17. XVII.
It was a curious and a solemn sight in the eye of
Thyrza to see those fierce Christian warriors shriving
one another before battle, and confessing their several
sins. She looked on, at a distance, with a maidenlike
wonder, which was, at the same time, greatly rebuked by
the solemn earnestness of the proceeding. It brought
more terribly to her mind the dreadful consciousness
of the approaching battle. She began already to realize
in her thought, and almost to behold with her eyes, the
thousand grim and fearful aspects which she well knew
the fight would put on, when she beheld those fearless
and steel-clad warriors preparing, as it were, for death.
“Oh, my father!” she exclaimed, “is the danger so
very great, and is there no hope that we may escape
from the leaguer of the Goth?”
“None, my child; the danger is great, for the foe is
numerous and well appointed, but we fear nothing, for
the cause is holy. Jehovah will not turn from us in
anger, and the clouds will scatter, and the storm will
pass us by, and we shall behold it sweeping along the
fierce array of the Goth, even as the vengeance of God
smote of old the mighty Assyrian with the fiery blast
from his nostrils.”
“But, dear father, is not the Lord Edacer a famous
captain among the Goth?” demanded the maiden.
“There is a mightier than he. If Jehovah be our
captain, what fear we Edacer? He is the mightiest—
he is the man of war—his right hand dashes the foe into
pieces. What says the song of Miriam the prophetess,
when she sung of the triumph of Israel by the bitter waters
of Marah? I trust in the Lord. I fear not the Goth.
Let the battle come in its terror. My heart will not
quail, my hand will not tremble, my blows will be heavy
for my people.”
The maiden murmured by his side in song, while she
repeated protions of one of David's most beautiful
psalms, imploring safety from his enemies, and the old
father looked up to heaven and beat time with his hand
upon the side of the rock while she sang—
“Plead my cause, oh Lord! with them that strive
with me—fight against them that fight against me.
“Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for
my help.
“Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against
them that persecute me; say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation.
“Let them be confounded—”
“Ay, they will be confounded, my child. The Lord
hath spoken in thy song—they must be confounded.
The prayer of the Christian and the Hebrew unite
against the oppressor. The oppressor is neither Jew
nor Christian, but he comes of the Midianite, the accursed
of God. Set thy heart at rest, my child—fear
nothing—with Jehovah is the shield of safety, and he
comes with rushing wings to our help. He comes with
the rush of wings and the force of spears, and he brings
with him the breath of the whirlwind.”
The religious devotions of the Christians had become
contagious, and, even while they spoke together, the
whole force of the Jews raised a universal song of
deliverance, showing a spirit kindred to that which had
seized upon the venerable Melchior. Under his guidance,
so greatly did they esteem him, the ancient feelings
of national veneration had grown once more alive
and active in their bosoms, and wild, sweet fancies once
more warmed their thoughts with images of the pride
and the power of the ancient Jerusalem. They remembered
old predictions, and they were happy in the
remembrance.
“Let the curs howl to-night while they may,” exclaimed
Edacer, as their wild song came down to his
ears in echoes from the mountain—“they will cry aloud
to-morrow in another voice!”
But silence reigned not in the camp of Edacer any
more than in that of Pelayo; yet the stillness there was
broken by very different sounds and other emotions.
Revelry, such as the Goth in his degeneracy exulted in;
debauchery, such as debased him to a beastliness which
only did not disgust as it was too universal to offend,
followed him from the city to the camp, and in wine and
licentious indulgences the night was half consumed
among the leaguers, when rest was required, and other
no less needful means of preparation for the trials of the
ensuing day.
