Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-23
CHAPTER XIV.
zAHARA MAKES HIM OUT A HERO.

When Lazarus and Zahara reached the
town the last trace of the storm had ceased.
The stars were out and their cold light
glanced upon the subsiding waves un-
sympathetlcally. The lake wore her COM
monplace face. Danger was gone, as sud-
denly as it had come. Boats were out in
search of the shipwrecked party.
The streets were nearly vacant, for all
who could leave their homes were crowded
on the beach. Lazarus and Zahars entered
the town unnoticed, as separate and safe as
two ghosts. Had they in fact gone down in
the lake that wild night, and had their
spirits returned from their drowned bodies
to mingle with the living. they could not
have met more quiet receptio This,
under the circumstances, was delightful.
They clung to each other as they trod the
open roads, and in the shadow of houses
they fingered to exchange the maddening
kisses of love aud separation. The young
man lifted the maiden and helped her
wearied feet along; and she had clung to
him-haughty Zahara!-and nestled to him,
as he said, like little slave"
She was so wet, and now began to be so
chilly, that he hurried as fast as might be
with her toward her fathers villa, staying
for nothing, not even to search for the High
Priest upon the shore; for Lazarus felt that
the more quickly and quietly the maiden
should be restored 10 her home, the better
pleased the old man would be.
Within the walls OF her own garden,
Zahara took her last touch from her lovers
lips.
When could there be another moment like
tnisl She cluug to him, delaying its agony
and ecstacy, and had well-nigh unnamed
MIN by her emotion.
'fOh, nv lord, :" murmured Zahara, 81 am
the happiest woman, and am the saddest
woman in all Judea."
"And 1 the proudest man, and the most
wretched In all the world
Farewell, my own, sweet, nv lord, fare
well. l give thee my face, and nv lips. I
give thee FOR the last timeP'
"Then shall there be a thousand last
timesr' vowed Lazarus, "for I will take
nothing less of earth and heaven than thee,
Zahara."
"But how, fair sir, wilt thou get me2
Verify, know the High Priest. my father.
his will standeth like an open tomb between
u.s."
"Then into it 1 stepP' cried the lover,
''but will have thee. The man who loveth
as 1 love. Zahara, becometh as a God. He
taketh power into his soul and into his BODY,
that other men know not He createth aud
he destroyeth, and means and hindrances
are not to him as unto common men. Thou
croEnest him with thy love, and he is a
king. Thou givest him the treasure of thy
lite, and he hath divinity. Leave the way
to me, Zahara, but mine thou shalt be- Nor
will be contented with the least OF thee,
nor portion OF thee, but viii have all
Zahara, as Heaven hears mei'
Zahara made him no answer in so far as
the answer of words counteth, but she lifted
to him lips tnat a man might have died for,
and clasped him with arms that a king
might have lived for; and Lazarus spoke no
more, but trembling with their love and
grief they passed on silently across the de-
serted gardens, and so Lazarus bore her to
her fathers house.
Great agitation prevailed in the villa.
The officers and servants hurried to and fro,
going on fruitless 'errands. and ordered
wildly about by q distracted old man, whom
some one had been discreet and powerful
enough to lead home. He was said to have
become quite useless on the shore, having
become frantic with grief when the storm
shut the lake from sight, and the persistent
refusals of the bystanders to man a reliei
boat in the height of the gale, emphasized
the desperateness of the situation to his
mind. The High Priest was accustomed to
being obeyed, to controlling masses of peo-
pie, to achieving the difficult or apparently
impossible, and it took him longer than il
would an ordinary man to understand thai
his daughter was probably drowning, and
that nobody could save ner.
The house was abundantly lighted for ar
Eastern house of those times; the old man
ordered candles and lamps scattered every.
where; he seemed to believe that the boat
might perceive the light-the house stand.
ing so high and being visible from the Lake
and cheated himself with this pitiful ex
pedient, while his messengers were running
to and fro between the lake and the Wills
with commands and reports. At the mo
ment when Zahara arrived, the news haG
preceded her that the pleasure boat had beer
found capsized, with one of its occupants
clinging thereto. This was Rebecca, the
handmaid, who accidentally had beer
caught in one OF the ropes OF the boat and SC
had been rescued and brought ashore. o.
her mistress, who was pitching violently in
the raging sea, nothing could be found. The
oarsmen were gone. The two slaves whom
the High Priest had ordered of from shore
in q rescuing boat had been swamped anG
drowned; but this incident scarcely excited
any remark. Human life, at best, was eheaI
in those days; and slave life a cipher in tht
sum.
Aunas stood in his brightly lighted por
hco, trembling, weakened old man, as pale
as any Of his drowned slaves at that moment
tossing in the lake. The messenger
from the beach had torches, and their wild
fare shot over the High Priests face anG
figure. He presented a piteous picture
When some one from the rear of the grouE
pushed forward the drenched and weeping
Rebecea, the excitement Of the ~retcheC