Lycidas dared not at first break to Zarah the mournful truth that one blow had bereft1 her of both her protectors, that she was now indeed an orphan2, and alone in the world. Zarah saw that her father was dead, but believed that Hadassah had swooned. The subdued3 wail4 of Anne over the corpse5 of her mistress, first revealed to the bereaved6 girl the full extent of her loss. Its greatness, its suddenness, almost stunned7 her; it was a paralyzing grief.
But this was no time for lamentation8 or wail. Lycidas remembered--though Zarah herself for the moment entirely9 forgot it--her imminent10 personal peril11 should she be discovered and arrested by the Syrians. To save her precious life, was now the Greek's most anxious care. He tried to persuade her to fly; but even his entreaties12 could not draw the mourner from the dead bodies of Hadassah and Pollux. It seemed as if Zarah could understand nothing but the greatness of her bereavements. A terrible fear arose in the mind of the Greek that all that the maiden13 had undergone during the last two days had unsettled her reason.
"What can be done!" exclaimed Lycidas, almost in despair; "if the Syrians find her here, she is lost. The city will soon be astir; already I hear the sound of hoofs14!"
A man, leading a large mule15 with two empty panniers, appeared, trudging16 on his solitary17 way. As he approached the spot, Lycidas to his inexpressible relief recognized in him Joab, a man whose countenance18 was never likely to be forgotten by him--being connected with one of the most exciting passages in the life of the young Athenian.
"Ha! the lady Hadassah!" exclaimed the muleteer, in a tone of surprise and regret, as his eye fell on the lifeless body, round which Zarah was clinging, with her face buried in the folds of its garments.
"I have seen you before; I know you to be a good man and true," said Lycidas, hurriedly. "You risked your life to bury the martyrs19, you will help us now in this our sore need. Assist us to lift these bodies on your mule, and take them as secretly and as swiftly as we may to the house of Hadassah."
"I would risk anything for my old mistress," said Joab; "but as for yon silken-clad Syrian, I care not to burden my beast with his carcass." The muleteer looked with stern surprise on the corpse of Pollux. "Who is he," continued Joab, "and how comes he to be clasped in the arms of the Lady Hadassah?"
"My father--he is my father!" sobbed20 Zarah.
"Raise them both," said Lycidas; "we cannot divide them, and there is not a moment to be lost."
The united efforts of the party hardly sufficed to raise the two bodies to the back of the mule, which, though a large and powerful animal, could scarcely carry the double burden. Joab took his large coarse mantle21, and threw it over the corpses22 to hide them, then taking his beast by the halter, led it forward in silence.
"Is there no danger from him?" said Anna to Lycidas, pointing to Lysimachus, who lay senseless and bleeding, his head having come into violent collision with a stone.
By a brief examination Lycidas satisfied himself that the courtier was indeed in a state of unconsciousness, and knew nothing of what was passing around him. The Athenian then went up to Zarah, who, drooping23 like a broken lily, was slowly following the corpses of her parent and his mother. Lycidas offered her what support he could give; Zarah did not, could not reject it. A deadness seemed coming over her brain and heart; had not Lycidas upheld the poor girl, she must have dropped by the wayside.
With what strange emotions did Lycidas through life remember that early walk in Jerusalem! The being whom he loved best was leaning upon him, too much exhausted24 to decline his aid; there was thrilling happiness in being so near her; but the uppermost feelings in the mind of Lycidas were agonising fear upon Zarah's account, and intense impatience25 to reach some place of safety. Fearfully slow to Lycidas appeared the progress of the heavily-laden mule, terribly long the way that was traversed. The muleteer purposely avoided that which would have been most direct; he dared not go through one of the city gates, but passed out into the open country at a spot little frequented, where a part of the wall of Jerusalem still lay in ruins, as it had been left by Apollonius. Most unwelcome to Lycidas was the brightening day, which awoke the world to life. Every human form, even that of a child, was to him an object of alarm. The brave young Greek was full of terrors for one who in her grief had lost the sense of personal fear.
Partly owing to the skilful26 selection of paths by Joab, partly owing to the circumstance of the day being still so young, the party did not meet many persons on their way, and these few were of poorer class, early commencing their morning toils27. Inquiring glances were cast at the singular cortege, but at that time of bondage28 and peril, a common sense of misery29 and danger taught caution and repressed curiosity.
