, rising, however,
so gently thathe did not think Xerxes would mind ascending it at a gallop. As soon ashe reached the last crest, he would see the lake alone, having--thanksto the speed of Xerxes--escaped from his companions for at least fiveminutes. He looked forward to these moments eagerly yet not altogetherabsolved from apprehension of a spiritual kind, for the lake alwaysseemed to him a sort of sign, symbol or hieroglyphic, in which he read awarning addressed specially, if not wholly, to himself. The meaning thatthe lake held out to him always eluded him, and never more completelythan now, at the end of an almost windless spring evening.
It came into view a moment sooner than he thought for, and in analtogether different aspect--bluer than ever seen by him in memory orreality--and, he confessed to himself, more beautiful. Like a great harpit lay below him, and his eyes followed the coast-lines widening out inan indenture of the hills: on one side desert, on the other richlycultivated ascents, with villages and one great city, Tiberias--itsdomes, cupolas, towers and the high cliffs abutting the lake betweenTiberias and Magdala bathed in a purple glow as the sun went down. Myown village! he said, and it was a pleasure to him to imagine his fathersipping sherbet on his balcony, in good humour, no doubt, the weatherbeing so favourable to fish-taking. Now which are Peter's boats amongthese? he asked himself, his eyes returning to the fishing fleet. Andwhich are John's and James's boats? He could tell that all the nets weredown by the reefed sails crossed over, for the boats were before thewind. A long pull back it will be to Capernaum, he was thinking, amatter of thirteen or fourteen miles, for the leading boat is not morethan a mile from the mouth of the Jordan. Then, raising his eyes fromthe fishing-boats, he followed the coast-lines again, seeking the shapesof the wooded hills, rising in gently cadenced ascents.
A more limpid evening never breathed upon a lake! he said; and when heraised his eyes a second time they rested on the ravines of Hermon faraway in the north, still full of the winter's snow; and--being aGalilean--he knew they would keep their snow for another month at least.The eagerness of the spring would then be well out of the air; and Ishall be thinking, he continued, of returning to Jerusalem andconcerning myself once more with Pilate's business. But what a beautifulevening! still and pure as a crystal.
A bird floated past, his black eyes always watchful. The bird turnedaway to join his mates, and Joseph bade his escort watch the flock: abird here and a bird there swooping and missing and getting no doubtsometimes a fish that had ventured too near the surface--that oneleaving his mates, flying high towards Magdala, to be there, he said, ina few minutes, by my father's house; and in another hour thou shalt bein thy stable, thy muzzle in the corn, he whispered into his horse'sear; and calling upon his comrades to put their heels into their tiredsteeds, he turned Xerxes into the great road leading to Tiberias.
But there were some Jews among the escort who shrank from entering apagan city. Their prejudices might be overcome with argument, but itwere simpler to turn their horses' heads to the west and then to thenorth as soon as the city was passed. The detour would be a long one,but it were shorter than argument: yet argument he did not escape from,for as they rode through the open country behind Tiberias, some declaredthat Herod was not a pure Jew; and to make their points clearer theyoften reined up their horses, to the annoyance of Joseph, who could notbring the discussion to an end without seeming indifferent to the lawand the traditions. But, happily, it had to end before long, for withinthree miles of Magdala they were riding in single file down deep lanesalong whose low dykes the cactus crawled, hooking itself along. One laneled into another. A network of deep lanes wound round Magdala, which,judging by the number of new dwellings, seemed to have prospered sinceJoseph had last seen it. Humble dwellings no doubt, Joseph said tohimself, but bread is not lacking, nor fish. Then he thought of thewharves his father had built for the boats, and the workshops for themaking of the barrels into which the fish was packed. Magdala owed itsexistence to Dan's forethought, and he had earned his right, Josephthought, to live in the tall house which he had built for his pleasurein a garden amid tall acacia-trees that every breeze that blew up fromthe lake set in motion.
If ever a man, Joseph thought, earned his right to a peaceable old ageamid pleasant surroundings, that man was his father; and he thought ofhim returning from his counting-house to his spacious verandah, thinkingof the barrels of salt fish that he would send away the following week,if the fishers were letting down their nets with fortunate enterprise.