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 RAHAB 
 
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 LIBRARY Of CONGRESS 
 Two CoDies Received 
 
 MAh 24 1906 
 
 /% Copyriffht Entry 7 
 
 CLASS # ' m» No. 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, ic 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 Published March, iqob. 
 
RAHAB 
 

 CHARACTERS 
 
 (In the order of their appearance) 
 
 Ammon, a lover of Rahab 
 
 Lela, a harp player 
 
 A Soothsayer 
 
 A Messenger 
 
 Rahab, a woman of Jericho 
 
 Zuleika, her attendant 
 
 Salmon, a prince of Israel, sent by Joshua as 
 a spy 
 
 Horeb, a companion spy 
 
 Zeman, a soldier of Jericho 
 
 Amorah, mother of Rahab 
 
 Asenath, sister of Rahab 
 
 Nathaniah, Rahab 1 s father 
 
 Pleasure makers at Rahab 1 s house, soldiers of 
 Jericho, Israelites, etc. 
 
 The whole action occurs in Jericho, capital city 
 of the Canaanites, about 1500 B. G. 
 
ACT I. 
 
'Behold when we come into the land, thou shalt 
 bind this line of scarlet thread in the window 
 which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt 
 bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren 
 and all thy father's household home unto thee. 
 And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the 
 doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall 
 be upon his head and we will be guiltless: and 
 whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his 
 blood shall be upon our head, if any hand be 
 upon him. Joshua ii. 18-19. 
 
RAHAB 
 
 A 
 
 Act I. 
 
 MORNING in late Summer ten days 
 before the siege. Scene, a large living- 
 room in Rahab's house, on the wall; lattice- 
 work at back, with open doors giving on to 
 the wall, whence one overlooks the city of 
 Jericho seen from an elevation. Doors, 
 draped with rich hangings, and flanked by 
 marble pillars, at right and left. The 
 room is a beautiful one: marble floor 
 with great oriental rugs: tropical plants 
 
 about: ornaments in bronze and iron, 
 5 
 
6 Rahab 
 
 gold and silver. A marble fountain 
 
 playing in back centre. On either side 
 
 of it, images of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, 
 
 and other gods of the Phoenician tribe of 
 
 Canaanites. Curtain discloses a group of 
 
 men and maidens surrounding fountain; 
 
 they circle and dance to music of harps and 
 
 citherns played by several girls sitting on 
 
 marble benches placed along sides of the 
 
 room. As each dancer comes in front of 
 
 an idol, he or she makes an obeisance. On 
 
 conclusion of dance, the women sportfully 
 
 toss up water from the fountain at the men, 
 
 who make as if to embrace them. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 [coming down stage and addressing 
 
 others, who follow and begin to 
 
 take seats on the marble settles. 
 
 Well footed, by our gods ! 
 
 First Woman. 
 
 To dance is sweet; 
 To love — is sweeter. 
 
Rahab 7 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 Love us then, fair maid! 
 Second Woman. 
 Thy feet are light, and light thy vows of faith — 
 Rahab said so, last night. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 The maiden Rahab ! 
 Where stays she, as we while the sun-fierce hours 
 Here in her pleasure house ? 
 
 First Woman. 
 
 Among the palms 
 And cypresses she walks apart : for she 
 Is sad of late, nor joins our revellings 
 Nor bows her head to mighty Baal (all bow) 
 
 nor likes, 
 As once she did, to listen to the song 
 Made to her honour by our poet player. 
 [Points to girl with harp. 
 Ammon. 
 What song is that? 
 
 First Woman. 
 
 Hear it, if so you will: 
 
8 Rahab 
 
 Lela, thy harp : our mood is all for music. 
 
 [Lela takes harp and sings, the 
 rest grouping themselves pictur- 
 esquely around her on benches 
 and floor. Ammon a little 
 apart. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Rahab is queen of love; her dress 
 Betrays the beauty claspt within: 
 
 Her mouth is made for tenderness; 
 Men lose their souls, her grace to win 
 
 She stands like a pomegranate tree, 
 Straight, beautiful, and proud to see. 
 
 The warm dusk-splendour of her eyes 
 Might wreck the councils of a king; 
 
 Not statelier the Jordan flies 
 Than do her feet in pleasuring: 
 
 She doth enthrall with magics three : 
 With doubt, and hope, and glamoury. 
 
Rah ab 9 
 
 Then strike rich chords of pain and bliss 
 
 For Rahab, rose of Jericho : 
 A regal flower to pluck and kiss 
 
 And woman's bitter-sweet to know : 
 In all the lists of coquetry, 
 
 None walks so wonderful as she. 
 Ammon. 
 The song is meet : I would that she were here ! 
 
 [A noise is heard outside which all 
 heed. 
 Second Woman. 
 Look ! Some one comes — a motley figure, too. 
 [A Soothsayer rashes in breath- 
 less, by the door that leads from 
 the wall. He is clad in black and 
 red; cabalistic ornaments are on 
 his long robe and conical hat. 
 A mirror wrapt in rich velvet 
 depends from his neck by a 
 golden chain. He carries a 
 tripod in one hand. All sur- 
 round him at the centre. 
 
io Rahab 
 
 Soothsayer. 
 Harbourage, and the chance to read the stars ! 
 I can interpret signs. 
 
 First Woman. 
 In nick of time, 
 A soothsayer ! We'll have him riddle us 
 The issues of the Autumn. Some men say 
 Dark omens overbrood the city. 
 
 Second Woman. 
 Now, 
 Foretell the future, mystic sir, and gain 
 In good red gold. 
 
 Third Woman. 
 
 Yea, peddle us thy dreams 
 And divinations. 
 
 Soothsayer. 
 
 Straightway will I so. 
 
 Dwells Mistress Rahab here? Yon motley mob 
 
 Handled me roughly till I cried for help, 
 
 Whereat they jeered: "Go, seek it there of 
 
 Rahab; 
 
Rahab ii 
 
 She medicines the men." — Their laughter shrilled 
 About mine ears, as hitherward I rushed. 
 
 First Woman. 
 Yea, this is Rahab's house. 
 
 Soothsayer 
 (obsequiously). 
 
 I know her fame, 
 And fain would please her; yea, and please ye all. 
 
 Ammon. 
 Bring us some luck in love. 
 
 One of the Men 
 (jeeringly) . 
 
 Thou mighty sage, 
 Pray, guess for me why Lela yonder goes 
 O' nights in moon-blanched ways, alone and 
 
 sad — 
 For my sake, or Astarte's ? Speak it forth, 
 I'll halve this circlet with thee. 
 
 [Points to gold armring. 
 Lela. 
 
 Better say, 
 Why on his face a red mark like a clover 
 
12 Rahab 
 
 Burns since two days — or like a woman's hand ! 
 Come, conjure that! 
 
 [All laugh. 
 Second Woman. 
 
 Sir wise man, tell us of 
 The Israelites men say would leap our walls 
 And reave away us women. 
 
 One of the Men. 
 
 Old wives' tales ! 
 Handful of desert men I 
 
 Soothsayer. 
 
 Good lords and dames, 
 Humbly I thank ye : I would pleasure ye, 
 Yet can but read within the wondrous glass 
 Whatso the mid-air gods decree; I am 
 Their slave, and nothing do of mine own will. 
 Gentles, approach. 
 
 [All gather nearer him. He sprin- 
 kles red powder on brass plate, 
 lights it, and as steam arises, 
 peers into the glass which he has 
 set up on the tripod, and recites: 
 
Rahab 13 
 
 I see the years unroll. I hear a voice : 
 
 [His voice changes to a sort of in- 
 cantation. 
 Behold, the doomed city razed to earth, 
 Her idols tumbled, and her teeming ways 
 Vacant, and all her noise of moving men 
 Gulfed into silence. 
 
