She advanced as one in doubt until the shadow of the cliff fell over her. Then she looked back from the throat of the gate and saw Ephraim and Jacob facing her as though they understood there was no purpose in guarding against what might approach the valley from without now that the chief enemy was within. David, in the pause, was directing Jacob to place the girl"s saddle on the back of Abra.
"For it is not fitting," he explained, "that you should enter my garden save on one of my horses. And look, here is Glani."
The stallion came at the sound of his name. She had heard of the great horse from Connor, but the reality was far more than the words.
"And this, Glani, is Ruth."
She touched the velvet nose which was stretched inquisitively toward her, and then looked up and found that David was smiling. A moment later they were riding side by side down the avenue of the eucalyptus trees, and through the tall treetrunks new vistas opened rapidly about her.
Every stride of Abra seemed to carry her another step into the life of David.
"I should have called Shakra for you," said David, watching her with concern, "but she is ridden by another who has the right to the best in the garden."
"Even Glani?"
"Even Glani, save that he fears to ride my horse, and therefore he has Shakra. I am sorry, for I wish to see you together. She is like you--beautiful, delicate, and swift."
She urged Abra into a shortened gallop with a touch of her heel, so that the business of managing him gave her a chance to cover her confusion.
She could have smiled away a compliment, but the simplicity of David meant something more.
"Peace, Abra!" commanded the master. "Oh, unmannerly colt! It would be other than this if the wise Shakra were beneath your saddle."
"No, I am content with Abra. Let Shakra be for your servant."
"Not servant, but friend--a friend whom Glani chose for me. Consider how fickle our judgments are and how little things persuade us. Abraham is rich in words, but his face is ugly, and I prefer the smooth voice of Zacharias, though he is less wise. I have grieved for this and yet it is hard to change. But a horse is wiser than a fickle-minded man, and when Glani went to the hand of Benjamin without my order, I knew that I had found a friend."
She knew the secret behind that story, and now she looked at David with pity.
"In my house you will meet Benjamin," the master was saying thoughtfully, evidently encountering a grave problem. "I have said that little things make the judgments of men! If a young horse shies once, though he may become a true traveler and a wise head, yet his rider remembers the first jump and is ever uneasy in the saddle."
She nodded, wondering what lay behind the explanation.
"Or if a snake crosses the road before a horse, at that place the horse trembles when he pa.s.ses again."
"Yes."
She found it strangely pleasant to follow the simple processes of his mind.
"It is so with Benjamin. At some time a woman crosses his way like a snake, and because of her he has come to hate all women. And when I started for the gate, even now, he warned me against you."
The clever mind of the gambler opened to her and she smiled at the trick.
"Yes, it is a thing for laughter," said David happily. "I came with a mind armed for trouble--and I find you, whom I could break between my hands."
He turned, casting out his arms.
"What harm have I received from you?"
They had reached the head of the bridge, and even as David turned a changing gust carried to them a chorus of men"s voices. David drew rein.
"There is a death," he said, "in my household."
_CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO_
The singing took on body and form as the pitch rose.
"There is a death," repeated David. "Abraham is dead, the oldest and the wisest of my servants. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Glory to His name!"
Ruth was touched to the heart.
"I am sorry," she said simply.
"Let us rejoice, rather, for Abraham is happy. His soul is reborn in a young body. Do you not hear them singing? Let us ride on."
He kept his head high and a stereotyped smile on his lips as the horses sprang into a gallop--that breath-taking gallop which made the spirit of the girl leap; but she saw his breast raise once or twice with a sigh.
It was the stoicism of an Indian, she felt, and like an Indian"s was the bronze-brown skin and the long hair blowing in the wind. The lake was beside them now, and dense forest beyond opening into pleasant meadows.
She was being carried back into a primitive time of which the type was the man beside her. Riding without a saddle his body gave to the swing of the gallop, and she was more conscious than ever of physical strength.
But now the hoofs beat softly on the lawn terraces, and in a moment they had stopped before the house where the death had been. She knew at once.
The empty arch into the patio of the servants" house was eloquent, in some manner, of the life that had departed. Before it was the group of singers, all standing quiet, as though their own music had silenced them, or perhaps preparing to sing again. Connor had described the old servant, but she was not prepared for these straight, withered bodies, these bony, masklike faces, and the white heads.
All in an instant they seemed to see her, and a flash of pleasure went from face to face. They stirred, they came toward her with glad murmurs, all except one, the oldest of them all, who remained aloof with his arms folded. But the others pressed close around her, talking excitedly to one another, as though she could not understand what they said. And she would never forget one who took her hand in both of his. The touch of his fingers was cold and as dry as parchment. "Honey child, G.o.d bless your pretty face."
Was this the formal talk of which Connor had warned her? A growl from David drove them back from her like leaves before a wind. He had slipped from his horse, and now walked forward.
"It is Abraham?" he asked.
"He is dead and glorious," answered the chorus, and the girl trembled to hear those time-dried relics of humanity speak so cheerily of death.
The master was silent for a moment, then: "Did he leave no message for me?"
In place of answering the group shifted and opened a pa.s.sage to the one in the rear, who stood with folded arms.
"Elijah, you were with him?"
"I heard his last words."
"And what dying message for David?"
"Death sealed his lips while he had still much to say. To the end he was a man of many words. But first he returned thanks to our Father who breathed life into the clay."
"That was a proper thought, and I see that the words were words of Abraham."
"He gave thanks for a life of quiet ease and wise masters, and he forgave the Lord the length of years he was kept in this world."
"In that," said David gravely, "I seem to hear his voice speaking.