Ulric the Jarl

by William Stoddard

  “I am a Jew of Spain,” he responded, “and my name is Ben Ezra. I go to fulfill a vow in the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem. Who art thou?”

  “I am a Greek of Alexandria, named Lysias,” was replied as cunningly. “I am of the household of the procurator, but I am also a student in the school of the great Gamaliel. Thou doest well to perform thy vows. I am now bidden to be with thee. And who is this man?”

  “I am Abbas of Jerusalem,” he said for himself, bowing low to one who seemed to be trusted by Pontius the Spearman. “I am a merchant and I have had dealings with the procurator.”

  “O Abbas,” said Lysias, “many have heard of thee. Thou art a lender of money and thou art hard in thy dealings. Why dost thou pretend that thou knowest me not? Hast thou not seen me many times in the markets? I think that thou art never seen in the schools. Tell me, how was it with that trouble of thine that thou didst have before the magistrate? Didst thou escape with no more harm than a fine?”

  “Nay! Nay!” exclaimed Abbas. “Speak not too much of that matter. The judge compelled that unjust person to pay me my dues and he was cast into prison. I exact no more than my right.”

  “Thou art, then, a rare money-lender,” said Lysias; but the cunning of the Greek had succeeded and Abbas was ready thenceforth to say to any inquirer that he knew this man well.

  “O youth,” he said, “I will talk with thee further concerning certain matters when we may have opportunity. Be not thou too much influenced by what thou hearest. Is there any news?”

  “Tell us what things have occurred,” added Ben Ezra, “for we have been in Galilee. I journeyed thither as interpreter for the Saxon gladiators of Caius, the centurion, of Thessalonica. In his service am I to this day.”

  “A good man and highly honored,” said Lysias. “He is a friend of the procurator.”

  So they rode on conversing, but in Greek. Nor was it difficult as they went for Ben Ezra, even aided by Abbas unwittingly, to inform Lysias completely concerning the doings of the Saxons.

  “The procurator,” he said, “calleth the gladiators of Caius his own. Thou wilt soon meet them and I will make thee acquainted with them.”

  “I will gladly have speech with such strange ones,” said Lysias, “but the scholars of Gamaliel may not meddle much with the circus.”

  Ere long as they rode he and Ben Ezra were able to be out of hearing of Abbas and the others, but the speech of the Jew was brief.

  “O Greek,” he said, “if thou art imprudent in this matter, for thee is not the scourge, but the sword.”

  “And for thee crucifixion,” said Lysias. “Fear not for me. Thou art as I am, and we are one with the jarl and his company.”

  The place of the procurator’s abiding was at hand. It was an ancient palace, which was also a fort, and they who occupied it were of high degree. Of them the two Jews and Lysias might see or know but little, but they had quarters assigned them. In the morning orders came to Lysias only, and he was quickly in the saddle with a message for Cornelius, the centurion. If he found him not at Jerusalem, he was to ride on after him, even to Cæsarea.

  “O to be in the procurator’s house!” thought Lysias, “for she will be there and I shall see her.”

  Even as he rode away from the palace gate, however, bright eyes were upon him from a window above and a young girl said in a low, musical voice:

  “O Lysias! Lysias! Do I not know that he is in search of me? Woe to him and woe to me if he should find me! What is this which is come? Am I not happy as I am? Surely I do love him. He is very beautiful. He loveth me. But what have I, the favorite of the wife of Pontius, to do with him? What have I to do with a love that I lost so long ago and that is gone? It were but a sharp peril now. If I meet him, I can but tell him that I am no longer his. He is but a swift messenger of the procurator; a fellow to ride horses and to be scourged if he rideth not speedily. I am one to dwell in palaces, wearing gay apparel and jewels and having the favors of the great.”

  Full of pride was her fair face as she spoke, and in it was a scorn for any who were lowly. To her the apparel of her servitude was more worth than was the love of a youth who had been robbed of his patrimony and whose rank was lost. She sat at the window watching him as he rode away, and she sighed deeply.

  “Yes,” she said, “I love him, and it is pleasant to love. He is a good horseman. So are all my Roman lovers. What is he compared with a Roman? Even the Jews, if they are rich and of power, are better than a poor Greek boy, fit only for errands.”