 [Pauses, peers into mirror, bending 
 low. The others take announce- 
 ment with signs of displeasure. 
 Lo, the picture fades. 
 Now .... only can I see a woman — 
 
 fair 
 As the white foam that tops the sea ; her eyes 
 Are star-bent : all about her, ranged in ranks, 
 Throng saints and sages and the mighty ones 
 Whose deeds make nations; and they hail and 
 
 hail 
 The woman : trumpet-clear their bailings rise, 
 And more than flute-sweet : it would almost seem 
 She is some prophetess or saviour — ah, 
 Now fleets it forth — the vision is no more. 
 
14 Rahab 
 
 [All are impressed; they look at 
 each other, whisper together. 
 The Soothsayer goes from one 
 to another, receiving largess of 
 money or ornaments; then, 
 counting his gains, takes tripod, 
 and goes towards left. 
 
 Ammon 
 
 (checking him). 
 
 Small sport in this! — Hold, tell us livelier 
 
 things : 
 Unless thy wave-lithe maiden come to earth, 
 Little we reck of women in a dream. 
 I lust for dance or war or dainty love, 
 Nay, most of all, for Rahab. Gods ! one look 
 Out of her eyes would break a holy vigil, 
 Warming it into human. Tell us, sir, 
 If I shall have her! Riddle me of her, 
 My queen of passion ! 
 
 First Woman. 
 
 Maybe he did speak 
 
Rahab 15 
 
 Of her, of Rahab — for 'tis known her mind 
 Is set on prophecies, nor leans toward love. 
 Ammon 
 [With a great laugh, letting go 
 Soothsayer, who goes to en- 
 trance at left, pausing there 
 and hidden behind a statue of a 
 god. 
 Rahab the wanton ranged about by saints ! 
 Daughter of joy become a priestess ! Nay — 
 A million nays ! The fool did well to flee. 
 
 [Sound of trumpet outside: clank 
 of armour, growing louder: en- 
 ter King's Messenger at right; 
 looks about inquiringly. 
 Messenger. 
 I come from great Nathaniah, father to 
 The maiden Rahab, and the trusty friend 
 And councillor of our most potent King — 
 Long may his majesty secure our days! (All 
 
 bow.) 
 Where is she ? 
 
16 Rahab 
 
 Ammon. 
 We await her coming now. 
 Look not at me as though I were her keeper ! 
 Summon her household, — though, I warrant 
 
 thee, 
 They will not meddle with her morning mood. 
 Rahab, the turbulent, would be alone ! 
 
 Messenger. 
 I cannot stay, for stern the bidding is : 
 The citizens must cease from revelry, 
 Turn low their lights, their houses set in order, 
 Lest enemies should catch us unaware. 
 Rumours are all abroad: Nathaniah 
 Would have his daughter heed them, make her 
 
 haunts — 
 Full now of license and of foolish mirth — 
 Less boisterous, and more safe : here is his sign. 
 (Hands King's signet to Ammon. ) 
 
 Ammon. 
 The Signet of the King ! His rule be long 1 
 I'll give it her. But it is passing strange, 
 Our King, the conqueror of a score of towns, 
 
Rahab 17 
 
 Should fear these tramping tribes of alien men 
 Whose fame is bruited as if mastery 
 Shot from their very eyes : our walls are builded 
 For foes far weightier. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Not mine to say. 
 1 do my hest : obedience is my trade. 
 
 [Exit, bowing, at right, as he came. 
 First Woman. 
 Grey, ominous times ! If Rahab would but come, 
 Mayhap she'd make this criss-cross smooth and 
 clear. 
 
 Second Woman 
 (up stage, looking of, and pointing). 
 Then ask her, for she walks as though her eyes 
 Read all fate's secrets. 
 
 First Woman. 
 
 O the masks of her ! 
 Look, how she comes ! 
 
 All. 
 
 Hail to the mistress Rahab ! 
 [All rise and salute, musicians strik- 
 
18 Rahab 
 
 ing chords on instruments, as 
 Rahab, followed by her hand- 
 maiden, Zuleika, enters at the 
 left, and inclining her head to 
 them, walks slowly up stage to 
 latticed window and looks forth 
 over the city. 
 
 Soothsayer 
 (peering out). 
 She's my dream-lady ! — Rahab ringed by saints ! 
 [Goes out. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Good morrow to you all. 
 
 Ammon 
 (to Zuleika) . 
 
 What ails the lady? 
 Surely she lacks of health? 
 
 Zuleika. 
 
 Sombre her mood; 
 She looks beyond the Jordan, and her dreams 
 Are much of stranger-folk — the tribe men say 
 
Rahab 19 
 
 Are camped beyond the river and may come 
 To conquer our great city — idle boast ! 
 
 One of the Men. 
 Nathless, I hear that Rahab's father begs 
 The King to strengthen all the guards, and close 
 The triple-headed gates before the sundown. 
 Strange men, 'tis whispered, walk our streets. 
 Another Man. 
 
 'Tis said 
 A band of merchants Egypt-bound did see, 
 But two leagues from our walls, the Israelites 
 Riding lean stallions. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 Let them come apace ! 
 [Approaches Rahab at window. 
 Will not our Rahab listen to her slave? 
 Why is her glad behaviour clouded o'er 
 By stormy brows and listless looks? 
 Rahab. 
 
 I am 
 Not well : it jars against my very soul 
 To hear yon revelry. 
 
20 Rahab 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 They loll and dote 
 And fawn upon thee as do festering weeds 
 About some crimson bloom. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Lip service, Ammon ! 
 
 Ammon 
 
 (offering her the King's signet). 
 
 Nay, burning truth. Thy father bids thee make 
 
 Thy house all dark and silent. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (taking ring). 
 
 Wherefore so? 
 My father ! Yet no father, for he sets 
 His face against me, treats me as a trull, 
 Not like a daughter. Ah, he has full cause 1 
 Yet he might love me, — love me back again, 
 For that I love him so ! Why should I make 
 My house a sepulchre these splendid days? 
 Though all the gods do know my heart is sad — 
 As sad as Ashtoreth when vintage fails; 
 Yea, liker mourning than such merriment. 
 
Rahab 21 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 The King forefears some peril to the city. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (as if in a r every) . 
 
 Dear, sparkling city, must my dream come true? 
 
 Must Jericho go down? 
 
 Ammon 
 (seizing her hands, trying to embrace her). 
 
 My glorious girl, 
 
 I love thy moods — 
 
 Rahab 
 (resisting him). 
 
 Unhand me, Ammon 1 I 
 
 Would break with my old life. 
 Ammon. 
 
 No, by the moon, 
 Thou still art mine, as thou hast been of yore 1 
 
 Rahab. 
 Never again, albe my flesh yet quivers 
 With the old passion, burns to feel thy touch : 
 Never again my soul shall give consent 
 
22 RAHAB 
 
 To lechery. I swear it by the God 
 Of Israel ! 
 
 Ammon 
 (astounded). 
 No god of love is that: 
 Some one bewitches thee. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Yea, 'tis a spell 
 Ineffable ; it bids me be myself, 
 My own young self, when not my lips alone 
 Might smile, but in my heart was laughter sweet; 
 And when my sister greeted me, mine eyes 
 Looked level into hers. 
 
 [To all, advancing to them. 
 Women and men 
 Of Jericho, now give me leave to speak 
 Alone, with my handmaiden; for there is 
 Business betwixt us robs me of my mirth. 
 
 [All rise and slowly file out at sides, 
 with shrugs and whispered 
 words. Ammon starts to go, 
 then comes back and attempts to 
 
Rahab 23 
 
 put hands upon her. She draws 
 dagger. 
 Rahab. 
 A dagger and a death-dream ! Hear me swear it, 
 By the One God ! 
 
 Ammon 
 (incensed) . 
 
 You're but a freakish fool. 
 I'll wait; the famished flesh will call again. 
 A woman with one god — and many loves ! 
 (Exit, laughing, after others.) 
 
