Φιλεῖ δὲ τῷ κάμοντι συσπέυδειν θεός?—Anon.Does God love to help the struggling good man?1. How best to do it.2. Song for signal.3. The golden fleece and dragon.4. Hair-breadth——?5. Even as He.
Φιλεῖ δὲ τῷ κάμοντι συσπέυδειν θεός?
—Anon.
Does God love to help the struggling good man?
Early the next morning the pinnace of Alexander was moving toward the Nile as fast as eight strong oarsmen and a fair breeze could carry it. Under a silken awning in the stern sat Seti and Rachel: while at some distance a few stout male servants in holiday attire leaned over the bulwarks, watching the water ripple away from the shapely sides, listening to the low monotonous stroke-song of the rowers as they rhythmically struck the waters, and occasionally talking together in a low tone.
Seemingly it was a holiday excursion—nothing more. The whole aspect of things on board that delicate butterfly of a vessel, including the lovely maiden in her rich robes, with her harp standing by her side, was that of a pleasure party. No one looking from shore or passing vessel would have thought that such a festival barge with its luxurious and dainty furnishings and daintier mistress was heavily weighted with anxious thoughts of peril and conflict.
To Rachel, her surroundings, from the cloudless sky and wooing breeze to the costly and delicate sea-chariot on which she was borne, seemed almost so many mockeries. Her real sky was full of clouds, her real wind wasthe breath of storms, and the real galley on which her spirit was sailing was a war ship full of swords and spears and faces threatening battle. She found it very hard to cover her anxieties with the serene face and manner which she felt the situation demanded. So she kept the servants as far from her as possible, that their prying eyes and ears might not play too successfully on herself and Seti.
They were hardly well afloat before Seti began to unfold his plan of proceeding.
“It is very important,” said he, “that we implicate the Flacci, both father and son, as little as possible in this affair. The father, bad as he is, probably has nothing to do with the abduction; and so ought not to suffer on account of it. The guilty party is Sextus; who, having access to his father’s official seal and blank forms, forged the warrant for the arrest, and then employed some dissolute companions of his among the discharged Roman soldiers to execute the warrant. These having no duties in the city have not yet returned, and so the watch of the students for them has been in vain. Sextus is the great criminal in the case and deserves exposure. But, if we so manage the matter as to expose him both to his mortified father and the public, we shall be sure so to exasperate both of them as to throw their whole influence, under one pretext or another, against us in the impending suit against Malus. And that would be a very serious matter. So we must try to rescue Aleph as quietly as possible—in some way that does not direct public suspicion toward the Flacci at all. If we should appear before the castle of the governor with a sufficient force to back us, and demand the prisoner, the whole affair wouldat once go abroad to the four winds, and cryFlaccusin every ear from Pharos to the Cataracts: besides, the garrison would probably deny having the prisoner, and contrive some way of disposing of him before we could effect an entrance. So the best way for us is to persuade the custodes to give Aleph the means of making his own escape; and we can be near to receive him and carry him quietly back to the city—saying nothing as to where he was found and how rescued. If this plan fails we must, of course, resort to rougher methods.”
“Do you think,” inquired the maiden, “that Aleph would have submitted so quietly to the arrest had he not supposed it made by the proper authorities?”
“Certainly not. He yielded to what he supposed to be the government of the country in which for the time being he was living.”
“In that case, if he were assured that the arrest was pronounced unwarranted by the governor, and that he was expressly allowed to free himself by any means, would he not be likely to make great efforts to free himself?”
“Doubtless, if opportunity could be found. But how is he to break down an iron door with his hands, or, with his hands dig through massive stone walls settled together and cemented by ages? I know that dungeon well. It is the strongest in all Egypt. Supreme strength and courage must have opportunity. Genius must have some capital of favorable circumstance on which to work. Even heroes must have ground on which to stand, and scope for their arms. No, I know the place too well to think that our young friend, full of resources as he is, can do anything to help himself till he is at least outsideof the dungeon, or till some fitting tools have been introduced into it.”
“I knew the castle belonged to your ancestors, and is rightfully yours; but I did not suppose that you knew anything about the interior.”
“See here!” said the Egyptian, as he drew from the folds of his robe a parchment discolored by age, and unrolled it before her. “Here is a plan of the whole structure, cellars and dungeon included. This has come down to me through many generations, together with a written description of every part of the structure; and, though I have never set foot in it, I think I could find my way about it without the least difficulty. There has always lingered in the family a vague faith, be it superstition or not, that this noblest of the ancient Egyptian palaces was destined to come back to us some day; and so the eldest in our line has always made it a point to know as much about the structure as if he were in actual possession.”
“Explain the plan to me, my dear grandfather. It may somehow help us in what we have to do. I, too, would like to be able to thread my way alone over the whole.”
“Heaven (yourHeaven) forbid that you shall have need to do so. Still, we have leisure for an explanation, at least in part; and it will be in the way of our family custom. This line (pointing) represents the high and massive stone wall that surrounds the whole palace, together with extensive grounds in the rear. There are three gates to this all surrounding wall—one in front, opening on a flight of steps to the river by which the master and his friends come and go; the others farback on the north and south sides and chiefly used by servants for communicating with the little hamlets that lie, one above and the other below the palace. On the river side of the inclosure rises the quadrangle of the palace. The front and two connected sides contain the state and family apartments: the rear is given up to servants and the various offices belonging to them. Of course the soldiers are quartered in this last. We will only study this part now. It is of only a single story above ground. Right here in the middle is a large room where doubtless the soldiers eat and drink: to the right and left of it are their lodging rooms and the kitchens. Directly under this common and mess room is the single dungeon of the castle, connected by a flight of steps with the mess room, and also by another flight through a heavy iron door with the rear grounds of the castle. One can reach the dungeon only through the iron door or by descending from the common mess room. The wine and provision cellars are to the right and left of the dungeon, and a narrow passage runs before the whole.”
“Has the dungeon any light and ventilation?” inquired Rachel anxiously.
“Only through the narrow grated opening in the wall by which food can be introduced without opening the door; and the narrow passage before all the vaults is only dimly lighted by a barred opening near the ceiling at either end.”
