XXXIIIWITH BEN AARON
Asthe form of Nadan was lost behind the battlement of rocks, Ben Aaron turned to Deborah.
"My child, why this coarse and torn garb? I did not ask in the presence of the Arab, lest the story might shame the good name of the house of Elkiah. But come within, and tell me in the confidence of our kinship; and as the Lord liveth, if man hath harmed thee, I will plant my spear before his tent ere the sun set again, though he were Sheikh Yusef himself. But you are faint, my daughter. You must rest; and, when refreshed with the warm goat's milk and the meat, I must have the tale of the happenings, even as if my ears were those of Elkiah himself—the Lord rest his spirit!"
"Adah! Zillah!"
He clapped his hands, and serving-women came from the low doorway of what was called the Castle of Masada, but seemed to Deborah more like a covert for cattle, so rude was the structure.
"Adah will bring water; and Zillah fetch you the garments of wool; aye, and the leben will bring warmth to your cheek."
Deborah evinced a moment's indecision. Her wearied flesh clamored for the offered cheer, yet her strong purpose prevailed.
"My thanks, Ben Aaron, but I have come upon a mission that may not be delayed even by your hospitality. As the good servant of our father Abraham at the house of Laban, so I must say to you, my father's kinsman, 'I will not eat until I have told mine errand.' And this raiment and these bleeding feet are fitting to my story. If I find not favor for my cause, then let me depart. You know that my father's house has sided with the Greeks."
"And well; for why should they perish?" interrupted her host.
"Say not so. The Greeks have turned to be enemies of our people. I myself was a prisoner in my father's house, doomed to death. I fled to the wilderness, to the Arabs, until these, our ancient enemies, less cruel than the Greeks, have brought me here to you. There is no hope for our people in this alliance with those who destroy our altars. God has brought to confusion and shame and destruction those of us who have consented to worship their false gods. He saves only His true people. Our hope is in the sons of Mattathias."
Ben Aaron raised his hand in protest.
"Nay," continued the eager woman, "hear me. The sons of Mattathias are the arrows of our God. Already He has sped them with His strength. If the arch of the sky were His bow and the lightning His arrows, the Greeks had not been smitten more disastrously. Without human aid Judas has already overthrown two armies of the heathen. I know that he will soon meet a third. If then Judas be beaten, the Greeks swear by their gods that no Jew, whatever may have been his alliance with Antiochus, shall live in the land. This fortress, as you know, is not safe even from the arrows and swords of the valley Sheikhs; how can it withstandthe engines of war with which the Greeks batter down walls and towers? But if Judas be again victorious, then the Romans will send armies to his assistance. Of this he already has assurance. The blood of Aaron and Elkiah is that of the sons of Mattathias."
"This is strange tidings," said Ben Aaron. "Come within the lamp-light that I may see if fright has not robbed you of your wits, my daughter."
Deborah stood beneath the rays under the rude portal. Ben Aaron caught the vision of her superb face, as she said:
"Think you that fright drove me through the wilderness of the Kedron and Engedi, when I might have fled to the camp of Judas? I have come, my kinsman, because our faith, our blood, is one. My father, Elkiah, said that Ben Aaron would protect his children."
"And so he will! And so he will!" cried Ben Aaron vehemently.
"It is impossible that I abide here," continued Deborah. "This stronghold is itself doomed. The Arabs of the valley are already gathering like eagles waiting for a carcass. I myself heard Yusef mutter curses on the name of Ben Aaron, and that, too, in the ears of his son Nadan. Did not Nadan but now refuse to break bread with you? Why should he break bread with you when to-morrow his tribe may feast here at will, and no Ben Aaron be living to bid them either welcome or begone? What means the gathering of all the tribes in the great plain? Their tents gleam from Jericho to Galilee almost as continuously as the sacred river itself. Will Ben Aaron submit?"
The man stood rigid, his hands clenched, his eyes drinking her spirit as he watched her and heard her heroic appeal.
"I have ten score men," said he, as if speaking to himself. "Bethuel, too, has bidden me beware the tribesmen. Bethuel is my Captain; a braver or wiser man never threw spear. I would have speech with him. You will tell me more, my daughter, as we are at meat."
"But tell me first," she insisted, "has my errand found favor with you? If not, I will go alone to the Maccabæans."
"I cannot answer you nay, my daughter. But you shall tell it all to Bethuel. Is it not enough for the moment that Deborah has found favor with her kinsman, and that his life shall be for hers whether she go or stay? Aye, you have Miriam's face. Know you, my child, that when you were born your father pledged me that you should become the bride of my Josiah, whom the Lord so soon after took from me. Since the same plague struck down the lad and his mother, Ben Aaron has lived a lonely life, overlooking this Sea of Death, for so it seemed fitting for one with a desolate heart, and no wife nor child to cheer it. The Lord has sent you to me, my child. No other angel have I seen on this barren peak. Let Bethuel say why I should not go with you."
If care and kindly purpose could have recuperated the strength of the traveller, the hands of Adah and Zillah would have taken away all aches. But ablution in the water cooled by filtering through the coarse clay jars, and the savory supper, only allayed her excitement. As she began to rest she for thefirst time began to realize how utterly wearied she was. She begged Ben Aaron that she might sleep until the morning; in the meantime he and Bethuel should consider the answer he was to give.
The news Deborah had brought spread like fire in the brambles throughout the little colony, for such it was rather than a single household. Scores of herdsmen that night gathered in the great central chamber. This was built of unhewn and unmortared stones, the débris of the storm-shattered crags about the summit of Masada.
It was the supper hour. Great pots steamed with the parched corn boiling in milk. Two whole goats, only the entrails having been removed, were being roasted on great wooden spits over the fire in the centre of the room. The savor of their flesh, mingled with the smoke, poured through the opening in the roof. This was an incense pleasing, if not to the gods, surely to the thousands of rooks collected upon the dried mud interlaced with sticks which made the roof.
Around the great chamber were sheds, from which came the lowing of cattle and the cries of the milkers. Without could be heard the clattering of wooden shoes on the rocks as the herdsmen clambered up from a lower plateau where the sheep were folded for the night.
Bethuel was closeted with his master in an adjacent room. The noise of the feasters ceased until each one threw himself down in his blanket upon the earthen floor. Then the voices of Ben Aaron and his chief broke the stillness. The debate had evidently been serious, for Bethuel exclaimed:
"It is the hour I have warned my lord must come.Our flocks are constantly stolen. Our herders are assaulted except as they go in bands. The tribesmen no longer keep faith with us. The Greeks—have I not often said it?—could not protect us if they would. The daughter of Elkiah has come to us as the angel to the threshing-floor of Gideon. We need no miracle of the dew on the fleece, and no fire to burst from the rock, to tell us the will of the Lord. Our God is with Judas and his brethren. The maiden's voice is His call from afar."
"Bethuel was always over-ready to fight," replied Ben Aaron.
"And," retorted Bethuel, "Ben Aaron has too long been, as the Arabs are everywhere saying, like a sick eagle on his nest. What is all the gold my lord has stored between these walls? My master's wealth and fame are like yonder nail that has rusted in the wall, and will scarcely hold the weight of his armor."
"It is true. It is true. Bethuel, my grief has aged me. I am but a rusted nail. But the words of Bethuel and my kinswoman have touched me with youth again. Bethuel, we will fight. Do you remember, my son, how we used to fight? How we won these heights for our castle? How many years have gone? Summon my people, Bethuel. It were better to fall in war than to die here. Summon the people, Bethuel!"