  She arose and walked away, but a mirror was near and she gazed long at her reflection, admiring it greatly.

  “I am as beautiful as Aphrodite, they tell me,” she said. “I will sacrifice to her this day, and to Juno. There are no gods upon whom Lysias may call for great gifts. He can bring them no rich offerings, while I can have oxen slain before the altar. Aye, and I have had men sent to prison and to the arena if they offended me. I sent that foolish Jew girl to the lions at Jerusalem. I taught her better than to interfere with me.”

  Her red lips tightened cruelly, and her eyes were terrible and her movements were lithe as those of a young panther as she walked on along a corridor. But Lysias galloping northward was alone upon the highway, and he shouted aloud:

  “Sapphira! Sapphira! My beautiful one! My beloved! I am drawing nearer to thee! Thou art dearer than life and I believe thou art true to thy lover. I will find thee yet, and I will look into thine eyes and I will touch thy hand and I will tell thee all that is in my heart.”

  Strong is love and wonderful are its follies and its treacheries, for even then his Sapphira sank upon a couch in her own room sighing and murmuring in a low voice:

  “Lysias! Lysias! My beloved! If I have any other lovers I will name them Lysias in my mind, for I do love thee, and love is pleasant.”

  The procurator made no great haste that morning, although he prepared for journeying. He had many affairs and his messengers came and went, and it might be seen that he was a thoughtful governor, attending to all who came, only that he sent out some edicts which were full of blood and vengeance.

  Not long was it before he stood in a private place with Ben Ezra questioning.

  “O Jew,” he said, “now thou hast told me how Julius plotted to destroy the Saxon guards of Caius, thou hast told me enough. But for this tall jarl of thine and his pirates I should never again meet my friend. He may give them to me and I will not waste them in the arena. I know of a place to which I may send a good sword and where I may not send a legionary.”

  Low bowed the Jew and the unspoken word in his heart was bitter.

  “Do I not know thee?” he thought. “Thou treacherous one! Thou wilt send a Saxon to do a deed, and when it is done for thee thou wilt slay him and clear thyself. This is the cunning of the Romans. I will beware of thee and thy errands, but I care little for my own neck. O that the Messiah, the Prince of Judah, were even now smiting thee and thine from the earth! He cometh soon, I think.”

  So, bowing as became his station, but guarding well his face and letting his eyelids fall over any glitter that might betray him, Ben Ezra went out of the palace and was joined by Abbas.

  “O my friend,” said Abbas, “why linger we?”

  “We may not linger,” said Ben Ezra. “We depart, but thou wilt travel alone. I have commands from the procurator. See to it that thou art quickly in Jerusalem.”

  “Whither goest thou?” asked Abbas.

  “Art thou mad?” said Ben Ezra. “Or dost thou know but little of Pontius? Keep thy questions to thyself and tarry thou not, for I think thou hast a spot on thy name. Beware lest it turn into red on thy garments.”

  Very pale was Abbas, but his face was that of a fox with a wolf for his father.

  “O Ben Ezra,” he said, “thy counsel is good. But be thou careful of thine own head. I can tell much concerning thee.”

  “In the day that thou chatterest unwisely,” said Ben Ezra, “thou wilt spread thy arms upon a piece of wood and th
ou wilt hear the sound of hammers. Then thou wilt be set up at a wayside for men to mock thee. The Romans hesitate but little concerning such as thou art.”

  Ghastly was now the face of Abbas.

  “O my friend!” he exclaimed, “I meant no evil! I will be true to thee!”

  “Thou wilt remember this thy warning!” said Ben Ezra, sternly. “Thou wilt not sin against thine own life. If thou shalt at any time err, it is no fault of mine. Thy blood is upon thine own head.”

  They parted one from another, and then came to pass a strange thing, for a servitor led Ben Ezra to the armory of the palace. Here he remained but briefly, and when he came out he was armed from head to foot in the panoply allotted to the Jewish servants of the temple under its Roman captain. So arrayed he might ride as if he were a Roman under the sure protection of the procurator. A horse was ready for him and he mounted, riding to the palace gate. At this place was now the procurator in his chariot.