“Would Aleph have light enough to read a note or this plan of yours?”
“It may be. Such eyes as his can do what mine could not. I have sometimes thought that they furnished their own light. But whoever could put a note throughthat grate could introduce a narrow lamp or taper also.”
“If a pointed iron bar could be secretly introduced by the custodes through the grate, would Aleph be able to pry open the door?”
“Impossible—at least without making so much noise as to rouse the soldiers.”
“Perhaps they are revellers,” she said reflectively, “and, having free access to the wine cellars, have frequent carousals and even stupid drunkenness.”
“Very likely; almost certainly,” Seti exclaimed. “They are the boon companions of Sextus; and, like him, will not miss an opportunity of indulgence. If we can only gain over the custodes, we might so drug their wine as to stupefy their drunkenness still more, so that loud noises would not rouse them. This deserves to be thought of; and, fortunately, I happen to have with me for another purpose a drug which I think will answer. But we must not depend on this plan alone. If one expedient should fail, we must have another to fall back upon.”
“And what is that?”
“We must persuade the custodes to get possession of the key of the dungeon. This ought not to be impossible, if the soldiers have a drunken carouse every night, as seems to me very likely. But we cannot be very specific in our plans till we have seen the peddler and custodes, and know exactly what the situation is.”
Rachel said nothing more, but pored over the plan of the palace. At length she drew from a small ivory box by her side an ink horn and papyrus, and proceeded tomake a fair copy of the plan—adding some jottings of explanation as Seti had given them. She then put both original and copy in his hands. He compared the two, nodded, and looked at her inquiringly.
“I mean, if it is possible, to get this to him with the iron bar.”
He silently returned the copy.
Meanwhile the pinnace had been steadily pressing on its way. It passed through the canal, it turned up the Nile, it went sweeping by crocodile and hippopotamus and ibis sporting in the water or sunning by the banks, it met corn ship, and Roman galley, and Nubian dory, and skin-raft loaded with brick and stone, and, occasionally, a pleasure barge freighted to overflowing with the laughter and song of the young and gay. The peasants on the banks for a moment stopped work at their trenching and water wheels to gaze at the beautiful vessel, the Nautilus of the Nile, and perchance to envy those who reclined under its snowy wings and silken canopy. Ah, little did they know what anxieties were aching away at the heart of all that beauty and costliness! The breeze toyed with the sails, the waters rippled and gleamed and laughed away from the decorated prow, the oars rose and sank in a water-song of their own that kept time with the low chant of the rowers—there was music of all sorts filtering through the dreamy air—but under that awning of silk and purple there was only the music of prayer and, it may be, of some hope that the Most High would not allow the wicked to triumph. But prayer was the chief thing. Much silent planning and resolving was done during the latter part of the voyage, but there was more silent praying than either.
“Grandfather, what a comfort and help it is to pray!” as she turned toward Seti and laid her hand on his arm.
“I have found it out, my child, though not as soon as I could wish. But the knowledge will remain. Straits crowd one toward the Unseen Helper.”
And now the castle was in full view. On a promontory that curved out boldly into the river, skirted both above and below by a thick grove of mingled mimosas, acacias, sycamores, and palms, each of which groves screened a little bay and hamlet, stood a quadrangular fortress with its defiant encompassing wall. Rachel drew her harp toward her and began to play—at first softly and slowly, and then with a stronger and more rapid hand. As the pinnace approached the castle she began to accompany the instrument with her voice: and, when fully in front, the voice surged up over the promontory in melodious billows and seemed to envelop it in floods of exultant song, every word of which was rendered with wonderful distinctness. It was a chant. It was a chant in the original tongue of these words from the Book of Daniel. “Now when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions?’”
Again and again the words rose and beat their delicious music against the castle like an invading army. Seti narrowly watched the premises as the pinnace glided by, but saw no sign of life. But as soon as they had gone a little farther, rounded the promontory, and then silently veered into the sheltered nook by the hamlet, they sawthe peddler on the wharf with his professional pack on his back.
When the vessel was fairly moored, the man begged to be allowed to come on board and exhibit his goods, which he protested were the finest and cheapest to be found outside of Alexandria. The beautiful lady would certainly find something she would like among his various stores. In short, his eloquence was so great that he was at length allowed to come on board and ostentatiously spread out his wares about Rachel and Seti.
“Say that he is living,” she almost gasped, though scarcely above a murmur.
“He is, my lady.”
“Say that food has been given him daily.”
“At least since I came.”
“Now tell us,” she said, with a firmer but still low voice, “while you slowly display your goods, piece by piece, what you have done—in as few words as possible.”
“Yes, my lady. I landed at this hamlet, and went up at once to the south gate of the palace grounds. Here I found a soldier on guard; but, on making him a small present, he allowed me to enter and seek my old acquaintances, the custodes. Fortunately I found them by themselves in an out-house—the old Egyptian and his much younger Jewish wife; the latter much the leading partner, as I had long known. I warmly saluted them as old friends, hoped they had not forgotten Ezra, assured them that I had never been so well prepared to give them a good trade as now; and proceeded to unpack and display my goods despite their protestations that they did not want anything, could not afford to buy anything, and such like nonsense. But I saw that their eyes followedme as I spread out article after article, and that they listened well as I mentioned prices absurdly low.
“‘You must have stolen these things,’ exclaimed the Jewess. ‘Alas, that a son of Abraham should turn thief!’
“‘I hardly wonder,’ said I, ‘that you suspect my honesty; for, as you so plainly see, these goods are worth many times what I ask for them. How then does it happen that I can honestly offer them so low? I will tell you. I have a very liberal friend—no less a person than the lady Rachel, daughter of the great banker Alexander; and she pities me and other poor children of our people; and it is she who makes it possible for me to let you have the goods at so low a figure. Our father Abraham knows that I could not do it otherwise.’
“As soon as I mentioned your name, I saw at once that I had touched the right chord. I have since found that she came from Alexandria, where her family in time of sickness and poverty had received much help from your family. ‘The God of our fathers bless the pitiful and gracious lady,’ she exclaimed. ‘Many a time has she helped me and mine.’
