Page:Traditions of Palestine (microform) (IA traditionsofpale00martrich).pdf/85

 While he yet spake, clouds of sand were raised around the huts of the lepers. Thunders burst over head, and hail rattled as if the armies of heaven made war against the wretched few who abode in the desert. Philip and Jotham kept silence, for one was in terror and the other prayed. At length one who was also a leper entered with haste, and said that a wayfarer who had been warned from their abode, yet persisted to approach.

“He is a stranger in the land,” said Philip, as he rose to go forth. “He knoweth not wherefore we dwell apart, and seeketh shelter from the storm. I will warn him yet again, that the joy of his life be not periled by us.”

Jotham would fain have restrained him, for he yearned to behold once again the face of one who mingled among men, and could bring tidings of any who yet rejoiced in the light of the sun; but Philip went forth and cried with a strong voice in the blast. The words “Unclean! Unclean!” were heard by all the unclean, and by the stranger also. He beheld how the leper by his gestures forbade him to approach; yet he turned not to depart, but