Bar Noemi cast not a single glance behind him till he had reached the mountains. There, where the vegetation of the south came to an end, and the pine succeeded the palm; there, on the top of the nearest pine tree, sat the beautiful bird, the dove with golden plumage, which flitted on before Bar Noemi as he reached the mountains, just as she had done before on the ocean, guiding the fugitive through the barren wilderness of mountain and forest.
The region of spontaneously growing trees and grasses soon came to an end, and now began that inhospitable zone where the earth does not willingly open her bosom, where she is a step-mother to lazy sons, hiding her benefits from all but those who labour for them. This is surely the spot whither God brought Adam out of Paradise, blessed him, and said: "Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy countenance!" The wise men of old were in error when they called this a curse, for labour is a blessing, and the sweat-drops on the brow are the noblest jewels of him who was created after God's own image.
Rock succeeded rock. Bar Noemi and Byssenia mounted higher and higher, and the exhilaration with which they breathed the invigorating air made them feel as if they were nearer heaven already.
On the top of an elevated rocky plateau, the dove alighted on the ground in front of them, as if it would say: "Halt here." The white and blue bells, mingling with the fragrant grass, seemed to be nodding a welcome to the new arrivals; the love-song of a little yellow bird resounded from the green bushes opposite; everything around them seemed so strangely fair and new.
And now, for the first time, Bar Noemi threw a glance behind him. The abandoned city lay beneath him in a thick, yellow mist, which gave to the whole region a corpse-like hue, a mist not to be driven away by any breeze that blows. On the high roofs of the cities lying in the plain, burned sacrificial fires on gigantic altars; fires whose heavy, dark-blue smoke could not rise up to Heaven; something seemed to press it earthwards where, like a curse-laden cloud, it lodged immovably above the houses, enshrouding the cupolas of the towers and the rigid likenesses of the idols.
Far away on the distant horizon, a delusive mirage performed its juggling tricks, by sketching in the sky the outlines of an inverted city. Towers and palaces stand in the dizzy height with their roofs turned upside down, and the palms stretched down their crowns from above. The next moment everything had melted away—the plain, right up to the very gates of Triton's city, swam in a vast sea, over which the overhanging palms and the inverted battlements seemed to throw down far-stretching shadows, whilst the white sails of ships flitted across the space where the city had been. In a few moments the sea also vanished; the Fata Morgana withdrew her delusive spells. The land again appeared with its woods, meadows, and cities.
Bar Noemi and Byssenia gazed with astonishment at this marvel, whose wondrous significance only they who could penetrate the secrets of the divine counsels might interpret. Involuntarily they folded their hands and prayed together from the very depths of their hearts that the Almighty would turn away His strong, avenging arm from a people who had forsaken Him, and not visit them with the furiousness of His heavy displeasure.
CHAPTER XI
THE DWELLERS AMONG THE GLACIERS
Beyond the mountains quite another world began.
At the foot of a group of eleven glaciers are populous villages, with cultivated fields, and happy, peaceful dwellings. Here dwell those happy ones who have from time to time withdrawn from the world of bliss below, and sought the unfrequented mountains where solitude abides. Here they have built their houses, and in the lapse of years have grown into a people which passes its days in innocence and industry. The only radiance and brightness visible there is in their bright and radiant faces; they carry their treasures in their hearts, not on their garments, and to listen to the prattling of their children is their highest felicity.