“‘And is she not the granddaughter of Seti—the high-priest and head of my race?’ inquired the Egyptian husband.
“‘To be sure she is,’ I exclaimed, ‘the worthy child of both Egypt and Israel—and I will tell you a secret (I sank my voice very low and looked cautiously about). I can tell you of a way in which you can greatly oblige these great friends of ours and get as many of these goods as you would like for just nothing—absolutely nothing.’
“Their eyes opened wider and began to glisten. They drew themselves closer to me.
“‘Look you,’ said I, ‘there has been in the dungeon of this castle for the last few days a young man who is a special friend of Seti and Alexander. He was arrested without right, and spirited away from Alexandria in the night, and brought here by a company of men appearing as Roman soldiers.’
“Thrown off her guard, the Jewess exclaimed, ‘How did you come to know this?’
“‘No matter,’ said I, ‘it is enough that Idoknow it; and know further that if you would oblige Seti and Alexander, who have such claims on you, as well as wonderfully advantage yourselves, you have now an opportunity. If you will help them in this matter, they can and will do great things for you. It is the opportunity of a life-time.’
“‘But what can we do?’ exclaimed both custodes at once.
“‘I will tell you. But first tell me whether you have seen that goodly young man with your own eyes, and know him to have been safe and sound when he was put into the dungeon.’
“‘So he seemed by the torch-light,’ said the Jewess. ‘A goodly young man, you may well say. I never saw one half so goodly. He stood like a king among his slaves, with his great staff for a sceptre. The soldiers seemed almost as much afraid of his eye as of his staff, and plainly felt relieved when the key was turned upon him.’
“‘Has he had food and drink since then?’ I asked.
“They hesitated; and the woman looked in a troubled way at her husband.
“‘Now, by all the patriarchs,’ cried I in great excitement, ‘have they been starving this friend of Seti and Alexander all these days, and you doing nothing to help him?’
“‘Not so,’ she hastened to exclaim. ‘We thought we could not let the young man perish; and as soon as we found out that no food of any kind was being given him we managed to introduce some secretly through a grated opening in the wall originally made for that purpose. But it has been at the risk of our lives. We cannot continue. If we should be discovered he would kill us.’
“‘Whom do you mean by “he”?’ I asked.
“‘The leader among the soldiers.’
“‘What sort of a man is he?’
“‘A great, bull necked, big fisted man; with fierce and cruel and blood shot eyes, and cheeks somewhat bruised and swollen. I have heard him called Draco. This man carries the key of the dungeon at his girdle day and night. He treats us like dogs, and would kill us outright in his terrible passion should he find us out. No, we cannot afford to take such a risk for a single day longer. We were worrying over the matter when you came up.’
“‘Look here, woman!’ said I fiercely, ‘if you let this Hebrew (for he is of our faith) perish, you will have to account for it to both man and God; but, if you will give him ample food and drink daily and help us to free him, the lady Rachel promises to reward you richly—beyond what you could dream. If there is risk in the matterthere is enough pay in it, too, to make it well worth your while to take the risk. But I do not see that you need to run any considerable risk. Where are these men in the night?’
“‘They always pass the best part of the night in a drunken carouse. They have found the wine cellar.’
“‘And, I dare say, by midnight they are lying about the floor of the mess room dead drunk and stupid as logs.’
“‘It may be.’
“‘And what is to hinder you from taking that time for putting food, and whatever else his friends may wish (this note for example), within reach of the prisoner? The risk must be very small. Indeed I am not sure but that you might safely steal in among the besotted and snoring brutes, cut off the key from Draco’s belt, and open the door of the dungeon. The lady Rachel would enrich you for life.’
“The woman threw up her hands in dismay. ‘Icouldnot do it. The very idea of such a thing almost frightens me to death. Besides, how do I know that the daughter of Alexander will fulfill all your fine promises. You always did talk larger than the truth. You never spare fine talking in the way of business.’
“I confess this awfully embarrassed me. My habit in dealing with my customershasbeen somewhat of the ornamental and poetical sort. And now at last it had brought me into difficulty. What should I do? I silently promised myself that I would mend my ways. I protested to the woman by all things sacred that I did not misrepresent you. The miserable woman declared she would not believe me. Nothing short of your ownlips should satisfy her. If you would come and with your own mouth repeat my promises they would try to do what they could. But she shook like one in a palsy when she said it.
“Seeing that my reputation was too much for me, sinner that I am; and that nothing better could be done, I said, ‘You are unreasonable; but it shall be as you say. The lady will come and confirm all I have said. But meanwhile (here I drew out my bag of gold pieces) this is what she has given me to reward those who take risks in her service; and if you will daily put into the grated opening plenty of food and drink, together with whatever else I may give you, and will daily come to me in the upper hamlet where you are in the habit of going for provisions, and will swear that you have done so by the beards of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I will, each time, give you two gold pieces. And I will begin now; for I want you to put this note into the dungeon this very day. Swear to me that you will do it.’ And I held up two shining pieces in the sun.
“Her eyes snapped. So did mine—the gold looked so dazzling and lovely in the golden sun. As for the husband, he sat with amazed eyes and open mouth, but said nothing. Neither of them had seen such gold before.
“The woman stretched out her hand. I made her swear, gave her the note you gave me, and then gave her the two coins.
“Just then a man shouted to them from the castle in a threatening tone; and they hurried away in a fright, while I gathered up my wares as fast as I could and went back to the hamlet. Here I scrawled a note to you, gave it to my son whom I had taken the precaution to takewith me, and put him on board of a vessel for Alexandria just then passing. Since then the custode has been to me daily, made oath that she has fed the prisoner, and received her gold pieces. She reports that Draco has gone back to the city for a day or two; but that he has left a substitute who wears the key of the dungeon at his belt, and leads off every night in the drunken debauch. I expect her every moment. It is about time for her to make her daily visit.... There she is with her provision basket! I will go and bring her on board.”
