The old Persian ate heartily, but I could barely taste it. The guide whispered in my ear, "Be silent and wakeful," and departed.
"Now sleep, my son," said my philosophic companion; "trust in G.o.d and sleep. Our angels and good genii befriend us most powerfully when asleep.
When awake we scare them away by our villainous thoughts. Sleep."
The whispered words of the guide had inspired me with a vague hope, and I preferred trusting to his advice rather than to the invisible guardians of our sleep. I was therefore silent and wakeful. The moon went down long before midnight.
The hours pa.s.sed away slowly, slowly, marked only by the coming up of the white stars from behind the eastern hills; while the long minutes were told by the dead plash of the water against the beach.
There were feasting and drinking and singing in the tent of Barabbas. This was kept up until long after midnight. Then there was silence, and the loud snoring as of some one in a drunken sleep.
It became very dark. The voices of man and nature were hushed. The hours pa.s.sed, and all things seemed to sleep except the stars which continued to climb the heavenly dome, and the sad, gray sea which pushed feebly against the desert beach, and myself cruelly orphaned and betrayed, thinking alternately of home and death.
"Death at sunrise!" I exclaimed, thinking aloud to myself.
"The sun has not risen," whispered the Persian.
And Hope, the undying consoler within us, took courage at the words of the old man and at the slow-footed pace of the night; and thought it was long, long till the morning, and that the angel of Life might still come, and relieve from his awful watch the angel of Death.
An hour more of silence that could be felt, and of unutterable suspense-and a hand was laid softly upon my shoulder. The rope that bound me was disengaged, and my deliverer drew me stealthily along the beach, and away from the tent where Barabbas lay dreaming of plundered caravans and cruel uncles who enriched him for the murder of their nephews.
The guide did not speak until we stood on the mound at the mouth of the great ravine, where the Dead Sea first broke upon my sight.
"You are free," he said. "You are a child, abused and betrayed. You shall not be murdered. Robber as I am, there is something in my heart which is touched by your sorrows. Go back to life, if not to happiness. G.o.d perhaps will deliver you from Magistus, as He has through me delivered you from Barabbas."
"Come with me," said I; "leave this wretched and dangerous life in the wilderness. Share our fate and fortune in Bethany."
"Do not speak of it," he answered; "it is impossible. Hasten on your journey, or all may be lost."
"But," said I, clinging to him, "Barabbas will kill you when he finds I have escaped."
"No! I have contrived against that. I am cunning and I shall succeed."
"The poor old Persian will be murdered!"
"No! He will be ransomed to-morrow. Away!" he continued excitedly; "a moment"s delay may be fatal. Away!"
"Stay!" said I, eagerly; "tell me the name of my benefactor, that I may repeat it in my prayers."
"I have no name, no home. I am the Son of the Desert."
He hurried softly away toward the tent, and I crept up the ravine in the darkness.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Ornament]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Ornament]
IV.
_IN THE WILDERNESS._
[Ill.u.s.tration: Initial]
Afraid of the dark and fearful gorge, full of rocks and pitfalls and unseen dangers; afraid of the unpeopled desert which awaited me above; afraid of wild beasts, serpents, lepers and evil spirits; afraid of the silence and solitude of night by the Salt Sea; afraid of all things behind me and all before; I ascended cautiously and painfully the narrow path, if path it might be called, praying to the G.o.d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for protection.
I, who had never been out of my father"s house at that hour of the night in my life, thus found myself amid a complication of circ.u.mstances which might have appalled the stoutest heart.
I had ascended two-thirds of the way, when my keen ear caught upon the night-wind the subdued but rough voices of several persons who were descending the ravine. My heart stood still and I almost fainted with affright. Fortunately, I remembered that I had just pa.s.sed, a little lower down, a large side-fissure or c.h.i.n.k in the great rock wall of the ravine.
I went back with the utmost speed and caution, and got safely concealed in the black crevice before the objects of my terror came along.
