Christiana Read online

  "Oh boys, boys!" moaned Christiana. "Though your bodies are in 'the way', I fear that your hearts are a lingering back in the city. What would your father say?"

  Now at this, Samuel was pricked in his conscious and came to a point of decision.

  "Uh . . . " said he with the fruit poised mid-way to his mouth.

  "Come, Samuel," pleaded Christiana. "Follow your younger brothers and obey your poor mother."

  So Samuel gazed a moment at the fruit and saw the tempting lushness of its skin. His nostrils detected its sensuous odor and also the perfume of the blossoms. He glanced at Matthew with sugary juice dribbling down his chin and chewing as contentedly as any cow mulling over her cud. Every natural impulse in his body called for indulgence and he was but a hair's breadth from delicious defiance. But then he caught a glimpse of the anguished face of his beloved mother - and behind her the earnest countenance of dear Mercy.

  In that instant, his heart was seized by a grander purpose than mere sensual gratification. He set his will to obey the right simply because it was right. Instant upon the heels of his noble choice there came flashing into his mind the finger-writ words from tables of stone saying, 'Honor thy father and thy mother . . . ' Then there came to him the words of his mother: 'Blessed art thou, O land, when thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness'. Suddenly he felt an in filling of Divine power prompting obedience to the Spirit's call. Lowering the tempting fruit, which now seemed loathsome to him he declared resolutely;

  "I shall eat for strength before pleasure, I shall not take what is not mine, and I will honor my mother! Here, Matthew."

  "You're sure?" questioned Matthew, wearing a silly smirk that mocked his brother's righteous decision. "It tastes like honey."

  "I'm sure."

  "Have it your way, kid," scoffed Matthew snatching the fruit. "I'll enjoy it for you. Sure you don't want some, Mother?" he teased.

  "I'm sure. And I do wish you would throw away all that fruit in your pockets."

  "Now, now, mother. 'Waste not, want not', you know. How about you, Mercy?"

  "Nay," she declined firmly. "The memories of our recent refreshment are too sweet to be washed away with forbidden fruit."

  "Whatever," said he, nonchalantly.

  Then they all turned their attention to their journey. But Matthew loitered behind, crunching the juicy fruit, loudly smacking his lips, and leaving a trail of rinds tossed along the roadside.

  CHAPTER IX

  Rescued

  Now they had gone on only about two bow-shots from the gate when they espied two ill-kempt men striding purposefully toward them. So Christiana and Mercy modestly veiled themselves and kept straight on their course. But lo! When the two men came up even with them they acted as though they were some sort of long-lost cousins and made as if to embrace them.

  "They espied two ill-kempt men"

  "Pardon me!" said Christiana indignantly as she firmly pushed the larger man away. "Please stand back and let us pass in peace."

  Yet, rather than heed her words, these two men behaved as if they were deaf and began to lay vulgar hands upon both she and Mercy.

  "Excuse me!" cried Christiana, slapping the man's hands away.

  "Nothin' much to excuse yet, sweetie," said Snake-eyes with a wicked wink at his crony.

  "I meant, please let me pass!"

  "Oh, you want to pass, do you? Well, I don't mind making a pass or two myself! Heh, heh, heh." And using that as their cue, the men rudely seized both women.

  "Stop this outrage! Let me go!" demanded Christiana.

  "Aye. We'll let you go - when we are done with you."

  "Sir! Stop this!" cried Mercy. "We be pilgrims; not roadside wenches!"

  "Hey, did ja hear?" gloated Twitch. "Pilgrims they are."

  "Good!" muttered Snake-eyes in a guttural voice. "Just the sort we enjoy most, right?"

  "Right."

  "Take your hands off me!" commanded Christiana, beginning to sense the true seriousness of their situation. She was also dimly aware that these 'strangers' were not really strangers at all. "Let me go, you beast!" she cried.

  Then Twitch caught hold of Mercy's veil and tore it off with a loud rrriiipping sound. "Say now," says he with a checker-toothed grin, "with your bows and ribbons all undone, you're a right pretty package. Hey! Snake-eye! How looks yer prize?"

  "Tell ya in a second," he quipped as he seized Christiana's veil and ripped it away. "Ah! Blast it!" he snorted. "Nothin' but an old crow with half her feathers gone gray!"

  "That's what you get for letting your hands run ahead of your eyes! Ha! Ha! Ha!" teased Twitch.

  "Stand back!" demanded Christiana. "We are but poor pilgrims who must live off the charity of our friends. We have no money to give you!"

  "Money!" scoffed Snake-eyes. "We don't want no money. Just a wee bit of your time."

  "Absolutely not!" declared Christiana, beginning to resist in earnest. "Our business is one of life and death and we have no time to lose! Come, Mercy."

  "I cannot," cried she. "Let me go, sir!" she cried, starting to struggle as if for her very life.

  "In due time, cutie," said her tormentor with a twitch of his left cheek. "In due time."

  "Help! Murder!" screamed Christiana.

