An hour later, about two hours before midnight, they were riding into
the desert, lighted by a late moon and incommoded by two puppies that
Jesus could not be dissuaded from bringing with him: for if Brother Amos
give up his flock to me, he argued, I shall need dogs. But Brother Amos
will give thee his dogs, Joseph said. A shepherd, Jesus answered, cannot
work with any dogs but his own. But what has become of the dogs that
were left behind? Joseph asked, and not being able to tell him, Jesus
fell to wondering how it was he had forgotten his dogs. At that moment
one of the puppies cried to be let down: see how well he follows, Jesus
said, but hardly were the words past his lips than the puppy turned
tail, and Jesus had to chase him very nearly back to Bethany before he
allowed himself to be overtaken and picked up again. The way is long,
Joseph cried, more than seven hours to the city of Jericho, and if these
chases happen again we shall be overtaken by the daylight. One of my
caravans starts from Jericho at dawn; and if we meet it I shall have my
camel-drivers round me asking pertinent questions and may be compelled
to return with them to Jericho. Come, Jesus, thine ass seems willing to
amble down this long incline; and dropping the reins over the animal's
withers, and leaning back, holding a puppy under each arm, Jesus allowed
the large brown ass he was riding to trot; it was not long before he
left far behind the heavy weighted white ass, which carried Joseph.
Now seeing the distance lengthening out between them Joseph was tempted
to cry to Jesus to stop, but dared not, lest he might awaken robbers
(their strongholds having lately been raided by soldiers), and he had in
mind the fugitives that might be lurking in the hills, so instead of
crying to Jesus to hold hard, he urged his ass forward. But the best
speed he could make was not sufficient to overtake the nimbly trotting
brown ass, and the pursuit might have been continued into Jericho if
Jesus had not been suddenly behoven by the silence to stop and wait for
Joseph to overtake him, which he did in about ten minutes, whispering:
ride not so fast, robbers may be watching for travellers. Not at this
hour, Jesus replied; and he prepared to ride on. This time one of the
puppies succeeded in getting away and might have run back again to
Bethany had not Joseph leapt from his ass and driven him back to Jesus
with loud cries that the ravines repeated again and again. If there were
robbers asleep, thy cries would awaken them. True, true, Joseph replied;
I forgot; and he vowed he would not utter another word till they passed
a certain part of the road, advantageous, he said, to robbers. No
better spot between Jerusalem and Jericho for murder and robbery, he
continued: cast thine eyes down into the ravine into which he could
throw us. But if a robber should fall upon me do not stay to defend me;
ride swiftly to the inn for help, and, despite the danger, Joseph rode
in front of Jesus, sustained by the hope that the good fortune that
attended him so far would attend him to the end. And they rode on
through the grey moonlight till a wolf howled in the distance. Joseph
bent over and whispered in Jesus' ear: hold thy puppies close to thy
bosom, Jesus, for if one be dropped and start running back to Bethany he
will be overtaken easily by that wolf and thou'lt never hear of him
again. Jesus held the puppies tighter, but there was no need to do so,
for they seemed to know that the howl was not of their kin. The wolf
howled again, and was answered by another wolf. The twain have missed
our trail, Joseph said, and had there been more we might have had to
abandon our asses. If we hasten we shall reach the inn without
molestation from robbers or wolves. How far are we from the inn, Jesus?
About two hours, Jesus answered, and Joseph fell to gazing on the hills,
trying to remember them, but unable to do so, so transformed were they
in the haze of the moonlight beyond their natural seeming. They
attracted him strangely, the hills, dim, shadowy, phantasmal, rising out
of their loneliness towards the bright sky, a white cliff showing
sometimes through the greyness; the shadow of a rock falling sometimes
across a track faintly seen winding round the hills, every hill being,
as it were, a stage in the ascent.
As the hills fell back behind the wayfarers the inn began to take shape
in the pearl-coloured haze, and the day Joseph rested for the first time
in this inn rose up in his memory with the long-forgotten wanderers whom
he had succoured on the occasion: the wizened woman in her black rags
and the wizened child in hers. They came up from the great desert and
for the last fifteen days had only a little camel's milk, so they had
said, and like rats they huddled together to eat the figs he
distributed.
