Now the shuffling of cautious feet was to be heard, too.
Down the Jerusalem highway came six men walking in single file, each with a staff in hand and the other hand resting upon the shoulder of the man before him. They were all blind! Even their guide, who tapped the ground as he walked, was sightless, "the blind leading the blind."
Naomi stared curiously. She had often seen as many as a dozen blind men walking in such a row, and they were always to be found by the wayside or near the village gates at home, in company with the lame and the helpless, holding out a little bowl for money or food.
"Jacob!" called Aunt Miriam.
She took a piece of money from her purse, securely fastened in her belt, and Jacob, without being told, dropped it in the bowl of the blind leader. He was accustomed to the charity of his good master and mistress. Had not Moses the Lawgiver bade those who fear their God have sympathy for the blind?
The blind men at sound of the cart had drawn up by the side of the road, and now they leaned upon their staffs and turned their sightless faces toward their unseen benefactress. They were glad of an excuse to rest and also to talk, for time meant little to them, and they liked nothing better than to recount, each one, the detailed history of his misfortune.
But Aunt Miriam did not mean to spend several hours this morning in idle talk upon the highway. She motioned Jacob to move on, and in response to the thanks and blessings showered upon her for her gift, she called:
"Peace be unto thee, friends! We hasten on to Jerusalem before the sun mounts high. May all good things await thee in Bethlehem!"
Up the steep hill climbed the bullock cart, and once round the curve in the road Aunt Miriam pointed.
"Naomi—the City!" she said. "See the Temple! How it gleams!"