第49章

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.