Rachel was struck with the air of the humbly dressed and somewhat bent woman whom the peddler soon brought up to her. She looked the picture of timidity and uncertainty—as if drawn in opposite directions by powerful forces, and almost torn in pieces in the struggle between them. Her nerves were all on the wing. One could warrant that no sound sleep had come to her for many a night. She staggered rather than walked up to where Rachel was sitting.
Rachel saluted her warmly; with her own hands placed a cushion for her near herself; asked her name; by degrees drew her out to tell of her former life in Alexandria and of her bits of contact with the family of Alexander. How long had she lived here? Were there others of “our faith and race” in this neighborhood? Was she holding fast to the God of Israel? And did she hear and understand the chant from the prophet Daniel?
Seti sat silently by and listened to the gentle, soothing tones in which, without any airs of condescension and patronage, but simply as woman with woman and believer with believer, the princess talked with the peasant, till he saw the discomposure of the poor woman slowlygive way to the winsome ways of one speaking to her as from her own level. And yet what a contrast! The fresh, glorious beauty and grace, fittingly arrayed, of the one over against the faded features and crooked form and rough garments of the other! Could it be that the two were of the same race? No one who saw Rachel that day could doubt that she at least thought so, and knew how to make her lowly sister feel the same. Said Seti to himself, “The last few days have ripened her like tropical suns.” There are ways in which the great may put themselves in sympathy and fellowship with the lowly without putting on their dress, eating their food, living in their cabins, and using their language.
“And this is my grandfather, Deborah,” at length said Rachel, looking toward Seti, “who, though he is high priest of Egypt, honors the God of our fathers and loves our people. He shall be witness to what I will now say to you. Our merchant friend here has told you how much interested we are to rescue the young man of our faith who is now in the castle dungeon. But Ezra was not able to tell you, as I do now, that the young man was not imprisoned by the government, but by a band of ruffians on their own private feud; and that we have in our hands a warrant from the governor to deliver him from his enemies as best we can. But there are reasons why we wish to do it as quietly as possible. Here you can help us. You have already helped us by keeping our friend from starvation. Now we want you to help us still further—in fact, to help us free him this very night. If there is any risk to you in what we shall now propose, we will reward you accordingly. We will do for you all that our agent the merchant has promised. We will make it unnecessaryfor you to be a servant any more. If you choose you shall go with us to Alexandria, and live at your ease for the rest of your life. You know that we are able to do as much as we say. Now, grandfather, will you tell Deborah what we want her to do?”
“Do you and your husband draw and carry the wine every night to the soldiers?” inquired Seti.
The woman answered in the affirmative.
He went on, “Put this powder in the wine skin from which you draw. It will not hurt the taste of the wine, but the drunkards will sleep the sooner and sounder. Doubtless there is somewhere on the grounds a large pointed iron bar: is it not so?”
She replied that there was one in the provision cellar.
“It is well. In the course of the day contrive to introduce the bar, with a note which I will give you fastened to it, into the prison through the grated opening. Will you do it?”
She bent her head in assent.
“One other thing—the hardest but most important of all. As soon as the mess room is quiet after the debauch, and the men are lying stupid with drunkenness and drug, steal in on tiptoe and cut off the key from the girdle of the captain, and unlock the dungeon door, if the young man has not yet succeeded in prying it open. The drug is so powerful that I think you can do it safely. If one should happen to rouse, he would, very likely, think you had come to bring more wine and relapse into his stupor. When the young man is free, conduct him to the north gate, which I know you have the key of; where we will meet you with a number of men and conduct you all tothe pinnace which by that time will be near the north hamlet. Will you do this also?”
“Oh,” the woman exclaimed with almost an air of distraction, “I amsoafraid. Those wicked, frightful men—howcanI go in among them!”
Both Seti and Rachel talked long with her; plied her with arguments and promises; and at last had the satisfaction of seeing her more composed and firm, and of hearing her promise that she would do as they wished.
As she rose to go, Rachel grasped her hand and said, “Now be brave for a few hours and your fortune is made. Do all we have said—do just as we have said. Do it for the sake of the innocent, do it for Israel’s sake, do it for our sakes who have some claims upon you, do it for your own sakes for whom this day may do so much.”
As the woman was turning away, Seti held out to her a vial filled with a colored liquid. “As evening comes on pour this into a cup of water and drink it. It is a cordial. It will strengthen and steady you for what you have to do.... And then,” he added to Rachel, “the note and plan to be fastened to the bar!”
She at once wrote thus: “To night we expect that the guard will be stupid with wine and drug. When they are fully quiet after their debauch, see what you can do toward prying open your door. If you cannot succeed, you may still hope that the door will be unlocked shortly from without. Make your way out of the castle by means of the inclosed plan, if no guide appears; and meet your friends at the north gate.—R.”
She showed this to Seti, who nodded his approval. Folding her copy of the plan into the note, she gave it to the custode—charging her to put it through the gratewhile it was still light enough to read the note and to see how best to attack the door. The woman departed some gold pieces richer than she came.
The peddler gathered up his wares, repacked them, and went forward with his pack. Late in the day, at a signal from Seti, the boatmen who had scattered themselves along the bank, returned, unmoored the vessel, pushed out silently into the stream, dropped silently down past the castle, and as silently warped into another sheltered nook very like that they had just left and about as far from the castle.
Here the servants spread refreshments for Rachel and her grandfather: and then a larger outspread was made at the other end of the pinnace for the others. While these were eating, Seti and Rachel went down among them to speak a few kindly words, to see that their wants were well supplied, and to ask all of them, save two or three needed to stay by the vessel, to be ready late in the evening to escort them in a short walk they were proposing to take. It would not be amiss if they should take bludgeons or other arms with them: they would find a plenty of such below. Very likely arms would not be needed; but then the place was neither Heaven nor the Diapleuston. Is it necessary to state that no person was employed on Alexander’s barge unless he was a Jew of his own synagogue?
How should they spend the weary hours of waiting before it would be time to set out for the gate? Seti did something to answer this question.
