Lady Barbara Collis walked slowly along the dusty path leading from the
Midian village down to the lake that lay in the bottom of the ancient
crater which formed the valley of the Land of Midian. At her right
walked Abraham, the son of Abraham, and at her left the golden-haired
Jezebel. Behind them came the apostles, surrounding a young girl whose
sullen countenance was enlivened occasionally by the fearful glances
she cast upon the old men who formed her escort of her guard. Following
the apostles marched the remainder of the villagers, headed by the
elders. Other than these general divisions of the cortege, loosely
observed, there was no attempt to maintain a semblance of orderly
formation. They moved like sheep, now huddled together, now spewing
beyond the limits of the narrow path to spread out on either side, some
forging ahead for a few yards only to drop back again.
Lady Barbara was apprehensive. She had learned many things in the long
weeks of her virtual captivity among this strange religious sect.
Among other things she had learned their language, and the mastery
of it had opened to her inquiring mind many avenues of information
previously closed. And now she was learning, or she believed she was,
that Abraham, the son of Abraham, was nursing in his bosom a growing
skepticism of her divinity.
Her first night in Midian had witnessed her introduction to the
cruel customs and rites of this degenerate descendant of the earliest
Christian Church, and as she acquired a working knowledge of the
language of the land and gained an appreciation of the exalted origin
the leaders of the people attributed to her, and her position of
spokesman for their god, she had used her influence to discourage, and
even to prohibit, the more terrible and degrading practices of their
religion.
While recollection of the supernatural aspects of her descent from the
clouds remained clear in the weak mind of Abraham, the son of Abraham,
Lady Barbara had been successful in her campaign against brutality; but
daily association with this celestial visitor had tended to dissipate
the awe that had at first overwhelmed the prophet of Paul, the son of
Jehovah. The interdictions of his heavenly guest were all contrary to
the desires of Abraham, the son of Abraham, and to the word of Jehovah
as it had been interpreted by the prophets beyond the memory of man.
Such were the foundations of the prophet's increasing skepticism, nor
was the changing attitude of the old man toward her unrecognized by the
English girl.
Today he had ignored her and was even forcing her to accompany them and
witness the proof of his apostasy. What would come next? She had had
not only ocular proof of the fanatical blood frenzy of the terrible old
man, but she had listened for hours to detailed descriptions of orgies
of frightfulness from the lips of Jezebel. Yes, Lady Barbara Collis was
apprehensive, and not without reason; but she determined to make a last
effort to reassert her waning authority.
"Think well Abraham, the son of Abraham," she said to the man walking
at her side, "of the wrath of Jehovah when he sees that you have
disobeyed him."
"I walk in the path of the prophets," replied the old man. "Always we
have punished those who defied the laws of Jehovah, and Jehovah has
rewarded us. Why should he be wroth now? The girl must pay the price of
her iniquity."
"But she only smiled," argued Lady Barbara.
"A sin in the eyes of Jehovah," replied Abraham, the son of Abraham.
"Laughter is carnal, and smiles lead to laughter, which gives
pleasure; and all pleasures are the lures of the devil. They are
wicked."
"Do not say any more," said Jezebel, in English. "You will only anger
him, and when he is angry he is terrible."
"What sayest thou, woman?" demanded Abraham, the son of Abraham.
"I was praying to Jehovah in the language of Heaven," replied the girl.
The Prophet let his scowling gaze rest upon her. "Thou doest well to
pray, woman. Jehovah looks not with pleasure upon thee."
"Then I shall continue praying," replied the girl meekly, and to Lady
Barbara, in English; "The old devil is already planning my punishment.
He has always hated me, just as they always hate us poor creatures who
are not created in the same image as they."
The remarkable difference in physical appearance and mentality that set
Jezebel apart from the other Midians was an inexplicable phenomenon
that had constantly puzzled Lady Barbara and would continue to puzzle
her, since she could not know of the little fair-haired slave girl
whose virile personality still sought to express itself beyond a grave
nineteen centuries old. How greatly Jezebel's mentality surpassed that
of her imbecilic fellows had been demonstrated to Lady Barbara by the
surprising facility with which the girl had learned to speak English
while she was teaching Lady Barbara the language of the Midians. How
often and how sincerely had she thanked a kindly Providence for Jezebel!
