CHAPTER XIII
Sheik Ilderim was
a man of too much importance to go about with a small establishment. He had a
reputation to keep with his tribe, such as became a prince and patriarch of the
greatest following in all the Desert east of Syria; with the people of the
cities he had another reputation, which was that of one of the richest
personages not a king in all the East; and, being rich in fact - in money as
well as in servants, camels, horses, and flocks of all kinds - he took pleasure
in a certain state, which, besides magnifying his dignity with strangers,
contributed to his personal pride and comfort. Wherefore the reader must not be
misled by the frequent reference to his tent in the Orchard of Palms. He had
there really a respectable dowar; that is to say, he had there three large
tents - one for himself, one for visitors, one for his favorite wife and her
women; and six or eight lesser ones, occupied by his servants and such tribal
retainers as he had chosen to bring with him as a body-guard - strong men of
approved courage, and skillful with bow, spear, and horses.
To be sure, his
property of whatever kind was in no danger at the Orchard; yet as the habits of
a man go with him to town not less than the country, and as it is never wise to
slip the bands of discipline, the interior of the dowar was devoted to his cows,
camels, goats, and such property in general as might tempt a lion or a thief.
To do him full
justice, Ilderim kept well all the customs of his people, abating none, not
even the smallest; in consequence his life at the Orchard was a continuation of
his life in the Desert; nor that alone, it was a fair reproduction of the old
patriarchal modes - the genuine pastoral life of primitive Israel.
Recurring to the
morning the caravan arrived at the Orchard -”Here, plant it here," he
said, stopping his horse, and thrusting a spear into the ground. "Door to
the south; the lake before it thus; and these, the children of the Desert, to
sit under at the going-down of the sun."
At the last words
he went to a group of three great palm-trees, and patted one of them as he
would have patted his horse's neck, or the cheek of the child of his love.
Who but the sheik
could of right say to the caravan, Halt! or of the tent, Here be it pitched?
The spear was wrested from the ground, and over the wound it had riven in the
sod the base of the first pillar of the tent was planted, marking the centre of
the front door. Then eight others were planted - in all, three rows of pillars,
three in a row. Then, at call, the women and children came, and unfolded the
canvas from its packing on the camels. Who might do this but the women? Had
they not sheared the hair from the brown goats of the flock? and twisted it
into thread? and woven the thread into cloth? and stitched the cloth together,
making the perfect roof, dark-brown in fact, though in the distance black as
the tents of Kedar? And, finally, with what jests and laughter, and pulls
altogether, the united following of the sheik stretched the canvas from pillar
to pillar, driving the stakes and fastening the cords as they went! And when
the walls of open reed matting were put in place - the finishing-touch to the
building after the style of the Desert - with what hush of anxiety they waited
the good man's judgment! When he walked in and out, looking at the house in
connection with the sun, the trees, and the lake, and said, rubbing his hands
with might of heartiness, "Well done! Make the dowar now as ye well know,
and to-night we will sweeten the bread with arrack, and the milk with honey,
and at every fire there shall be a kid. God with ye! Want of sweet water there
shall not be, for the lake is our well; neither shall the bearers of burden
hunger, or the least of the flock, for here is green pasture also. God with you
all, my children! Go."
And, shouting,
the many happy went their ways then to pitch their own habitations. A few
remained to arrange the interior for the sheik; and of these the men-servants
hung a curtain to the central row of pillars, making two apartments; the one on
the right sacred to Ilderim himself, the other sacred to his horses - his
jewels of Solomon - which they led in, and with kisses and love-taps set at
liberty. Against the middle pillar they then erected the arms-rack, and filled
it with javelins and spears, and bows, arrows, and shields; outside of them
hanging the master's sword, modelled after the new moon; and the glitter of its
blade rivalled the glitter of the jewels bedded in its grip. Upon one end of
the rack they hung the housings of the horses, gay some of them as the livery
of a king's servant, while on the other end they displayed the great man's
wearing apparel - his robes woollen and robes linen, his tunics and trousers,
and many colored kerchiefs for the head. Nor did they give over the work until
he pronounced it well.
Meantime the
women drew out and set up the divan, more indispensable to him than the beard
down-flowing over his breast, white as Aaron's. They put a frame together in
shape of three sides of a square, the opening to the door, and covered it with
cushions and base curtains, and the cushions with a changeable spread striped
brown and yellow; at the corners they placed pillows and bolsters sacked in
cloth blue and crimson; then around the divan they laid a margin of carpet, and
the inner space they carpeted as well; and when the carpet was carried from the
opening of the divan to the door of the tent, their work was done; whereupon
they again waited until the master said it was good. Nothing remained then but
to bring and fill the jars with water, and hang the skin bottles of arrack
ready for the hand - to-morrow the leben. Nor might an Arab see why Ilderim
should not be both happy and generous - in his tent by the lake of sweet
waters, under the palms of the Orchard of Palms.