 [Rahab takes Zuleika by arm, and 
 goes rapidly to a stone seat; 
 both sit. 
 Rahab 
 (rapidly, with emotion). 
 Oh, how I hate their wantonness ; they are 
 Mere butterflies that sport them in the sun 
 Of license, dying at the feel of night, 
 Wherein are stars that search the soul. 
 Zuleika. 
 
 My mistress, 
 
24 Rahab 
 
 What means this change has come upon thee, so 
 Killing thy taste for gladness ? 
 Rahab. 
 
 Hast thou heard, 
 My girl, of a great people that men say 
 Do gather round us and will come to conquer 
 This populous city ? 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 Moloch make them ashes ! 
 By name called Israelites : a mighty folk 
 That worship one strange god — 
 Rahab. 
 
 Strong with His strength. 
 Zuleika, hark. Last night I had a dream, 
 Being o'erwatched and weary. In my sleep 
 I stood upon the battlements, and lo ! 
 It seemed this town was razed to the ground, 
 With all its peoples and its palaces 
 Prone, and its erstwhile buzz of traffic still. 
 And then, upon the leavings of our life 
 (All happened as a mist before my gaze) 
 Arose fair buildings, and the sound of prayer; 
 
Rahab 25 
 
 And priests did chant Jehovah — such the 
 
 name — 
 And like a flash I knew it for the truth 
 And fell in worship : for his realm was pure 
 And high (bends closer); and then, Zuleika, 
 
 stranger yet — 
 
 Zuleika. 
 What is it, lady? How thy colour pales! 
 
 Rahab. 
 I heard the sound of singing, and methought 
 My name was spoken : out of empty air, 
 A voice declared that Rahab should become 
 Fruitful, and in the fulness of long time 
 Honoured to unborn ages ; then there came, 
 As if all trumpets made of men were melted 
 In one bright blast that shook the very stars, 
 A wondrous noise, — a light, — and I awoke 
 Trembling; since when all ribaldry and lust 
 Sicken me, and I know that Israel 
 Is destined to succeed us. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 
 This is strange; 
 
26 Rahab 
 
 But, mistress, surely but an idle dream 
 Born of some feasting — out of mere excess 
 Of pleasure. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Nay, my heart beats otherwise. 
 Zuleika. 
 Some conjuror hath fooled thee ; 'tis their trade 
 To cozen women ; — how may doom like that 
 Despoil our Rahab ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 Think not, girl, of me; 
 Think of our birth-stead, think of Jericho ; 
 This city of the moon-gods, in a plain 
 Far-famous for its tilth ; her date-palms rise 
 Under a sky that changes, hour by hour, 
 From spangled red to turquoise, and from opal 
 To the gold-blue of night. How can we die ? 
 
 Zuleika. 
 It is a lovely land. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Proud are we, too, 
 In traffic maritime : our traders fare 
 
Rahab 27 
 
 Loaden with costly stuffs and purple dyes 
 Phoenician ; merchant-men seek out our wares, 
 Our goldsmiths and our silversmiths have art 
 Most excellent — 
 
 [Knock on door; both startled. 
 Rahab motions to Zuleika to 
 open it. Latter draws aside cur- 
 tains. Enter at the left, Sal- 
 mon and Horeb, spies of 
 Israel; the former is princely in 
 bearing. Both seem out of 
 breath. They salute the women. 
 Their dress, of sombre colour, is 
 sternly simple, in marked con- 
 trast with the luxury-loving in- 
 habitants of Jericho. They seem 
 like hardy plainsmen. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Can we be ne'er alone ! 
 [Rahab and Zuleika withdraw a 
 little and regard the two stran- 
 gers. 
 
28 Rahab 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 Some wily Babylonians, sleek of tongue, 
 Fooling us out of treasure. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Rather seem they 
 Men of the plain, girt up for arduous quests. 
 
 Salmon (to Rahab,). 
 Lady, thy pardon. We are travellers, 
 Our home beyond the river : footsore, starved, 
 We crave but food and drink, an hour of rest, 
 Ere we take up our journey. 
 
 Rahab (to Zuleikaj. 
 
 Fetch in food 
 And drink. 
 
 [Zuleika goes out. 
 
 As strangers, ye are welcome here. 
 My name is Rahab. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Lady, mine is Salmon, 
 And this is Horeb. Marvellous the land 
 That breeds such women, large of heart, I see, 
 
Rahab 29 
 
 And lovely as the desert's dim mirage 
 To one half dead for water. 
 
 [Re-enter Zuleika, two slaves fol- 
 lowing with food and drink, 
 which is placed at left back; the 
 slaves then retire. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Pray eat, good sirs. 
 Your looks are haggard. 
 
 [Both sit and eat. Salmon looks 
 repeatedly at Rahab; Horeb 
 is also struck by her beauty. 
 Rahab and Zuleika confer 
 together; then Rahab goes to- 
 wards the window, and Salmon 
 joins her. Zuleika and Horeb 
 together at the table. 
 Horeb. 
 
 Fair thy mistress is ; 
 Fairer her handmaiden. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 
 In love and war, 
 
30 Rahab 
 
 All men are one : alike for fond or fierce, 
 Alien, and those of Jericho. 
 Horeb. 
 
 Nay, nay, 
 In war and love my countrymen are swift 
 As dread monsoons that cloud the eye of day 
 And bury it in sand. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 
 But fickle, like 
 Mid-desert fountains, dry when most the need 
 Of living water. 
 
 Horeb. 
 Wine thou art, not water. 
 [ Tries to seize her. 
 Rahab 
 (to Salmon,). 
 Thou art sufficed : then I will leave thee. 
 Salmon. 
 
 Stay! 
 Leave me not yet. Lady, there is a thirst 
 Not of the body, but whereby the soul 
 Is mad for drink. Now in thine eyes I quench 
 
Rahab 31 
 
 That torture, and thy presence makes me strong. 
 Stay, that both soul and body nourished be. 
 
 [Rahab halts reluctantly; then 
 seats, herself, while ZuleiKA 
 goes up stage with Horeb. 
 Faint sound of horn heard out- 
 side. Salmon starts at it, and 
 hastens to confer with Horeb, 
 who tries to hold him back. 
 Salmon. 
 Nay, hold me not : it is our only chance 
 To gain her goodwill ; else like dogs we die. 
 And, by our tribe, I love her ! 
 Horeb. 
 
 By our tribe, 
 That is no marvel, for she breeds men's love 
 As rivers run and grass grows. 
 Salmon 
 (comes quickly to Rahab,). 
 
 We are men 
 Of Israel, across the Jordan sent 
 By Joshua, great leader of our folk, 
 
32 Rahab 
 
 To spy the land. Yon horn means danger, 
 
 death 
 To us, unless thou haply hidest us twain 
 From capture. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Treason? Traitors in my house? 
 Summon the guard! 
 
 [Horeb and Zuleika, who are 
 seated, at the rear, rise. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Hear me a moment more. 
 Rumour hath mumbled of a certain maid 
 Of Jericho — Rahab by name — her life — 
 
 Rahab (aside). 
 Ah, God, her life! 
 
 Salmon. 
 Late-turned to holy things, 
 Because our God calls to her soul of souls 
 With winsome words, yet strong: when that I 
 
 learned 
 How this house harboured her, — all desperate, 
 
Rahab 33 
 
 Hard-hunted, nigh to doom, my comrade here 
 And I knew this our only chance: we knocked; 
 Thou knowest the rest; I hoped that Israel's 
 
 God 
 Would bid thee do a deed should save our lives 
 
 And build his glory. 
 
 Rahab 
 (agitated). 
 