As soon as the men had finished eating, he stepped to the front of the dais with a roll in his hand, and invited all of them to come near while he should read from theirSacred Writings. He then proceeded to read from the Septuagint the 93d and a part of the 94th Psalm. It was very different reading from that artificial sub cantus heard in the synagogues. It was the reading of a prophet by a prophet, of a poet by a poet. Such a natural, hearty, sympathetic rendering of the great thoughts—it seemed as if the royal Psalmist, in the full glow of his inspiration, was rehearsing his own words. The people stood with open mouths and wondering eyes as the man of three generations—his form erect, his eyes keen, his hair but slightly frosted, his teeth perfect, his voice firm and resonant, his whole bearing that of one who defies decay—celebrated in grave and majestic tones the glory of the One God, His justice, and the final overthrow of the plans of the wicked. He closed by reading with special slowness and emphasis these words, “Who will rise up for me against the evil doers—who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”
Rolling up the parchment, he looked searchingly about on the upturned faces.
“Friends,” said he, “we are not far from a den of evil-doers. In yonder castle, a small band of ruffians, without warrant from the authorities, have shut up in a dungeon the young man who stood up so nobly for our faith in the Diapleuston a few days ago. We are here with a warrant from the governor to rescue him. We expect this will be done about midnight without any help from you. But we have promised to meet the rescuing party at the north gate of the castle grounds with our men and conduct them to the pinnace. We hope that this will be all we need to do. But if we should be disappointed, I want you to be ready with stout heartsand arms to succeed where others have failed. The soldiers are few, at midnight they will be drunk, the castle will be open, and I who know every nook in it will be your guide. Now, who of you will rise up for us against the evil doers?”
“We will all go,” said one.
“Yes,all,” said another and another.
“There is none of us willing to be left behind,” exclaimed the peddler as he looked around.
“And yet,” said Seti, “we must leave some with the vessel. Ten of your stoutest will be enough to go with us; and you may select these for yourselves.... Now let us kneel and pray to the God of Israel, who can do great things for us whereof we shall be glad,” and, to the astonishment of all, he kneeled, and spread forth his hands heavenward, and invoked the blessing of the Most High on their undertaking with the manner of one who saw God and stood in his very presence. Few words, but full of meaning and realization and devotion. And that westering sun looked through the screen of palms on as true and acceptable a prayer meeting as he sees to-day.
In the brief twilight that follows an Egyptian sun setting, they saw a man running down to them from the high road that skirted the bank. It proved to be the old Egyptian custode. He was spent with running, and, when brought up to Seti and Rachel, could hardly speak. But at last he managed to let them know that he was much afraid, from his wife’s growing agitation, that her courage would fail at the critical moment. All appearances promised an agony of fright and incapacity when presence of mind would be most needed. He begged that the lady, who only seemed to have power to soothe andhearten her, would not fail to come with the others. It might save everything.
“Iwillcome,” said Rachel; and, looking at Seti, she added, “I had rather in any case go with you than remain here in suspense.”
He made no reply to her, but said to the Egyptian as he dismissed him with a present: “Do not forget to have the north gate opened early—also the iron door leading to the cellars. Have a lighted lantern ready as soon as the soldiers are quiet.”
The stars came out one by one. Sirius flashed out first; then Aldebaran; then the body and belt and sword of Orion, together with Pleiades and Hyades and the Chambers of the South—with their pageant universe. No moon would appear till after midnight; but such was the stellar effulgence that nothing more seemed needed for such an enterprise.
Theflightof Time! Yes, he is sometimes pictured with wings as far stretching and mighty as an archangel’s; and sometimes he seems to us to be plying them with all his might. But not in such circumstances as our friends were in. To eager, restless, suspenseful hearts, hoping the best but fearing the worst, eager to work but for the present able to do nothing, Time has no wings at all, not even feet, but creeps along as if weighted with untold chains. So crept he that night to Seti and Rachel.
But even the snail is at last found to have moved—the most lingering hour that ever crept toward a man, second by second, at last arrives—and so, at last, midnight ached along and found Seti and his company at the north gate. It was unfastened. So far, well.
They listened. They thought they could hear dull strokes at carefully measured intervals. “Get nearer—as near as you can,” said Seti to the peddler, “and see if the sound does not come from the dungeon.”
In a few moments the man returned to say that the prisoner was evidently at work on his door; but that the custodes, both man and wife, were sitting in an apparently helpless state on the steps before the iron door leading to the vaults. He could scarcely get an intelligible word from either of them.
“Let us go to them,” whispered Rachel to Seti; “let us go to them alone. The men would only alarm and confound them more.”
For answer he drew her arm still further within his; and went cautiously forward through the shadows straight toward the door of the vaults. Sure enough, there were the custodes on the last step, cowering, trembling, moaning faintly, almost stupid with terror. Rachel knelt by the woman, took hold of her hand with one hand and stroked her with the other, bade her be of good courage, if only for a little.
“You see,” said she, “that I have come to help you. Seti also is here; and many other helpers are behind. Have you taken the cordial? Ah, I see that you have forgotten it. Never mind, take it now. There, now I hope you will soon feel better. What do you say? You have no strength? You cannot go alone? Look, Deborah, let us go together as far as the prison door and see what progress has been made. Perhaps it will not be necessary to go for the key. Come, lean on me.”
So the woman was persuaded to her feet. The potion that Rachel had given her seemed beginning to take effect.Seti pushed open the iron door, found a lighted lantern just within, cautiously descended the steps with it, closely followed by the two women. Now the blows were falling strong and fast; as if the prisoner knew that no time was to be lost. They came to the grated opening into the cell. Seti set the lantern by it. At once the strokes ceased.
“Is it Aleph the Chaldean?” inquired the priest in a voice scarcely above a whisper.
“Thank Heaven! it is the voice of Seti, my friend and father,” answered a voice within.
“Will the door give way?” asked Seti.
“I fear not,” replied Aleph. “I cannot see where to apply the bar, and so much of my labor is thrown away. If a light could be introduced through the grating, I could soon tell whether freedom is possible in this way.”
“Can you get a narrow sconce that will pass through the grate?” asked Seti of the custode.
The woman, without speaking, pointed in a vague way toward the room above.
“Do nothing till we return,” said the priest to Aleph. “We will find you a light, or something better.”