Such was the tent
at the door of which we left Ben-Hur.
Servants were
already waiting the master's direction. One of them took off his sandals;
another unlatched Ben-Hur's Roman shoes; then the two exchanged their dusty
outer garments for fresh ones of white linen.
"Enter - in
God's name, enter, and take thy rest," said the host, heartily, in the
dialect of the Market-place of Jerusalem; forthwith he led the way to the
divan.
"I will sit
here," he said next, pointing; "and there the stranger."
A
woman - in the old time she would have been called a handmaid - answered, and
dexterously piled the pillows and bolsters as rests for the back; after which
they sat upon the side of the divan, while water was brought fresh from the
lake, and their feet bathed and dried with napkins.
"We have a
saying in the Desert," Ilderim began, gathering his beard, and combing it
with his slender fingers, "that a good appetite is the promise of a long
life. Hast thou such?"
"By that
rule, good sheik, I will live a hundred years. I am a hungry wolf at thy
door," Ben-Hur replied.
"Well, thou
shalt not be sent away like a wolf. I will give thee the best of the
flocks."
Ilderim clapped
his hands.
"Seek the
stranger in the guest-tent, and say I, Ilderim, send him a prayer that his
peace may be as incessant as the flowing of waters."
The man in
waiting bowed.
"Say,
also," Ilderim continued, "that I have returned with another for
breaking of bread; and, if Balthasar the wise careth to share the loaf, three
may partake of it, and the portion of the birds be none the less."
The second
servant went away.
"Let us take
our rest now."
Thereupon Ilderim
settled himself upon the divan, as at this day merchants sit on their rugs in
the bazaars of Damascus; and when fairly at rest, he stopped combing his beard,
and said, gravely, "That thou art my guest, and hast drunk my leben, and
art about to taste my salt, ought not to forbid a question: Who art thou?"
"Sheik
Ilderim," said Ben-Hur, calmly enduring his gaze, "I pray thee not to
think me trifling with thy just demand; but was there never a time in thy life
when to answer such a question would have been a crime to thyself?"
"By the
splendor of Solomon, yes!" Ilderim answered. "Betrayal of self is at
times as base as the betrayal of a tribe."
"Thanks,
thanks, good sheik!" Ben-Hur exclaimed.
"Never
answer became thee better. Now I know thou dost but seek assurance to justify
the trust I have come to ask, and that such assurance is of more interest to
thee than the affairs of my poor life."
The sheik in his
turn bowed, and Ben-Hur hastened to pursue his advantage.
"So it
please thee then," he said, "first, I am not a Roman, as the name
given thee as mine implieth."
Ilderim clasped
the beard overflowing his breast, and gazed at the speaker with eyes faintly
twinkling through the shade of the heavy close-drawn brows.
"In the next
place," Ben-Hur continued, "I am an Israelite of the tribe of
Judah."
The sheik raised
his brows a little.
"Nor that
merely. Sheik, I am a Jew with a grievance against Rome compared with which
thine is not more than a child's trouble."
The old man
combed his beard with nervous haste, and let fall his brows until even the
twinkle of the eyes went out.
"Still
further: I swear to thee, Sheik Ilderim - I swear by the covenant the Lord made
with my fathers - so thou but give me the revenge I seek, the money and the
glory of the race shall be thine."
Ilderim's brows
relaxed; his head arose; his face began to beam; and it was almost possible to
see the satisfaction taking possession of him.
"Enough!" he said. "If at the roots
of thy tongue there is a lie in coil, Solomon himself had not been safe against
thee. That thou art not a Roman - that as a Jew thou hast a grievance against
Rome, and revenge to compass, I believe; and on that score enough. But as to
thy skill. What experience hast thou in racing with chariots? And the horses -
canst thou make them creatures of thy will? - to know thee? to come at call? to
go, if thou sayest it, to the last extreme of breath and strength? and then, in
the perishing moment, out of the depths of thy life thrill them to one exertion
the mightiest of all? The gift, my son, is not to every one. Ah, by the
splendor of God! I knew a king who governed millions of men, their perfect
master, but could not win the respect of a horse. Mark! I speak not of the dull
brutes whose round it is to slave for slaves - the debased in blood and image -
the dead in spirit; but of such as mine here - the kings of their kind; of a
lineage reaching back to the broods of the first Pharaoh; my comrades and
friends, dwellers in tents, whom long association with me has brought up to my
plane; who to their instincts have added our wits and to their senses joined
our souls, until they feel all we know of ambition, love, hate, and contempt;
in war, heroes; in trust, faithful as women. Ho, there!"
