Let us worship not in accordance with one alone, but many. And behold there shall come, at the close of the worship of Moloch, those mysteries which gladden the hearts of men and women which have passion. Moreover, I would have a sign. Thy God which is in the Temple at Jerusalem, He giveth no longer any sign. Where is the sheckinah? And none that is born of flesh can in anywise know Him."

"Unless Messiah come."

She laughed. "Messiah will not come. Of that be sure. Have ye not awaited Him, ye Jews, till all the Land is bloody with Roman rule, yea and much longer also? And ye have not even the sheckinah in the space between the cherubim that have sat these thousand years upon the ark, and still sit, and yet there is no shining in the space which is there between them.

"But the hot face of Moloch laugheth when the children die. And he laugheth yet again when he heareth the rolling of the drums which the people beat that his goodly ears may not perceive the shrieks of children and of parents."

Then, perceiving that she had made a mistake, she went another way about. So he lay with his head in her lap, as she kissed him mightily. And, for the servant of God, he became vain in his imagination, and his foolish heart was darkened. He longed once more for a sign from heaven, in especial for a god that he could both see and touch.

He therefore gave consent, calling Abaddone "Sweetest Tsyria.” She, on her part, said: "In the morning I would that thou wouldest go up to Jerusalem, and let the High Priest see thee. For lo! it is time thou didst in some wise give heed concerning this matter of thy priesthood, having been in the Land long."

Samson, in consequence, said unto her: "It is truly well. I shall be a priest in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, but, in secret, I will worship Baal with thee."

On the morrow, therefore, at earliest cockcrow, he (having been advised by Abaddone to watch for robbers) set out toward Jerusalem.

Nor was he, on this day, in his heart afraid to go up unto the City of the Great King, there to offer himself (who was a worshipper of Baal) unto the High Priest of the Almighty. For behold! his heart was greatly an-hardened.

And as he went along the way, he rejoiced in all the differences (for such was his folly) which he saw between this Land of God's and all the other lands of the world which he had seen, saying: "It is my Land, O Lord. It is thy Land, O Lord. It is the Land of thy

people, O Lord God Almighty." And he felt neither jot nor tittle of unworthiness.

So, passing up the road betwixt the white, flat-topped villages, and the fences built of the unhewn stone of the fields, he fared to the west of Bethlehem, saying: "On a day, I will surely return unto thee, O village of David, and village of the Christ that is to be. And I will herd my sheep and my cattle round about thee, watching from Migdal Eder, and, as my course is called for its turn at service in the Temple, I will betake me unto the City, and there will serve the Lord, my Father, my comfort and my strength. And I will be a Sadducee, as well as priest."

And he rejoiced to hear, as he passed through villages, the peculiar greetings of his own and God's people. "The blessings of the true God upon thee." "And to thee and thine the peace of the Lord." "To thee also, till Messiah come." He passed people who wore phylacteries openly, as if they were proud thereof. People who, entering their houses, reached up first and touched the mezuzah, and did not glance round to see if hateful eyes looked.

Sometimes supercilious Pharisees rode past on ass or camel, for the most part solitary, stopping from time to time in the middle of the road to make long prayers with brazen voices. At the corners of their outer robes they had blue fringes, and these were broad and long, on their heads and arms phylacteries, and these were big and bright and stood forth plainly in the sight of all men.

Samson said to one of these Pharisees, "Peace be unto thee, O Holy Father." Whereupon the Rabbi gazed at him with wide, disdainful eyes, saying: "I thank thee, Lord, I am not as this man is."

There came two courtly Sadducees on milk-white mules, apparelled in purple and gold, dainty and delicate and very self-possessed, talking excellent Greek. Samson said to them, "Peace be unto thee till Messiah come." They looked up in amazement at the giant striding by, and said not anything to him.

Thought Simon," "Tis well. For how can they know I too am a Sadducee? Do they wot of my priesthood and locket? Tomorrow-" He swallowed his gall.

He was not much northward of the road that runneth toward Bethlehem, when a rude fellow came out from bushes and walked beside him.

"Thou art a Babylonian?" "Aye."

At Migdal Eder the man departed on his own way-toward the

west. "Peace be unto thee!" "And to thee also-till we meet again." It was only the salutation of the country.

Now, on gaining the little height to the north of "Rachael's Tomb," Samson beheld to the east (not knowing what lay in wait for him) only the wilderness which led off to the Sea of Salt and the blue-black mountains beyond it. Glancing backwards, he saw the white, uplifted houses of rock-built Bethlehem. Turning forward yet again, and going but a little on

Jerusalem!

The City of the Great King!

Yea, the city of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Saul and of David, and of the Lord God of Hosts.

The City of Messias!

His heart came into his mouth, for he had no utterance.

But after a time he thought, "So long have I staid away from thee, O Jerusalem, I who should have been, these long sweet years, a priest within thy courts!"

He wept.

