Zareba

“ Around the bivouac was built a zareba of cut thorny bushes; and the guards mounted with ball cartridge in their pouches, not merely because it is the custom of the Service, but to repel any prowling dangerous beasts that might be tempted to visit the camp by night; for within fifty yards of a sentry I had a shot at a bear; and a tiger killed a sambhur not a hundred yards from the zareba. And once I sat at the window of my tree-dwelling [Pg 103] listening to a tiger prowling around for a long time, uttering short snorting roars but never approaching near enough to give me a shot at him. ”

“ Harry Luttrell nodded, but he made no reply. He walked back with Hillyard to the door of the zareba, and the ostrich bore them company, now on this side, now on that. The elephant was rolling in the grass like a dog, the giraffes crowded about the little door like beggars outside a restaurant. The two friends walked back towards the town in an air shimmering with heat. The Blue Nile glittered amongst its sand-banks like so many ribands of molten steel. They were close upon the house before Luttrell answered Stella Croyle's message. ”

“ Within an hour, at any moment, indeed, we may be attacked, for I have discovered that one of our followers, who was a stranger to me until a few days ago, has been in conversation with some wandering natives, and has even now stolen away from the zareba so as to join them and lead them to the attack. ”

“ A moment later four or five others who had been firing from among the bushes also dashed away, while a triumphant yell rose from the zareba. [Pg 315]
"That is one enemy the less," Edgar said, "and I don't think the others will trouble us much in future. They must know that they can be doing us no harm, and now they discover they are not going to have it all their own way we shall not hear much more of them." ”

“ Zabra raised his head, shook back the clustering curls that shadowed his face, and looked earnestly upon his patron.
“I will do as you wish me,” he replied. “I have been wrong in disturbing your contemplations with my foolish fears: but, however proud the heart may be,—however great, and brave, and noble be all its tendencies,—there comes a time when all superiority and all valour are lost in a sense of overpowering humility and apprehension. But, hark! The elements are again let loose upon us. Hear how the wind howls, like a lion roaring for his prey! ”

“ Above, on the brow of the rising ground, on the outskirts of the wood, in [192] almost the very place where he had been accosted by Von Tressen and Galabin, stood D’Alquen, gun in hand, like a sentry, watching the farm. After a glance at him Philippa drew back, and her companion’s face said plainly, “Did I not tell you so?”
For the moment her indignation got the better of her fear. “What right has he to stand there watching?” she exclaimed.
“None,” Zarka replied. “He is the very genius of suspicion. He watches to make sure.” His tone was more curt and determined now. ”

“ Zora, child of the swamp, was a heathen hoyden of twelve wayward, untrained years. Slight, straight, strong, full-blooded, she had dreamed her life away in wilful wandering through her dark and sombre kingdom until she was one with it in all its moods; mischievous, secretive, brooding; full of great and awful visions, steeped body and soul in wood-lore. Her home was out of doors, the cabin of Elspeth her port of call for talking and eating. ”

“ A big bird of the vulture family flew suddenly down to the mouth of the chasm, circled about, and sighting the man there, wheeled off with a cry of angry surprise. The spectre of the mountain slowly faded as the sun dipped behind the topmost peak; the mist began to rise and roll, and the cloud to assert its sway.
Zarka, who had stood since his apostrophe in lowering meditation, started forward as though with a suddenly formed determination. His disfigured face lighted up with diabolical triumph, and he laughed aloud as he hastened back along the path. Such a laugh! ”

“ Zarah turned deadly pale; her frame trembled. "Oh, Lycidas, have mercy upon me!" she gasped. "It is sin in me even to listen; it were cruelty to suffer you to hope. Our law forbids a daughter of Abraham to wed a Gentile; to return your love would be rebellion against my God, apostasy from the faith of my fathers; better to suffer—better to die!"—and with an effort releasing her icy-cold hand from the clasp of the man whom she loved, Zarah sprang hurriedly past him, and with the speed of a frightened gazelle fled up the staircase, and back into the chamber in which she had left Hadassah. ”

