第36章

Even this last disaster they charged in their despair to Israel, for Allah was now cursing them for Israel's sake.They were the same people that had thrust their presents upon him when he was setting out.

At the lonesome hut of the old woman who had offered him a bowl of buttermilk Israel rested and asked for a drink of water.

She gave him a dish of zummetta--barley roasted like coffee--and inquired if he was going on to Tetuan.He told her yes, and she asked if his home was there.And when he answered that it was, she looked at him again, and said in a moving way, "Then Allah help you, brother.""Why me more than another, sister?" said Israel.

"Because it is plain to see that you are a poor man," said the old woman.

"And that is the sort he is hardest upon."Israel faltered and said, "He? Who, mother? Ah, you mean--""Who else but Israel the Jew?" said she, and then added, as by a sudden afterthought, "But they say he is gone at last, and the Sultan has stripped him.Well, Allah send us some one else soon to set right this poor Gharb of ours! And what a man for poor men he might have been--so wise and powerful!"Israel listened with his head bent down, and, like a moth at the flame, he could not help but play with the fire that scorched him.

"They tell me," he said, "that Allah has cursed him with a daughter that has devils.""Blind and dumb, poor soul," said the old woman; "but Allah has pity for the afflicted--he is taking her away."Israel rose."Away?"

"She is ill since her father went to Fez.""Ill?"

"Yes, I heard so yesterday--dying."

Israel made one loud cry like the cry of a beast that is slaughtered, and fled out of the hut.Oh, fool of fools, why had he been dallying with dreams--billing and cooing with his own fancies--fondling and nuzzling and coddling them? Let all dreams henceforth be dead and damned for ever; for only devils out of hell had made them that poor men's souls might be staked and lost! Oh, why had he not remembered the pale face of Naomi when he left her, and the silence of her tongue that had used to laugh? Fool, fool! Why had he ever left her at all?

With such thoughts Israel hurried along, sometimes running at his utmost velocity, and then stopping dead short; sometimes shouting his imprecations at the pitch of his voice and beating his fist against the sharp aloes until it bled, and then whispering to himself in awe.

Would God not hear his prayer? God knew the child was very near and dear to him, and also that he was a lonely man."Have pity on a lonely man, O God!" he whispered."Let me keep my child;take all else that I have, everything, no matter what!

Only let me keep her--yes, just as she is, let me have her still!

Time was when I asked more of Thee, but now I am humble, and ask that alone."On his knees in a lonesome place, with the fierce sun beating down on his uncovered head, amid the blackened leaves left by the locust, he prayed this prayer, and then rose to his feet and ran.

When he got to Tetuan the white city was glistening under the setting sun.Then he thought of his Moorish jellab, and looked at himself, and saw that he was returning home like a beggar;and he remembered with what splendour he had started out.

Should he wait for the darkness, and creep into his house under the cover of it? If the thought had occurred an hour before he must have scouted it.Better to brave the looks of every face in Tetuan than be kept back one minute from Naomi.But now that he was so near he was afraid to go in; and now that he was so soon to learn the truth he dreaded to hear it.So he walked to and fro on the heath outside the town, paltering with himself, struggling with himself, eating out his heart with eagerness, trying to believe that he was waiting for the night.

The night came at length, and, under a deep-blue sky fast whitening with thick stars, Israel passed unknown through the Moorish gate, which was still open, and down the narrow lane to the market square.

At the gate of the Mellah, which was closed, he knocked, and demanded entrance in the name of the Kaid.The Moorish guards who kept it fell back at sight of him with looks of consternation.

"Israel!" cried one.and dropped his lantern.

Israel whispered, "Keep your tongue between your teeth!" and hurried on.

At the door of his own house, which was also closed, he knocked again, but more fearfully.The black woman Habeebah opened it cautiously, and, seeing his jellab, she clashed it back in his face.

"Habeebah!" he cried, and he knocked once more.

Then Ali came to the door."What Moorish man are you?" cried Ali, pushing him back as he pressed forward.

"Ali! Hush! It is I--Israel."

Then Ali knew him and cried, "God save us! What has happened?""What has happened here?" said Israel."Naomi," he faltered, "what of her?""Then you have heard?" said Ali."Thank God, she is now well."Israel laughed--his laugh was like a scream.

"More than that--a strange thing has befallen her since you went away,"said Ali.

"What?"

"She can hear"

"It's a lie!" cried Israel, and he raised his hand and struck Ali to the floor.But at the next minute he was lifting him up and sobbing and saying, "Forgive me, my brave boy.I was mad, my son;I did not know what I was doing.But do not torture me.

If what you tell me is true, there is no man so happy under heaven;but if it is false, there is no fiend in hell need envy me."And Ali answered through his tears, "It is true, my father--come and see."