THE CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE. JANUARY 1843. JUDAH'S LION. CHAPTER XXII. THE charge brought against Alick was soon spoken: Abdalla's guilt being a notorious thing, it was only necessary to state that the Pasha's soldiers had unexpectedly fallen in with him and his gang, all of whom escaped, with the exception of two, who were captured, and conveyed to Jerusalem. One, it was mentioned, had been wounded, and him they had not brought up for examination; but the other now produced, though he made a desperate resistance, was captured unhurt. To this the officer added, that to avoid being questioned, the prisoners had denied all knowledge of Abdalla, pretending to be travellers under his guidance. Without raising his eyes to the prisoner, the governor asked whether he was known to have been a party to the robbery to which the officer replied, there was no doubt of it. Alick had some difficulty in making out the exact meaning of what was said; and in a matter of life and death, he thought it but fair to ask for an interpreter; a request that excited the utmost indignation on the part of his accusers; the judge did not seem to hear it, but at this moment the stranger who had so attentively eyed him, stepped forward; and with a respectful obeisance, repeated it to him. He asked, 'What needs the Bedouin? Do we not speak with the tongue of his people?' 'I am no Bedouin,' said Alick, 'I am a Jew; and I believe,' he added, while a deep colour mounted to his brow, as he glanced toward the Mount of Olives, 'I believe in Jesus of Nazareth.' To describe the effect of these words on his auditors is impossible. Epithets of atonishment, scorn, detestation, were uttered on all sides, as loud as their respect for the chief man would permit. He, too, exclaimed, 'By Allah he speaks lies!' and for the first time looked him in the face, then muttered, 'A boy!' and seemed more ruffled than was his wont on occasions of greater moment. Alick had never in his life felt so happy as when the avowal at once of his race and his faith had passed his lips: he paused for a moment, and in the same clear, calm tone, added, 'I am also an Englishman.' A laugh of exultation burst from his captors and the bystanders, who supposed his conviction now inevitable; and the Aga himself smiled, when two or three of his attendants, pointing to the tall Egyptian officer already noticed, said, ‘Speak in English to him!' and with no small alacrity Alick turned to him, saying, 'If, sir, you speak the language of my native land, I crave your good offices in repeating to me the substance of the evidence brought against me. I am guiltless in this matter, as I hope, with your kind assistance, now to prove.' 'You have injured your cause,' rejoined the other, hurriedly, by the indiscreet admission of beingwhat you say you are: and what indeed you cannot be; for the two are incompatible.' He turned abruptly from him, and communicated in a very low voice with the governor, at some length. The latter seemed wavering, and his attendants evidently excited in no small measure. One, whose office it was to inflict the punishment of the bastinado, had prepared a long leather strap, which he drew impatiently through his fingers, while others, by catching Alick's eye, and directing his attention towards it, with looks and gestures of extreme satisfaction, indicated that he was about to suffer that torture. He flinched a little; but the thought immediately arose, 'He who here suffered far more grievous pain and indignity for me, will surely strengthen me to endure whatever He sees good I should encounter. I have confessed his Name; and that confession it is that has incensed these poor followers of an impostor against me. Oh that they knew what I know! Oh that my own people Israel knew it! It was there, on that blessed mountain He stood, when weeping over Jerusalem; it was here his pitying eye rested, when he lamented their perverse rejection of his sheltering love, and foreshewed the desolations that I witness. May He take me, a poor, sinful, worthless creature, under the wings that he longed to spread over my fathers!' Tears filled his eyes, as with that love of which the world knows nothing, he looked around him, and above; the unprovoked enemies who were them |