The procession had now arrived at the shore of the lake, which legend
asserted to be bottomless, and had halted where a few flat lava rocks
of great size overhung the waters. The apostles took their places with
Abraham, the son of Abraham, upon one of the rocks, the girl in their
midst; and then a half dozen younger men came forward at a signal
from Jobab. One of their number carried a fibre net, and two others
brought a heavy piece of lava. Quickly they threw the net over the now
terrified and screaming girl and secured the lava rock to it.
Abraham, the son of Abraham, raised his hands above his head, and
at the signal all knelt. He commenced to pray in that now familiar
gibberish that was not Midian, nor, according to Jezebel, any language
whatsoever, for she insisted that the Prophet and the Apostles, to
whose sole use it was restricted, could not understand it themselves.
The girl, kneeling, was weeping softly now, sometimes choking down a
muffled sob, while the young men held the net securely.
Suddenly Abraham, the son of Abraham, abandoned the ecclesiastical
tongue and spoke in the language of his people. "For as she has sinned
so shall she suffer," he cried. "It is the will of Jehovah, in his
infinite mercy, that she shall not be consumed by fire, but that she
shall be immersed three times in the waters of Chinnereth that her sins
may be washed from her. Let us pray that they may be not too grievous,
since otherwise she shall not survive." He nodded to the six young men,
who seemed well schooled in their parts.
Four of them seized the net and raised it between them, while the
remaining two held the ends of long fibre ropes that were attached to
it. As the four commenced to swing the body of the girl pendulum like
between them, her screams and pleas for mercy rose above the silent
waters of Chinnereth in a diapason of horror, mingled with which were
the shrieks and groans of those who, excited beyond the capacity of
their nervous systems, were falling to the ground in the throes of
epileptic seizures.
To and fro, with increasing rapidity, the young men swung their terror
crazed burden. Suddenly one of them collapsed to sink, writhing and
foaming, to the surface of the great block of lava upon which they
stood, dropping the soft body of the girl heavily to the hard rocks. As
Jobab signaled to another young man to take the place of him who had
fallen, an apostle screamed and dropped in his tracks.
But no one gave heed to those who had succumbed, and a moment later the
girl was swinging to and fro out over the waters of Chinnereth, back
over the hard face of the lava.
"In the name of Jehovah! In the name of Jehovah!" chanted Abraham, the
son of Abraham, to the cadence of the swinging sack. "In the name of
Jehovah! In the name of his son--" there was a pause, and as the body
of the girl swung again out over the water--"Paul!"
It was the signal. The four young men released their holds upon the
net, and the body of the girl shot downward toward the dark waters of
the lake. There was a splash. The screaming ceased. The waters closed
in above the victim of cruel fanaticism, leaving only a widening circle
of retreating wavelets and two fibre ropes extending upward to the
altar of castigation.
For a few seconds there was silence and immobility except for the
groans and contortions of the now greatly increased numbers of the
victims of the Nemesis of the Medians. Then Abraham, the son of
Abraham, spoke again to the six executioners, who immediately laid hold
of the two ropes and hauled the girl upward until she swung, dripping
and choking, just above the surface of the water.
For a brief interval they held her there; and then, at a word from the
Prophet, they dropped her again beneath the waters.
"You murderer!" cried Lady Barbara, no longer able to control her
anger. "Order that poor creature drawn ashore before she is drowned."
Abraham, the son of Abraham, turned eyes upon the English girl that
almost froze her with horror--the wild, staring eyes of a maniac;
piercing pupils rimmed round with white. "Silence, blasphemer!"
screamed the man. "Last night I walked with Jehovah, and He told me
that you would be next."
"Oh, please," whispered Jezebel, tugging at Lady Barbara's sleeve. "Do
not anger him more or you are lost."
