in the air, which had the echoing hollowness of a vault. It was loud
and long and terrible. First from the direction of Marteel,

over the four miles which divide Tetuan from the coast, came the warning
which the sea sends before trouble comes to the land--a deep moan

as of waters falling from the sky. Next came the moan of the wind
down the valley that opens on the gate called the Bab el Marsa,

and along the river that flows to the port. Then came the roll
of thunder, like a million cannons, down the gorges of the Reef mountains

and across the plain that stretches far away to Kitan. Last of all,
the black clouds of the sky emptied themselves over the town,

and the rain fell in floods on the roof of the house and on the pavement
of the patio, and leapt up again in great loud drops, making a noise

to the ear like to the tramp, tramp, tramp of a hidden multitude.
Thus sound after sound broke over the darkness of the night

in a thousand awful voices, now near, now far, now loud,
now low, now long, now short, now rising, now falling, now rushing,

now running--a mightytumult and a fearsome anarchy.
At last Naomi's terror was redoubled. Every sound seemed

to smite her body as a blow. Hitherto she had known one sense only,
the sense of touch, and though now she knew the sense of hearing also,

she continued to refer all sensations to feeling. At the sound
of the sea she put out her arms before her; at the sound of the wind

she buried her face in her palms; and at the sound of the thunder
she lifted her hands as if to protect her head.

Meanwhile, Israel sat beside her and cherished her close at his bosom.
He yearned to speak words of comfort to her, soft words of cheer,

tender words of love, gentle words of hope.
"Be not afraid, my daughter! It is only the wind, it is only the rain;

it is only the thunder. Once you loved to run and race in them.
They shall not harm you, for God is good, and He will keep you safe.

There, there, my little heart! See, your father is with you.
He will guard you. Fear not, my child, fear not!"

Such were the words which Israel yearned to speak in Naomi's ears,
but, alas! what words could she understand any more than the wind

which moaned about the house and the thunder which rolled overhead?
And again and again, alas! as surely as he spoke to her she must shrink

from the solace of his voice even as she shrank from the tumult
of the voices of the storm.

Israel fell back helpless and heartbroken. He began to see in its fulness
the change which had befallen Naomi, yet not at once to realise it,

so sudden and so numbing was the stroke. He began to know that
with the mightyblessing for which he had hoped and prayed--the blessing

of a pathway to his daughter's soul--a misfortune had come as well.
What was it to him now that Naomi had ears to hear if she could not

understand? And what was this tempest to the maiden new-born
out of the land of silence into the world of sound, yet still both blind

and dumb, but a circle of darkness alive with creatures that groaned
and cried and shrieked and moved around her?

Thus nothing could Israel do but watch the creeping of Naomi's terror,
and smooth her forehead and chafe her hands. And this he did,

until at length, in a fresh outbreak of the storm, when the vault
of the heavens seemed rent asunder, a strong delirium took hold of her,

and she fell into a long unconsciousness. Then Israel held back
his heart no longer, but wept above her, and called to her,

and cried aloud upon her name--
"Naomi! Naomi! My poor child! My dearest! Hear me! It is nothing!

nothing! Listen! It is gone! Gone!"
With such passionate cries of love and sorrow; Israel gave vent

to his soul in its trouble. And while Naomi lay in her unconsciousness,
he knew not what feelings possessed him, for his heart was

in a great turmoil. Desolate! desolate! All was desolate!
His high-built hopes were in ashes!

Sometimes he remembered the days when the child knew no sorrow,
and when grief came not near her, when she was brighter than the sun

which she could not see and sweeter than the songs which she
could not hear, when she was joyous as a bird in its narrow cage

and fretted not at the bars which bound her, when she laughed
as she braided her hair and came dancing out of her chamber at dawn.

And remembering this, he looked down at her knitted face,
and his heart grew bitter, and he lifted up his voice through the tumult

of the storm, and cried again on the God of Jacob, and rebuked Him
for the marvellous work which He had wrought.

If God were an almighty God, surely He looked before and after,
and foresaw what must come to pass. And, foreseeing and knowing all,

why had God answered his prayer? He himself had been a fool.
Why had he craved God's pity? Once his poor child was blither

than the panther of the wilderness and happier than the young lamb
that sports in springtime. If she was blind, she knew not what it was

to see; and if she was deaf, she knew not what it was to hear;
and if she was dumb, she knew not what it was to speak.

Nothing did she miss of sight or sound or speech any more than
of the wings of the eagle or the dove. Yet he would not be content;

he would not be appeased. Oh! subtlety of the devil which had brought
this evil upon him!

But the God whom Israel in his agony and his madness rebuked
in this manner sent His angel to make a great silence, and the storm

lapsed to a breathless" target="_blank" title="a.屏息的">breathless quiet.
And when the tempest was gone Naomi's delirium passed away.

She seemed to look, and nothing could she see; and then to listen,
and nothing could she hear; and then she clasped the hand of her father

that lay over her hand, and sighed and sank down again.
"Ah!"

It was even as if peace had come to her with the thought
that she was back in the land of great silence once again,

and that the voices which had startled her, and the storm
which had terrified her, had been nothing but an evil dream.

In that sweet respite she fell asleep, and Israel forgot the reproaches
with which he had reproached his God, and looked tenderly down at her,

and said within himself, "It was her baptism. Now she will walk
the world with confidence, and never again will she be afraid.

Truly the Lord our God is king over all kingdoms and wise
beyond all wisdom!"

Then, with one look backward at Naomi where she slept, he crept out
of the room on tiptoe.

CHAPTER XIII
NAOMI'S GREAT GIFT

With the coming of the gift of hearing, the other gifts
with which Naomi had been gifted in her deafness, and the strange graces

with which she had been graced, seemed suddenly to fall from her
as a garment when she disrobed.

It seemed as though her old sense of touch had become confused
by her new sense of hearing, She lost her way in her father's house,

and though she could now hear footsteps, she did not appear to know
who approached. They led her into the street, into the Feddan,

into the walled lane to the great gate, into the steep arcades leading
to the Kasbah; and no more as of old did she thread her way

through the people, seeming to see them through the flesh of her face
and to salute them with the laugh on her lips, but only followed on and on

with helpless footsteps. They took her to the hill above the battery,
and her breath came quick as she trod the familiar ways;

but when she was come to the summit, no longer did she exult
in her lofty place and drink new life from the rush of mighty winds

about her, but only quaked like a child in terror as she faced the world
unseen beneath and hearkened to the voices rising out of it,

and heard the breeze that had once laved her cheeks now screaming
in her ears. They gave Ali's harp into her hands, the same