The Washington times., 1923-03-25

% love:
Behold, thou art fair;
thou hast doves eyes" -
It was the womanish voice of a
lad chanting softly with a sort of
sing-song cadence The chant
ended in a winning minor walk
strangely amorous-"E-yah, ee-
yah, eep'
Probably the boy was in love
for the first time, It might be with
a neighbor's daughter of thirteen
or. fourteen. or with a face
glimpsed through the square OPEN
ing of a hinged pane of lattice
work. or with a professional mus
cle-dancer lodging in the street of
the harlots.
A pipe twittered like a dro vsy
bird. Far off dogs howled, gather,
ing jackel-like to scour the out
skirts eff the city for food-offal, or
perhaps the carcass of a travel
killed ass or mule Overhead the
night was spangled with stars in
Vulnerable as the sands of the sea.
Under these stars Evan stood
solitary. hearing the sounds of the
masked city He was upon house
top, dim in the starlight. Light
airs wandered, bearing the cool of
the night and also the cloying fra
GRANGE Of orange blossoms. the odor
of camels and the incense smell Cf
chips of sandal wood thrown upon
smouldering charcoal.
Six days of slow travelling lay
between Evan and the morning
when he and Joel had taken up the
make-shift litter and started to fol-
low the pilgrims Roads that were
mere ruts of dust or dry torrent
beds; terraced vineyards where the
grapes were being stripped from
the stunted shrub-like vines; ter
raced hill fields, where the soil was
being broken by hand for the
Autumn sowing; women tattooed
on cheeks or forehead; girls who
innocently exposed their breasts.
but drew a veil across their faces
at the sight of strangers: lot
moons, cold nights and the faint,
clear-cut, mirage-blue Of distant
mountain ranges-a series of pic
lures, new and foreign. This town
also was foreign. The odors of it,
carried by the breath of the night,
were like strange cries, seductive
or sinister, promising unguesse1
experience.
He moved, keeping one hand
upon the roof parapet until he
came to the break in it where an
unrailed flight of steps led steeply
down into the square pit of
court, filled with darkness as with
pitch. He descended gropingly
into this darkness. Some invisible
beast stirred uneasily, blowing
through its nostrils and stamping.
Near the foot of the stair was a
doorway. Evan pushed gently
against its closed door and it
opened inward. He entered.
1t was fair-sized room, lit only
by the flame of little hand lamp.
The floor was of hard. packed dirt,
the grimy walls had once been
white-washed. Across the farther
end was platform, raised a couple
of feet and laid with mating.
ANCd1 LlIC uOOI a DIG dos anu d lOdI
stood somnolent. Fowls roasted
upon saddles and riding furnitu1e
piled against the wall. At the
edge of the platform was trough
like hollow in which another ass
nuzzled, munching corn. Upon
the platform close to this trough
a slight figure sat cross-legged with
the little lamp by its knee. Sew
eral shrouded shapes lay upon the
mating. What air there was
trickled through long, barred slit
beneath the roof.
Evan came close to the plat
form. The munching ass did not
heed him. The room was sitting
and fetid as dungeon.
"Adah," he said, "is Joel here?"
The bent head lifted. Two eyes
that were like desert wells dwelt
for moment on his face. In the
girls grading arms was a doll-like
infant swaddled in white bandages.
Doubtless the child of some travel
weary, sleeping woman. Not a
foot from her the ass munched
steadily with its nose in the trough.
"He is not here"
Her voice was lower even than
his. Their monstrous blended
shadows darkened the roof above
them.
ais your brother asleep?"
eyes"