A servant came
forward.
"Let my
Arabs come!"
The man drew
aside part of the division curtain of the tent, exposing to view a group of
horses, who lingered a moment where they were as if to make certain of the
invitation.
"Come!"
Ilderim said to them. "Why stand ye there? What have I that is not yours?
Come, I say!"
They stalked
slowly in.
"Son of
Israel," the master said, "thy Moses was a mighty man, but - ha, ha
ha! - I must laugh when I think of his allowing thy fathers the plodding ox and
the dull, slow-natured ass, and forbidding them property in horses. Ha, ha, ha!
Thinkest thou he would have done so had he seen that one - and that - and
this?" At the word he laid his hand upon the face of the first to reach him,
and patted it with infinite pride and tenderness.
"It is a
misjudgment, sheik, a misjudgment," Ben-Hur said, warmly. "Moses was
a warrior as well as a lawgiver beloved by God; and to follow war - ah, what is
it but to love all its creatures - these among the rest?"
A head of
exquisite turn - with large eyes, soft as a deer's, and half hidden by the
dense forelock, and small ears, sharp-pointed and sloped well forward -
approached then quite to his breast, the nostrils open, and the upper lip in
motion. "Who are you?" it asked, plainly as ever man spoke. Ben-Hur
recognized one of the four racers he had seen on the course, and gave his open
hand to the beautiful brute.
"They will
tell you, the blasphemers! - may their days shorten as they grow fewer!" -
the sheik spoke with the feeling of a man repelling a personal defamation
-”they will tell you, I say, that our horses of the best blood are derived from
the Nesaean pastures of Persia. God gave the first Arab a measureless waste of
sand, with some treeless mountains, and here and there a well of bitter waters;
and said to him, 'Behold thy country!' And when the poor man complained, the
Mighty One pitied him, and said again, 'Be of cheer! for I will twice bless
thee above other men.' The Arab heard, and gave thanks, and with faith set out
to find the blessings. He travelled all the boundaries first, and failed; then
he made a path into the desert, and went on and on - and in the heart of the
waste there was an island of green very beautiful to see; and in the heart of
the island, lo! a herd of camels, and another of horses! He took them joyfully
and kept them with care for what they were - best gifts of God. And from that
green isle went forth all the horses of the earth; even to the pastures of
Nesaea they went; and northward to the dreadful vales perpetually threshed by
blasts from the Sea of Chill Winds. Doubt not the story; or if thou dost, may
never amulet have charm for an Arab again. Nay, I will give thee proof."
He clapped his
hands.
"Bring me
the records of the tribe," he said to the servant who responded.
While waiting,
the sheik played with the horses, patting their cheeks, combing their forelocks
with his fingers, giving each one a token of remembrance. Presently six men
appeared with chests of cedar reinforced by bands of brass, and hinged and
bolted with brass.
"Nay,"
said Ilderim, when they were all set down by the divan, "I meant not all
of them; only the records of the horses - that one. Open it and take back the
others."
The chest was opened,
disclosing a mass of ivory tablets strung on rings of silver wire; and as the
tablets were scarcely thicker than wafers, each ring held several hundreds of
them.
"I
know," said Ilderim, taking some of the rings in his hand -”I know with
what care and zeal, my son, the scribes of the Temple in the Holy City keep the
names of the newly born, that every son of Israel may trace his line of
ancestry to its beginning, though it antedate the patriarchs. My fathers - may
the recollection of them be green forever! - did not think it sinful to borrow
the idea, and apply it to their dumb servants. See these tablets!"
Ben-Hur took the
rings, and separating the tablets saw they bore rude hieroglyphs in Arabic,
burned on the smooth surface by a sharp point of heated metal.
"Canst thou
read them, O son of Israel?"
"No. Thou
must tell me their meaning."
"Know thou,
then, each tablet records the name of a foal of the pure blood born to my
fathers through the hundreds of years passed; and also the names of sire and dam.
Take them, and note their age, that thou mayst the more readily believe."
Some of the
tablets were nearly worn away. All were yellow with age.
