Page:Traditions of Palestine (microform) (IA traditionsofpale00martrich).pdf/137

 curses which were heaped on Paltiel’s name: but when she remembered that her brothers would mourn when they found her not, that their retreat might be discovered while she could not give them warning, and that all hope of Paltiel being saved by her means was over, she sank down on a couch in the darkness and wept bitterly.

Yet she reproached herself for her grief, saying, “If my feet nay not be fleet as a roe’s along the paths of the hills, to carry tidings, there are swifter messengers whom Jehovah will send if it seemeth to Him good. If my voice may not give warning, God speaketh in the echoes of the rocks; and my people shall live, if such be his will.”

Till the morning watch, all was still; but as the grey dawn entered through the lattice, she heard cries of men afar, and knew that the multitude was returning. She shuddered at the wrath of some voices, and the mockery of others, as the sounds came nearer. She sprang to the door, but it was fast. She wrung her hands as she looked around, and saw no hope or help. She had not tried the lattice. She piled cushions one upon another,