  “Go thou speedily as thou hast said,” commanded the procurator. “Be not overhasty, but prudent. If it prove as thou tellest me, well with thee.”

  “On my head be it,” said Ben Ezra, and he rode away northward.

  “I have purchased him with a price,” he said to himself, “but I will deal truly with the jarl. If some of his treasure and some of mine must be paid as tribute to this Roman governor, all that remaineth—and it will be enough for us—will be kept for our own uses. Now for the cavern in Carmel, and the journey will be neither long nor unsafe for a man traveling with the seal of Pontius.”

  As for the procurator in his chariot, he, too, had a thought upon his mind, and it made his face brighten.

  “The gold is well,” he thought, “but the jewels! There is naught else for which Cæsar hath so great a lust. I care little for such things. Of what value are bright stones except that they will sometimes buy more than will gold or silver? Let the Jew bring his gems and with them I will defeat Herod and Julius.”

  Far on along the southward highway rode Abbas, having a pack beast with him and two fellow-travelers. The Jerusalem road through Judea was accounted safe unless one rode alone or unarmed. Still was his face turned backward now and then as that of one who feareth lest he may be followed, for the words of Ben Ezra had been severe, and Abbas knew that he who uttered them had been much in conversation with the procurator.

  “He is deep as a well!” he thought. “Can he know anything of my dealings with Herod? Even now I must go to the ford of the Jordan and to Machærus before I go to Jerusalem. Alas! The Black Castle! How many have entered it who never were seen again! Well is it set so near to the Sea of Death! I am a Jew! I hurt not my own people! But it is righteous to profit by the dissensions of the heathen. If Herod and his brother Antipas and this Pontius the Spearman were to slay one another, what harm to the children of Abraham? Ben Ezra doeth not well to keep faith with a Roman or an Edomite. They have defiled even the temple of the Most High.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER XXX. The Javelin of Herod.

  THE SAXONS AND THEIR jarl in the palace by the Sea of Galilee were now more impatiently awaiting the orders of Caius of Thessalonica. It was at the close of a day that he came to have speech with Ulric, the son of Brander, and to wonder again at his swift healing. He examined the scars, touching them, and asking many things concerning this learned rabbi of Nazareth and of his marvelous cures, for these were things which no reasonable man might easily believe.

  “Thou hast thy strength again,” he said at last. “Never have I thought much concerning the gods, but I shall deem it prudent to make sacrifices to such as I think may aid me. I have never found them profitable. Take now thy weapons and walk out along the shore with me, for I am restless. I linger here too long on thy account. Come!”

  “I shall delay thee no longer, O noble Caius,” said the jarl, “but well am I assured that thou doest well to wear mail and to have thy good sword at thy side. Put on thy helmet.”

  “So do thou,” said Caius. “But what said to thee the Jew, thy interpreter? Was it aught more important than thou hast told me?”

  “Not so,” said Ulric, “but the keeper of the tiger’s den told much unwittingly. The beasts were prepared to win more than sesterces. Had I been slain, and Tostig, thou wouldst now have less perfect guarding. I will tell thee, O Caius: I like thee well and I am jarl; not another will my men obey. I think thee a good fighter, and such as I am agree not well with cowards or with those who deal in subtleties.”

  “O jarl,” said Caius, “speak not of Julius, the centurion, as if he were a coward, but he is exceedingly deep in his counsels. There is more than thou knowest in this matter. Thou mayest yet have a chance to use thy long, sharp sword again.”

  “That might please me well,” said the jarl. “I like not to leave a blade too long in the sheath lest it might rust. But glad am I as we walk to feel no more any hindrance from the work of the tearing claws.”

  “Well with thee, O jarl!” exclaimed Caius. “And now look without looking and mark well without seeming to mark. Seest thou the men in armor who have landed from yonder boat at the shore? They walk not overrapidly, but they aim to come between us and the palace. Canst thou read a riddle?”

  “I had noted them already,” said the jarl. “Men have told me that the other shore of this Sea of Galilee belongeth to Herod Antipas, the brother of the Herod who ruleth here under Cæsar. I have heard that men who are hated by the Herods die at distances. But thinkest thou that either of them would dare to send a sword against a Roman, and such as thou art?”

