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The Scapegoat-Part21_Hall Caine(1853-1931)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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"Spare us! Spare the land!" they all cried together. "Send rain

to destroy the eggs of the locust!" cried the Rabbi. "Else will they rise



on the ground in the sunshine like rice on the granary floor;

and neither fire nor river nor the army of the Sultan will stop them;



and we ourselves will die, and our children with us!"

And the Jews cried, "God of Jacob, be our refuge."



And the Muslims shouted, "Allah, save us!"

It was a strange sight to look upon in that land of intolerance--



the haughty Moor and the despised Jew, with all petty hatreds

sunk out of sight and forgotten in the grip of the death



that threatened both alike, walking and praying in the public streets

together.



Israel drew close to the wall and passed by unobserved. And being come

into the open road outside the town, he began to take a view



of the motives that had brought him away from his home again.

Then he saw that, if he was not a hypocrite like Reuben,



no credit could he give himself for what he was doing,

and if he was poor who had before been rich, no merit could he make



of his poverty.

"Naomi, Naomi, all for her, all for her," he thought. Naomi was his hope



and his salvation. His faith in God was his love of the child.

He was only bribing God to give her grace. And well he knew it,



while he journeyed towards the prison behind his six mules laden

with bread for them that lay there, that, much as he owed them,



being a cause of their miseries, the mercy he was about to show them

was but as mercy shown to himself. So the nearer he came to it



the lower his head sank into his breast, as if the sun itself

that beat down so fiercely upon his head had eyes to peer



into his deceiving soul.

The town of Shawan lies sixty miles south of Tetuan in the northern half



of the territory of the tribe of Akhmas, and the sun was two hours set

when Israel entered its beautiful valley between the two arms



of the mountain called Jebel Sheshawan. Going through the orchards

and vineyards that were round it, he was recognised by certain Jews;



tanners and pannier-makers, who in the days of his harder rule had fled

from Tetuan and his heavy taxings.



"It's Israel ben Oliel," whispered one.

"God of Jacob, save us!" whispered another.



"He has followed us for the arrears of taxes."

"We must fly."



"Let us go home first."

"No time for that."



"There is Rachel--"

"She's a woman."



"But I must warn my son--he has children."

"Then you are lost. Come on."



Before he reached the rude old masonry that had once been the fortress

and was now the prison, the poor followers of Absalam, who lay within,



had heard that he was coming, and, in their despair and the wild disorder

of all their senses, they looked for nothing but death from his visit,



as if they were to be cut to pieces instantly. Men and women

and young children, gaunt with hunger and begrimed with dirt,



some with faces that were hard and stony, some with faces that were weak

and simple, some with eyes that were red as blood, all weary with waiting



and wasted with long pain, ran hither and thither in the gloom

of the foul place where they were immured together. Shedding tears,



beating their flesh, and crying out with woeful clamour,

these unhappy creatures of God, who had been great of soul when they sang



their death-song with the precipice behind them and the soldiers in front,

now quaked for the miserable lives which they preserved in hunger



and cherished in bitterness.

By help of the seal of his master, which he always carried,



Israel found his way into the courtyard of the prison. The prisoners,

who had been gathered there for his inspection, heard his footsteps,



and by one impulse, as if an angel from heaven had summoned them,

they fell to their knees about the door whereby he must enter,



men behind and women in front, and mothers holding out their babes

before their breasts so that he might see them first, and have mercy



upon them if he had a heart made for pity.

Then the door of the place was thrown open, and Israel entered.



His head was bowed down, and his feet were bare. The people drew

their breath in wonder.



"Arise," he said; "I mean you no harm.! See! Here is bread! Take it,

and God bless you!"



So saying, he motioned with his trembling hand to where Ali

and the muleteer brought in the burden of food behind him.






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