Then he whispered to Rachel, “There is but one thing to be done. Seat the woman on this bench and come. We must do without her. She might shriek or fall among the men at any moment. Safer without her.”
The woman sank on the bench like a rag. Seti took down the lantern, drew Rachel’s arm again within his own, and softly made his way up a flight of steps to the door of the mess room. He listened a moment. Nothingwas audible but the dull hard breathing of the men within.
He gently pressed the door open. The room was full of lights of all sorts—as if the ruffians had been afraid of darkness and meant to have as little of it as possible. And all around—on benches, on the floor, under the great table, hanging limp over the backs of chairs—were the men in a state of swinish intoxication. Broken and upset cups lay about everywhere. Pools of wine and vomit were on the table and on the floor. The foul air was almost intolerable.
Seti took up a sword that lay on the floor, and held out the lantern to Rachel.
“No, grandfather,” she whispered, “this work is for me. I can tread among them more lightly than you can; and now I can see the key at the belt of yonder man,” and she pointed to a man who sat at the head of the table, his arms spread out upon it, and his head resting on his arms.
He expostulated, “Perhaps the woman neglected to drug the wine as she neglected her own cordial.”
Without replying, the maiden gathered her robes tightly about her, and stepped in among the dangerous brutes. Her feet fell as fall the snow-flakes. Around one man, over the arm or leg of another, narrowly missing the nodding head of a third—on she went through those swine possessed with devils like some celestial vision, with eye and foot steady and sure, till she reached the farther end of the room and the side of the symposiarch. She saw the key. Oh for a knife to sever it from the belt! She could see nowhere any sharp cutting tool. The man was snoring heavily; the snores got into a tangle,trembled, stopped. He groaned and moved. She stood breathlessly over him with steady, flaming eyes till his breathing became regular again; then, seizing a small sconce from the table, she held it under the string that fastened the key to the belt. In a moment the two parted company. With lamp in one hand, and the key with her draperies in the other, she made her way back to the door and Seti as carefully as she went.
They passed out. Seti noiselessly closed the door, drew up between it and an angle in the wall a stout bench, and descended to the dungeon. Rachel put her hand with the narrow lamp in it through the grate, and whispered in an unsteady voice, “We have the key. Take the light, and, if you have displaced the door somewhat, replace it. Else the key may not work.”
He took it, made a few movements with his bar, then said, “Now try the key.” Seti inserted it and tried to turn—alas, the bolt would not move.
“Hand the key to me,” said Aleph; “perhaps I can do better from the inside.”
It was passed through the grate. The outside hearts stood still as the key was heard groping for its hole, then stoutly pushed home, then beginning to turn in the wards. Would it stop? Has it stopped? Ah, what a moment that was! Human nature could not endure many such strains. But hark! There is a sudden mighty heave and push and wrench; and, oh joy! youth and strength and Heaven have surely conquered. Back flies the bolt with a loud noise that is musical as Paradise; and lo, Aleph stands before them. Seti threw his arms about him, and exclaimed, “My son—thank Heaven!”
“I also thank Heaven and my foster-father,” returnedAleph warmly, as he returned the embrace; and then, turning toward Rachel with eyes that even in the dim light throbbed into hers thankfulness, and much besides that made her face burn and her heart sing, he added, “And there is another who will not be forgotten, even the angel whom God has sent to shut the lions’ mouths so that they have not hurt me. I knew your voice, and even your hand, as well as your chant, as you came.”
“We must hasten,” interrupted the priest. “We are not yet quite out of the lions’ den.”
Aleph at once went into the dungeon and brought out his staff and the lamp.
“And Deborah? It will not do to leave the poor woman here; and, shattered as she is, she cannot help herself away. She failed us at the last moment, but she did what she could,” whispered Rachel to Aleph as she pointed to the custode on the bench.
He bent to look at the woman. “No, she cannot walk, and must not be left. I will carry her.”
And he took her up as gently and as easily as one might a babe; and so, following Seti, they went up the steps to the iron door and then out under the blessed stars that seemed to rejoice and exult with them. Seti did not forget to make assurance of safety doubly sure by putting another bolted door between them and pursuit. They found the Egyptian sitting where they had left him. He plainly was able to help himself: so, bidding him follow, they moved on to the gate, where they found the boatmen and peddler much alarmed at their long absence and about going to seek them. This gate also they immediately bolted after them—thus putting a third embarrassmentin the way of pursuit. The pinnace-men could scarce restrain their joy and shouts when they saw Aleph among them with the woman in his arms. They didnotrestrain themselves as soon as the bolt of the gate went clanging home, but sent up a shout full of heartiness and victory. The newly risen moon seemed to shout back again.
They reached the vessel without further adventure.
“Unmoor, men,” cried Seti, “and push out into the river!”
When this had been done, and the pinnace was moving gently with the current, his voice rose again. “Before we spread our sails and take oars for Alexandria, let us acknowledge Him who has answered our prayers.” And so under the bright moonlight, floating gently down the restful ancient river, with no sound on the air but his own majestic voice, the high priest, as if primate of all religions, gave thanks, in few and fitting words and with uplifted hands, for the success of their enterprise to Him “who executeth judgment for the oppressed, who giveth food to the hungry, and who looseth the prisoners.”
Now up, men, with the sails! Now, ye oarsmen with light hearts and strong arms, ply joyfully the oars homeward! Aleph, sitting at the feet of Seti and Rachel, is duly questioned and tells modestly his story; and he in return soon comes to know all that we know about the measures taken for his rescue—also about the situation of Cimon, in regard to whom his concern seemed to have been greater than for himself. For the most part Seti told the story. And he told it well. Rachel certainly had no reason to complain that justice was not done to the part she had taken in the matter. And she saw moreeloquent speaking in the two luminaries that occasionally beamed up into hers than she had ever seen in moon and stars—or even the sun.