  “Consider, O jarl,” said Caius, calmly. “Who then would know concerning the sword or him who sent it if thou and I were slain upon this beach and our bodies conveyed in yonder boat to be sunken in the sea? Would not the thing be well hidden if the doers of it were shortly also slain by Herod Antipas or by his brother, whichever sent them?”

  “Great would be the inquiry,” said Ulric.

  “Thou art young!” said Caius. “Cæsar might demand my blood of him of Machærus, in whose land we are, or even of this Julius. What if Antipas thus plotted harm to both of them? He could strike them no deeper stab than this! Thy spear, Saxon! O for my shield! I was imprudent!”

  “Take mine!” said Ulric, casting his spear. “I need it not. There are now but four. Ha! A javelin! I caught it! Out with thy sword!”

  Even while talking had they permitted the five men from the boat to draw much nearer and as if unobserved. Sudden and fierce had then begun this assailing. The javelin had been well aimed, but the quick sword of the jarl had parried it. These were men of war who were coming and they had deemed themselves sure of victory, for one had said:

  “On! With him is no one but his tiger-torn gladiator. He hardly may stand erect. The centurion is at our mercy. End him!”

  “Use well the shield,” said Ulric. “Thou art thyself a good swordsman.”

  Now he who seemed the leader of these murderers drew back astonished to see how this Saxon, whom he deemed crippled, sprang toward him with a war cry. He was no match for such a one, and his next comrade, turning affrighted to see him fall, left his own neck unguarded against the sword of Caius. What then were the two who remained against two mighty men of valor?

  Ill advised had been he who had sent them upon this errand, for the jarl laughed exultingly to find how well his strength had come back to him.

  “O noble Caius!” he shouted. “Thou art a good swordsman. They are all down. But these fellows are Jews. How is this?”

  “None the less are they from Antipas,” said Caius. “I can read his cunning. He will say they are but robbers from the rebel bands beyond the Jordan. Therefore I may bring no accusation against him. But I think thou art enough for five such as these. Well is it for me that thou art healed. Now will I send word to Julius, and his servants may have the care of this carrion.”

  Ulric was silent, looking down upon the slain. “Jews?” he said. “I think now that they are not so, but they are like them. What is
thy thought, O Caius?”

  “Samaritans!” suddenly exclaimed the centurion after a closer examination. “Not from Antipas. Here is a deeper treachery. These are from the elder Herod, the fox of Galilee. O jarl, haste! To the palace! We will make ready for our journey. But know thou that our road to Jerusalem passeth through Samaria, whence these came. Verily I have a new tale to tell the procurator.”

  “And I have a new thought concerning the keeping of thy life,” said Ulric. “But there will be more than one round shield with thee in Samaria. A man needeth to have many eyes in this land.”

  At that moment, while they still gazed down at the dark yet pallid faces of the dead, they heard near them shouts of angry chiding, but the tongue was not the tongue of that country.

  “O jarl!” shouted Lars, the son of Beolf, “we saw thee afar! We came in haste! What doest thou here with thy sword in thy hand—thou that wert torn by the Roman tiger?”

  “Woe to thee, O jarl!” shouted another. “Thy men should have been with thee!”

  “O Caius,” exclaimed Tostig the Red, “thou didst fight for our jarl? Then will we fight for thee. Thou hast made good friends this day.”

  Sufficiently well did Caius understand Tostig and the others who now came running to see how it might be with the son of Brander, and it pleased him greatly.

  “I may now depend upon these wolves of the North,” he thought, “and sore may be my need of such as they who think not but strike, knowing only a friend and a foe and taking no account of numbers against them.”

  The jarl explained the matter and he seemed to be forgiven, but he and the centurion returned to the palace surrounded by spears ready for the casting.

  “It is well, O jarl,” said Caius. “Let all be ready to depart upon the morrow; but I may not go in unseemly haste as in fear.”

  “Thou wilt go as becometh thee,” said Ulric. “He who fleeth unduly from a sword loseth the regard of brave men. We will be ready.”

  Nevertheless, Caius of Thessalonica rode swiftly to the house of Julius at Tiberias and was himself the bringer of this tidings.