It was as Jesus had said, the bats kept coming in and going out all the
night through, and their squeakings as they settled themselves to sleep
a little before dawn awakened Paul, who, lifting his head from the
sheepskin that Jesus had rolled into a comfortable pillow for him, spied
Jesus asleep in a corner, and he began to ask himself if he should
awaken Jesus or let him sleep a little while longer. But myself, he
said, must escape from the stifle of this cave and the reek of the bats,
and, dropping on his hands and knees, he crawled into the air.
It was a great joy to draw the pure air into his lungs, to drink a deep
draught, and to look round for a wild cat. One may be lurking, he said,
impatient for our departure, and as soon as we go will creep in and
spring among the roosts and carry off the flopping, squeaking morsel.
But if a cat had been there licking her fur, waiting for the tiresome
wayfarers to depart, she would have remained undiscovered to Paul's
eyes, so thick was the shadow, and it was a long time before the valley
lengthened out and the rocks reassumed their different shapes.
He was in a long narrow valley between steep hills, with a path
zigzagging up the hillside at the farther end, among rocks that set Paul
thinking of the little that would remain of his sandals before they
reached Cæsarea.
A long day's march of twelve or thirteen hours lay before him, one that
he would have been able to undertake in the old days without a thought
of failure, but it was over and above his strength to-day. But was it?
It seemed to him that he could walk a long way if the present breeze
that had come up with the day were to continue. It came up the valley,
delicious as spring water, but suddenly he recognised in it the smell of
a wild animal; the sour smell of wolves, he said to himself, and looking
among the rocks he spied two large wolves not more than fifty yards
distant. It is fortunate, he said, that the wind is blowing from them to
me, else they would have scented me; and Paul watched the lolloping gait
of the wolves till they were out of sight, and then descending from the
rock he returned to the cave, thinking he had done wrong to leave it,
for he had entrusted himself to Jesus, and perforce to clear his
conscience had to confide to him he had been out in the valley and seen
two wolves go by. But they did not scent me, the wind being
unfavourable. If they had, and been hungry, it might have gone hard with
thee, Jesus said, and then he spoke of Bethennabrio, a village within a
dozen miles of Cæsarea in which Paul would sleep that night. Thou canst
not get to Cæsarea to-night, Jesus affirmed to him, and they resumed
their journey through a country that seemed to grow more arid and
melancholy as they advanced.
Paul complained often that he had come by a more direct and a better way
with Timothy, but Jesus insisted that the way they were going was not
many miles longer than the way Paul had come by. Moreover, the way he
was taking was safer to follow. The Jews of Jericho had had many hours
in which to lay plans for his capture, but Jesus thought that if Paul
would believe in him he would be able to get him in safety to the
village of Bethennabrio, where Paul thought he would be safe; the Jews
would not dare to arrest a Roman prisoner, one who had been ordered by
Festus to Italy to receive Cæsar's judgment within a few miles of
Cæsarea. Thou'lt be within two hours of Cæsarea, Jesus said, and can
look forward to seeing your comrade Timothy the next day. Jesus' words
brought comfort to Paul's heart and helped him to forget his feet that
were beginning to pain him. But a long distance would still have to be
traversed, and his eyes wandered over the outlines of the round-backed
hills divided by steep valleys, so much alike that he asked himself how
it was that Jesus could distinguish one from the other; but his guide
seemed to divine the way as by instinct, and Paul struggled on,
encouraged by a promise of a half-hour's rest as soon as they reached
the summit of the hill before them. But no sooner had they reached it
than Jesus said, come behind this rock and hide thyself quickly. And
when he was safely hidden Jesus said, now peep over the top and thou'lt
see a shepherd leading his sheep along the hillside. What of that? Paul
answered, and Jesus said, not much, only I am thinking whether it would
be well to let him go his way without putting a question to him, or
whether it would be better to leave thee here while I go to him with the
intention of finding out from him if there be tidings going about that
one Paul of Tarsus, a spreader of great heresies, a pestilential fellow,
a stirrer-up of sedition, has been seen wandering, trying to find his
way back to Cæsarea.
The shepherd was passing away over the crest of the hill when Jesus
said, the pretext will come to me on my way to him. Do thou abide here
till I return, and Paul watched him running, lurching from side to side
over the rough ground towards the shepherd, still far away. Will he
overtake him before he passes out of sight and hearing? he asked
himself.
The sheep were running merrily, and the breeze carried down to Paul's
ear the sound of the pipe, setting him thinking of the Patriarchs and
then of his guide; only mad, he said, in one corner of his brain,
convinced that he returned to the Essenes because he had said in
Jerusalem that he was the Messiah. A strange blasphemy, he muttered, and
yet not strange enough to save the brethren from the infection of it. It
would seem that they believe with him that he suffered under Pilate,
without knowing, however, for what crime he was punished; and a terrible
curiosity arose in Paul to learn the true story of his guide's life,
who, he judged, might be led into telling it if care were taken not to
arouse his suspicion. But these madmen are full of cunning, he said to
himself, and when Jesus returned Paul asked if he had discovered from
the shepherd if an order was abroad from Jericho to arrest two itinerant
preachers on their way to Cæsarea. Jesus answered him that he had put no
direct question to the shepherd. He had talked to him of the prospect of
future rains, and we were both agreed, Jesus said, that the sky looked
like rain, and he told me we should find water in the valley collected
in pools among the rocks; he mentioned one by a group of fig-trees which
we could not miss seeing. Thou art safe, Paul, have no fear for thy safe
arrival at Cæsarea at midday to-morrow. If a search had been ordered to
arrest two wayfarers my shepherd would have heard of it, for it was
about here that they would try to intercept us, and we shall do well to
turn into a path that they will overlook even if they have sent out
agents in pursuit of thee and Timothy.