He glared at me. “My good man, you had better go home and lie down. You must be drunk or ill.”

“Was there no storm?”

“Of course not. It is as fine a spring day as you have ever witnessed. Hunger must have driven you out of your mind. The good Lord Jesus doesn’t seem to be particularly overjoyed with the fact that we have recovered His Sepulchre. He lets us starve. Well, He knows best.”

How silly of me to have asked about a storm! I should have known that it was my own excitement, my own over-sensitiveness,—the storm in my breast… And yet, who knows? It seemed so real! Those eyes! The voice! Why had I not taken Kotikokura with me? He would have comforted me. He could tell me if what I saw was a phantasm or the truth. No, perhaps it was better this way! Some things must be suffered alone! Jesus suffered his Cross alone! Every man…

A soldier interrupted my thoughts.

“Sir, my master entreats you to follow me.”

I accompanied him a few steps. He helped his master, a knight in full armor, from the horse, and left us alone.

Was I in the presence of a great monarch? The armor made of red gold, was encrusted with precious jewels. The helmet was surmounted by a large rare plume, the tips of which were studded with pearls. The buckle on the scabbard of his sword was a tortoise of lapis-lazuli.

I bowed deeply.

The knight raised the helmet. I looked bewildered.

“Don’t you know me, Cartaphilus?”

“Salome!”

“You have just come from there… Cartaphilus?”

“Yes.”

“I was there yesterday…”

“Was there…a storm?”

She nodded.

“Jerusalem is not for us, Cartaphilus. We are stirred by too many memories.”

“Is it only that?”

“Who knows?”

“Did you see…him?”

“Yes.”

“Did he speak?”

“Yes.”

“Was it magic, Salome?”

“If magic…it was stronger and stranger than ours.”

We were silent for a while.

“Were you with the Crusaders, Salome?”

“I am the Red Knight, famous for many exploits,” she smiled.

“You should not have run any risks.”

“I have not run any. Can we afford to be hurt? I have heard of the chivalrous deeds of Count de Cartaphile of Provence, planting the Cross over the Crescent…”

“What a sorry victory for Jesus, Salome!”

“All victory is sorry…”

“Save only– —” I looked steadily into her eyes—“the conquest of Salome.”

She shook her head and tapped me on my shoulder.

“I must go, Cartaphilus.”

“May I go with you?”

“No. The time is not yet ripe. We must still seek…and must seek alone.”

“What?”

“I do not know. Perhaps that which when found is not worth the seeking.”

We remained silent.

“Salome, what shall it profit a man to be a thousand years old, if he cannot understand more than at thirty?”

“What are a thousand years, Cartaphilus? Only to those who live one generation or two, a thousand years seems a very long stretch of time. To us, ten thousand years are no longer than ten thousand days.”

“Ten thousand days are long without you…”

“Farewell, Cartaphilus!” She barely touched my cheek with her lips.

“Since you command it,—farewell, Salome, Queen of Women!”

She kissed my other cheek.

“Even in hell, Cartaphilus would be gallant.”

“And Salome a Queen, even in hell.”

We set out the next morning by the road I had taken at my first departure from Jerusalem. The second evening, as we reached the foot of a rocky hill, we saw two men fighting desperately, their faces covered with blood, their clothing torn to shreds. At our approach, they stopped, caught their breaths for a while, and were about to begin once more.

They were two brothers fighting over a piece of silver. I asked them for information as to the roads, and rewarded them each with a purse. When they were out of sight, I laughed heartily. Kotikokura looked at me, puzzled.

“Kotikokura, my friend, this is the most delicious bit of irony I have witnessed for some time,—not the desire of the two brothers to kill each other. That is as old as Cain and Abel…”

I examined the ground.

He looked at me puzzled.

“Wait…first let me ascertain if I am right.”

I scrutinized the stars, studied a map, made some calculations on a piece of parchment.

“Yes, this is it.”

Kotikokura tied our horses to trees.

“Help me roll away this small rock. And now, Kotikokura, you will see why I told you to bring a spade. Clear off this mud and dust. We can work with perfect freedom here. Nobody, save two silly brothers trying to murder each other for a silver coin, would think of passing this way.”

The mud and dust was so deep that for awhile I thought I had made an error in my calculations. At last, however, the spade struck something metallic. I was elated.

“Kotikokura, what if rocks become as overgrown with mud and debris, during the course of years as people with superstitions and prejudices? The stars are at their ancient posts, and mathematics is eternal. We shall be guided by both. We cannot but find what you will see presently.”

I inserted a key into the iron trapdoor, which opened readily in spite of its rust.

“Follow me, Kotikokura.”

We descended a few steps.

“Pull this cord. The door will shut over us. We must not take any useless risk.”

We descended a few more steps, and turned to the right. Guided by the light of my lamp, we finally reached an alcove. I turned a knob, and a small door opened. I pushed my hand within it, and brought out three iron boxes, which I unlocked. Kotikokura’s mouth opened wide, as if his lower jaw had suddenly dropped away from the rest of his face.

“Look, Kotikokura!” I raised and dropped fistfuls of jewels. “Diamonds and sapphires, and pearls and rubies that blind your eye and burn your hand! Play with them awhile, Kotikokura. It is a delicious sensation. What skin of woman rejoices as much as this?”

He touched the stones lightly as if afraid of being burned indeed.

“In this third box, I have gold coins. They are of far less value than the jewels just now, but when they become ancient enough, they may surpass them. He who lives long enough can never be poor, Kotikokura.”

Kotikokura’s eyes continued to be riveted upon the jewels.

“Those two brothers nearly killed each other for one silver coin, while underneath their feet, there was the wealth of a dozen kings!” I took only one of the coffers. “We shall leave the others here. We may need them some day. I shall teach you how to find this spot and others, Kotikokura. You may have to ransom me some day, or save a precious part of your own precious skin.”

He grinned.

We returned, Kotikokura covered the trapdoor with the debris, and stamped upon it. He smoothed the place with a spade. Everything was peaceful. Only our horses were impatient. We mounted them and galloped away.