f cannon, and the judges who
awarded the prize to the Prince, were presented by him with estates
comprising hundreds of peasants. Maimon began to shout in imitation of
the cannon, in imagination he ran amuck in a synagogue, as he had seen
the prince do, smashing and wrecking everything, tearing the Holy
Scrolls from the Ark and trampling upon them. Yes, they deserved it,
the cowardly bigots. Down with the law, to hell with the Rabbis.
A-a-a-h! He would grind the phylacteries under his heel--thus. And
thus! And--

The soldiers perceiving he was in a violent fever, summoned the Jewish
overseer, who carried him back into the poorhouse.

II

Maimon awoke the next morning with a clear and lively mind, and soon
understood that he was sick. "God be thanked," he thought joyfully,
"now I shall remain here some days, during which not only shall I eat
but I may hope to prevail upon some kindly visitor to protect me.
Perhaps if I can manage to send a message to Herr Mendelssohn, he will
intercede for me. For a scholar must always have bowels of compassion
for a scholar."

These roseate expectations were rudely dusked: the overseer felt
Maimon's pulse and his forehead, and handing him his commentary on the
_Guide of the Perplexed_, convoyed him politely without the gate.
Maimon made no word of protest, he was paralyzed.

"What now, O Guide of the Perplexed?" he cried, stonily surveying his
hapless manuscript. "O Moses, son of Maimon, thou by whom I have sworn
so oft, canst thou help me now? See, my pockets are as empty as the
heads of thy adversaries."

He turned out his pockets, and lo! several silver pieces fell out and
rolled merrily in the roadway. "A miracle!" he shouted. Then he
remembered that the elders had dismissed him with them, and that
overcome by his sentence he had put them mechanically away. Yes, he
had been treated as a mere beggar. A faint flush of shame tinged his
bristly cheek at the thought. True, he had partaken of the hospitality
of strangers, but that was the due meed of his position as Rabbi, as
the free passages to Koenigsberg and Stettin were tributes to his
learning. Never had he absolutely fallen to _schnorring_ (begging). He
shook his fist at the city. He would fling their money in their
faces--some day. Thus swearing, he repocketed the coins, took the
first turning that he met, and abandoned himself to chance. In the
mean inn in which he halted for refreshment he was glad to encounter a
fell