The Prophet turned again to the six young men, and again, at his
command, the victim was drawn above the surface of the lake. Fascinated
by the horror of the situation, Lady Barbara had stepped to the edge
of the rock, and looking down, saw the poor creature limp but still
gasping in an effort to regain her breath. She was not dead, but
another immersion must surely prove fatal.
"Oh, please," she begged, turning to the Prophet, "in the name of
merciful God, do not let them lower her again!"
Without a word of reply Abraham, the son of Abraham, gave the signal;
and for the third time the now unconscious girl was dropped into the
lake. The English girl sank to her knees in an attitude of prayer, and
raising her eyes to heaven pled fervently to her Maker to move the
heart of Abraham, the son of Abraham, to compassion, or out of the
fulness of His own love to save the victim of these misguided creatures
from what seemed now certain death. For a full minute she prayed, and
still the girl was left beneath the waters. Then the Prophet commanded
that she be raised.
"If she is now pure in the eyes of Jehovah," he cried, "she will emerge
alive. If she be dead, it is the will of Jehovah. I have but walked in
the paths of the Prophets."
The six young men raised the sagging net to the surface of the rocks
where they rolled the limp form of the girl from it close to where Lady
Barbara kneeled in prayer. And now the Prophet appeared to notice the
attitude and the pleading voice of the English girl for the first time.
"What doest thou?" he demanded.
"I pray to a God whose power and mercy are beyond your understanding,"
she replied. "I pray for the life of this poor child."
"There is the answer to your prayer," sneered the Prophet
contemptuously, indicating the still body of the girl. "She is dead,
and Jehovah has revealed to all who may have doubted that Abraham, the
son of Abraham, is His prophet and that thou are an impostor."
"We are lost," whispered Jezebel.
Lady Barbara thought as much herself; but she thought quickly, for the
emergency was critical. Rising, she faced the Prophet. "Yes, she is
dead," she replied, "but Jehovah can resurrect her."
"He can, but He will not," said Abraham, the son of Abraham.
"Not for you, for He is angry with him who dares to call himself His
prophet and yet disobeys His commands." She stepped quickly to the side
of the lifeless body. "But for me He will resurrect her. Come Jezebel
and help me!"
Now Lady Barbara, in common with most modern, athletically inclined
young women, was familiar with the ordinary methods for resuscitating
the drowned; and she fell to work upon the victim of the Prophet's
homicidal mania with a will born not only of compassion, but of vital
necessity. She issued curt orders to Jezebel from time to time, orders
which broke but did not terminate a constant flow of words which
she voiced in chant-like measures. She started with The Charge of
the Light Brigade, but after two stanzas her memory failed and she
had recourse to Mother Goose, snatches from the verse in Alice in
Wonderland, Kipling, Omar Khayyam; and, as the girl after ten minutes
of heartbreaking effort commenced to show signs of life, Lady Barbara
closed with excerpts from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Crowded about them were the Prophet, the Apostles, the Elders, and the
six executioners, while beyond these the villagers pressed as close as
they dared to witness the miracle--if such it were to be.
"'And that government of the people, by the people and for the people
shall not perish from the earth,'" chanted Lady Barbara, rising to her
feet. "Lay the child in the net," she commanded, turning to the wide
eyed young men who had cast her into the lake, "and carry her tenderly
back to the cave of her parents. Come Jezebel!" To Abraham, the son of
Abraham, she vouchsafed not even a glance.
That night the two girls sat at the entrance of their cave looking out
across the uncharted valley of Midian. A full moon silvered the crest
of the lofty escarpment of the crater's northern rim. In the middle
distance the silent waters of Chinnereth lay like a burnished shield.
"It is beautiful," sighed Jezebel.
"But, oh, how horrible, because of man," replied Lady Barbara, with a
shudder.
"At night, when I am alone, and can see only the beautiful things, I
try to forget man," said the golden one. "Is there so much cruelty and
wickedness in the land from which you come, Barbara?"
"There are cruelty and wickedness everywhere where the men are, but in
my land it is not so bad as here where the church rules and cruelty is
the sole business of the church."
"They say the men over there are very cruel," said Jezebel, pointing
across the valley; "but they are beautiful--not like our people."
"You have seen them?"