 Yea, and build my shame — 
 My everlasting shame ! Think you this land 
 Means nothing to me — home, and kin, and 
 
 friends, 
 Bound by a thousand blood-ties, set at naught, 
 And all for what? Two chance-come stranger 
 
 men 
 Would raze my city, proud among her palms, 
 And set an alien people, where of old, 
 From immemorial times the Canaanites 
 Have lived at quiet !— 'Twere an outlaw deed 1 
 [Horn louder outside. 
 Horeb. 
 Danger, Prince Salmon ! Danger 1 
 
34 Rahab 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 'Tis the guards ! 
 Haply, O lady, I may seem to speak 
 But for myself, — my country, and my cause. 
 But I have looked upon thy face, — none such 
 In Israel ! — fed me at thy gaze : I beg 
 Now, not for me, but thee — 
 
 Rahab. 
 What mean'st thou ? Speak I 
 
 Salmon. 
 It is ordained by God, through Joshua, 
 This Jericho shall fall by fire and sword. 
 For seven days — so spake the Lord of Hosts 
 To Joshua — the city shall be compassed ; 
 But on the seventh, it shall come to pass 
 Seven trumpets of rams' horns shall blow 
 Long blasts, and Jericho's so mighty walls 
 Fall flat, and all thy doomed folk go down 
 To utter desolation. — Save us two, 
 That we may carry back the news, and thou 
 And all thy kin shall be passed o'er, alone, 
 Of all the place: this, by my faith, I swear! 
 
Rahab 35 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (wonderingly) . 
 An horn blast? Not a touch of mortal blows, 
 And our deep-founded walls, massy and ancient, 
 Shall crumble like the plaything of a child? 
 
 Salmon. 
 Even so. 
 
 Rahab. 
 How may my house, now firmly set 
 Here on the wall, escape such overthrow 
 And ruin? 
 
 Salmon. 
 Miracle to miracle 
 Added : thy house and its foundation wall 
 Shall stand unhurt, even as thy family 
 Shall unharmed hide. 
 
 Rahab 
 (as if to herself). 
 
 My kin, my helpless mother, 
 My old, grey father, and the cosset-lamb, 
 My sister, she — there's torture in thy tongue ! 
 
36 Rahab 
 
 Salmon. 
 I ask it, too, — because I love thee, Rahab; 
 Would save thee for myself, — not for our God 
 Alone, but with the worship of my body 
 Consecrate to high uses. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (slowly, wonderingly). 
 
 Thou dost love ? 
 Ah, wert thou of my folk — 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 Be thou of mine! 
 Thou shall be mine, until the end of days. 
 
 [He approaches, as if to lay hands 
 on her. 
 
 Rahab. 
 I am dazed. — Nay, touch me not, not like the 
 others. 
 
 [She suddenly kneels to him. 
 Lay thy two hands upon my hair : the first 
 Caress in years that lacks of fierce desire, 
 And feels like tenderness. I know a virtue 
 
 
Rahab 37 
 
 Went forth from thee to me: the spokesman 
 
 thou 
 Of thy great God. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 And thy true lover, Rahab ! 
 (The horn winds again.) 
 Again the horn ! What is thy will to do? 
 
 [Takes a jewel from a girdle at his 
 side. 
 Here is a gem of talismanic worth, 
 Long in my keeping; treasure it as life 
 Is treasured. 
 
 Rahab. 
 How it throbs with luminous lights ! 
 Salmon. 
 The graver graved it cunningly, and set 
 A wondrous word thereon : Kismet — 'tis fate — 
 Token that we are plighted, e'en though war 
 Divide our peoples. 
 
 Rahab 
 (looking at the gem). 
 
 'Tis a gift of price: 
 
38 Rahab 
 
 A white great pearl ! I lay it on my heart. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Thy loveliness shall warm it. Legend saith 
 Its lustre dims if she who wears it wavers 
 From stedf ast faith ; give it me pure again, 
 Sweet with thy bosom, all its white undimmed 
 In life or death. (The horn sounds again.) The 
 horn sounds nearer, love ! 
 Rahab 
 (to both men). 
 Hark you. Take yonder way up to the roof. 
 There lie you down beneath the flax. I'll send 
 The guards a face-about. — You must not take 
 The river way; the fords are hazardous; 
 Now is the barley harvest, and the Jordan 
 Full to o'erflowing, and her banks do lave 
 The land on either side for fruitful miles, 
 Kissing it into bloom ; hence, must you 'scape 
 North, to the mountains. From the wall I'll 
 hang 
 
 [Looks about, snatches a red cord 
 from one of the idols. 
 
Rahab 39 
 
 This scarlet cord ; thereby you may descend 
 Amidst the trees — and so, free, and away 1 
 
 Salmon. 
 My portion death, if I this deed forget. 
 Hear me, Almighty God ! That self-same cord, 
 Hung from thy dwelling when the siege is hot, 
 All Israel pressing close on Jericho, 
 Shall be the sacred sign to spare this house. 
 Let not one soul go forth from out thy door, 
 For whoso goes, shall die. Keep thou within ; 
 My oath is sworn. Dear, we shall meet again 
 Beneath the cypresses, under the stars ! 
 
 [Horn close at hand; knocking at 
 door. Rahab hurries them off 
 at the right. Knocking contin- 
 ues. She hands Zuleika the 
 red cord. 
 Rahab. 
 See that the cord is hung. 
 
 [Exit Zuleika, after the spies. 
 [Rahab goes to the opposite en- 
 trance, draws curtains back, 
 
4<d Rahab 
 
 opens door. Enter Zeman, and 
 half a dozen soldiers. 
 
 Zeman. 
 
 No sign of them ! 
 Lady, we seek two spies of Israel 
 Were seen to creep this way, nor go not hence : 
 Men desperate, and dangerous to the weal. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Wore one, the larger of the two, a tunic 
 Tufted with purple? 
 
 [Re-enter Zuleika, goes up stage, 
 and stands looking at Rahab. 
 
 Zeman. 
 
 'Tis reported so. 
 Rahab (looking qucstioningly at Zuleika, who 
 
 nods). 
 The men but lately left my door; they asked 
 Straitly for bread and water, then made off 
 By the right river path — thou canst not miss 
 them. 
 
Rahab 41 
 
 Zeman. 
 (suspicious and hesitating). 
 Lady, I would have warrant of thy word : 
 Thy way of life is talked of. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Very like. 
 Convince thee. (Shows King's signet.) Look, 
 the Signet of the King ! 
 
 [Zeman bends knee, kisses the Sig- 
 net, and withdraws as he came. 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 The scarlet cord gleams from the window ledge. 
 Mistress, what hast thou done? 
 Rahab. 
 
 O girl, in truth, 
 I scarcely know. Meseems that I obey 
 The Dream, the Vision. — Zeman have I foiled. 
 The men must take the mountain pass, there hide 
 Till search is o'er. 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 O Rahab ! the poor land ! 
 
42 Rahab 
 
 Rahab. 
 Cease, cease, thy words are stabs! Canst thou 
 
 not see 
 I do it for the God of Israel? 
 Or was it for my kinsmen ? So I think. 
 My head goes round. — Nay, nay, I will not lie I 
 "Beneath the cypresses, under the stars" .... 
 I did it for my love, my love, my love ! 
 
 [Rahab draws the pearl from her 
 bosom, and kisses it, as curtain 
 goes down. Sounds of trumpet 
 without, growing fainter as pur- 
 suit of the spies dies in the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 
 Curtain. 
 
ACT II. 
 
Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of 
 the children of Israel; none went out and none 
 came in. Joshua vi. i. 
 
Act II. 
 
 THIRST day of the siege. A superb 
 J. afternoon in the garden of Rahab. A 
 great central path leads up stage to steps by 
 which one surmounts the wall from the city; 
 richly chased metal seats about; flower- 
 bordered side-paths, giving left on Rahab' s 
 house, right on wall Tropical plants, 
 idols of the gods in bronze and ivory amidst 
 shrubbery. Effect of elevation above city, 
 which glitters picturesquely in distance. 
 Sounds outside from time to time implying 
 disorder and danger. 
 Curtain discovers RAHAB sitting in a sad 
 lethargy on metal seat. Zuleika, in the 
 background, peers through palms, towards 
 the city, then comes down and joins Rahab. 
 Zuleika. 
 But yesterday, music and dance were rife, 
 
 45 
 
46 Rahab 
 
 And revel. Now, no sounds of singing come 
 From out the city : 'tis a woful change. 
 Our house is like a sepulchre. 
 Rahab. 
 
