"the beasts are gone, and there is an end of it; but i care not."

"thou wouldst have told a different tale not many years since." and the speaker laughed. "poof! i am cold," he continued, stooping to stir the fire. "we might as well have gone back before the sun set; there is no fuel here."

the other man shrugged his shoulders indifferently, and spread his lean fingers over the scanty fire. but he said nothing; after a time his companion spoke again in a slow, meditative way, as if to himself:

"my lord will say this: 'a poorer than i hath need of the beasts, therefore he hath taken them. would that he had asked me, and i would have given him freely; nevertheless if he hath need, it is in itself sufficient to excuse the deed.'"

"verily," broke in the other with a sneer, "and because of this senile madness the tribe waxes poorer day by day. abu ben hesed is a fool! i, ben kish, say so. what inheritance will my sons have that is worth the having if these things continue?"

"senile madness, dost thou call it? and what says ben abu, who succeeds as chief when the old man shall be gathered to his fathers?"

"i have no dealings with him," answered ben kish sullenly. "he harps continually on the same string. 'do this because the nazarene commanded it. forbear the other because the nazarene declared that it was wrong.' what do i care for this dead nazarene or his sayings? moreover i do not believe the tales that they tell of him, nor do any believe in jud?a, save them that be poor and have nothing to lose thereby. i asked concerning the thing when i went up to jerusalem of a great rabbi, whom i saw in the temple. i had paid my vows and offered my sacrifice according to the law, and i heard the man speaking to the people concerning this new doctrine of the nazarene. 'blasphemous,' he called it; 'a cunning device of satan to entrap the foolish of heart, and above all, contrary to the law of moses.' moreover, them that practise these unlawful sayings in jerusalem are shortly to be dealt with."

"said he so indeed?" exclaimed the other man, who was called simeon. "then is it something more than senile madness that doth ail our worshipful lord; the devil himself hath a hand in it."

"listen," said ben kish, leaning toward his companion, "i am minded to tell thee what he further said to me in private. swear to me that thou wilt not reveal it?"

"by the temple!" cried simeon readily.

ben kish looked behind him and on either side as if he feared that some one might be lurking near. the glimmering wastes of desert showed vast and empty, stretching away beneath the keen sparkle of countless stars; the night wind wandering in the hollow darkness cried aloud for loneliness; the crouching camels stared at the meagre fire and chewed their cuds in drowsy contentment. "i have a feeling that some one is near--and listening," he said, shivering a little, and throwing a fresh handful of fuel on the dying fire.

the other man laughed, but he also shivered. "there is always that feeling in the desert at night," he said. "it must be the stars, that look down like large eyes out of heaven; or the wind, that hath in it the sound of a woman wailing for her dead. but what hast thou to say to me?"

"thou hast sworn?"

"i have sworn--and by the temple; what more wouldst thou?"

"i spoke with him concerning our chief," said ben kish, "of how he came up to jerusalem and fell in with them that told him of the nazarene, and how that since that time he doth continually exhort and preach to us concerning the man, calling him the messiah, the holy and righteous one foretold by the prophets and by moses.

"'alas,' said the rabbi, 'he hath been snared by evil counsels, and he will also lead away after him all that hear.'

"'he hath not so led me,' i said, 'for i believe not on a man who commands that if an enemy smite thee on one cheek, thou immediately turn to him the other that he may smite again; and if a thief take away thy camel let him have thy horse also; it is unjust!'

"'it is not only unjust; it is unlawful,' said this wise rabbi. 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is the law--a good law and wise.'"

"yet must we submit to the chief of our tribe," said the man who listened, "that is also the law."

"nay, friend," cried ben kish triumphantly, "listen still further. i said something of the like to the wise rabbi, and he made me answer thus: 'the unbeliever and the blasphemer shall be cast forth and his inheritance shall be given to them which are faithful, for thus is it written in the law. if, therefore, there be them amongst you which are able, rise up and overcome this man who hath spoken thus blasphemously, and cast him forth that the inheritance be thine; so may the lord ever prevail against false prophets and workers of iniquity.'"

