Part 7 (1/2)

'Valiant pilgrim,' said Scherirah, advancing, with a softened voice, 'are you for the holy city?'

'The city of my fathers.'

'A perilous journey. And whence from?'

'Hamadan.'

'A dreary way. You need repose. Your name?'

'David.'

'David, you are among friends. Rest, and repose in safety. You hesitate.

Fear not! The memory of my mother is a charm that always changes me!'

Scherirah unsheathed his dagger, punctured his arm,[14] and, throwing away the weapon, offered the bleeding member to Alroy. The Prince of the Captivity touched the open vein with his lips.

'My troth is pledged,' said the bandit; 'I can never betray him in whose veins my own blood is flowing.' So saying, he led Alroy to his carpet.

'Eat,' David,' said Scherirah.

'I will eat bread,' answered Alroy.

'What! have you had so much meat lately that you will refuse this delicate gazelle that I brought down this morning with my own lance?

'Tis food for a caliph.'

'I pray you give me bread.'

'Oh! bread if you like. But that a man should prefer bread to meat, and such meat as this, 'tis miraculous.'

'A thousand thanks, good Scherirah; but with our people the flesh of the gazelle is forbidden. It is unclean. Its foot is _cloven_.'

'I have heard of these things,' replied Scherirah, with a thoughtful air. 'My mother was a Jewess, and my father was a Kourd. Whichever be right, I hope to be saved.'

'There is but one G.o.d, and Mahomed is his prophet!' exclaimed Kisloch; 'though I drink wine. Your health, Hebrew.'

'I will join you,' said to the third robber. 'My father was a Guebre, and sacrificed his property to his faith; and the consequence is, his son has got neither.'

'As for me,' said a fourth robber, of very dark complexion and singularly small bright eyes, 'I am an Indian, and I believe in the great golden figure with carbuncle eyes, in the temple of Delhi.'

'I have no religion,' said a tall negro in a red turban, grinning with his white teeth; 'they have none in my country; but if I had heard of your G.o.d before, Calidas, I would have believed in him.'

'I almost wish I had been a Jew,' exclaimed Scherirah, musing. 'My mother was a good woman.' 'The Jews are very rich,' said the third robber. 'When you get to Jerusalem, David, you will see the Christians,'

continued Scherirah.

'The accursed Giaours,' exclaimed Kisloch, 'we are all against them.'

'With their white faces,' exclaimed the negro. 'And their blue eyes,'

said the Indian. 'What can you expect of men who live in a country without a sun?' observed the Guebre.