bed and rapidly scintillating tongue. Instinctively
the fisherman thrust his fingers against the little _tallith_, the
touch of which aroused in him a mighty passion, for in the face of the
serpent he now saw the lust of the Roman who had taken Sara. A swift
and terrible wrath swept over him. He drew his knife and with an oath
sprang forward. As he did so there was a soft rustling of dead
rushes--and the sparks of light and the twinkling tongue were gone and
though he did not notice it, the hand resting just above where the
venomous head had lain, was trembling violently.

"Lord, I believe!" shouted Jael in trumpet tones. "Help thou mine
unbelief!"

The ringing voice broke the stillness sharply. It was an echoing wail
that called from behind the rushes, "Unclean! Unclean!"

"Knowest thou not who standeth near thee? Sara, lift up thy head!"

Slowly a head appeared above the bed of rushes. Dark eyes were sunken
deep in an emaciated and ashy face. "Jael!" The name was called with
great effort in a thin and rasping voice. "Unclean, Jael!"

"Nay, nay, my Sara!" He shouted with a glad voice. "Thou art not
unclean! Jesus of Nazareth _hath cleansed thee already_ if in thy
heart thou believest thou art clean. He hath bidden me bring thee to
him, clean, _clean_."

"Thou hast come too late!" the wailing voice called back. "Thou canst
do nothing for me."

"Nay. Nothing can I do. But he--Jesus of Nazareth--can do all things.
He hath all power on sea and land, in air and sky, in heaven and hell!
There is nothing this wonder worker can not do. Lift up thine arms as
thou wilt lift them before his face when thou comest into his presence.
Clap thy hands! Open thy mouth and shout! Shout, Sara!"

For a moment there was silence only broken by the running water of the
Jordan. Then the stillness was again broken by a scream and the one
word, "Jael!" The cry came from the bed of rushes and was in strong
contrast to the rasping effort of the moment before. "Jael! Jael!"
Again the sharp scream.

"What is it, my Sara?"

"My flesh is coming clean! What meaneth it?"

"Jesus of Nazareth is here. My eyes be holden that I can not see, yet
I _feel_ him."

"Jael! Jael!" Again it was a scream--a wild, glad, unearthly scream.
"My strength is returning. It is pouring into me like sunshine. Jael!
My knee! My legs! They are coming clean under my very eyes! Run to
me. Hurry! Hurry else the miracle thou mayest