“ When my body is burned to ashes, she sleeps her last sleep.
Murmurs of indignation from the crowd. Zoraya makes a movement to go to the stake.
Padilla. (Descending the steps furiously) Seize her! (The gaolers move toward her.) No! Wait! (He motions them back.) Wait! (To Zoraya.) Ah! Wretch, I am at your mercy!—Is it a pardon and freedom that you want?
Zoraya. No! life would be only full of sorrow for me! I prefer death, which will give me an opportunity for revenge!
Enrique. (Standing between Zoraya and the pyre) No! No! Do not use her for revenge. ”

“ ZABRA. Zabra had not been many days on board, before he became a source of wonder to the whole crew. A spirit flashed from his dark lustrous eyes, that kept off every thing approaching the shape of sociality among the persons by whom he was surrounded. He rarely spoke, except when attending upon Oriel Porphyry; and then the proud expression of his looks that made curiosity stand aloof, was changed into a glowing animation, and the tongue which had seemed to disdain all converse became eloquent with a resistless endeavour to delight. ”

“ The Vatican scarab gives the determinative of land (the triangle) in the place of the t on the Alnwick specimen.
137. A mis-reading (Zaru) of this place-name has led to the identification of the city with Zaru or Zal (perhaps the modern Sele) , the eastern frontier fort of Egypt. Prof. Breasted, Prof. Steindorff, and the writer, however, all came independently to the conclusion that Zarukha must be the name of the palace-town of Amenophis III and Thŷi, which is situated a little to the south of Medinet Habu ”

“ Zaroba is also skilled in the ways and the arts of the East,—and the voice of Fate speaks sometimes to the lowest as well as to the highest. There are the laws of Life and the laws of Death—but there are also the laws of Love. Without the laws of Love, the Universe would cease to be,—it is for El-Râmi Zarânos to prove himself stronger than the Universe,—if he can! ”

“ He gazed for several minutes in undisguised admiration on the faultless features of his youthful patient, with the full conviction that he had rarely, if ever, met with any human face so attractive in its expression. The long black curls which Zabra had allowed to grow till they nearly reached his shoulder hung in shining clusters around his face and forehead; and the faint bronze in his complexion appeared to heighten the grace in which the features were modelled. Desirous of saving so much attraction to the world, if it were endangered, he sought to examine the injury the youth had received. ”

“ Why gaze ye not, Xarifa, with all the gazing town?
Hear, hear the trumpet how it swells, and how the people cry!
He stops at Zara's palace gate--why sit ye still--oh, why?"
"At Zara's gate stops Zara's mate; in him shall I discover
The dark-eyed youth pledged me his truth with tears, and was my lover?
I will not rise, with dreary eyes, nor lay my cushion down,
To gaze on false Andalla with all the gazing town!"
ZARA'S EAR-RINGS
"My ear-rings! my ear-rings! they've dropped into the well,
And what to say to Muça, I cannot, cannot tell." ”

“ The woman Zaroba still crouched there, huddled on the floor, a mere heap of amber draperies,—her head covered, her features hidden. Now and then a violent shuddering seized her,—but otherwise she gave no sign of life. Hours passed;—she knew nothing, she thought of nothing; she was stupefied with misery and a great inextinguishable fear. To her bewildered, darkly superstitious, more than pagan mind, it seemed as if some terrible avenging angel had descended in the night and torn away her beautiful charge out of sheer spite and jealousy lest she should awake to the joys of earth’s life and love. ”

“ While I was deep in these awkward meditations, uppermost in which lay the necessity of an immediate departure, a low and quiet footfall sounded in the garden. Zoraka with her head upon my bosom heard nothing, but I, looking up, saw to my horror the burly form of Hassan approaching in the dim light. We stood in thick shadow, and he did not remark us, nor, indeed, do I think he was in any condition to do so. For he walked solemnly and slowly, as a man bent with sorrow, and mounted upon the little wall overlooking the bay without a glance upon either side. ”

“ Calabazas. (Forcibly) Silence, people! (The crowd is intimidated.) No miracle is performed by Satan!
Padilla. (At the head of the steps) Go and thank God! (He places Joana in the hands of the nuns, who conduct her into the church. He turns to Zoraya.) Go in peace, Zoraya! And all of you let the Mooress depart. She is free! (To Ramiro.) Ramiro, see her safely home!
He enters the church followed by the Inquisitors. The organs intone the Te Deum. Enrique, under the portal, exchanges a look of farewell with Zoraya, who lingers, crossing to the alley. ”

