Leila | Page 9

Moorish maidens; not thine their harlot songs, and their dances of lewd
delight; thy delicate limbs were but taught the attitude that Nature
dedicates to the worship of a God, and the music of thy voice was
tuned to the songs of thy fallen country, sad with the memory of her
wrongs, animated with the names of her heroes, with the solemnity of
her prayers. These scrolls, and the lessons of our seers, have imparted
to thee such of our science and our history as may fit thy mind to aspire,
and thy heart to feel for a sacred cause. Thou listenest to me, Leila?"

Perplexed and wondering, for never before had her father addressed her
in such a strain, the maiden answered with an earnestness of manner
that seemed to content the questioner; and he resumed, with an altered,
hollow, solemn voice:
"Then curse the persecutors. Daughter of the great Hebrew race, arise
and curse the Moorish taskmaster and spoiler!"
As he spoke, the adjuror himself rose, lifting his right hand on high;
while his left touched the shoulder of the maiden. But she, after gazing
a moment in wild and terrified amazement upon his face, fell cowering
at his knees; and, clasping them imploringly, exclaimed in scarce
articulate murmurs:
"Oh, spare me! spare me!"
The Hebrew, for such he was, surveyed her, as she thus quailed at his
feet, with a look of rage and scorn: his hand wandered to his poniard,
he half unsheathed it, thrust it back with a muttered curse, and then,
deliberately drawing it forth, cast it on the ground beside her.
"Degenerate girl!" he said, in accents that vainly struggled for calm, "if
thou hast admitted to thy heart one unworthy thought towards a
Moorish infidel, dig deep and root it out, even with the knife, and to the
death--so wilt thou save this hand from that degrading task."
He drew himself hastily from her grasp, and left the unfortunate girl
alone and senseless.
CHAPTER V.
AMBITION DISTORTED INTO VICE BY LAW.
On descending a broad flight of stairs from the apartment, the Hebrew
encountered an old man, habited in loose garments of silk and fur, upon
whose withered and wrinkled face life seemed scarcely to struggle
against the advance of death--so haggard, wan, and corpse-like was its
aspect.

"Ximen," said the Israelite, "trusty and beloved servant, follow me to
the cavern." He did not tarry for an answer, but continued his way with
rapid strides through various courts and alleys, till he came at length
into a narrow, dark, and damp gallery, that seemed cut from the living
rock. At its entrance was a strong grate, which gave way to the
Hebrew's touch upon the spring, though the united strength of a
hundred men could not have moved it from its hinge. Taking up a
brazen lamp that burnt in a niche within it, the Hebrew paused
impatiently till the feeble steps of the old man reached the spot; and
then, reclosing the grate, pursued his winding way for a considerable
distance, till he stopped suddenly by a part of the rock which seemed in
no respect different from the rest: and so artfully contrived and
concealed was the door which he now opened, and so suddenly did it
yield to his hand, that it appeared literally the effect of enchantment,
when the rock yawned, and discovered a circular cavern, lighted with
brazen lamps, and spread with hangings and cushions of thick furs.
Upon rude and seemingly natural pillars of rock, various antique and
rusty arms were suspended; in large niches were deposited scrolls,
clasped and bound with iron; and a profusion of strange and uncouth
instruments and machines (in which modern science might, perhaps,
discover the tools of chemical invention) gave a magical and ominous
aspect to the wild abode.
The Hebrew cast himself on a couch of furs; and, as the old man
entered and closed the door, "Ximen," said he, "fill out wine--it is a
soothing counsellor, and I need it."
Extracting from one of the recesses of the cavern a flask and goblet,
Ximen offered to his lord a copious draught of the sparkling vintage of
the Vega, which seemed to invigorate and restore him.
"Old man," said he, concluding the potation with a deep-drawn sigh,
"fill to thyself-drink till thy veins feel young."
Ximen obeyed the mandate but imperfectly; the wine just touched his
lips, and the goblet was put aside.
"Ximen," resumed the Israelite, "how many of our race have been

butchered by the avarice of the Moorish kings since first thou didst set
foot within the city?"
"Three thousand--the number was completed last winter, by the order
of Jusef the vizier; and their goods and coffers are transformed into
shafts and cimiters against the dogs of Galilee."
"Three