He found the girl already poring over the first page of the old book, on which there was writing in a delicate hand.
She read aloud: "The story of the Garden of Eden, who made it and why it was made. Told without error by Matthew."
"Hot stuff!" chuckled Connor. "We got a little time before the sun comes up. But it"s getting red in the east. Let"s hear some more."
There was nothing imposing about the book. It was a ledger with a half-leather binding such as storekeepers use for accounts. Time had yellowed the edges of the paper and the ink was dulled. She read:
"In the beginning there was a man whose name was John."
"Sounds like the start of the Bible," grinned Connor. "Shoot ahead and let"s get at the real dope."
"Hush!"
Without raising her eyes, she brushed aside the hand of Connor which had fallen on the side of the ledger. Her own took its place, ready to turn the page.
"In the beginning there was a man whose name was John. The Lord looked upon John and saw his sins. He struck John therefor. First He took two daughters from John, but still the man was blind and did not read the writing of his Maker. And G.o.d struck down the eldest son of John, and John sorrowed, but did not understand. Thereat, all in a day, the Lord took from John his wife and his lands and his goods, which were many and rich.
"Then John looked about him, and lo! he was alone.
"In the streets his friends forgot him and saw not his pa.s.sing. The sound of his own footfall was lonely in his house, and he was left alone with his sins.
"So he knew that it was the hand of G.o.d which struck him, and he heard a voice which said in the night to him: "O John, ye who have been too much with the world must leave it and go into the wilderness."
"Then the heart of John smote him and he prayed G.o.d to send him not out alone, and G.o.d relented and told him to go forth and take with him three simple men.
"So John on the next morning called to his Negro, a slave who was all that remained in his hands.
""Abraham," he said, "you who were a slave are free."
"Then he went into the road and walked all the day until his feet bled.
He rested by the side of the road and one came who kneeled before him and washed his feet, and John saw that it was Abraham. And Abraham said: "I was born into your service and I can only die out of it."
"They went on together until they came to three robbers fighting with one strong man, and John helped this man and drove away the robbers.
"Then the tall man began to laugh. "They would have robbed me because I was once rich," he said, "but another thief had already plundered me, and they have gotten only broken heads for their industry." Then John was sorry for the fortune that was stolen.
""Not I," said the tall man, "but I am sorry for the brother I lost with the money." Then he told them how his own brother had cheated him.
"But," he said, "there is only one way to beat the devil, and that is to laugh at him."
"Now John saw this was a good man, so he opened his heart to Luke, which was the name of him who had been robbed. Then Luke fell in with the two and went on with them.
"They came to a city filled with plague so that the dead were buried by the dying and the dog howled over his master in the street; the son fled from the father and the mother left her child. They found one man who tended the sick out of charity and the labor was too great for even his broad shoulders. He had a broad, ugly face, but in his eye was a clear fire.
""Brother, what is your name?" said John, and the man answered that he was called Paul, and begged them for the sweet mercy of Christ to aid him in his labors.
"But John said: "Rise, Paul, and follow me."
"And Paul said: "How can I follow the living when the dying call to me?"
"But John said: "Nevertheless, leave them, for these are carrion, but your soul in which is life eternal is worth all these and far more."
"Then Paul felt the power of John and followed him and took, also, his gray horses which were unlike others, and of his servants those who would follow him for love, and in wagons he put much wealth.
"So they all rode on as a mighty caravan until they came, at the side of the road, to a youth lying in the meadow with his hands behind his head whistling, and a bird hovering above him repeated the same note. They spoke to him and he told them that he was an outcast because he would not labor.
""The world is too pleasant to work in," he said, and whistled again, and the bird above him made answer.
"Then John said: "Here is a soul worth all of ours. Rise, brother, and come with us."
"So Matthew rose and followed him, and he was the third and last man to join John, who was the beginning.
"Then they came to a valley set about with walls and with a pleasant river running through it, and here they entered and called it the Garden of Eden because in it men should be pure of heart once more. And they built their houses with labor and lived in quiet and the horses multiplied and the Garden blossomed under their hands."
Here Ruth marked her place with her finger while she wiped her eyes.
"Do you mean to say this babble is getting you?" growled Ben Connor.
"Please!" she whispered. "Don"t you see that it"s beautiful?"
And she returned to the book.
_CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE_
"Then John sickened and said: "Bring me into the room of silence." So they brought him to the place where they sat each day to converse with G.o.d in the holy stillness and hear His voice.
"Then John said: "I am about to depart from among you, and before my going I put this command on you that you find in the world a male infant too young to know its father or mother, or without father and mother living. Rear that child to manhood in the valley, for even as I depart so will you all do, and the Garden of Eden will be left tenantless."
"So when John was dead Matthew went forth and found a male child and brought him to the valley and the two said: "Where was the child found and what is its name?" And Matthew said: "It was found in the place to which G.o.d led me and its name hereafter shall be David."
"So peace was on the valley, and David grew tall and strong. Then Luke died, and Paul died in a drift of snow and Matthew grew very old and wrote these words for the eye of David."
The smooth running, finely made letters come to an end, the narrative was taken up in fresher ink and in a bold, heavy hand of large characters.
"One day Matthew called for David and said: "My hands are cold, whereby I know I am about to die. As I lay last night with death for a bedfellow thoughts came to me, which are these: We have been brother and father and son to one another. But do not grieve that I am gone. I inherit a place of peace, but you shall come to torment unless you find a woman in the world and bring her here to bear children to you and be your wife."
"Then David groaned in his heart and he said: "How shall I know her when I find her?"
"And Matthew said: "By her simplicity."
"And David said: "There may be many who are simple."
"And Matthew said: "I have never known such a woman. But when you see her your heart will rise up and claim her. Therefore, within five years, before you are grown too old, go out and find this woman and wed her."
"And on that day Matthew died, and a great anguish came to David. The days pa.s.sed heavily. And for five years he has waited."