Nurse Asti
here would be a dealer in pearls, and you, her daughter, would be a
musician. What say you?"
"I say that I should be glad to settle myself anywhere out of this
desert," said Tua wearily. "Lead us on to the city, Father Kepher, if
you know the way."
"I know the way, and will guide you thither in payment for that good
meal of yours. Now come. Follow me." And taking his long staff he strode
away in front of them.
"This Kepher goes at a wonderful pace for an old man," said Tua
presently. "When first we saw him he could scarcely hobble."
"Man!" answered Asti. "He is not a man, but a spirit, good or bad, I
don't know which, appearing as a beggar. Could a man eat as much as
he did--all our basketful of food? Does a man talk of cities that he
visited in his youth over a hundred years ago, or declare that my dead
husband spoke to him in his dreams? No, no, he is a ghost like those
upon the ship."
"So much the better," answered Tua cheerfully, "since ghosts have been
good friends to us, for had it not been for them I should have been dead
or shamed to-day.
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