'We linger,' exclaimed the Cabalist, 'we linger. Oh! in vain we quell
the feelings of our kind. God, God bless and be with thee! Art sure thou
hast all? thy dagger and thy wallet? That staff has seen some service.
I cut it on the Jordan. Ah! that I could be thy mate! 'Twould be nothing
then. At the worst to die together. Such a fate seems sweeter now than
parting. I'll watch thy star, my child. Thou weepest! And I too. Why!
what is this? Am I indeed Jabaster? One more embrace, and so----we'll
not say farewell, but only think it.'
CHAPTER IV.
_Alroy Falls Among Thieves_
TRADITION taught that the sceptre of Solomon could be found only in the
unknown sepulchres of the ancient Hebrew monarchs, and that none might
dare to touch it but one of their descendants. Armed with the cabalistic
talisman, which was to guide him in his awful and difficult researches,
Alroy commenced his pilgrimage to the Holy City. At this time, the love
of these sacred wanderings was a reigning passion among the Jews as well
as the Christians.
The Prince of the Captivity was to direct his course into the heart
of those great deserts which, in his flight from Hamadan, he had only
skirted. Following the track of the caravan, he was to make his way
to Babylon, or Bagdad.
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