Extracting from one of the recesses of the cavern a flask and goblet, Ximen offered to his lord a copious draught of the sparkling vintage of the Vega, which seemed to invigorate and restore him.
“Old man,” said he, concluding the potation with a deep-drawn sigh, “fill to thyself-drink till thy veins feel young.”
Ximen obeyed the mandate but imperfectly; the wine just touched his lips, and the goblet was put aside.
“Ximen,” resumed the Israelite, “how many of our race have been butchered by the avarice of the Moorish kings since first thou didst set foot within the city?”
“Three thousand—the number was completed last winter, by the order of Jusef the vizier; and their goods and coffers are transformed into shafts and cimiters against the dogs of Galilee.”
“Three thousand—no more! three thousand only! I would the number had been tripled, for the interest is becoming due!”
“My brother, and my son, and my grandson, are among the number,” said the old man, and his face grew yet more deathlike.
“Their monuments shall be in hecatombs of their tyrants. They shall not, at least, call the Jews niggards in revenge.”
“But pardon me, noble chief of a fallen people; thinkest thou we shall be less despoiled and trodden under foot by yon haughty and stiff-necked Nazarenes, than by the Arabian misbelievers?”
“Accursed, in truth, are both,” returned the Hebrew; “but the one promise more fairly than the other. I have seen this Ferdinand, and his proud queen; they are pledged to accord us rights and immunities we have never known before in Europe.”