"What does she mean?" he asked Miriam, but in the voice of one who
speaks to himself.
"She thinks that you shot at a man, not at a beast," replied Miriam;
"but I know well that you could not have done this, since that would be
against the rule of the Essenes."
"Even the rule of the Essenes permits a man to protect himself and his
property from thieves," he answered sulkily.
"Yes, to protect himself if he is attacked, and his property--if he has
any. But neither that faith nor mine permits him to avenge a blow."
"I was one against many," he answered boldly. "My life was on the
hazard: it was no coward's act."
"Were there, then, a troop of these hyenas?" asked Miriam, innocently.
"I thought you said it was a solitary beast that took the sheep."
"It was a whole company of beasts who took the wine, and smote those in
charge of it as though they were street dogs."
"Hyenas that took wine like the tame ape whom the boys make drunken over
yonder----"
"Why do you mock me," broke in Caleb, "who must know the truth? Or if
you do not know it, here it is. That thief beat me with his staff, and
called me the son of a dog, and I swore that I would pay him back. Pay
him back I did, for the head of that shaft which Nehushta noted, stands
out a span beyond his neck.
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