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(Concluded from p. 88)
By
Miss Sarah Cohen
When the sorceress had left her guests and entered
the apartment sacred to her deceptive arts, she
quickly arranged her mirror and other implements of
illusion in their due order, the vessel of incense,
which with the clouds of its vapoury veil was to add
to the obscurity of the place, were duly distributed
round the dimly lighted room, which was illuminated
only by a small faintly-burning lamp, fixed on a
high and slender rod of brass, cunningly placed
where its light should give an uncertain and
indistinct aspect to all objects in that dismal
chamber. Her assistant, whose hollow voice should
give to all questions which might be propounded such
ambiguous and evasive answers, as might without
affording a direct reply yet satisfy the inquirers,
entered his place of concealment, and she was
prepared to summon thither the anxious questioner,
who impatiently awaited her signal, the moment the
fumes of the burning incense had sufficiently
obscured the room to preclude the detection of her
deceptive practices.
But what strange thing is this?
A sudden coldness seizes her, palsies each limb,
suspends every faculty save sight alone; horror in
describable and unaccountable overpowers her; dread
would prompt her to rush from the spot, but she has
no power to obey that impulse. In vain she strives
to shriek, for no sounds can escape her lips, and
powerless, motionless, and mute, she gazes in awe on
the spectacle before her. Those aromatic drugs,
which should have given out clouds of odoriferous
perfume, remained untouched by the flame, which had
suddenly become extinguished, as she had laid down
the torch when her work was done and instead of what
she had expected, a pale, clear, intense light shot
up from the earth, till that dark gloomy apartment
was illuminated as bright as noon, whilst slowly
rising from the midst of this mysterious effulgence,
lo! there was the figure of a man of majestic
stature, though his form seemed bowed with age. As
she <<137>> gazed intently on the apparition before
her, the figure with commanding gesture raised its
hand, and quickly her suspended powers again resumed
their offices; the vital stream, which had seemed as
if arrested in its course, now rushed wildly, with
rapid and tumultuous force, through its channels;
her stiffened limbs regained their pliability, and
with frightful haste she rushed from the chamber to
seek protection from her wretched confederate in
crime; but behold! he lay stretched on the earth,
giving no signs of life save by low and faint
moans.
Wildly, madly, she then ran through the passage
which led to the place of reception, where her
impatient guests waited for her. A shriek of terror
accompanied her steps, and sounded fearfully through
that lonely abode.
“Ha, this is surely the voice of the sorceress,”
said the king, while his heart beat with heavy and
rapid strokes, and his form of gigantic proportions
trembled like the hunted deer. “What! has treachery
been at work? am I betrayed into the hands of the
enemy?”
This was the thought which rushed rapidly through
his mind; he looked hurriedly around, whilst his
faithful attendants quickly drew forth their trusty
weapons from their concealment.
“Fear not, our king; we will soon discover the
reason of this turmoil,” said they as they moved
towards the door; but ere they could reach it, the
sorceress rushed in with terror depicted in her
countenance, whilst a deathlike paleness was on her
cheek. The dignity of her demeanour was changed into
an aspect of horror and dismay, convulsive
shuddering shook her frame, and the cold moisture
stood in large drops on her brow.
“What means this clamour?” demanded the king.
Eagerly catching at the words of his officers, which
had met her ears the moment she had reached the
room, she timidly said “The fear of thee, O King;
because thou hast deceived me, for thou art Saul,
and the spirit has revealed to me that he who would
question him is Israel’s mighty king.”
“Fear not for thy safety,” answered Saul; “thou hast
my promise; or deemest thou that Israel’s ruler
would ever prove unfaithful to his oath? But tell me
truly, didst thou call on him I named to thee?”
“I
did,” was the reply, “and even as the gods of my
fathers was he in appearance, as he rose up from the
earth.”
<<138>>
Eagerly the King inquired what form the apparition
presented, and was soon satisfied from the words of
the trembling creature before him, that the Prophet
had indeed broken the confinement of the grave in
order to reveal to him the unknown future.
“Lead on,” said he, “lead on!” and murmuring to
himself, he spoke: “Now shall I be relieved of these
horrid doubts which distract my soul; and whatever
it be, it is better to know the worst that can
befall, than endure any longer this torturing
suspense.”
He
entered the chamber which she pointed out. Why did
he, who had so eagerly, so earnestly sought for that
communing, start back from the sight before him? For
there in truth was but the one he had longed to see,
who stood calm and majestic, as when in life, before
him. Yes, there was the form of that holy Prophet,
the same noble and placid countenance, the same
bright and piercing eye, which had so often, when he
yet walked on earth, looked reprovingly and
mournfully on him. He gazed in silence; for
utterance failed him, end not a single sound passed
his paralysed lips; his limbs scarcely served to
sustain his weight, and he would fain have closed
his eyes to shut out that fearful vision; but in
vain was the attempt, no power had he to drop the
wearied eyelids; and as awe-stricken he gazed on the
unsubstantial though distinctly marked figure
before him, the more rapid and the heavier became
the pulsations of his heart, in the same measure as
the face of his unearthly visitor became sterner and
more mournful.
