登陆注册
5147700000065

第65章

THE LIGHT-BORN MESSENGER

"Basha," said Israel--he spoke slowly and quietly; but with forced calmness--"Basha, you must seek another hand for work like that--this hand of mine shall never seal that warrant.""Tut, man!" whispered Ben Aboo."Do your new measles break out everywhere? Am I not Kaid? Can I not make you my Khaleefa?"Israel's face was worn and pale, but his eye burned with the fire of his great resolve.

"Basha," he said again calmly and quietly, "if you were Sultan and could make me your Vizier, I would not do it.""Why?" cried Ben Aboo; "why? why?"

"Because," said Israel, "I am here to deliver up your seal to you.""You? Grace of God!" cried Ben Aboo.

"I am here," continued Israel, as calmly as before, "to resign my office.""Resign your office? Deliver up your seal?" cried Ben Aboo.

"Man, man, are you mad?"

"No, Basha, not to-day," said Israel quietly."I must have been that when I came here first, five-and-twenty years ago."Ben Aboo gnawed his lip and scowled darkly, and in the flush of his anger, his consternation being over, he would have fallen upon Israel with torrents of abuse, but that he was smitten suddenly by a new and terrible thought.Quivering and trembling, and muttering short prayers under his breath, he recoiled from the place where Israel stood, and said, "There is something under all this?

What is it? Let me think! Let me think!"Meantime the face of Katrina beneath its covering of paint had grown white, and in scarcely smothered tones of wrath, by the swift instinct of a suspicious nature, she was asking herself the same question, "What does it mean? What does it mean?"In another moment Ben Aboo had read the riddle his own way.

"Wait!" he cried, looking vainly for help and answer into the faces of his people about him."Who said that when he was away from Tetuan he went to Fez? The Sultan was there then.

He had just come up from Soos.That's it! I knew it!

The man is like all the rest of them.Abd er-Rahman has bought him.

Allah! Allah! What have I done that every soul that eats my bread should spy and pry on me?"Satisfied with this explanation of Israel's conduct, Ben Aboo waited for no further assurance, but fell to a wild outburst of mingled prayers and protests."O Giver of Good to all! O Creator!

It is Abd er-Rahman again.Ya Allah! Ya Allah! Or else his rapacious satellites--his thieves, his robbers, his cut-throats!

That bloated Vizier! That leprous Naib es-Sultan! Oh, I know them.

Bismillah! They want to fleece me.They want to squeeze me of my little wealth--my just savings--my hard earnings after my long service.Curse them! Curse their relations!

O Merciful! O Compassionate! They'll call it arrears of taxes.

But no, by the beard of my father, no! Not one fels shall they have if I die for it.I'm an old soldier--they shall torture me.

Yes, the bastinado, the jellab--but I'll stand firm! Allah!

Allah! Bismillah! Why does Abd er-Rahman hate me? It's because I'm his brother--that's it, that's it! But I've never risen against him.

Never, never! I've paid him all! All! I tell you I've paid everything.

I've got nothing left.You know it yourself, Israel, you know it."Thus, in the crawling of his fear he cried with maudlin tears, pleaded and entreated and threatened fumbling meantime the beads of his rosary and tramping nervously to and fro about the patio until he drew up at length, with a supplicating look, face to face with Israel.And if anything had been needed to fix Israel to his purpose of withdrawing for ever from the service of Ben Aboo, he must have found it in this pitiful spectacle of the Kaid's abject terror, his quick suspicion, his base disloyalty, and rancorous hatred of his own master, the Sultan.

But, struggling to suppress his contempt, Israel said, speaking as slowly and calmly as at first, "Basha, have no fear;I have not sold myself to Abd er-Rahman.It is true that I was at Fez--but not to see the Sultan.I have never seen him.

I am not his spy.He knows nothing of me.I know nothing of him, and what I am doing now is being done for myself alone."Hearing this, and believing it, for, liars and prevaricators as were the other men about him, Israel had never yet deceived him, Ben Aboo made what poor shift he could to cover his shame at the sorry weakness he had just betrayed.And first he gazed in a sort of stupor into Israel's steadfast face; and then he dropped his evil eyes, and laughed in scorn of his own words, as if trying to carry them off by a silly show of braggadocio, and to make believe that they had been no more than a humorous pretence, and that no man would be so simple as to think he had truly meant them.

But, after this mockery, he turned to Israel again, and, being relieved of his fears, he fell back to his savage mood once more, without disguise and without shame.

"And pray, sir," said he, with a ghastly smile, "what riches have you gathered that you are at last content to hoard no more?""None," said Israel shortly.

Ben Aboo laughed lustily, and exchanged looks of obvious meaning with Katrina.

"And pray, again," he said, with a curl of the lip, "without office and without riches how may you hope to live?""As a poor man among poor men," said Israel, "serving God and trusting to His mercy."Again Ben Aboo laughed hoarsely, and Katrina joined him, but Israel stood quiet and silent, and gave no sign.

"Serving God is hard bread," said Ben Aboo.

"Serving the devil is crust!" said Israel.

At that answer, though neither by look nor gesture had Israel pointed it, the face of Ben Aboo became suddenly discoloured and stern.

"Allah! What do you mean?" he cried."Who are you that you dare wag your insolent tongue at me?""I am your scapegoat, Basha," said Israel, with an awful calm--"your scapegoat, who bears your iniquities before the eyes of your people.

Your scapegoat, who sins against them and oppresses them and brings them by bitter tortures to the dust and death.

That's what I am, Basha, and have long been, shame upon me!

