“I knew thou wouldst come,” she said. Page [268]
What passed in the synagogue both before and after we came, I only learned later; for Mishka and I were posted on guard at the entrance of the square, while Pavloff went off to seek our horses and intercept the men who were following us. If he met them in time, they would make a détour round the town and wait for us to join them on the further side.
Our sentry-go business proved an unnecessary precaution, for no more rioters appeared; the excitement in the town was evidently dying out, the pogrom was over,—for the time.
Some of the bolder spirits among the Jews came from the synagogue, exchanging pious ejaculations of thanks to God for their deliverance. They slunk furtively by us; though one venerable-looking old man paused and invoked what sounded like a blessing on us,—in Hebrew, I think.
“You can keep all that for the gracious lady,” growled Mishka. “It is to her you owe your present deliverance.”
“It is, indeed,” he answered in Russian. “The God of our fathers will bless her,—yea, and she shall be blessed. And He will bless you, Excellencies,—you and your seed even to the third and fourth generation, inasmuch that you also have worked His will, and have delivered His children out of the hands of evil-doers.”
Mishka scratched his head and looked sheepish. This blessing seemed to embarrass him more than any amount of cursing would have done.
“They are harmless folk, these Jews,” he grunted. “And they are brave in their way, although they are forever cringing. See—the old man goes with the others to try and check the course of the fires. They are like ants in a disturbed ants’ nest. They begin to repair the damage while it is yet being done. To-morrow, perchance even to-day, they will resume their business, and will truckle to those who set out to outrage and murder them this night! That is what makes the Jew unconquerable. But it is difficult to teach him to fight, even in defence of his women; though we are doing something in that way among the younger men. They must have done well to hold out so long.”