"Speak on, my daughter," was the reply. "There is no space for falsehood within the curtains of a tent, and he who dwells in the desert knows not how to lie."
"This trinket," she continued eagerly, "you took it from its owner. It hung round his neck. He was a son of Ashur, tall and comely as a cedar of the mountain, brave as the lion, ruddy as sunset, bright as morning, and beautiful as day!"
The astute trader smiled.
"You know him," said he, "and you love him! It is as my daughter hath said."
"He is my brother," she answered, blushing crimson while she adjusted her veil. "If aught but good hath befallen him, it were better for me that I had never been born!"
"Such a one as you have described," answered the other, "did indeed come into our possession by lawful barter amongst the tents of the Anakim. A slave can have no goods to call his own, and when we discovered beneath his garment this jewel that had escaped the eyes of his spoilers, we might have taken it righteously by force. Nevertheless, the man was strong and warlike. Even in bonds, it may be that he would have done himself some injury, and so lessened his price. It was well that he suffered me to strip it from his neck unnoticed while he looked back upon the camp, as if he had left his very heart with the tribe."
A thrill that, in spite of all, amounted to real happiness shot through her trembling frame.
"Can he not be redeemed?" she exclaimed, clasping her hands eagerly. "Where is he now?"
The trader pondered.
"I too have a brother," said he, "and we parted at a day's march from the tents of the Anakim, as we have parted many a time, trusting to meet yet once again before we die. My course lay hither to the great city; for are not my camels laden with silks and spices and costly jewels, such as rich Babylon must have at all hazards and at any cost? I pray you, damsel, remember I am a fair trader; I ask for no greater profit than enables me to get bread for myself and forage for my beasts. Some there be who scruple not to rob with the scales, as the Amalekite robs with the spear; but such prosper not in life, and long before their beards turn gray, their flesh is eaten by vultures and their bones whiten the plain.