But toiling men must have rest and sleep. So, after the lapse of an hour or so, during which good progress had been made, the boatmen moored again under the screen of another leafy grove that overhung the river and laid themselves down wherever they best could. Seti and Rachel retired below. As for Aleph, he had had enough of inactivity. The sense and delight of freedom once more were strong within him. He leaped ashore; and walked about in the grove, and sometimes on the highway from Alexandria which in general followed the banks of the river, and which the Romans, according to their wont, kept in the best condition. While on this thoroughfare he heard the sound of wheels and the tramp of furiously driven horses coming from the north. He stepped into the grove. The noise rapidly grew, and soon became mixed with the voices of men in angry dispute. As the voices came still nearer—could it be?—Aleph thought he recognized the voice of Draco. Then appeared a chariot drawn by two foaming horses, with four men seated in it. When nearly abreast of him the horses suddenly stopped.
“We will go no farther,” exclaimed the voice of Draco, “till this matter is settled. We mean that he shall die; and we also mean to be paid well for what we have done for you. We must have enough to pay us for the loss of our situations, and to keep us in Rome, or wherever we choose to go, for the rest of our lives. We want the talents down—all of them. We are not a-going to trust you for a yearly stipend, which may and may notbe paid; we must have everything in our own power. You did not promise so much? But you promised to pay us liberally; and the pay must be whatwecall liberal. Cannot get so many talents? You can at least steal them from your father, or from the treasury of the province—we do not care which. We do not care how you come by the money if so be that we get it.”
In the course of the violent altercation that followed Aleph recognized three other voices—that of the equestrian trainer, that of Antis, and that of Sextus Flaccus who seemed in a half drunken state. He also gathered that Sextus had been berating the trainers for their defeat by Aleph until the passionate men had been provoked beyond measure, lost all self-control, and were ready to do almost anything to gratify their resentment. Sextus was too much in wine to see his danger; kept on abusing them roundly; and even went so far as to threaten that he would pay them little or nothing for their services. This had brought matters to a crisis.
“Now,” said Draco at last, with an oath as horrible as a pagan or an atheist could swear, “let us have done with this. Tell us, Sextus Flaccus, what you will do—yes or no. Will you promise by the soul of your mother, the only oath you are likely to keep, that within five days, by hook or by crook, you will pay over to us the money we demand? If not, you drunken fool, we will strangle you on the spot and throw your body into the river. It will be said that you fell into the river in a drunken fit. And everybody will believe the story—even your own father. Swear, I say, ordie,die. We can help ourselves at the castle to more than you are likely to give us, if it be true, as we hear, that your father hides histreasures there; and then we will take to the desert and have everybody for a prey. Come!”
Nothing came from Sextus but a new volley of provoking epithets and threats.
The two trainers grasped him. A struggle followed. “Drive on a little farther to a better spot,” cried Draco to Antis.
The horses sprang forward under the lash and soon disappeared. But Aleph could hear the noise of scuffle, muffled calls for help, half suffocated cries of terror. He ran after the chariot as fast as possible: at length descried it standing by the roadside empty. At the same time he heard a loud splash and saw three men run up from the river bank, leap into the chariot, and drive off at a furious pace. It was vain to pursue—perhaps he might rescue the victim. So he rushed to the bank which the men had just left; and leaned over the water, holding by a friendly sapling that bent over the stream. At first he could see nothing, coming as he did from the bright moonlight; but in a moment he saw a hand just sinking beneath the water—saw also a crocodile close by in the act of turning over to seize his prey. Quick as thought he struck at the monster with his staff, and then, plunging his arm deep in the water, caught the fingers of Sextus just as they were passing out of reach, and drew the body to the bank. It was apparently lifeless. The proper way of treating such a body is no discovery of modern times. Aleph was not ignorant of it, promptly used it, and found signs that life was not extinct, though flickering in its socket. He took up the body and hastened to return to the pinnace. He found it all alive with anxiety at his disappearance—especially after the sounds of strife and rushing wheelshad faintly come to them. Seti and Rachel met him, as he stepped on board with his burden, with a joyful welcome and inquiring looks.
“Sextus Flaccus, nearly or quite murdered by his comrades—first throttled, and then drowned!”
A few swift words of further explanation, and Aleph hastened to the dais with his burden, and for a long time bent every energy to restore the vital warmth—by posture, by friction, by wrapping in rugs, by aiding the ribs in the scarcely perceptible breathing movement, by fanning—Seti assisting with advice and hands. It was a hard fight with death; but at last came signs that their labor would not be in vain. Sextus breathed regularly though feebly. His throat, which they had laid bare, and which was all bruised and discolored by the strangling hands of the ruffians, showed the efforts of the vital fluid to resume a forceful circulation. At last he moaned and opened his eyes. Opened them on Aleph as he knelt before him, fanning him, gently adjusting his position and wraps as usefully as possible. Opened them at first in a vague, bewildered stare into which soon came a grain of intelligence, then of astonishment, then of alarm. He tried to raise himself. Aleph gently helped him. Then followed a fixed gaze of absorbed inquiry in which thought seemed wrestling with thought, each demanding of each,What means all this? Is it possible?He then quietly closed his eyes and seemed trying to recollect himself. Seti and Rachel kept well behind, and watched with breathless interest. Again Sextus opened his eyes—this time with full intelligence in them. He tried to speak. No sound came. He tried again. Aleph put his ear near the struggling lips.
“Are you Aleph the Chaldean?” came in the faintest of whispers.
Aleph nodded.
“Aleph the prisoner?”
Aleph nodded again.
“Did you save me from the men, and the Nile, and—the crocodile?” Sextus asked in a stronger voice.
“What, did you notice the crocodile?” said Aleph. “I thought you were beyond noticing anything.”
“I saw him preparing to seize me—saw something worse than a crocodile; for all my follies and sins of many years, including my treatment of you, came up before me in one dreadful flash. Ah, it was a dreadful sight—worse than any monster on sea or land!”
“You see that it is possible to escape from monsters that are very near,” said Aleph soothingly. “But I would not talk any more just now. You are too weak. Let me adjust the rugs and wraps more comfortably for you, and lie down again. You are among friends.”
Sextus bent another long wondering gaze at the noble face that was bending over him, and then resigned himself with closed eyes to the gentle hands that laid him carefully down to a smoother and softer resting place. In a few moments he was asleep.