 The King 
 Bade me to cease from pleasure. I obey: 
 My father's wish is sacred. 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 Who would dream 
 That trouble brooded o'er a day so fair ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 'Tis wonderful ; such weather should be sung 
 To sound of lutes. 
 
 [// faint sound from the city. 
 Zuleika. 
 The city murmurs and moans. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (dreamily). 
 
 Sweet smells that come from gardens always 
 
 seem 
 As tokens there are spirits dwelling there 
 Better than mortal folk. I wonder, girl, 
 
Rahab 47 
 
 Hath Israel such odours? — Fancy-monger! .... 
 How the birds sing ! Siege and the havoc of war 
 They rest above; their eyrie is the air, 
 The trees their citadels and homes of peace. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 How canst thou babble of the birds! Thou 
 
 hearest 
 The gates assailed? 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 I marvel at myself. 
 I am as one that, desperately calm, 
 Sits quiet o'er an earthquake; here am I 
 Spent with my father-grief and riven by love, 
 And fear, and hope — prating of gardens. — 
 
 Fool ! (Rises.) 
 How long ago the messenger went forth ! 
 'Tis time my kinsfolk came : go, look again, 
 Zuleika. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 They have never come before; 
 Maybe they will not now. 
 
48 Rahab 
 
 Rahab 
 (bitterly). 
 
 Thou speakest truth! 
 Why should they come, indeed? I left them, 
 
 killed 
 Their pride in me. But Asenath and mother 
 Are women, and I think that they will come 
 Out of pure pity; and my father, led 
 By the King's signet, for I set the seal 
 Deep in the wax, and he will deem me one 
 The ruler favours and hath whispered some 
 State secret, — drugged by potions from love's 
 
 cup. 
 What seest thou ? Aught of them? 
 Zuleika. 
 (looking off at the right). 
 
 They come, they come — 
 Thy mother and thy sister! 
 Rahab. 
 
 But my sire, 
 He will not here, he shuns my house of mirth. 
 My father must be saved ; I hear the words 
 
Rahab 49 
 
 Of Salmon ever : "Let no soul go forth 
 From out thy doors, for whoso goes shall die." 
 
 [Enter, at the right, Rahab's 
 mother, Amorah, and sister, 
 Asenath. They stand timidly 
 at entrance, looking about as if 
 in an unwonted place. Rahab 
 hastens to embrace both, show- 
 ing especial tenderness for Ase- 
 nath. 
 
 Asenath 
 (falteringly) . 
 Rahab, thou bad'st us 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Dear ones, welcome here; 
 Welcome, my dear ones, welcome to my house. 
 
 Amorah. 
 Thy father might not come 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Yea, yea, I know. 
 He shuns me, shames to call me child. O God ! 
 
50 Rahab 
 
 Amorah. 
 Affairs of state compel him. .... 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Cursed he not 
 His daughter? 
 
 Asenath. 
 We would listen to no curse ! 
 Amorah. 
 He spake harsh words; but grief, not anger, lies 
 At bottom. 
 
 Asenath. 
 But we knew thy heart was good; 
 Thou sentest for us in kindness — 
 Rahab. 
 
 Oh, in love, 
 In utter love. (Seats them at a settle. To Zu- 
 LEIKA, who goes out at the left.) 
 
 Let them have wine and food 
 Prepared within ; sweet drink and dainties too. 
 Dear hearts, I bade you come that I might feast 
 Mine eyes upon you; we must talk, we three, 
 
Rahab 51 
 
 About the city, sore beleaguered 
 With perils. 
 
 Amorah. 
 Aye, how terrible ! Thy father 
 Grows haggard with it; hardly have I slept 
 A wink these three nights, what with ominous 
 
 sounds 
 And pitfalls lurking in the open streets. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Poor mother! Thou must needs have rest; and 
 
 now 
 Within my pleasaunce thou may'st safely lie. 
 The siegers gather before the gates of brass 
 Far on the city's further side; and here 
 We may look forth and glimpse the ways of war, 
 Our sight framed in by birds' nests. 
 [ZuLEIKA re-enters. 
 Amorah. 
 
 Thank thee, child. 
 Rahab. 
 Zuleika, lead the lady to my chamber, 
 And let the door be guarded : thou must bide 
 
52 Rahab 
 
 The night : I cannot let thee go till morn. 
 
 Nay, till the day that Jericho is doomed. 
 
 (Aside.) 
 
 [Zuleika conducts Amorah off, 
 into Rahab's house. The sis- 
 ters sit, Rahab drawing Ase- 
 NATH tenderly to her. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (to Amorah, as she goes of). 
 Sleep tranquilly, my mother. — Little one, 
 I dared not tell our mother, but to thee 
 I will, for I would have thee understand 
 Why so insistently my messengers 
 Have urged thy coming, called my kinsfolk to 
 This haunt of license. 
 
 Asenath. 
 
 Sister, say not so! 
 Dear Rahab, where thou goest is no shame. 
 
 Rahab. 
 I doubt our mother might disburden all 
 My pack of news : she's waxen old, of late, 
 
Rahab 53 
 
 The years have loosed her tongue : my father's 
 
 wrath 
 Were loud and bitter, should I open wide 
 My heart, and spill its tidings. Listen, dear, 
 And let my words be buried in thy soul 
 As in a tomb. 
 
 Asenath. 
 I will. O Rahab, I 
 Tremble, I know not wherefore. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Hush, and hear. 
 'Twas yesterweek; two spies of Israel 
 Knocked at my door ; from them I took the tid- 
 ings 
 That warrior folk who dwell beyond the Jordan, 
 Led by their mighty captain, Joshua, 
 Would soon lay siege before this Jericho 
 And raze it to the ground. 
 
 Asenath. 
 
 Thou told' st the King— 
 Thou warned' st our father? 
 
54 Rahab 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Nay, I hid the spies. 
 Asenath 
 (draws back in astonishment). 
 Thou hid'st our enemies? 
 Rahab. 
 
 'Twas even so. 
 For I obey the living God; besides, 
 I loved the leader of the twain, a man 
 Noble, of princely mien. 
 
 Asenath. 
 
 Thou loved'st — a foe ? 
 I scarce can understand .... but it was 
 
 right, 
 If Rahab chose to do it! 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Full of faith! 
 My Asenath, this city of our birth 
 Sinning light-heartedly beneath bright skies, 
 Is doomed — not by the hand of Joshua, 
 But of high God. — I saw it in a dream. 
 
 [Rises, recites as if in a trance. 
 
Rahab 55 
 
 Our idols topple, luxury and lust 
 
 Rule us, the very capitals upon 
 
 Our temples — whLe pomegranates laced with 
 
 leaves — 
 Are evil things, bespeak our ribaldry, 
 Symbols of shame. This Jericho must fall .... 
 Must fall. . . . 
 
 Asenath. 
 
 Oh, then our ruin is at hand 1 
 Why should our gods forsake sweet Jericho? 
 
 Rahab. 
 Because her soul is dead; her body breathes 
 Alone. I have been part of it, my flesh 
 Partook of this corruption ; I must save 
 My soul; — it is a call that rings from God 
 Above all city claims. If any place 
 Help not the spirit in its climb toward God, 
 'Tis no true mother. 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 I know not of him, 
 This God thou namest, but I soothly know 
 That Rahab is my sister whom I love, 
 
56 Rahab 
 
 My Beautiful, whose words are wise and good, 
 Likewise her ways. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Sweet, I will tell thee more : 
 I let a scarlet cord hang from the ledge, 
 And when the soldiers of the King were gone 
 Who sought the spies, straightway I lied to them. 
 The two of Israel escaped thereby; 
 But first they sware, whenso they should return, 
 My house alone of all among the dwellings 
 In Jericho, should 'scape the fire and sword, 
 That self-same cord the sign. 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 Oh, now I see, 
 Thou bad'st us here — 
 
 Rahab. 
 Since here is the sole place 
 Of safety, when our strongholds bite the dust. 
 These men of Israel are conquerors, 
 Sparing nor men nor women; nay, they kill 
 The old and young, and every manner of beast — 
 The sword-edge eats them. 
 