They were no doubt some of the party of Barabbas, who were returning with or without the ransom of the old Persian. They were talking of ransom with oaths and laughter as they pa.s.sed. I held my breath in suspense; nor did my heart recover its natural beat until they had descended a good distance, and their voices floated faintly upward like the mutterings of lost souls in some horrible abyss.
I was now afraid to start again lest I should meet another detachment of the robbers. I waited a long time, listening intently. It suddenly occurred to me that when the robbers reached the tent of Barabbas, my escape would be discovered, and the swiftest runners despatched to overtake me. This thought brought the cold drops to my forehead; and I hurried breathless all the way up the ravine, actually thinking that I heard the footsteps of men behind me, and voices calling my name.
Escaped from the robbers, I fell into the arms of the desert. I could have extricated myself from the new danger if the sun had been shining. But the day rose dark and cloudy, and I could not tell whether I was going east or west, north or south. I failed to recognize any of the spots we had pa.s.sed the day before. I walked rapidly up and down the bare hills, over the rough gullies and through the sandy hollows. After some hours of this exhausting travel, both mind and body being on the stretch, I was shocked on discovering that I had been moving in a circle, and was near the mouth of the ravine again.
I would have stretched myself upon some rock in despair; but my dangerous proximity to Barabbas and his men, revived my fears and gave supernatural strength to my body. I fled away as fast as I could over new hills and gullies and sandy bottoms. It must have been two or three hours after noon, when I reached a hill overlooking a deep, narrow valley, the dry bed of some nameless brook, which, in the rainy season, poured along over the sands its little tribute to the sea. Thoroughly exhausted with hunger, thirst, fatigue, loss of sleep, fear and despair, I lay down upon the hillside. Lost in the wilderness, thinking of the still worse conditions of my father and sisters, my misery was too deep for tears. A strange torpor crept over my senses, and I fell into that profound slumber in which the weary are strengthened and the sorrowful comforted.
When I awoke, the setting sun, just freed from clouds, was shining in my face.
How life-giving, faith-giving, hope-giving is a sight of the sun, wrapping his mantle of softened glory about him, and descending trustfully to sleep in the kingdom of night, a.s.sured that Aurora will open duly her palace of pearl, and his golden chariot with its fiery steeds issue forth in the morning!
So does the Soul sink only to rise; sleep only to wake; die only to live: ever changing in state, ever the same in substance.
I was thus drawing new vigor from the rays of the sun, when a voice of heavenly sweetness broke upon my ear, a voice chanting this beautiful Scripture:
"As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O G.o.d!
My soul thirsteth for G.o.d, for the living G.o.d: When shall I come and appear before G.o.d?"
"Are there angels as well as demons in the desert?" said I, to myself.
A jutting brow of the hill concealed from me the source whence these sounds appeared to issue. I arose and advanced to explore the mystery.
Rounding the intervening slope, I saw a young man seated upon a stone at the mouth of a large cavern. His quick eye detected me in a moment, and he advanced to meet me. He wore a single garment wrought of the finest camel"s hair, which was secured about his waist by a leathern girdle.
Simple toilet! But when you looked at his fine head with its long black hair curling about his bare neck, and his beautiful oval face soft as a girl"s, full of all saintly thoughts and heavenly emotions, you knew that you were in the presence of one who was clad interiorly in fine linen and purple.
"Good sir," said I, "behold an unhappy youth, who has just escaped death by robbers, and is lost in this terrible wilderness!"
"One must have lived long in the desert to find his way out of it such a dark day as this. It will be clear to-morrow, and I will pilot you into the great highway. Meantime you are welcome to my poor hospitalities-a cave for roof, a bed of skins, water to drink, wild honey and locusts to eat; that is all."
"I gladly accept your offer; and were your proffered gifts still more humble, they would be sanctified by the light of brotherly love you throw upon them."
I seated myself on the stone while he went into the cave and brought forth his simple food and drink, of which I partook heartily.