Stephen

that men paid great sums of gold to possess them; flocks of sheep and of goats; wives also and children in plenty; all of th

n eagle, and there was no one of all his tribe who could endure hunger and thirst as could Ben Hesed. Not that it was necessary for him to s

can say to himself, thou shalt fast because I have willed it. Hunger thus endured maketh man king over the beasts; thus is he set apart from th

nty desert growths, showed black against its fiery glow, their shadows stretching long and gaunt across the sand. About the margin of a meagre pool close at hand a cluster

r of Abu Ben Hesed. He cared not that the pool was meagre and the palm trees stunted, this only made them the more precious and wonderful, more truly the works of Jehovah, who had set them thus in the midst of this gre

l for forty years in the desert, but also, because far from the lustful fat earth and teeming riv

ts where the seething primal rock in some remote and terrible time had gathered itself into mighty waves and fantastic pinnacles, only to stand still forever at the word of the Lord, he perceived his p

out of the desert, his garments girt about him. He slackened not his pace till he came to the spot where Ben Hese

when he could find his breath, "

o had recognized in the man one of

his day and hath carried away of the herds a goodly number, of she-came

Ben Hesed, his eyes burning with anger

s slain, together with Kish, the herdsman. When this befell, we fled before the face of the enemy; the flocks also and the herds are

hath grown lusty and flourishing of late. I will get me after him and smite him till he shall cry aloud for succor. Jehovah grant me my desire upon mine enemy! Alas for my son Eri! He hath been murderously cut

oy, like the hot breath of a Sirocco. The women ceased their gay incessant chatter a

d comely as a palm tree, beautiful also, and pleasant in his speech. Woe! Woe! He wi

ng to and fro, and casting the ashes from t

th he led forth the flo

forth no more!" wai

e is desolate, even as a widow wit

e!

nd lowering brows made ready for the pursuit of their enemy. Within the hour they departed, a hundred strong, the swift hoofs

discovered the marauders as they were making merry with their spoil,

errible to look upon as he c

cape!" he cried aloud.

ir own stolen possessions and turned their faces once more towar

away toward the east, where the dawn was beginning with solemn pomp and splendor. Long rays of tremulous light flickered athwart the cold, clear blue of the heavens, the morning star burned pallid amidst the growing r

ode beside him. "Also a beast, lying down. What can it be, think you, my l

hich the man pointed. "It is death," he said quietl

ure move. Shall I go and

e alive, slay him not, bu

the air suspiciously. Two or three great birds with bare flabby necks and red eyes, rose slowly from the ground at his approach and flapped heavily away, croaking dismally. They had been busy on the carcass of a mule, which l

ealed their faces. "Dead from thirst," was his verdict after he had turned them over and had noted with a certain d

ong blast on the ram's horn w