  "Nay, don't be afraid, m'lady," said Snake-eyes with a leering grin. "'Tis not your life we would take from you."

  "So now I see! You would delay us by the road and have us become as vile as yourselves! 'Tis our souls you would steal from us! Take that!" And with that, Christiana began to kick and scratch and call out saying, "Boys! Pull their coats! Mercy! Call for help!"

  "Help!" screamed Mercy at the top of her lungs, only to have her words smothered by the broad, grimy hand of her assailant.

  "Hiyah!" cried Samuel, grabbing the first man's coat and hanging on for dear life.

  "Ha, ha. Don't think we'll be turned back by a few little street urchins. Ha!" yelled the brute as he cuffed Samuel a sound blow to the head.

  "Ow!" cried the stunned lad as he tumbled into the grass.

  "Well struck, mate," gloated Twitch.

  "Samuel!" called Christiana, who was now got as angry as a she-bear robbed of her whelps. "Matthew! Joseph! James! To the battle, boys!"

  "Help! Murder!" screamed Mercy after wrenching her mouth free for a moment.

  "You let go of my mother!" demanded brave Joseph as he tried to seize the snake-eyed man from behind. But his smallness was of no avail against the hulking mass of the bearish brute and he was spun headlong into a muddy drain ditch.

  "Stop it!" commanded Christiana bravely. "You waste your time, for we would die on the spot before yielding to your vile intent."

  "Maybe so, maybe no," said the struggling man with a lustful grin. "Say, Twitch," he called to his partner, "Sort of makes things more interesting, don't you think?"

  "Maybe too interesting," grunted Twitch who was having a beast of a time trying to contain the determined struggles of Mercy. "This pretty little kitten fights like a tiger."

  "Maybe 'cause she's got more to lose, eh? Heh, heh, heh."

  "Matthew!" called Christiana.

  "Uh . . . what?" he answered numbly.

  "What! Help us! That's what!" she commanded. "Use thy staff!"

  "I . . . uh . . ."

  "Watch out for the big kid," said Twitch nervously as he eyed Matthews broad shoulders. "He looks like he could do us some damage."

  "Nah! Not a chance!" gloated Snake-eyes. "Look what's in his pockets."

  "Ah, good," answered Twitch, now fearing nothing from that quarter.

  "I'll get'm, Mama," squeaked baby James. And with that he encircled Twitch's thigh with both arms and bit the man's leg with all his might.

  "Ow! Aauuggh! He's biting me. Ow! Off, brat!" he howled as he desperately tried to peel the lad off (something not so easily accomplished with one arm busy trying to contain the vigorous struggles of the pure maid, Mercy). Finally he was able to send James rolling headlong over t
he grass like a bowling ball. But not before James had left behind an oval-shaped bruise to remember him by. As for James, he groaned and lay stunned in the grass.

  "James! Are you all right? Help! Murder!" screamed Christiana.

  "Silence, woman!" snarled Snake-eyes.

  "When all my blood lies pooled upon the pathway!" she answered defiantly.

  "Hah! Before that, I'll wager."

  Suddenly there came flashing into Christiana's mind the thought that she knew these "men" from some previous encounter. "Wait!" she ordered. "Don't I know you?"

  "Nay."

  "Yea, but I do. But from where I cannot recall." Then the woman cried at the top of her lungs, "Help! In the name of Him whose child I am I call for Help!"

  "Don't speak that name!" commanded the ruffian as he tried to muffle her speech with her torn veil. Yea, so tight were his clutches that Christiana saw stars and began to fear for her consciousness. Yet she was able to realize that this battle was more spiritual than physical and she called out in silent screams saying, "O, Lord of the Hill, without you we must surely perish. Please, send Help."

  Now, being fairly close to the wicket gate, their very first cries for help were heard and the swiftest of the King's warriors was sent speeding to their rescue. So it was that Help himself came charging on with drawn sword and eyes flashing in holy indignation.

  But by the time he was come upon the scene, the three youngest boys were strewn about like pins on the bowling green. Also the two women were nearing exhaustion and hard pressed to keep on their feet. "What are you doing, vile beasts!" he roared. "Would you force my Lord's anointed to transgress His law?"

  "Ah! Curses!" spat Snake-eyes. "It's our old enemy."

  "You should'a stopped her mouth sooner, old fool," snarled Twitch.

  "Ah! How was I to know she'd call on His name?"

  "She's a pilgrim, 't ain't she? You shoulda stopped her mouth straight off."

  "Aw, she woulda just called out in her mind anyway."

  "Back off, knaves!" commanded the mighty one who was charging them with all the fury of an angry bull. "Unhand those women!"

  "C'mon. Out ta here. This play has no happy curtains for us," growled Snake-eyes as he thrust Christiana from him and struck out lickity-split for the wall.

  "Sorry to disappoint you, Miss," muttered Twitch with a lecherous leer at Mercy. "Perhaps another day." Then he gave Mercy a violent shove to the ground and turned tail. He arrived at the wall just as Snake-eyes had gotten his first leg over. Looking back he saw that Help had gotten past the sprawled out pilgrims and, with sword glinting in the sun, was gaining on him at a furious pace.