Rahab $7 
 
 ASENATH 
 
 (huddling up to Rahab j. 
 
 Rahab, can it be? 
 Oh, I will stay within, and so must thou; 
 But father, — he — 
 
 Rahab. 
 Will forth on things of state, 
 Unless by sleight we hold him; thou must help. 
 They shall remain indoors; when Salmon spake 
 (Salmon he's called, I did not tell his name), 
 
 "Let not a single soul go forth 
 Across thy threshold, for who goes, shall die." 
 And he will keep his promise, none shall die 
 Within our house, — though he, my warrior- 
 prince, 
 Haply may perish, haply long ere this 
 Forgets the moodful maid he sware it to, 
 My transient face slipt from his memory, 
 As to a seaman fades some obscure cape 
 That melts in mist.. . . . No, he hath 
 
 faithful eyes — 
 Will keep his oath ! 
 
58 Rahab 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 Sweet sister, weep not so. 
 True lovers do not change. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Dear innocence ! 
 My soul has long been soiled ; so, sacrifice 
 Befits me : when the stormy host«s with rams 
 Batter the walls, and shrill the war-horse neighs, 
 To make the compact sure, then I will go 
 Out at the door to bid them stay their hands 
 Against my dear ones safely housed inside. 
 Salmon, — my God ! 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 Rahab, thou shalt not do it! 
 Thou must be safe for Salmon, he would guard 
 Thy dear head, sacredly, thou must not die. 
 I know our gods cry out for sacrifice, 
 Even of women and babes. The Jordan flood 
 Murmurs strange stories of the wretched ones 
 Doomed there to drown, or fed to Moloch's 
 
 maw; 
 So old nurse Reba told me many a time, 
 
Rahab 59 
 
 Paling my blood. But thou art dear and good, 
 And once a mage did come from far beyond 
 The river, strangely garbed, and at our house 
 He lodged; and when I said good-bye to him 
 Early at morn, he looked full fatherly 
 Upon me, and he said : 
 
 "My little one, 
 Be good, for nothing evil e'er befalls 
 The good." 
 
 And thou art good, my sister, so 
 Not meant to die. 
 
 Rahab 
 (dreamily). 
 
 Salmon was tall, and wore 
 A kind of grace about him like a garment: 
 He drew my heart. . . . "Under the cy- 
 presses, 
 Beneath the stars!" .... 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 It seems like the old time, 
 When we did sleep together; 'twas thy wont 
 To fold me close from cold, and tell me tales 
 
60 Rahab 
 
 Of heroes, and I thrilled to hear thee speak 
 So wondrously : and then — I know not why — 
 Thou vanished, and the happy days were done. 
 They told me thou wert worldly, wished no more 
 To see us — 'twas untrue : but thou wert lost 
 To me, and I must do without my playmate, 
 Make mine own stories, dream my dreams alone. 
 But thou art here, and lov'st me. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 I remember 
 My father, on the very night I fled, 
 Did kiss me on the brow; that one caress 
 Burned through a thousand lecheries, and kept 
 My tears aflow; I loved him from that hour 
 Doubly. 
 
 ASENATH. 
 I, too, remember; it was Spring. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Each Spring that comes to light our dusty way, 
 Is like a dream of youth, freshening a world 
 Grown old and weary. 
 
Rahab 6i 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 It is Autumn now. 
 Rahab. 
 Autumn, indeed. Ah, Asenath, those days 
 Seem to me very die-away and dim, 
 Like wind-bells in a temple, high above 
 Earth's troubling, with a music thin and sweet. 
 I must not dwell upon them. 
 
 [The sound of the King's trumpets 
 outside. Enter Amorah hur- 
 riedly from the house. 
 Amorah. 
 
 Rahab, list! 
 'Tis the King's blast. — 
 
 Asenath 
 (aside to Rahab,). 
 
 The secret of the spies ? 
 He knows — will seize us ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Never fear of that! 
 None is aware in Jericho, — unless 
 Horeb should leak it like a pent-house roof. 
 
62 Rahab 
 
 'Amorah. 
 Displeasure not the King, — for he is quick 
 To wreak revenge. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 His King is on my side — 
 The august King of Kings. (Aside.) — Mother, 
 fear naught. 
 
 [Enter Nathaniah impetuously, 
 at the centre, followed by a 
 guard of half a dozen soldiers 
 of Jericho. He checks himself 
 on seeing Rahab. 
 Nathaniah. 
 I come to one hath never passed our lintel 
 Since the dark day she left it to our shame. 
 
 Rahab 
 (approaches him with appeal in her eyes; her 
 
 voice is precative). 
 But I rejoice that thou art come. 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Stand back ! 
 I seek thy sister and thy mother. 
 
Rahab 63 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 I 
 Am likewise sister, daughter, — and have begged 
 To have thee here — 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 There's menace in the air, 
 The city shrinks and trembles : hostile spears 
 Are at her gates: famine, fire, and sword 
 Haply to-morrow overwhelm our homes. 
 Unlucky Canaan ! Would our youngest born 
 Were dutiful ! 'Twere comfort in this stress, 
 This carnage and confusion. 
 Amorah. 
 
 Say not so. 
 Father, vent not harsh words ; her heart is good ; 
 Surely she sent for us in kindness, hath 
 Great news, of moment to our welfare. 
 Asenath. 
 
 Aye, 
 Rahab is true, will help us. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Day by day 
 
64 Rahab 
 
 Thou revellest as a wanton midst thy mates, 
 While this proud city is in travail sore, 
 And I beside the King to steer her course. 
 Curses upon thee ! Barren be thy womb, 
 Milkless thy breasts ! Unwillingly I came, 
 Unwilling stay. 
 
 Amorah 
 (going to a statue of Baal and kneeling). 
 Ye gods, forgive our child, 
 And pity Jericho. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 I own my sin, 
 
 My giddiness; but I have bid thee come 
 
 In love and yearning. I would save thee ! 
 
 Nathaniah 
 
 (contemptuously) . 
 
 How 
 May she save others, could not save herself? 
 
 Rahab. 
 Because she knows the anguish of the lost ! 
 Nathaniah 
 (to soldiers, who fall back at his word). 
 
Rahab 65 
 
 I'll hear her : haply through some lover's blab 
 She learns the enemy's gin. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Dear ones, I speak 
 Like any child. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Thou that hast borne no child 
 To take our name, and prop our failing years ! 
 Rahab 
 (solemnly). 
 That time shall come. 
 
 [Music plays softly, repeating main 
 motif in the song sung by Lela 
 in Act I., a barbaric, minor 
 strain of mingled wildness and 
 sweetness. 
 I bring a sweet, strange thing; 
 I carry not a child, but a great thought ; 
 Big am I with its burden. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Bring it forth. 
 Women like thee, 'tis said, look longingly 
 
66 Rahab 
 
 On babes at breast — that cannot be their own. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Aye, that is sooth : Motherhood beckons me 
 Beyond a mist of blood, like a white flame ! 
 
 [Looks a warning to Asenath. 
 This Jericho is lost! 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Traitress, beware! 
 My sword will leap to light! Our walls still 
 
 stand, 
 And no man knows our fate. 
 
 Amorah 
 
 (goes to an idol). 
 
 Oh, let us bow 
 Unto our gods, since they are masterful. 
 
 [Rahab rushes to her, and over- 
 throws the idol from its pedes- 
 tal; it crashes on to the floor. 
 The others instinctively draw 
 away. 
 