Only once was a question asked of the muleteer.
"What have you there, Joab, under yon mantle?" inquired a woman with a large jar on her head, who stopped to survey the strange burden of the mule.
"A ripe sheaf of the first-fruits, a wave-offering, Deborah," replied Joab, with significance.
"There will be more, many more, cut down soon," replied the woman gloomily; "may desolation overtake the Syrian reapers30!"
Joab saw the Athenian's look of apprehension31. "Fear not, stranger," he said; "no Hebrew will betray us; Deborah is true as steel, and knows me well."
There is little of twilight32 in Judaea; day leaps almost at a bound upon his throne. The world was bathed in sunshine long before the slowly-moving party reached the lonely dwelling33 amongst the hills. How thankful was Lycidas for the seclusion34 of that wild spot, which seemed as if it had been chosen for purpose of concealment35! Hadassah had left the door fastened when she had quitted the place on the preceding morning, full of anxious terrors on account of the peril of Zarah; but Anna had charge of the key. With what thankful joy would the Hebrew widow have for the last time crossed that threshold in life, could she have foreseen that her child would so soon return in safety, albeit36 as a mourner, following Hadassah's own corpse!
The two bodies were reverentially laid on mats on the floor of the dwelling. Lycidas then went outside the door with Joab, to make such arrangements as circumstances permitted for the burial, which, according to the custom of the land, rendered necessary by the climate, must take place very soon. Joab undertook to find those who would aid him in digging a grave close to that of the martyrs, and promised to come for the bodies an hour after midnight. Lycidas drew forth37 gold, but the Hebrew refused to take it.
"To bury the martyred dead is a pious38 office and acceptable to the Most High," said the brave muleteer; "but as for yon Syrian, son though he may be of the Lady Hadassah, I care not to lay his bones amongst those of martyrs. I trow he was nothing but a traitor39."
"He died by the hand of a Syrian, he died saving a Hebrew maiden, he died in his mother's arms," said Lycidas, with tender regard for the feelings of Zarah, who would he knew be sensitive in regard to respect paid to the corpse of her parent. "Deny him not a grave with his people."
Joab merely shrugged40 his shoulders in reply, laid his hand on the halter of his mule, and departed.
On the following night, Lycidas found himself again in that olive-girdled spot which he had such reason to remember. He stood under that tree behind the bending trunk of which he had crouched41 for concealment on the night when he had first seen Zarah.
The ground was very hard from the long drought. Joab, and two companions whom he had brought to assist in the perilous42 service, had much difficulty in preparing a grave.
"We need the strong arm of Maccabeus here," observed one of the men, stopping to brush the beaded drops from his brow.
"Maccabeus is employed in making graves for his enemies, not for his friends," was the muleteer's stern reply.
Thick heavy clouds obscured the starless sky, not a breath of wind was stirring, the air felt oppressively close and sultry even at the hour of midnight. A single torch was all the light which the grave-diggers dared to employ while engaged on their dangerous work. In almost perfect darkness were the remains43 of Hadassah and her unhappy son lowered into the dust. There was no silver moonlight streaming between the stems of the olives, as on the occasion of the martyrs' burial, nor was Zarah present to throw flowers into the open grave. With her the powers of nature had given way under the prolonged strain which they had had to endure; the poor girl lay in her desolate44 home, too ill to be even conscious of the removal from it of the remains over which she had watched and mourned as long as she had been capable of doing either.
It was strange to Lycidas to be, as it were, only representative of Hadassah's family at the funeral of herself and her son,--he, who was not only no relative, but a foreigner in blood, and in religion an alien; but it was a privilege which he valued very highly, and which he would not have resigned to have held the chief place in the most pompous45 ceremonial upon earth.
As soon as the displaced earth had been thrown back into the grave of Hadassah and her Abner, the night-clouds burst, and down came the long longed-for, long-desired latter rains. The parched46 dry sod seemed to drink in new life; the shrivelled foliage47 revived, all nature rejoiced in the gift from heaven. When the sun rose over the hills, water was again trickling48 from the stream behind the dwelling of Hadassah; the oleanders were not yet dead, they would bloom into beauty again.
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bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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trudging
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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