Alroy | Page 2

was for us. How the
accursed Ishmaelites started! Did you mark, Caleb, that tall Turk in
green upon my left? By the sceptre of Jacob, he turned pale! Oh! it
shall be a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving! And spare not the wine,
nor the flesh-pots for the people. Look you to this, my child, for the
people shouted bravely and with a stout voice. It was not as the great
shout in the camp when the ark returned; nevertheless, it was boldly
done, and showed that the glory had not yet departed. So spare not the
wine, my son, and drink to the desolation of Ishmael in the juice which
he dare not quaff.'
'It has indeed been a great day for Israel!' exclaimed Caleb, echoing his
master's exultation.
'Had the procession been forbidden,' continued Bostenay, 'had it been
reserved for me of all the princes to have dragged the accursed tribute
upon foot, without trumpets and without guards, by this sceptre, my
good Caleb, I really think that, sluggishly as this old blood now runs, I
would---- But it is needless now to talk; the God of our fathers hath
been our refuge.'
'Verily, my lord, we were as David in the wilderness of Ziph; but now
we are as the Lord's anointed in the stronghold of Engedi!'
'The glory truly has not yet utterly departed,' resumed the Prince in a
more subdued tone; 'yet if---- I tell you what, Caleb; praise the Lord
that you are young.'

'My Prince too may yet live to see the good day.'
'Nay, my child, you misinterpret me. Your Prince has lived to see the
evil day. 'Twas not of the coming that I thought when I bid you praise
the Lord because you were young, the more my sin. I was thinking,
Caleb, that if your hair was as mine, if you could recollect, like me, the
days that are gone by, the days when it needed no bride to prove we
were princes,«the glorious days when we led captivity captive; I was
thinking, I say, my son, what a gainful heritage it is to be born after the
joys that have passed away.'
'My father lived at Babylon,' said Caleb. 'Oh! name it not! name it not!'
exclaimed the old chieftain. 'Dark was the day that we lost that second
Zion! We were then also slaves to the Egyptian; but verily we ruled
over the realm of Pharaoh. Why, Caleb, Caleb, you who know all, the
days of toil, the nights restless as a love-sick boy's, which it has cost
your Prince to gain permission to grace our tribute-day with the paltry
presence of half-a-dozen guards; you who know all my difficulties,
who have witnessed all my mortifications, what would you say to the
purse of dirhems, surrounded by seven thousand scimitars?'
'Seven thousand scimitars!' 'Not one less; my father flourished one.' 'It
was indeed a great day for Israel!' 'Nay, that is nothing. When old
Alroy was prince, old David Alroy, for thirty years, good Caleb, thirty
long years we paid no tribute to the Caliph.'
'No tribute! no tribute for thirty years! What marvel then, my Prince,
that the Philistines have of late exacted interest?'
'Nay, that is nothing,' continued old Bostenay, unmindful of his
servant's ejaculations. 'When Moctador was Caliph, he sent to the same
Prince David, to know why the dirhems were not brought up, and
David immediately called to horse, and, attended by all the chief people,
rode to the palace, and told the Caliph that tribute was an
acknowledgment made from the weak to the strong to insure protection
and support; and, inasmuch as he and his people had garrisoned the city
for ten years against the Seljuks, he held the Caliph in arrear.'

'We shall yet see an ass mount a ladder,'[1] exclaimed Caleb, with
uplifted eyes of wonder.
'It is true, though,' continued the Prince; 'often have I heard my father
tell the tale. He was then a child, and his mother held him up to see the
procession return, and all the people shouted "The sceptre has not gone
out of Jacob."'
'It was indeed a great day for Israel.'
'Nay, that is nothing. I could tell you such things! But we prattle; our
business is not yet done. You to the people; the widow and the orphan
are waiting. Give freely, good Caleb, give freely; the spoils of the
Canaanite are no longer ours, nevertheless the Lord is still our God, and,
after all, even this is a great day for Israel. And, Caleb, Caleb, bid my
nephew, David Alroy, know that I would speak with him.'
'I will do all promptly, good master! We wondered that our honoured
lord, your nephew, went not up with the donation this day.'
'Who