drowsy little ball into her arms in swift alarm. "Tell thy
story quickly."

"As ye know," began the boy hurriedly, "I went down to the Fields of
David at sunset to spend the night with shepherd Eli. And as I passed
through the gate old Nathan hailed me. He told me that one of the
shepherds had borrowed his warm cloak and had not yet returned it, and
that he was now full of aches and pains and sorrows because of the lack
of it. He charged me straitly to tell the shepherd to return it at once
or he would have him haled before the magistrate at daybreak, and that
he would not cease his watch for it nor sleep that night until the cloak
was round his shoulders once again.

"When I reached the Fields, I gave his message, but the shepherd who
had taken his cloak was not there; he had gone in search of a lost
lamb. And when, less than an hour ago, he returned, he asked me to keep
him company to the gateway, and help him make his peace with angry
Nathan. They know that Nathan is friendly to me," added the boy in
explanation.

"And I know that some night, wandering about as thou dost, thou wilt be
caught by beast or robber," growled Samuel. "Resume thy story."

"The shepherd and I," continued Ezra hastily, "were passing the inn when
I saw a figure by the roadside beckoning me to come to him. It was
Joseph of Nazareth, and behind him in the shadow was his wife, Mary,
bearing the Christ Child in her arms. He spoke low so that the shepherd
should not hear. He told me that an angel of the Lord had appeared to
him in a dream, saying, 'Arise and take the young child and his mother
and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will
seek the young child to destroy him.'

"He spoke no more," Ezra went on, "but I said unto him, 'My little
brother, think you there is danger for him?' He nodded in reply, and
then I asked, 'Start you at once?' He nodded again and stepped back into
the shadow.

"At the gateway old Nathan, glad to see his cloak again, let me through,
and I hastened home to tell the tale to thee."

Ezra's mother had already arisen and, opening the great carved chest,
had taken from it warm wrappings in which she was bundling the still
sleeping Jonas.

"Deborah, the vine-dresser's wife, leaves at sunrise in the caravan for
Joppa." As she spoke, she worked busily gathering Jonas's little
garments into a bundle. "For friendship's sake she will take Jonas with
her. We have, in her, at least one true f