"Yes. Sometimes they come searching for their strayed goats, but not
often. Then they chase us into our caves, and we roll rocks down on
them to keep them from coming up and killing us. They steal our goats
at such times; and if they catch any of our men they kill them, too. If
I were alone I would let them catch me for they are very beautiful, and
I do not think they would kill me. I think they would like me."
"I don't doubt it," agreed Lady Barbara, "but if I were you I would not
let them catch me."
"Why not? What have I to hope for here? Perhaps some day I shall be
caught smiling or singing; and then I shall be killed, and you have not
seen all of the ways in which the Prophet can destroy sinners. If I am
not killed I shall certainly be taken to his cave by some horrible old
man; and there, all my life, I shall be a slave to him and his other
women; and the old women are more cruel to such as I than even the men.
No, if I were not afraid of what lies between I should run away and go
to the land of the North Midians."
"Perhaps your life will be happier and safer here with me since we
showed Abraham, the son of Abraham, that we are more powerful than he;
and when the time comes that my people find me, or I discover an avenue
of escape, you shall come away with me, Jezebel; though I don't know
that you will be much safer in England than you are here."
"Why?" demanded the girl.
"You are too beautiful ever to have perfect safety or perfect
happiness."
"You think I am beautiful? I always thought so, too. I saw myself when
I looked into the lake or into a vessel of water; and I thought that I
was beautiful, although I did not look like the other girls of the land
of Midian. Yet you are beautiful and I do not look like you. Have you
never been safe or happy, Barbara?"
The English girl laughed. "I am not too beautiful, Jezebel," she
explained.
A footfall on the steep pathway leading to the cave caught their
attention. "Someone comes," said Jezebel.
"It is late," said Lady Barbara. "No one should be coming now to our
cave."
"Perhaps it is a man from North Midian," suggested Jezebel. "Is my hair
arranged prettily?"
"We had better be rolling a rock into position than thinking about our
hair," said Lady Barbara, with a short laugh.
"Ah, but they are such beautiful men!" sighed Jezebel.
Lady Barbara drew a small knife from one of her pockets and opened the
blade. "I do not like 'beautiful' men," she said.
The approaching footfalls were coming slowly nearer; but the two young
women, sitting just within the entrance to their cave, could not see
the steep pathway along which the nocturnal visitor was approaching.
Presently a shadow fell across their threshold and an instant later a
tall old man stepped into view. It was Abraham, the son of Abraham.
Lady Barbara rose to her feet and faced the Prophet. "What brings you
to my cave at this time of night?" she demanded. "What is it, of such
importance, that could not wait until morning? Why do you disturb me
now?"
For a long moment the old man stood glaring at her. "I have walked with
Jehovah in the moonlight," he said, presently; "and Jehovah hath spoken
in the ear of Abraham, the son of Abraham, Prophet of Paul, the son of
Jehovah."
"And you have come to make your peace with me as Jehovah directed?"
"Such are not the commands of Jehovah," replied the Prophet. "Rather He
is wroth with thee who didst seek to deceive the Prophet of His son."
"You must have been walking with some one else," snapped Lady Barbara.
"Nay. I walked with Jehovah," insisted Abraham, the son of Abraham.
"Thou hast deceived me. With trickery, perhaps even with sorcery,
thou didst bring to life her who was dead by the will of Jehovah; and
Jehovah is wroth."
"You heard my prayers, and you witnessed the miracle of the
resurrection," Lady Barbara reminded him. "Thinkest thou that I am more
powerful than Jehovah? It was Jehovah who raised the dead child."
"Thou speakest even as Jehovah prophesied," said the Prophet. "And He
spoke in my ear and commanded that I should prove thee false, that all
men might see thy iniquity."
"Interesting, if true," commented Lady Barbara; "but not true."
"Thou darest question the word of the Prophet?" cried the man angrily.
"But tomorrow thou shalt have the opportunity to prove thy boasts.
Tomorrow Jehovah shall judge thee. Tomorrow thou shalt be cast into the
water of Chinnereth in a weighted net, nor will there be cords attached
whereby it may be drawn above the surface."