  "Quick! Give me a hand!" he squealed in terror. "C'mon, c' mon, mate. Hurry it up! If Help should latch onto me, I'll never be free again. C'mon!

  So his companion reached down and helped him scrabble over the wall as quick he could. But not before a mighty swing of Help's sword had chopped the heel off the man's left boot. Another swing struck the stones and sent sparks flying. "Ha! Take that knave!" he cried as he mounted the wall in hot pursuit. But by now the two men had taken refuge behind the great roaring mastiff who had come to the rescue of these two cowards. So Help, standing atop the wall pointed his sword at them and vowed, earnestly, "One day one of God's children will call for me sooner and I shall bind you both in the pit!"

  "Hah! A cool day in the flames that will be," mocked Snake-eyes.

  Rescued by Help

  "Sic'm, boy," ordered Twitch, which sent the mutt snarling and leaping against the wall in hopes of sinking his teeth into something tastier than a practice dummy.

  "Ta, ta," taunted the dismal duo as they turned to go.

  Help watched their escape with resigned frustration before jumping down to lend what aid he could to his scattered flock. He came upon them as Mercy was restoring her damaged modesty and Christiana was daubing a bit of oil on the boys' wounds. "Are you ladies all right?"

  "Aye, pretty well, thank you," answered Christiana breathlessly. "Just a bit frightened. But I don't think we could have fought them off much longer."

  "Aye," agreed Mercy, still breathing heavily. "Thank you for coming so quickly after we called."

  "'Tis a shame you waited to call so long, for I could have been here much sooner."

  "We might have done it, sir," said the maid, "except that we did not realize their evil intent until we were well into the fray."

  "What!" exclaimed Help in amazement. "Did you think you were out on a Sabbath afternoon stroll?"

  "Well," answered Christiana, "we were feeling somewhat at ease, having just feasted at the King's table. I certainly didn't expect to meet such trouble as this."

  "This is pilgrimage, Madam. Pilgrimage! Life and death stuff. Where is your armed escort?"

  "Escort?" asked Christiana blankly. "Might we have had an escort?"

  "Of course! Yours for the asking. If I, or perhaps Great-heart had been with you, you would have felt nothing more from those two goons than their lecherous looks upon you."

  "Oh," said Christiana, a bit sheepishly. "I suppose we were so occupied with present pleasure that we neglected to fear for distant dangers."

  "And certainly," added Mercy, "we never imagined that such evil could lurk so near to the place of beginnings."

  "Ah, a common mistake," answered Help with a knowing nod. "But present ease is no assurance of future safety. You must ever remember that evil is always only one step to the side."

  "Which side?" queried Samuel.

  "Either side," answered Help.

  "You are right," confessed Christiana. "We should have asked. But it seems that our Lord might have sent you along with us as a matter of course."

  "Nay, but 'tis a fixed part of our Lord's policy 'to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not otherwise bestow'."

  "Indeed?"

  "Aye, to be sure. For, if something seems unworthy of the asking it will be held in low esteem by those that receive it."

  "Ah, I think I understand. If we find without seeking, or have it opened before knocking, or are given with no asking we will take His gifts for granted."

  "Aye. If I had been sent along with you without your request you would not be so alert to your danger as you are like to be henceforth. So, although you were put in danger for a time, it may prove to work out for your greater safety in the future."

  "Should we return to our Lord and ask forgiveness for our neglect, dear sir?"

  "There is no need. I shall convey your words when I return."

  "Return! But aren't you coming with us?"

  "Nay."

  "But why not?"

  "Because you did not ask."

  "But cannot we ask now?"

  "The time of asking is past. And besides, these ruffians are the last danger before the Interpreter's house. But when you get there, remember that it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Having undertaken your salvation there is no gift that He will withhold from you - if you will only ask. And now, adieu."

  "Goodbye," said Christiana, wiping away a tear.

  "Farewell, good sir," added Mercy with a bow. "We will not forget your courage on our behalf."

  "Bye, bye, Mr. Help, sir," said James, who had been worrying one of his loose teeth with his tongue.

  "Goodbye, Bubby," said Help with a wink. "You take care of that loose tooth now."

  "I will," promised the lad.

  So Help returned to his station, hoping that the next band of pilgrims would be more instant in prayer than this one had been.

  After the little company had watched till he was out of sight round the bend, Mercy said, "My! Right glad I am that we were so close to Help."

  "Aye," agreed Christiana. "For a moment I thought we had come to our Kadesh Barnea."

  "So it seemed," said Mercy. "And here I thought that fierce dog was the end of dangers. Ha!"

  "A reasonable conclusion for one so innocent as you, Mercy. But I knew better. Even before I l
eft my home, I knew better."

  "How could you possibly have known, Christiana? Pray, open to me this riddle."

  "Remember during our struggles how I told my attacker that I thought I knew him?"

  "Well, I was somewhat occupied - but I think so."