Rahab 67 
 
 Rahab. 
 Bend not the knee : these are the shrines of doom 
 Have dragged us down to slaughter and to death. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 So! Impious, too? Love-toy and idol-breaker! 
 This land of ours is specially watched o'er 
 By Baal and his consort Ashtoreth, 
 Giver of wine, great goddess of the Sun. 
 Darest thou mock at these ? 
 Rahab. 
 
 Father, I dare. 
 The sea hath wider ways than all the lands, 
 Vaster her realm : beyond the outmost isles 
 The old eternal wash. So of the soul. 
 Back of these idols broods the living One. 
 There is a God, beyond the Jordan now, 
 But speedily to come and cleanse this sty — 
 In whose right hand I rest. 
 
 Nathaniah 
 (sneeringly). 
 
 What god is this, 
 A ruler over brothels ? 
 
68 Rahab 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Father, scan 
 My face. Is there brute passion graved upon it? 
 I speak because — a vision bade me see 
 Our city's downfall. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 Vision? What, and where ? 
 
 Rahab. 
 Last night, for the third time, a solemn dream, 
 And our destruction shown as in a ball 
 Of crystal, clear, irrevocable, my house 
 Alone left upright. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Whims and fancies all ! 
 No time for further chatter. (To Amorah and 
 Asenath .) Let us hence ! 
 
 Rahab 
 (with rising excitement). 
 Leave thou these two behind, and come thyself 
 Within the week. I . . . . may have 
 pregnant news 
 
Rahab 69 
 
 Upon the seventh day of siege . . . such 
 
 news 
 That thou wilt covet it, if it should chance 
 That Jericho's sore-straitened. 
 Nathaniah 
 (signals to soldiers to follow). 
 
 Let thy news 
 Be more than dream-built. I will to the walls. 
 Stay ye, if so ye will ; my time is wasted 
 In talk — farewell ! 
 
 [He goes out at centre down the 
 
 wall, followed by his guard. 
 [Rahab sinks into a seat, hiding 
 her face in her hands. ZULEIKA 
 enters hastily from the house. 
 
 ZULEIKA. 
 
 Lady, the Israelite is here, would have 
 An audience. 
 
 Rahab. 
 The Israelite? 'Tis he. (J side.) 
 'Tis Salmon ! Bid him in. 
 
 (Goes to others.) Leave me now. 
 
JO R A H A B 
 
 I . . . . must see one who brings me se- 
 cret tidings 
 Of pith for Jericho. 
 
 [Hurries them into the house; then 
 returns and nervously makes her 
 dress and hair seemly. 
 
 He comes, perchance, 
 To make me twofold sure he will remember 
 His words. His life's in peril, for the siege 
 Is nigh ! But his high God, and mine, will watch 
 And ward away all evil. 
 
 [Zuleika ushers in Horeb from 
 the house. 
 
 Horeb! Thou? 
 Horeb. 
 Yea, lady, — I have come — 
 Rahab. 
 
 Doubtless to see 
 Zuleika, though she may not wait thee now. 
 
 [Signs for Zuleika to withdraw, 
 and the girl goes out towards 
 the house. 
 
Rahab 71 
 
 HOREB. 
 
 Nay, I am for her mistress ! 
 Rahab. 
 
 Not for me ? 
 
 HOREB. 
 
 Even so, girl. (Thrusts his hand into his bosom.) 
 I bear within my breast — 
 
 Rahab. 
 A message ? Word from Salmon ? 
 Horeb. 
 
 Nay, love's word ! 
 Thy lover-lord's too busy with the spears 
 To dote on thee, and call thee dear: our hosts 
 Come but free-booting into Jericho, 
 And claim war-baggage: girls and gold and 
 
 gems, 
 And wines and scented woods. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 A dastard lie ! 
 
 Horeb 
 (Noises heard from the city). 
 
72 Rahab 
 
 Tigress, be tamed! Hark, to the shuddering 
 
 shock 
 Of broadswords; all the winy air 
 Hums like a mighty hive of golden bees 
 With arrows. Buoyed by the dream of thee, 
 My love put winged sandals to my feet, 
 Charming me hither. Fly, ere 'tis too late 1 
 
 Rahab. 
 Fly? Not with thee? 
 
 Horeb. 
 
 Who else can aid thee now? 
 I know a way that winds far underground, 
 Then threads the hills and, twisting serpentine, 
 Issues at the very foot of Lebanon ; 
 Above are odorous cedars, a meet place 
 For trothing; let us leave this ill-starred city 
 And shout our loves under the shining stars 
 From a high hill ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 We build our altars there; 
 Nor use such places for flesh-fondlings, dog! 
 
Rahab 73 
 
 Back to thy master and thy duty; I 
 Am not for thee. 
 
 Horeb. 
 
 Thou art for Israel. 
 Thou said'st it, and I love thee. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Love me — thou! 
 Call not lust love. Go, fight; thy country's cause 
 Summons her sons, brave in the battle press ! 
 
 Horeb. 
 Love me thou shalt ! What more can Salmon do 
 Than I, his mate? 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Thou never read'st my soul ; 
 Thou art a stranger — go! 
 
 Horeb. 
 
 Leave thee, alone? 
 Not for a wedge of gold whose worth in weight 
 Is fifty shekels. — To the mountain, love ! 
 [Seizes her roughly. 
 
 Rahab. 
 No man shall handle me save — 
 
74 R A H A B 
 
 HOREB 
 
 (laughing; kisses her). 
 
 Horeb — so ! 
 Rahab. 
 Wouldst thou then hale me to thy trysting bed ! 
 This is not conquering, but thieving, robber ! 
 
 Horeb. 
 I come of a race of robbers ! Arabs they 
 Who raped the harems of their foes, and swept 
 Like wind upon slim steeds across the desert, 
 Or camped with riotings beside some stream 
 Whose waters cooled their drunken bodies : now 
 I would reave thee ! 
 
 Rahab 
 (struggling). 
 
 Thou art so strong, so strong. 
 O Horeb, pity me ! I am a woman 
 Of tempest nature ; my unruly blood 
 Leaps madly to thy passion ; — but my soul, 
 My soul cries, Nay. 
 
 Horeb. 
 
 To Lebanon, my love. 
 Rahab of Jericho! 
 
Rahab j$ 
 
 Rahab 
 (tears herself from him). 
 Not while I live 
 To struggle and to hate ! 
 
 Horeb. 
 
 Thy peacock pride 
 Shall wilt, if I but open my sealed lips, 
 Tell of the red cord ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 What, tale-bearer too I 
 Are thus thy women won, most wonderful 
 Of tattlers ? 
 
 Horeb. 
 Tattler, traitor? Thou shalt rue 
 The arrogant words. I go to spread the news 
 Shall land thee in a dungeon — 
 
 [Horeb turns to go, and is con- 
 fronted by Ammon, who enters 
 from the wall and blocks the 
 way. 
 
 Rahab 
 (rushing to him). 
 
 Save me, Ammon \ 
 
j6 Rahab 
 
 Ammon. 
 What's this? An alien? 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Yea, an Israelite. 
 A spy, a traitor ! 
 
 Ammon. 
 Traitor? Then he dies. (Draws sword.) 
 Horeb. 
 Not till I tell thee — 
 
 [Zuleika, who has entered from 
 the house just before, ap- 
 proaches from behind and 
 places her hand over Horeb's 
 mouth. 
 Zuleika. 
 
 Tell it in thy grave, 
 False son of Israel, unclean hanger-on ! 
 The maid forsworn, thou wouldst the mistress 
 woo. 
 
 Rahab 
 (imperiously). 
 Enough, Zuleika. Ammon, make him dumb; 
 His words defile. 
 
Rahab 77 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 So, die, thou dog. 
 [Stabs Horeb. As the latter falls, 
 Rahab with her hand to her 
 heart sinks into a seat. 
 
 He's done. 
 Such deeds are nought to do for thee, for thee, 
 Empress of passion, royal Rahab! 
 [Tries to embrace her. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Fly! 
 Dally not here. Thy post is at the walls. 
 Jericho calls ! 
 