同类推荐
  • 锦州府志

    锦州府志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太虚集录

    太虚集录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玄品录

    玄品录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明史纪事本末

    明史纪事本末

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Cymbeline

    Cymbeline

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 简单随手种的懒人植物

    简单随手种的懒人植物

    本书为忙碌的您解决了这个难题。《简单随手种的懒人植物》介绍了60种养护简便、繁殖容易的植物。它们可以无视您的忽略和冷落,坚强而执着的生活。将其随意地置于卧室中、窗台边、餐桌上、电脑前,只小小的点缀就会让你心中满是幸福和满足,其净化空气和抗辐射的功能也使其成为装饰的首选。《简单随手种的懒人植物》针对都市人士的养花需求,在分别介绍了60种易养植物的植物档案、植物特征、养护常识外,又增加了教养花人选购植物、不同人群的专属花卉、植物的多种用途、为养花人解决养花难题的在线答疑等内容,让读者既学习了花草的栽培,又增加了《简单随手种的懒人植物》的时尚性和趣味性。
  • 康熙后宫Ⅰ:葱茏年华

    康熙后宫Ⅰ:葱茏年华

    小说《康熙后宫》宣传视频:http://m.wkkk.net/b/m.wkkk.net她——是第一个为康熙生下孩子的女人!她——没有显赫的家世,却与宜妃、惠妃这样家世显赫之人同时晋升为妃!她——与德妃成为为康熙帝生下孩子最多的女人。她——在康熙帝这个,女以“家”贵的后宫中,她为何能获得圣恩?他——爱新觉罗.玄烨,他是清朝史上最伟大的帝王。他——拥有后妃近60名,仅妃园寝就葬有55人,但却并非滥情之人。他——帝王之痛,他的爱情远不若常人般简单。他——也有他的最爱,也有他的独宠!一部涉及了康熙五十余位后妃的康熙后宫小说,带人物性格的人物就有二十余位,是至今为止应该是第一部完整的康熙后宫小说,本文依史而写,注重写实。而本文以荣妃这个与康熙帝“白头偕老”的妃子为主线,依托真实的历史,推断及构建一部完整的一代明君康熙帝的后宫全貌。(并且玥彤个人认为荣妃当是康熙帝极宠的妃子,文中亦会一一道来)本文喜欢看言情小说的朋友看了可能会感觉是在写历史;而喜欢看历史小说的朋友看了可能又会感觉是在写言情。也许我要的就是这样,呵呵,一部历史与爱情融合的小说。【这是一个很长的后宫故事,故事情节是循序渐进展开的,也许前面都是伏笔,并且此文依托于历史,所以不会一上来便像纯言情小说似的宫斗的你死我活,有兴趣的亲可以慢慢看,本文非穿越,为正剧!】康熙后宫Ⅰ:葱茏年华:记录那段青春年少的岁月……
  • 鹅湖集

    鹅湖集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 神瞳圣医

    神瞳圣医

    江南市一个小渔村的农民陈源,上山采药无意中了诡异的赤红色雷电,开启了轮回眼,这就注定了,他以后的生活不会简单,且看他如何掀起怎样的狂风暴雨!自从他开启的轮回眼,摇身一变成为风云人物,也掀起了不为人知的秘密,引出了一些从所未见的东西。
  • 修真第一奸商

    修真第一奸商

    一个立志当奸商的小家伙,忽然有一天,遇见了一个自称为青帝弟子的灵魂,那么不是骗子就是奇遇了
  • 驭灵档案

    驭灵档案

    两千年前的西岭地区,诞生了一个职业——驭灵师,也复兴了一个家族。千百年来,驭灵师的血脉薪火相传、源源不绝,他们是幽灵的主宰,通天桥和死河的审判者,拥有超强的灵异力量,为幽灵所敬仰。只是到了如今,驭灵师的威名不复存在,于是我们的故事就开始了!
  • 南柯一梦荒唐

    南柯一梦荒唐

    我的南柯一梦,我只敢在梦里的荒唐,,,,
  • 腹黑少的小甜心

    腹黑少的小甜心

    本想借着离家出走逃婚,没有想到却撞到一个腹黑闷骚的男人,被他囚在身边,还霸道宣布让自己做他女人,有没有搞错?当“订婚对象”浮出水面,居然会是那个闷骚男,当她想再次逃走的时候,发现自己居然在他的身边失了心,怎么也逃不出他世界.........
  • 修仙之妻妾成群

    修仙之妻妾成群

    少年宋辰,偶得一颗神秘玉珠,却是飞来横祸,让他遭受灭门之灾,当他走投无路之时,被仙道大派仙剑派收为外门弟子,他以魂为灵魂,魄为躯体,肉身好修,灵魂飘渺,修万千大道难于上青天,他踏上的是修仙这条不归路。
  • 重生大唐之李治

    重生大唐之李治

    简介:这是一本纯yy小说跟历史接轨不严重!各位大大就当是一个架空的时代相似的朝代吧嘻嘻。孙乐婷怎么也想不到这逛个街都能赶大流的穿越了,穿越到哪儿不好还非要穿越到唐朝,对于一个不懂历史,不懂政务,不懂兵法,不懂女工,甚至可能连着理教都不懂的,一二三四五……不懂得小白怎么生存下去!啊!什么我老爹是李世民?什么?我是个小弱鸡!什么?我是李治?!老天啊你能不能不要这么玩啊!老娘是女汉子!不是汉子啊!你给我、你把我送回去好吗?,某宫殿内一婴孩苦着脸哇哇大哭起来!(简介无能,捂脸……请见谅)