"holy jerusalem!" exclaimed simeon under his breath. "smite ben hesed? cast ben hesed forth from his own tribe? the man wot not of whom he was speaking."

"one must use discretion with such an one," admitted ben kish. "i have already spoken of the matter with the father of my wife. he is a wise man, as thou knowest, and he hath moreover a bitterness against ben hesed because that he spake severely to him of his dealings with the two egyptian brats, whom we found half dead in the desert some years ago. the man was ready to believe the word of strangers rather than the word of his sister's son, which was unjust; pagiel moreover hath not forgotten the matter--nor will he forget."

"if ben hesed be cast forth, who would then be chief?" said simeon, drawing his beard thoughtfully through his hand and looking intently into the coals.

ben kish studied the face opposite him in silence for a moment before replying. "who else should it be but pagiel, the next of kin?" he said at length.

"and after him?"

"after him, the husband of his daughter, since his sons are both dead." and ben kish drew himself up proudly and looked about him as if he were already chief.

"ah!"

"hast thou aught to say against it?" demanded the son of kish sharply, half involuntarily laying his hand upon the knife in his girdle. "dost thou then prefer a chief who sends for his enemy when he hath been despoiled of him, and reasons with him forsooth, and gives him a present and soft words, instead of rising up and smiting him, as is the fashion of men since the world began? ay, and will be, despite the driveling commands of any number of false prophets. betray me if thou wilt. go to ben hesed and say: 'the son of kish hath devised evil against thee in his heart, therefore smite him.' would he smite me, the doting greybeard? pah, i spit in his face!" and he leaned forward and spat venomously into the fire.

the other man laughed silently at sight of his rage. "i will not go to ben hesed with this tale," he said at length; "have i not sworn--and by the temple? say on, friend, how wilt thou bring this thing to pass?"

ben kish looked at him suspiciously. "i will say no more," he said sullenly. "if thou wilt side with the follower of the nazarene, who is become a fit prey for the vultures because of his blasphemous folly, well. but i tell thee that strange things will come to pass. thou wilt see it."

"i have not said that i believe in the nazarene," said his companion. "the old law is good; as for ben hesed, i----" he stopped short and stared fixedly at a certain red coal which winked sleepily at him from the midst of the fire, and from which he seemed presently to have gotten some further inward light, for he went on more briskly. "i also have an account to square with ben hesed, therefore thou mayest speak freely with me; i promise thee that i will help on the lawful issue in this matter, and that right diligently."

"dost thou swear this?"

"by the soul of my father; by the god of the covenant, and by the stars of heaven."

"well then, to-morrow ben hesed will set forth for jerusalem--never mind how i know, thou wilt see--he will set forth, he and certain chosen ones of his who also believe on the nazarene; and we will remain behind in charge of the stuff--of the women, of the children, the young men, the maidens, the tents and the furniture thereof, the herds and the flocks."

"but he will return."

"he will not return, he nor any that go forth with him, nor shall any know what hath befallen him."

"and how canst thou accomplish this?"

ben kish looked about him once more; the stars were very bright over-head now, and the lonely wind wailed loudly in his ear; it swept away with a moan into the empty desert, the loose sand leaping up beneath the trail of its unseen garments.

"there be many things under the sun," he said at length, his face whitening a little--"of which thou hast not heard, and of which i have heard only a moon since. this is one of them." and he drew from his breast a tiny flask of crystal, filled with a colorless liquid. "i have but to drop the contents of this flask into water," he whispered, leaning forward, and laying his hand upon his companion's breast, "and they that drink thereof will sleep--sleep sound and long."

"what meanest thou?" exclaimed the other, drawing back into the friendly darkness.

"they will wake no more who drink, either for war or peace; the desert shall work its will upon them who have trodden under foot the law."