Part 72 (1/2)
”Pray tell me, O my father, if it was known to you the things that befell me in the desert. If not, I have much to tell you.”
The African was far away; only his emaciated body was in the cell when Michael spoke; when he drew back his mind to his material presence, he met Michael's questioning eyes; his own were tragic and stricken.
”These things are past, my son, in this new world of despair and suffering there is no place for them. Very often I saw you, very often you were in great trouble, trouble as the world understood trouble in the days of peace. But because of the avarice of unG.o.dly rulers there is sorrow and mourning coming to the world, which will teach men that they knew not the meaning of anguish. In the Armageddon they will understand the suffering of the Prophet Jesus, the Man of Sorrows Who was acquainted with grief.”
Michael, convinced that the seer's mind was obsessed with this one idea, accepted the fact philosophically; he shrank from asking him the more personal questions he wished answered. Nevertheless, he was extremely curious to learn if he was ignorant of the result of his expedition.
”Tell me, my father, did you see me securing the great treasure of gold and jewels which I went into the desert to find? Did you know how greatly I have reaped my reward?”
”My son, speak to me of the truth which is in thy heart, not of lies.”
His angry eyes rebuked Michael. ”Stand fast to truth and justice. The men of truth shall find a rich reward--they do not sit in the company of liars.”
”I ask your forgiveness, O my father. Truly I spoke not after the fas.h.i.+on of those who have understanding.”
”My son, I have seen what I have seen. Your deeds of charity are known to G.o.d, His power extends over all things; not a chicken cheeps in the egg-sh.e.l.l but He has created. Your trials and losses are known to Him, they are His ordaining. Because of your weakness and the carnal thoughts and desires which were in your heart, G.o.d saw fit to remove the treasure from your sight. Again in the days of peace you must seek it, in the bowels of the earth it is laid up for you.”
Michael's heart stood still. Verily the old man had seen, for in his words there were truth and meaning.
”My son, listen to the teachings of the Prophet, G.o.d bless his holy name. 'Believing men should restrain their eyes from looking upon strange women, whose sight may excite their carnal pa.s.sions. Draw not near unto fornication. The word of G.o.d restrains the carnal desires of man even from smouldering in secret.'”
”You know, O my father, that I sought not the presence of the strange woman in my camp?”
”My son, through the grace of Allah I have seen. Your temptation was great, your charity was acceptable in G.o.d's sight. He knows that many unbelievers look towards Him, but do not see Him.”
”And what now is thy counsel, O my father?”
The African shook his head. ”Prayer, my son, that is my counsel. The world has much need of prayer. Pray that through Allah's guidance all nations of the earth may learn how to live peacefully one with another.
I can see nothing further; that is my counsel: Work and pray. I can give you no a.s.surance, but Allah granting, I will pray without ceasing.
You must humbly submit to the will of Allah. This I give you as my counsel. You took the great journey; your heart is still filled with the eagerness of youth, with the vanity of earthly ambition. But all these things will be purged from your heart, your bowels of compa.s.sion will yearn for the mothers of sons, who weep for their sons because they are not. Your journey was not in vain. If your fingers have not yet touched the treasure which you sought, if your desires have strayed from the path of righteousness, if you have not always stood in the Light, there is a new treasure laid up in your heart, my son, the treasure of meekness. Meekness is one of the moral conditions of the Koran, and the servants of the All-Merciful are those who walk meekly upon earth. This treasure has been revealed to you, you have learned many strange and wonderful things, a spiritual treasure has been bestowed upon you which is of greater richness than the gold and the jewels which you sought. You dreamed not of man's weakness, O my son, you relied upon your own strength. Allah has chosen His own method of revealing to you the manner of man's carnal nature.”
Michael remained lost in thought while the old man finished his counsel by reciting a beautiful _sura_ from the Koran. In his mind there had been gathering the conviction that there was more truth than he had at first imagined in his daring prophecy, in his foretelling of the calamity which was to befall all Christian countries. He had been perfectly accurate on the subject of his own journey, that it had not been successful in regard to the treasure of Akhnaton. He had seen with extraordinary clearness all which had happened, even to the reading of his heart. It was unnecessary for Michael to tell him in words all that he had gone through, for the African was tired, and his eyes had seen. There was just one thing he had been craving to ask him about; it had been glowing at the back of his mind like a light from a sacred lamp. That precious thing was Margaret. Had this mid-African, whose feet were bending to the open grave, any seer's knowledge which would a.s.sist him?
”I would ask you yet one more question, O my father. Of my dear friends, whom I left in Upper Egypt when I journeyed into the desert--have you counsel regarding them which will ease the anxiety I feel?”
The old man's eyes flashed brightly. He had forgotten; his voice was expressive of human sympathy. ”Your guarded lady, _insha Allah_, the future mother of your sons, she was never far from you, she it was who many times comforted you. Often have I seen her spiritual presence very close to you.”
”Your words are the truth, O my father. When the weakness of man's nature overwhelmed me, she came to me in the desert.”
”Spiritually you embraced her, my son; Allah, in His perfect understanding, granted you this great comfort.”
”I have not heard from her, my father, nor has her spiritual presence been close to me for many weeks. My heart is desolate.”
”Pray for fort.i.tude, my son, that moral condition which enables us to meet danger and endure pain with calmness.” As he said the last words, his eyes looked into the future; his expression became agonized.
”Fort.i.tude,” he repeated the word slowly and deliberately, ”fort.i.tude--you must pray for it without ceasing, for without it you cannot face the future.”
”You do not explain, O my father, why I do not see or hear anything from those who love me.”
Michael had seen by the visionary's expression that his thoughts were again obsessed with the Armageddon he had visualized.