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.