After a time, growing bolder, he said with a cry, as he gazed on the snowy masses and glittering pinnacles of God's very mountain : "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning: Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not-if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

And he said also, "Yonder! In the Hall of Polished Stones! It is there I shall be accepted as a priest of the Almighty." He caught suddenly at the locket on his breast, believing that the precious thing had been lost. Before he found it, his knees were as water.

Then was his soul again exultant. He exclaimed and said: "I shall surely on a day see God. I shall hear His voice, and hearken to the sound of it also. Oh my God, my God!"

But after a time, he thought of what he would tell Abaddone about all these things.

Then, after a little more, he said: "Let me first become a priest in God's temple. Later, I will surely return unto thee, Abaddone, and also to Moloch, and, on a time yet later, unto Gillul and Dusares, and, on a time that is later still, to Emah and the crocodile, yea and also to Temunah."

Then he ceased to remember, to know, to exist.

When he awoke, he was tied, face upward, on the back of a moving camel. A cloth of darkness lay over his eyes, a gag in his mouth.

He cursed within his soul. And he began to blame Trivialis for his wretched condition. "Thou wast right, Abaddone."

God gave the man over to a reprobate mind.

Now the lumbering caravan, of which the beast whereon he lay (as Samson knew from the myriad steps before and none behind) did form the rearward part, came suddenly to a stop. There was bargaining for awhile about the toll at the city gate. Then the caravan started again, entering the City of the Great King. But Samson-Solomon, which was also Simon, of Cyrene, though he had his own two eyes, yet beheld no glory of the place.

But he smelt the smell of the many burnt offerings which were being offered on The Hill. And suddenly there came the bright stentorian tones of trumpets, the trumpets of the Temple, blown by God's priests.

Ah the sweet, Hebraic brass!

"An alarm in the midst, with a plain note both before and after it." So he had many times read, and so he now did find the calling of the trumpets. Then-"Thekiah, Theruah, Thekiah!" Seven times blown-"Thekiah, Theruah, Thekiah!"

He could even (in the chambers of his heart) behold the solemn priests, those holy happy men, with God's own trumpets at their sacred lips-blowing, blowing, blowing-calling, calling, calling God's people.

He was not among those priests, not even among God's people.

"Why hast thou blinded me, Jehovah? Even as the ancient Samson at the mill was blinded by the trivial of earth, so am I blinded now. Wilt thou not take the bandage from mine eyes? Didst thou choose me for monument unto thee, and shall the Lord God of Hosts have chosen his priests in vain? Give me again light!"

The sound of the trumpets ceased, and the Temple organ pealed forth. He heard in his soul the sound of sweetly solemn singing up, far up, on Mount Moriah.

Angels!

Oh God!

The singing ceased, leaving a void, and he heard but the shifting scurry of the camels' feet. And the voices of all the people were silent, because, as it seemed, the singing up on Mount Moriah had left, within their souls also, an unutterable emptiness.

Then brake suddenly upon the Jew's ear a harsh, bold, impenitent cry-the cry of unspiritual Jerusalem. "Let me know my duty, and I will do it! Let me know my duty, and I will do it!"

A Pharisee!

Came a clap of hands, then the harsh voice once again: "I, even I, that is to say Parush, he that is wiser and better than all the Sopherim of the city, he that keepeth himself apart, whose very name denoteth separation. I, even I, the great Parush, the tenderhearted, will now give alms. Come and see. Come, all ye needy! To you, and to you, and to you. Forget not, anyone, him which doeth these good things-Parush, the man that is separate and apart and higher than all the other people, even scholars-and yet he doeth alms."

CHAPTER XX

THE BABYLONIA

In a well-hid bay of the island of Cypress, lay at anchor, as it were a drowsing boat. Barren mountains stood about the bay, like hostile sentinels. Never a path came to the water.

Out of the ranked holes in the galley, on each of the sides of the ship, ran forth three long banks of oars. But silence brooded as it were a sitting eagle round about the ship, and about the oar-holes thereof, and the places where the oars went into the water. Even the prow-figure (breast and shoulders of a man with head of horned bull) seemed steeped in everlasting, if martial, dreams.

On the top deck of the ship came never a fall of foot, never a syllable of speech.

Yet of a sudden rushed swiftly up and forth out of the forward hatch a rugged, wide-eyed fellow in bright coat of half mail, shouting: "Where art thou, O Master of Marines? Thinkest thou that thou art worthy leader of the forces of Captain Mastix?"

Then partly rose one that had been asleep within the shadow of the hindmost sail, and, leaning on his elbow, "By the very soul of Morpheus," cried he, "dost thou mean to shatter the planks of the Babylonia? Or wilt thou, rather, call down upon us the people living in the depths of yonder hills? If thou art helmsman, such remain. Chide not me who am master of the fighters on this ship."

And he sank back on the deck, being asleep again.

The gubernator, or helmsman, therefore ran up to him, and kicked him, crying: "Wilt thou be a-drunken? Already hast slept a day and yet another. Awaken and arise, for Mastix will soon return. Even as he did say unto us, so cometh he back. And behold! the men that are under thee, are they in better state than thou?"

But the master of the soldiers said unto him, "Be accursed.