Now the lantern was
behind him, he was silhouetted in black, a mighty figure. He was panting
from his labor, and the heavy sound of his breathing disturbed the
gambler. He had expected to find a wise and simple old man in David.
Instead, he was face to face with a Hercules.

His attention was directed entirely to Joseph.

"I come from my work unclean," he said. "Joseph, take the stranger
within and wait."

Joseph led back into the patio to a plain wooden table beside which
Connor, at the gesture of invitation, sat down. Here Joseph left him
hurriedly, and the gambler looked about. The arcade was lightened by a
flagging of crystalline white stone, and the ceiling was inlaid with the
same material. But the arches and the wall of the building were of
common dobe, massive, but roughly built.

Beyond the fountain nodded like a ghost in the patio, and now and then,
when the lantern was swayed by the wind, the pool glinted and was black
again. The silence was beginning to make him feel more than ever like an
unwelcome guest when another old Negro came, and Connor noted with
growing wonder the third of these ancients. Each of them must have been
in youth a fine specimen of manhood. Even in white-headed age they
retained some of that noble countenance which remains to those who have
once been strong. This fellow bore a tray upon his arm, and in the free
hand carried a large yellow cloth of a coarse weave.

He placed on the table a wooden trencher with a great loaf of white
bread, a cone of clear honey, and an earthen pitcher of milk. Next he
put a wooden bowl on a chair beside Connor, and when the latter
obediently extended his hands, the old man poured warm water over them
and dried them with a napkin.

There was a ceremony about this that fitted perfectly with the
surroundings, and Connor became thoughtful. He was to tempt the master
with the wealth of the world, but what could he give the man to replace
his Homeric comfort?

In the midst of these reflections soft steps approached him, and he saw
the brown-faced David coming in a shapeless blouse and trousers of rough
cloth, with moccasins on his feet. Rising to meet his host, he was
surprised to find that David had no advantage in height and a small one
in breadth of shoulder; in the blacksmith shop he had seemed a giant.
The brown man stopped beside the table. He seemed to be around thirty,
but because of the unwrinkled forehead Connor decided that he was
probably f