For a time the latter maintained an unbroken
silence; but at length, in a voice once familiar,
the spirit spoke, and in accents stern and severe
demanded of Saul, “Why hast thou disturbed me, to
call me up from the peaceful and calm repose of the
tomb?”
And when the King, in the agony of his soul, poured
forth the troubles of his heart to the Prophet’s
shade, no word of consolation came from its
unearthly lips; nought, nought but words of dismal
and fearful import met the ears of the unhappy Saul,
as clearly and distinctly fell on his harrowed
spirit the fearful words, “To-morrow shalt thou and
thy sons be with me; the Lord will also deliver the
host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”
A
fresh pang, a great weight, struck heavily on his
guilty and now self-accusing heart;
<<139>> he stood
condemned by his awakened conscience; and gladly
would he have entreated the intercession of the holy
departed, for he had no courage left to deprecate
himself the Divine wrath; but ere words could escape
his lips, before mind could conceive, or voice give
utterance, yea, even as he gazed intently, the
spirit was gone, so plainly and fearfully distinct
as it had stood before him, and in a short moment it
had vanished, passed away, swift as the vivid
lightning flash, leaving too, like it, no trace to
mark its way.
With a heavy groan the monarch fell to the earth,
powerless and immovable, though consciousness still
remained, his ears still ringing with the fearful
sentence, “To-morrow shalt thou be with me.” His
heart was stricken by that awful judgment,
“To-morrow, to-morrow!” trembled on his lips, and
the thought of that dread to-morrow filled his mind
with dismay. Thus he lay stretched on the ground,
without power, without courage to raise himself from
that lowly posture. “Where shall I be lying
to-morrow’s night?” he groaned in the anguish of
his conscience-stricken and tortured heart; and long
might he have lain there had not his attendants,
alarmed at his protracted absence, sought the
presence of the sorceress, and demanded of her the
cause of the King's being away so long.
“Doubtless, he converseth with the one whom he hath
evoked from the grave by my aid,” was the reply.
“But I like not his long absence; the spirit,
perchance, may have harmed him,” said one of the
attendants to the woman; “wherefore do thou go into
the apartment which he has entered.”
With evident reluctance and trepidation, which they
ascribed to her having discovered the rank of Saul,
she complied, and shivering as with a shock of an
ague fit, and shaking in every nerve, she slowly
left the room and soon stood on the threshold of the
dismal chamber. As she approached the open door she
veiled her eyes with her clasped hands, and
hesitated on the entrance with trembling frame and
throbbing heart; but, fearful of being detected in
her terrified condition, so unlike the high
character which she claimed, she, with a mighty
effort to summon hr courage, cast a hurried, timid
glance around her; but the cause of her terror
appalled her sight no longer; it had gone to its
<<140>> everlasting rest. Still she advanced with
timid steps to the prostrate King, and bending down
she said, “Hath sudden faintness overpowered my
lord?”
“Alas! alas! unhappy to me was the hour I sought thy
dwelling and obtained thy aid. Sad, sad, is the
doom of Israel’s ruler!” were the mournful words he
slowly uttered. Relieved by this speech from the
apprehensions she had entertained, that the
unearthly visitor might have revealed to him that no
power of hers had caused his appearance, new fears
of the displeasure of the King at the evil tidings
she felt assured he had received, filled her mind,
and humbly she reminded him of the promise of
security he had made her before she had consented to
exert her art but she speedily saw by the anguish
which rent his soul, which he no longer endeavoured
to conceal, that she had no cause for such fear. She
therefore now applied herself without delay to
induce him to rise from the ground but all the
persuasions which she addressed him were unavailing,
while his attendants, whose fearful apprehensions
could no longer endure his continued absence,
themselves entered the inner chamber where the
sorceress was alone with him. It required but little
time for them to understand that some evil had
occurred; and when their persuasions too availed
nothing, they with friendly violence raised him from
his prostrate position, and with difficulty
succeeded in prevailing on him to quit that
ill-omened spot for the place of their first
reception, where the woman placed before them such
refreshments as she could speedily prepare.
Sorrowful and silent Saul sat at that mournful
repast no professions of attachment and devotion
could for one. instant dissipate the gloom which
oppressed him he appeared regardless of all around,
for the fearful words of Samuel still vibrated in
his ears, and were incessantly repeated to his mind.
His companions gazed long on him with deep sadness,
till at length, with s voice tremulous with emotion,
Uzza spoke. “Shake off, our much-loved King, this
bidden grief, and let it no longer afflict thy soul
be comforted, I beseech thee. Time presses on thy
people will impatiently expect to see thee early at
thy accustomed post to lead them forth to battle
against the Philistines we <<141>> have long to
travel ere the dawn, and even now it is time we were
on our way.”
Mechanically he arose and prepared to depart, and
after having renewed to the woman at her earnest
request his promise of security, he with his friends
left her unpropitious abode, and turned on the way
to the camp, which they reached before the break of
day and unobserved by all, save the vigilant
sentinel, the King entered his tent. It was for the
last time for, at the rising of the sun the trumpets
summoned the hosts to battle, and ere he sunk in the
west, the army of Israel had been smitten by that of
the Philistines, and the hills of Gilboa were dyed
with the blood of the wounded and slain, and the
first monarch of God’s people lay numbered with the
dead, in punishment of his transgressions with which
he had offended the Lord. |