"In the
chest there, I can tell thee now, I have the perfect history; perfect because
certified as history seldom is - showing of what stock all these are sprung -
this one, and that now supplicating thy notice and caress; and as they come to
us here, their sires, even the furthest removed in time, came to my sires,
under a tent-roof like this of mine, to eat their measure of barley from the
open hand, and be talked to as children; and as children kiss the thanks they
have not speech to express. And now, O son of Israel, thou mayst believe my
declaration - if I am a lord of the Desert, behold my ministers! Take them from
me, and I become as a sick man left by the caravan to die. Thanks to them, age
hath not diminished the terror of me on the highways between cities; and it
will not while I have strength to go with them. Ha, ha, ha! I could tell thee
marvels done by their ancestors. In a favoring time I may do so; for the
present, enough that they were never overtaken in retreat; nor, by the sword of
Solomon, did they ever fail in pursuit! That, mark you, on the sands and under
saddle; but now - I do not know - I am afraid, for they are under yoke the
first time, and the conditions of success are so many. They have the pride and
the speed and the endurance. If I find them a master, they will win. Son of
Israel! so thou art the man, I swear it shall be a happy day that brought thee
thither. Of thyself now speak."
"I know
now," said Ben-Hur, "why it is that in the love of an Arab his horse
is next to his children; and I know, also, why the Arab horses are the best in
the world; but, good sheik, I would not have you judge me by words alone; for,
as you know, all promises of men sometimes fail. Give me the trial first on
some plain hereabout, and put the four in my hand to-morrow."
Ilderim's face
beamed again, and he would have spoken.
"A moment,
good sheik, a moment!" said Ben-Hur. "Let me say further. From the
masters in Rome I learned many lessons, little thinking they would serve me in
a time like this. I tell thee these thy sons of the Desert, though they have
separately the speed of eagles and the endurance of lions, will fail if they
are not trained to run together under the yoke. For bethink thee, sheik, in
every four there is one the slowest and one the swiftest; and while the race is
always to the slowest, the trouble is always with the swiftest. It was so to-day;
the driver could not reduce the best to harmonious action with the poorest. My
trial may have no better result; but if so, I will tell thee of it: that I
swear. Wherefore, in the same spirit I say, can I get them to run together,
moved by my will, the four as one, thou shalt have the sestertii and the crown,
and I my revenge. What sayest thou?"
Ilderim listened,
combing his beard the while. At the end he said, with a laugh, "I think
better of thee, son of Israel. We have a saying in the Desert, 'If you will
cook the meal with words, I will promise an ocean of butter.' thou shalt have
the horses in the morning."
At that moment
there was a stir at the rear entrance to the tent.
"The supper
- it is here! and yonder my friend Balthasar, whom thou shalt know. He hath a
story to tell which an Israelite should never tire of hearing."
And to the
servants he added,
"Take the
records away, and return my jewels to their apartment."
And they did as
he ordered.
CHAPTER XIV
If the reader
will return now to the repast of the wise men at their meeting in the desert,
he will understand the preparations for the supper in Ilderim's tent. The
differences were chiefly such as were incident to ampler means and better
service.
Three rugs were
spread on the carpet within the space so nearly enclosed by the divan; a table
not more than a foot in height was brought and set within the same place, and
covered with a cloth. Off to one side a portable earthenware oven was
established under the presidency of a woman whose duty it was to keep the
company in bread, or, more precisely, in hot cakes of flour from the handmills
grinding with constant sound in a neighboring tent.
Meanwhile
Balthasar was conducted to the divan, where Ilderim and Ben-Hur received him
standing. A loose black gown covered his person; his step was feeble, and his
whole movement slow and cautious, apparently dependent upon a long staff and
the arm of a servant.
"Peace to
you, my friend," said Ilderim, respectfully. "Peace and
welcome."
The Egyptian
raised his head and replied, "And to thee, good sheik - to thee and thine,
peace and the blessing of the One God - God the true and loving."
The manner was
gentle and devout, and impressed Ben-Hur with a feeling of awe; besides which
the blessing included in the answering salutation had been partly addressed to
him, and while that part was being spoken, the eyes of the aged guest, hollow
yet luminous, rested upon his face long enough to stir an emotion new and
mysterious, and so strong that he again and again during the repast scanned the
much wrinkled and bloodless face for its meaning; but always there was the
expression bland, placid, and trustful as a child's. A little later he found
that expression habitual.
"This is he,
O Balthasar," said the sheik, laying his hand on Ben-Hur's arm, "who
will break bread with us this evening."
The Egyptian
glanced at the young man, and looked again surprised and doubting; seeing which
the sheik continued, "I have promised him my horses for trial to-morrow;
and if all goes well, he will drive them in the Circus."
Balthasar
continued his gaze.
