Kelmar, a friend of theirs whom we named
Abramina, her little daughter, my wife, myself, and, stowed away
behind us, a cluster of ship's coffee-kettles. These last were
highly ornamental in the sheen of their bright tin, but I could
invent no reason for their presence. Our carriageful reckoned up,
as near as we could get at it, some three hundred years to the six
of us. Four of the six, besides, were Hebrews. But I never, in
all my life, was conscious of so strong an atmosphere of holiday.
No word was spoken but of pleasure; and even when we drove in
silence, nods and smiles went round the party like refreshments.
The sun shone out of a cloudless sky. Close at the zenith rode the
belated moon, still clearly visible, and, along one margin, even
bright. The wind blew a gale from the north; the trees roared; the
corn and the deep grass in the valley fled in whitening surges; the
dust towered into the air along the road and dispersed like the
smoke of battle. It was clear in our teeth from the first, and for
all the windings of the road it managed to keep clear in our teeth
until the end.
For some two miles we rattled through the valley, skirting the
eastern foothills; then we struck off to the right, through haugh-
land, and presently, crossing a dry water-course, entered the Toll
road, or, to be more local, entered on "the grade.
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