We shall be surprised here by the daylight if we delay any longer, he said, returning to Jesus, and, mounting their asses, they rode down the hillside into a long, shallow valley out of which the track rose upwards and upwards penetrating into the hills above Jericho.
CHAP. XXIV.
Now it is here we leave the track, Jesus said, and he turned his ass into a little path leading down a steeply shelving hillside. We shall find the brethren coming back from the hills, if they aren't back already. It is daylight on the hills though it is night still in this valley; and looking up they saw a greenish moon in the middle of a mottled sky of pink and grey. Over the face of the moon wisps of vapour curled and went out: and the asses, Joseph said, are loath to descend the hillside for fear of this strange moon, or it may be they are frightened by the babble of this brook; it seems to rise out of the very centre of the earth. How deep is the gorge? Very deep, Jesus answered; many hundred feet. But the asses don't fear precipices, and if ours are unwilling to descend the hillside it is because the paths do not seem likely to lead to a stable; so would I account for their obstinacy. I'll not ride down so steep a descent, and Joseph slipped from his ass's back; and, rid of his load, the ass tried to escape, but Jesus managed to turn him back to Joseph, who seized the bridle. Dismount, Jesus, he cried, for the path is narrow, and to please him Jesus dismounted, and, driving their animals in front of them, they ventured on to a sort of ledge.
It passed under rocks and between rocks to the very brink of the precipice as it descended towards the bridge that spanned the brook some hundreds of feet lower down. Already our asses scent a stable, Jesus said; he called after them to stop, and the obedient animals stopped and began to seek among the stones for a tuft of grass or a bramble. I see no place here for a hermitage, Joseph said, only roosts for choughs and crows. There have been hermits here always, Jesus answered. We shall pass the ruins of ancient hermitages farther down on this side above the bridge. The bridge was built by hermits who came from India, Jesus said. And was destroyed, Joseph interjected, by the Romans, so that they might capture the robbers that infested the caves. But the Essenes must have repaired the bridge lately, Jesus replied, and he asked Joseph how long the Essenes had been at the Brook Kerith. My camel-driver did not say, Joseph answered, and Jesus pointed to the ledge that the Essenes must have chosen for a dwelling: it cannot be else, he said; there is no other ledge large enough to build upon in the ravine; and behind the ledge thou seest up yonder is the large cave whither the ravens came to feed Elijah. If the brethren are anywhere they are on that ledge, in that cave, and he asked Joseph if his eyes could not follow the building of a balcony: thine eyes cannot fail to see it, for it is plain to mine. Joseph said he thought he could discern the balcony. But how do we reach it? We aren't angels, he said. We shall ascend, Jesus answered, by a path going back and forth, through many terraces. Lead on, Joseph answered. But stay, let us admire the bridge they have built and the pepper-trees that border it. I am glad the Romans spared the trees, for men that live in this solitude deserve the beauty of these pepper-trees. Jesus said: yonder is the path leading to the source of the brook; fledged at this season with green reeds and rushes. They have built a mill I see! turned by the brook and fed, no doubt, by the wheat thy camels bring from Moab. But the Essenes seem late at work this morning.
As he spoke these words an old man appeared on the balcony, and Joseph said: that must be Hazael, but his beard has gone very white. It is Hazael, our president, Jesus answered. Let us go to him at once, and still driving the asses in front of them and carrying the puppies in their arms they worked their way up through the many terraces; not one is more than three feet wide, yet in every one are fig-trees, Jesus remarked, and there seem to be vines everywhere, for though the Essenes drink no wine, they sell their grapes to be eaten or to be turned into wine, Joseph. Our rule is not to kill, but we sell our sheep, and alas! some go to the Temple and are offered in sacrifice. I used to weep for my sheep, he muttered, but in this world——
The steep ascent checked further speech, and they walked to the east and then to the west, back and forth, fifty little journeys taking them up to the cenoby. The great door was opened to them at once, and Hazael came forward to meet them, giving his left hand to Joseph and his right to Jesus, whom he drew to his bosom. So, my dear Jesus, thou hast come back to us, Hazael said, and he looked into Jesus' face inquiringly, learning from it that it would not be well to ask Jesus for the story of what had befallen him during the last three years; and Joseph gave thanks that Hazael was possessed of a mind that saw into recesses and appreciated fine shades.
We are glad to have thee back again, Jesus; and thou hast come to stay, and perhaps to take charge of our flock again, which needs thy guidance. How so? Jesus asked. Hasn't the flock prospered under Brother Amos? Ah! that is a long story, Hazael answered. We'll tell it thee when the time comes. But thou hast brought dogs with thee, and of the breed that our shepherds are always seeking.
It was thus that Jesus and Hazael began to talk to each other, leaving Joseph to admire the vaulting of the long dwelling, and to wander out through the embrasure on to the balcony, from whence he could see the Essenes going to their work along the terraces. Among the ruins of the hermitage on the opposite side above the bridge, a brother fondled a pet lamb while he read. He is one, Joseph said to himself, that has found the society of this cenoby too numerous for him, so he retired to a ruin, hoping to draw himself nearer to God. But even he must have a living thing by him; and then, his thoughts changing, he fell to thinking of the day when he would ride out to meet Jesus among the hills. His happiness was so intense in the prospect that he delighted in all he saw and heard: in the flight of doves that had just left their cotes and were flying now across the gorge, and in the soothing chant of the water rising out of the dusk.
Jesus had told him that the gorge was never without water. The spring that fed it rose out of the earth as by enchantment. Hazael's voice interrupted his reveries: would you like, Sir, to visit our house? he asked, and he threw open the door and showed a great room, common to all. On either side of it, he said, are cells, six on one side, four on the other, and into these cells the brethren retire after breaking bread, and it is in this domed gallery we sit at food. But Jesus has spoken to thee of these things, for though we do not speak to strangers of our rule of life, Jesus would not have transgressed in speaking of it to thee. Joseph asked for news of Banu, and was sorry to hear that he had been killed and partially eaten by a lion.