"He came
well recommended," Ilderim pursued, much puzzled. "You may know him
as the son of Arrius, who was a noble Roman sailor, though" - the sheik
hesitated, then resumed, with a laugh -”though he declares himself an Israelite
of the tribe of Judah; and, by the splendor of God, I believe that he tells
me!"
Balthasar could
no longer withhold explanation.
"To-day, O
most generous sheik, my life was in peril, and would have been lost had not a
youth, the counterpart of this one - if, indeed, he be not the very same -
intervened when all others fled, and saved me." Then he addressed Ben-Hur
directly, "Art thou not he?"
"I cannot
answer so far," Ben-Hur replied, with modest deference. "I am he who
stopped the horses of the insolent Roman when they were rushing upon thy camel
at the Fountain of Castalia. Thy daughter left a cup with me."
From the bosom of
his tunic he produced the cup, and gave it to Balthasar.
A glow lighted
the faded countenance of the Egyptian.
"The Lord
sent thee to me at the Fountain to-day," he said, in a tremulous voice,
stretching his hand towards Ben-Hur; "and he sends thee to me now. I give
him thanks; and praise him thou, for of his favor I have wherewith to give thee
great reward, and I will. The cup is thine; keep it."
Ben-Hur took back
the gift, and Balthasar, seeing the inquiry upon Ilderim's face, related the
occurrence at the Fountain.
"What!"
said the sheik to Ben-Hur. "Thou saidst nothing of this to me, when better
recommendation thou couldst not have brought. Am I not an Arab, and sheik of my
tribe of tens of thousands? And is not he my guest? And is it not in my
guest-bond that the good or evil thou dost him is good or evil done to me?
Whither shouldst thou go for reward but here? And whose the hand to give it but
mine?"
His voice at the
end of the speech rose to cutting shrillness.
"Good sheik,
spare me, I pray. I came not for reward, great or small; and that I may be
acquitted of the thought, I say the help I gave this excellent man would have
been given as well to thy humblest servant."
"But he is
my friend, my guest - not my servant; and seest thou not in the difference the
favor of Fortune?" Then to Balthasar the sheik subjoined, "Ah, by the
splendor of God! I tell thee again he is not a Roman."
With that he
turned away, and gave attention to the servants, whose preparations for the
supper were about complete.
The reader who
recollects the history of Balthasar as given by himself at the meeting in the
desert will understand the effect of Ben-Hur's assertion of disinterestedness
upon that worthy. In his devotion to men there had been, it will be remembered,
no distinctions; while the redemption which had been promised him in the way of
reward - the redemption for which he was waiting - was universal. To him,
therefore, the assertion sounded somewhat like an echo of himself. He took a
step nearer Ben-Hur, and spoke to him in the childlike way.
"How did the
sheik say I should call you? It was a Roman name, I think."
"Arrius, the
son of Arrius."
"Yet thou
art not a Roman?"
"All my
people were Jews."
"Were,
saidst thou? Are they not living?"
The question was
subtle as well as simple; but Ilderim saved Ben-Hur from reply.
"Come,"
he said to them, "the meal is ready."
Ben-Hur gave his
arm to Balthasar, and conducted him to the table, where shortly they were all
seated on their rugs Eastern fashion. The lavers were brought them, and they
washed and dried their hands; then the sheik made a sign, the servants stopped,
and the voice of the Egyptian arose tremulous with holy feeling.
"Father of
All - God! What we have is of thee; take our thanks, and bless us, that we may
continue to do thy will."
It was the grace
the good man had said simultaneously with his brethren Gaspar the Greek and
Melchior the Hindoo, the utterance in diverse tongues out of which had come the
miracle attesting the Divine Presence at the meal in the desert years before.
The table to
which they immediately addressed themselves was, as may be thought, rich in the
substantials and delicacies favorite in the East - in cakes hot from the oven,
vegetables from the gardens, meats singly, compounds of meats and vegetables,
milk of kine, and honey and butter - all eaten or drunk, it should be remarked,
without any of the modern accessories - knives, forks, spoons, cups, or plates;
and in this part of the repast but little was said, for they were hungry. But
when the dessert was in course it was otherwise. They laved their hands again,
had the lap-cloths shaken out, and with a renewed table and the sharp edge of
their appetites gone they were disposed to talk and listen.
With such a
company - an Arab, a Jew, and an Egyptian, all believers alike in one God -
there could be at that age but one subject of conversation; and of the three,
which should be speaker but he to whom the Deity had been so nearly a personal
appearance, who had seen him in a star, had heard his voice in direction, had
been led so far and so miraculously by his Spirit? And of what should he talk
but that of which he had been called to testify?