“Well,” said Seti, with a grave smile, “youarea very strange young man. Is this the way you treat enemies in your country? If so it is very unlike any other country that I happen to know. Still, I confess that the way, unprecedented as it is, has a good look to it, and may be worth introducing into Egypt.”
“Say notunprecedented, my dear grandfather,” said Rachel, “for you know Deity treats men better thanthey deserve; and the Christ, it seems, does the same. How forbearing he is toward his enemies, when he could so easily overwhelm them!”
Aleph was looking dreamily at the banks now fast gliding by (for the pinnace was in full motion again and the dawn was kindling all things into color and beauty), but at the wordChristhe turned inquiringly toward Rachel. She understood him.
“Yes,” she said, “we have something new to tell you about the Christ—something new and wonderful that comes from a witness that I can trust—my own mother”—and she proceeded to relate to him the history of the resurrection of Lazarus and the consequent exasperation and plottings of his enemies.
“Having had little else to do, I have been thinking much of Him during the last few days,” returned Aleph, “especially of what the prophets, Isaiah and Daniel, say of his suffering character. ‘He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all: he was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off out of the land of the living.’ And Daniel says, ‘And after three score and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.’ So I am expecting the worst and the best—the greatest sacrifice and the greatest salvation the world has ever seen. Jesus is surely a king; but at present his kingdom is not of this world. He will pass to his throne through the gates of death. Then of his kingdom there will be no end.”
He said this as a seer might say it, and with a new light in his face.
Sextus slumbered on, hour after hour, as the vessel glided down the silent river and the sun glided up the silent sky. Their morning meal was spread for them and still he slept. But when they raised their heads, after the priest had thanked Him who giveth to all their food, they saw that his eyes were wide open and fastened on them. Aleph at once went to him, helped him to a sitting posture, propped him with cushions and rugs, and then brought him fruits and other food. He was now able to eat, though but very slowly. Aleph did not leave him till his slow repast was quite finished, and he was again settled into a restful position. During all this he said not a word.
It was not long after the meal and the general religious service that immediately followed that they saw in the distance and coming toward them a large galley evidently crowded with people. As it approached they recognized the young men of the University; and the young men at the same time recognized the commanding form of Aleph, who had risen for a better view of the craft in which Seti seemed so interested. What a shout from young throats suddenly broke into the sky! What a climbing into all high places and lookouts! What a frantic flourish of hands and caps—yea, of spears and swords and bucklers; for it was now plain that something besides a cordial reception of a returning friend was in the thought of the young men when they left Alexandria. They were prepared to fight as well as to celebrate.
“Hail Aleph the Chaldean!” Three times they had given this uproarious greeting with full lungs and wild gesticulations; and there is no telling when they would have stopped had not Aleph stepped on the bulwark towardthe galley and beckoned to them. They instantly became silent.
“You see, my friends, that the venerable Seti has found me, and found me safe and sound—thanks to Heaven and him. No matter where, no matter how: he desires that no questions he asked about these things. My arrest and abduction were not by the authorities: they were a private enterprise altogether for which we may hold Draco responsible, if we can lay hands on him. Apart from him all is buried. Many thanks to you for the generous interest you have taken in the stranger, for the efforts and pains you have been at on my account, and of which I have been duly informed. I did not know when I joined the University what a company of generous and warm hearted associates I would have. If my arm were long enough I would grasp the hand of every one of you. Suppose it done till we meet again. Once more; in return for your warm greetings, I am sure that I can give not only my own but those of the dear friends in whose hands you see me, and without whom I should not be here to-day.”
Pausing a moment, he added, “I have a favor to ask. We have with us a sick friend for whom quiet and rest are needed. For this and other reasons we propose that you precede or follow us at a considerable interval; and that we enter the city apart in as quiet and undemonstrative a way as possible. We can demonstrate at our leisure hereafter. I certainly shall want to demonstrate my gratitude.”
One great cheer for the speaker; and another for “the empress of Alexandria” as they now discovered Rachel beneath the curtain which she had hastily let fallbetween herself and the approaching galley; and then the galley silently dropped behind—far behind. But our friends could hear faintly from it the music of song and instrument, and faintly see the flutter of banners and streamers of all sorts all the way along the river and canal. But when they entered the lake they quite lost sight and hearing of the galley. So the pinnace came quietly to its old moorings.
Up to this time Sextus had sat silent and almost motionless where he had been placed. He now threw off his wraps and attempted to rise. With the help of Aleph, who hastened to him, he succeeded; but he was not able to stand alone.
“I see a close palanquin on the shore,” said Aleph. “I will beckon for it, and if you somewhat muffle the lower part of your face, you will not be recognized. I will order the bearers to take you to Bruchium.”
Sextus looked gratefully at him, and said in a low but decisive voice, “I shall not forget this, as you soon will have occasion to know.”
So they parted with mutual pressure of the hand.
Then Aleph parted from Seti and Rachel—saying to the latter as she reminded him of his promise to see Miriam, “Shall I also see the empress of Rome?” His voice was somewhat unsteady.
She hesitated for a moment, and then said, impulsively, “You will never see her, if earth and Heaven can prevent it;” and her face shone with a determination that was almost fierce.
“If I only wore a diadem, I know at whose feet it would be laid”—he said it simply, as to himself.
“Aleph the Chaldean already wears a diadem whichthe daughter of Alexander values more than any that will ever shine on the banks of the Tiber,” was the reply.
What is the use of being a princess and, by invitation, an empress, if she cannot speak her mind frankly? But whatisher mind? Seti might have used the same words. From his lips they would have meant high approval and even admiration. Was this all that she meant? Did she only pay such fitting intellectual tribute to Aleph as one pays to an admirable statue, to the glorious stars, or to each of a hundred shining historic persons? We admire them and praise them—but we can live without them. We can leave the admirable statue in its palace or temple and very contentedly go about our business, never to see it again. We can praise Plato to the skies, and yet be quite willing to have him and his Republic remain some twenty odd centuries away from us. Who has a right to say that such was not the mind of Rachel?—appreciative, outspoken, Setian, and—nothing more?