“ The protection of the zereba against surprise must depend on the vigilance of its sentries and piquets which line the fence, and whose strength will naturally depend on the proximity of the dervishes to the force. With reliable information, and the ground properly reconnoitred, a patrol of ten men per company, patrolling constantly and noiselessly along the inner edge of the zereba, is adequate, so long as the enemy's dem is say 15 miles distant (a day's march) ”

“ The crowd, murmuring with interest and curiosity, draws near. Far in the church women are singing a canticle. Profound silence follows. All the assistants go forward, stretching their necks to see the women of the first rank. The nuns, the young girls, and Fatoum and Padilla on their knees, are under the portal. To the right, at the entrance of the alley, are Aisha and Zaguir, who witnessed Zoraya’s arrival. Zoraya stands on the steps behind Joana and raises her face to the crowd. They see the young girl pale as death, her eyes closed. Enrique stands at the left, apart from the others. ”

“ Not with an army, nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
To Zorobabel... This vision was in favour of Zorobabel: to assure him of success in the building of the temple, which he had begun, signified by the candlestick; the lamp of which, without any other industry, was supplied with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and distributed by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain the seven lights.
4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall give equal grace to the grace thereof. ”

“ It entered into their very lives, reminding them of the power of the deathless spirit, ever progressive, active and vital, moulding dull matter to its will. Hence the scarab was the ideal luck charm, the mere sight of which reminded man of his divine origin, and it was said that the soul of Ra impressed the seemingly inert matter which made up the scarab, giving it a life which ages could not destroy. ”

“ Zora looked down upon Bles, where he stood to his knees in mud. The toil was beyond exhilaration—it was sickening weariness and panting despair. The great roots, twined in one unbroken snarl, clung frantically to the black soil. The vines and bushes fought back with thorn and bramble. Zora stood wiping the blood from her hands and staring at Bles. She saw the long gnarled fingers of the tough little trees and they looked like the fingers of Elspeth down there beneath the earth pulling against the boy. Slowly Zora forgot her blood and pain. Who would win—the witch, or Jason? ”

“ I was on the point of throwing myself upon the black, knife in hand. But this impulse passed, and the next second, at a loud signal from him, a fourth man entered, bearing a large sheet of sacking. With a gathering sense of dread I stared from him to Zoraka's body, and as my eyes lit upon her, I noticed her bosom slowly rising, as if with a resumption of life. It was a relief to find that she was not dead, as I had imagined, though I could not but conjecture that some outrage was intended. ”

“ No; we must not force Zarka’s hand, especially as he has his friends over the mountains to look to. And, after all, we have no certain proof as yet that the man in the mask is Prince Roel.”
“No; no proof,” D’Alquen said feverishly; [248] “yet we may be certain of it. All the actors in the wretched affair are here in the forest: Count Zarka, the gaoler and prospective assassin, my kinsman, the poor victim, and the lady of the farm, the decoy.”
Galabin glanced anxiously at Von Tressen, who started as though he had been struck. ”

“ In the same unconsciousness of Zarah's imminent peril, another, to whom she was dearer than the sight of the eyes or the breath of life, lay extended on the ground in sleep, many miles from Jerusalem, with no pillow but that stalwart arm, around which was still twined a slight flaxen strand. A monarch might have envied the dream which made the features of the sleeper relax into an expression of happiness which, when waking, they seldom indeed wore. Maccabeus, lying on the parched dry earth, was in thought seated in an Eden of flowers, with Zarah at his side, her small hand clasped in his own. ”

“ It was but the vapour descending as the sun gradually lost [153] its power, just as the apparition had been but the familiar spectre of the mountains.
Nevertheless Zarka seemed, with a gambler’s superstition, to regard it as an omen and an answer to his profane prayer. He threw back his head and stretched his arms as though he would embrace what was but his own shadow. Then, with a more practical impulse, he snatched up his gun, and ran quickly on along the path, racing the great cumuli which were rolling down from the mountain tops. ”