he Book of the Law from
the cupboard of the wall and laid it upon his knees, that he read the
passage whereon the page opened of itself, scarce knowing what he read
when he began to read it, for his spirit was heavy with the bad doings
of those days. And the passage whereon the book opened was this--

"_Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the Lord, and
the other lot for the scapegoat. . . . Then shall he kill the goat of
the sin-offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the
vail. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of
the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their
transgressions in all their sins. . . . And when he hath, made an end of
reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and
the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his
hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in
all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send
him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat
shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited._"

That same night Israel dreamt a dream. He had been asleep, and
had awakened in a place which he did not know. It was a great arid
wilderness. Ashen sand lay on every side; a scorching sun beat down on
it, and nowhere was there a glint of water. Israel gazed, and slowly
through the blazing sunlight he discerned white roofless walls like the
ruins of little sheepfolds. "They are tombs," he told himself, "and this
is a Mukabar--an Arab graveyard--the most desolate place in the world
of God." But, looking again, he saw that the roofless walls covered the
ground as far as the eye could see, and the thought came to him that
this ashen desert was the earth itself, and that all the world of
life and man was dead. Then, suddenly, in the motionless wilderness, a
solitary creature moved. It was a goat, and it toiled over the hot sand
with its head hung down and its tongue lolled out. "Water!" it seemed
to cry, though it made no voice, and its eyes traversed the plain as if
they would pierce the ground for a spring. Fever and delirium fell upon
Israel. The goat came near to him and lifted up its eyes, and he saw its
face. Then he shrieked and awoke. The face of the goat had been the face
of Naomi.

Now Israel knew that this was no more than a d