He had seen the inn many times since then and the thought came into his
mind that he would never see it again. But men are always haunted by
thoughts of an impending fate, he said to himself, which never befalls.
But it has befallen mine ass to tire under my weight, he cried. He must
be very tired, Jesus answered, for mine is tired, and I've not much more
than half thy weight; and the puppies are tired, tired of running
alongside of the asses, and tired of being carried, and ourselves are
tired and thirsty; shall we knock at the door and cry to the innkeeper
that he rouse out of his bed and give us milk for the puppies if he have
any? I wouldn't have him know that I journeyed hither with thee, Joseph
replied, for stories are soon set rolling. Esora has put a bottle of
water into the wallet; the puppies will have to lap a little. We can
spare them a little though we are thirstier than they. She had put bread
and figs into the wallet, so they were not as badly off as they thought
for; and eating and drinking and talking to the puppies and feeding them
the while, the twain stood looking through the blue, limpid, Syrian
night.
At the end of a long silence Jesus said: the dawn begins; look, Joseph,
the stars are not shining as brightly over the Jericho hills as they
were. But Joseph could not see that the stars were dimmer. Are they not
with-drawing? Jesus asked, and then, forgetful of the stars, his
thoughts went to the puppies: see how they crouch and tremble under the
wall of the garth, he said. There must be a wolf about, he said, and
after he had thrown a stone to hasten the animal's departure he began to
talk to the puppies, telling them they need have no fear of wolves, for
when they were full-grown and were taught by him they would not hold on
but snap and snap again. That is how the Thracian dogs fight, like the
wolves, he said, turning to Joseph. He is thinking, Joseph said to
himself, of sheep and dogs and being a shepherd again. But of-what art
thou thinking, Joseph?--of that strip of green sky which is the dawn? I
can see, now, that thy shepherd eyes did not deceive thee, Joseph
answered. The day begins again; and how wonderful is the return of the
day, hill after hill rising out of the shadow. An old land, he said,
like the end of the world. Why like the end of the world? Jesus asked.
Joseph had spoken casually; he regretted the remark, and while he sought
for words that would explain it away a train of camels came through the
dusk rocking up the hillside, swinging long necks, one bearing on its
back what looked like a gigantic bird. A strange burden, Joseph said,
and what it may be I cannot say, but the camels are my camels, and thou
art safe out of sight under the wall of this garth.
A moment after the word that the master had bidden a halt was passed up
the line, and one of the camel-drivers said: she stopped half-an-hour
ago to drop her young one, and we put him on the dam's back, and she
doesn't feel his weight. We shall rest for an hour between this and
Jerusalem, and when we lift him down he'll find the dug. But I've a
letter for you, Master, from Gaddi, who wishes to see you. I thought to
deliver it in Jerusalem. It was fortunate to meet you here. Gaddi will
see you half-a-day sooner than he hoped for. I shall get to him by
midday, Joseph said, raising his eyes from the letter. By midday,
Master? Why, in early morning I should have thought for, unless, indeed,
you bide here till the innkeeper opens his doors. I have business,
Joseph answered, with the Essenes that have settled in a cave above the
Brook Kerith. About whom, the camel-driver interjected, there be much
talk going in Jericho. They've disputed among themselves, some remaining
where they always were on the eastern bank of the Jordan, but ten or a
dozen going to the Brook Kerith, with Hazael for their president. And
for what reason? Joseph inquired. I have told you, Master, all I know,
and since you be going to the Brook Kerith the brethren themselves will
give reasons better than I can, even if I had heard what their reasons
be for differing among themselves. Whereupon Joseph bade his caravan
proceed onward to Jerusalem.
We shall be surprised here by the daylight if we delay any longer, he
said, returning to Jesus, and, mounting their asses, they rode down the
hillside into a long, shallow valley out of which the track rose upwards
and upwards penetrating into the hills above Jericho.