Part 5 (1/2)

So Samuel the weaver purposed to take Naomi thither, and, even while the little girl lay thinking long, long thoughts and wis.h.i.+ng for daybreak, the moments slipped by, the Fourth Watch or Morning came, and Naomi's mother rose to prepare the meal so the travelers might have an early start.

A stout little donkey, borrowed from the khan stable, carried Naomi and her father briskly over the familiar Jerusalem highway. The little girl remembered how happy she had been on her journey with Aunt Miriam and how all the world had seemed gay that morning. Then she recalled the ”tap, tap, tap” of the blind men on the road, and she hid her face in her father's cloak and trembled.

”O that the Angel of the Pool may open my eyes!” prayed Naomi. ”O that the Angel of the Pool may open my eyes!”

The Pool of Bethesda was a pretty spot. About it had been built five porches, and in their shelter lay the sick and the withered, the lame and the blind, waiting for a chance to push their way in the moment the waters began to move.

When Naomi and her father arrived, the pool lay still in the sunlight, so Samuel established himself close to the edge with his arm about Naomi, and fell into conversation with a professional letter-writer who sat, bearded and grave, with ink-horn fastened at his side.

”Thy little maid has felt the hand of the Lord?” queried the letter-writer, looking compa.s.sionately at Naomi who stood picking with nervous fingers at her father's sleeve.

Samuel nodded sadly. In a few words he told the story of Naomi's trouble.

”She is indeed grievously afflicted,” observed the letter-writer, shaking his gray head and uttering a sigh. ”And my friend here, whom I come to lift into the pool, has lain helpless upon his bed for eight and twenty years. O that the Messiah would come! 'Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.'”

”Think you the Messiah will come shortly?” inquired Samuel.

This was a burning question of the day. The desire for the coming of the Kingdom of G.o.d was a flame that was consuming the Jewish nation.

The letter-writer tapped his forehead thoughtfully with a brown forefinger.

”Thou knowest the saying of the Pharisees, that if all Israel could keep the Law perfectly for a single day, Messiah would come. As for me, I long with a mighty longing to see Israel restored, to be delivered from our enemies, and to have our sins forgiven.”

Naomi stirred restlessly. What did all this talk of a Messiah mean to her? Well enough for the grown folk to look forward to the coming of a Saviour. As for her, all she asked of all the world was that the Angel of the Bethesda Pool might come with healing in his wings and lay his cool fingers upon her closed eyes and open them again.

”Perhaps I shall see Mother's face to-night,” she thought. ”And Ezra will be at the village gate waiting for me. He promised. And I am to wave my girdle at the first turn in the road if my eyes are opened. O Angel of the Pool, remember me, Naomi! Remember me here in the dark!”

Naomi's father, who had never taken his eyes from the pool, leaned forward.

”It moves, Naomi,” he whispered. ”The Angel comes, although we see him not. Be ready, for I must act quickly.”

The surface of the pool began to heave and swell, and at the precise moment that the water boiled up, Samuel bent over with Naomi in his arms and dipped her head under the water once, twice, three times!

Dripping, sputtering, and crying, Naomi was placed upon her feet, while her father endeavored to wipe away the water that ran down into her neck and stained her little robe.

”Dost thou see, Naomi?” asked Samuel with a tremble in his voice. ”Open thine eyes and look! Dost thou see, my little pomegranate?”

If the Angel of the Pool failed them, where should he turn for help?

Naomi obediently opened her brown eyes and stared, sightless as ever, into her father's face.

The Angel of the Pool had failed them!

CHAPTER V

ALL THE WORLD COMES VISITING

It was the winter season in Palestine.