 [After a moment's hesitation, he 
 
 rushes forth, down the wall, 
 
 into the city. 
 
 Rahab (taking Salmon's gift from her bosom). 
 
 The pearl gleams white; still white 
 
 My thought of him ! Salmon, our secret's safe ! 
 
 [She sits, right. ZuLElKA stands 
 
 with knit brows, looking down 
 
 at the dead body of Horeb. 
 
78 Rahab 
 
 Again the music plays the minor 
 strain from Rahab' s song, with 
 triumph in it, yet unrest and 
 struggle. 
 
 
 Curtain. 
 
ACT III. 
 
And it came to pass on the seventh day that 
 they arose early, about the dawning of the day, 
 
 and compassed the city And it 
 
 came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests 
 blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the peo- 
 ple, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city. 
 And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that 
 are therein; only Rahab the harlot shall live, she 
 and all that are with her in the house, because she 
 hid the messengers that we sent. 
 
 Joshua vi. 15-17. 
 
Act III. 
 
 rHE scene is Rahab's living room as in 
 , Act I., on the morning of the last 
 day of the siege. The fountain, which was 
 playing before, is silent. From the city 
 come sounds of the siege; at intervals the 
 clash of weapons, thud of battering rams, 
 and trumpet peals, all toned down by the 
 distance. As the curtain rises, Zuleika en- 
 ters from the left rapidly, and goes to the 
 latticed opening, peering forth; then she 
 goes to Asenath, who lies on the floor, 
 cowed and frightened by the ominous 
 sounds from the city. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 The clangour of spears is keen ! My little bird, 
 Fret not, thy mother's here, and Rahab, too. 
 
 [Enter Rahab from the left, vi- 
 brant with excitement. 
 
 81 
 
82 Rahab 
 
 Rahab. 
 No sign of father yet? Hang out the cord; 
 It is the seventh day : it must be pendent 
 There from the lattice-work, plainsightedly, 
 For all the hosts to see. 
 
 Zuleika. 
 [Takes cord from behind a curtain 
 which hangs before the door, 
 and busies herself tying it in a 
 conspicuous place in the win- 
 dow. 
 The wounded in the garden lie about 
 In writhen heaps; maimed by the missiles hurled 
 Over the walls, they groan and sicken and die. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Poor riff-raff ! My heart cradles them ; and yet, 
 To die is little, unless Love change Life 
 Into enchantment. — Sister, thy cheek is pale. 
 Zuleika, fetch her food; she hath not broke 
 Her fast to-day. 
 
 Zuleika 
 (aside to Rahab,). 
 
 Already food grows scant, 
 
Rahab 83 
 
 But there is wine, and fruit. (To Asenath) 
 Come, dew flower, come, Rahab would have 
 thee eat. 
 
 [Zuleika bustles about the prep- 
 aration of the fruit and wine, 
 which are placed at a small hand 
 table. 
 
 Asenath 
 (plaintively). 
 
 I watch and watch, 
 Until my sight burns like a ball of fire, 
 But can see little. — Will not father come? 
 
 Rahab. 
 Verily, will he. — Thou must eat, and rest; 
 Thy lissome body sags for lack of sleep, 
 Thy fawn-eyes droop so heavy. 
 Asenath. 
 
 I can rest 
 Beside thee, Rahab, anywhere. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Dear heart, 
 We'll eat and drink. What wilt thou, tiny one ? 
 
84 Rahab 
 
 Pomegranates? They are coloured like thy 
 mouth. 
 
 [She waits on Asenath, who par- 
 takes but languidly, and makes 
 a pretext of eating herself. Then 
 she goes to the window and 
 looks forth again in evident anx- 
 iety. Sounds of increased tu- 
 mult afar of. 
 Zuleika 
 (going to the windows). 
 No sign of him ! Thou peerest like an eagle. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Yea, I am a she-eagle from her eyrie 
 Sweeping wide spaces with an unglad eye; 
 Wing-clipt, yet fain of air-adventure. — I 
 Must forth to seek my father, lure him here 
 In some-wise. Ere the sundown, shall the blast 
 Of trumpets blow, and riot trample red 
 Our white streets: he, a marked man of the 
 
 kingdom, 
 Slain like a common slave! 
 
Rahab 85 
 
 [She joins Asenath; Zuleika 
 busies herself in the rear, near 
 the window. 
 
 When father comes, 
 We two must keep him, dear, — thou knowest 
 
 why! 
 Thou specially canst do it, for his love 
 For thee will draw him to our dwelling, sweet. 
 Promise to hold him by these dainty arms 
 Of daughter-like devotion. 
 
 Asenath. 
 
 I will try. 
 But half afraid am I of father, for 
 His bluster and big oaths ! 
 Rahab. 
 
 Bravado that ! 
 Beneath, is tender-heartedness. 
 Asenath. 
 
 I know, 
 And I will strive my best : how horrible 
 Should father fail, not knowing the red cord 
 Our amulet ! 
 
86 Rahab 
 
 Rahab. 
 He cannot think my house 
 Inviolate, like the palace of a King; 
 Nathless, his sure defence ! 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 His own are here; 
 He should be glad to come. 
 Rahab. 
 
 My house of joy 
 A sanctuary for the driven one ! 
 It passes belief, but danger levels all. 
 Even a leper has a roof that guards 
 From rains and crooked lightnings. 
 Asenath. 
 
 Leper, thou ? 
 How canst thou say it, Rahab ! 
 Rahab. 
 
 Yet I love : 
 My kin, my Salmon, and the sole great God 
 Of Salmon and my dream. — My father's right. 
 I am to him naught but a — Rahab, she 
 Of Jericho ! 
 
Rahab 87 
 
 ASENATH. 
 Nay, Rahab of our name! 
 I hate these tauntings that engirt thy beauty 
 As serpents do a flower 
 
 [Zuleika comes from the window, 
 and whispers to Rahab. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Sister, thou 
 Must go to mother. Rest thee ; I may need 
 Thy sweet help later. 
 
 [Asenath, accompanied by Zu- 
 leika, goes of left; Zuleika 
 tarries a moment to speak to 
 Rahab. 
 Zuleika. 
 
 Ammon hastens through 
 Thy cypresses ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 Bringing me precious tidings 
 Shall make the path more plain. 
 
 [Ammon rushes on from right, 
 sword in hand. 
 

 88 Rahab 
 
 Thou comest, Ammon, 
 Bearer of news ! How goes the siege, and how 
 Prospers my father in the battle-press? 
 
 Ammon. 
 Evil our lot. Hardly I made my way 
 Amidst the frenzy; but my errand here 
 Is weighty. — Woe enough it is to leave 
 Our barrier bodies at the wall, and see 
 Cursed aliens conquer; but there's worse, and 
 
 worse 
 May come. 
 
 Rahab. 
 What mean'st thou ? 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 Jericho contains 
 
 Traitors, of her own folk, who plan to open 
 
 The gates by craft, and let those devils in 
 
 To kill, despoil, and burn. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Art sure of this? 
 
 Ammon. 
 Sure as the sure damnation meted out 
 To the betrayer ! 
 
Rahab 89 
 
 Rahab. 
 What the motive? 
 Ammon. 
 
 Gold: 
 
 The pledge a part of all their spoils. 
 
 [Angry sounds outside. AMMON 
 goes to the window. 
 Rahab 
 (shaken with conflicting emotions). 
 
 My deed — 
 Yet not my deed ; for that my deed, I swear. 
 Was ordered of high God. No traitor I ! 
 Gods of my race, was ever woman bound 
 In such fierce coil and counter-coil of Fate ! 
 My father — this will crack his heart. 
 Ammon 
 (returns from the window). 
 
 He dies 
 Of the defenders first, after the King. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Why didst thou come to me, why fleest thou not 
 Unto the palace, or amidst the bruit 
 
90 Rahab 
 
 Of arms, to warn my sire, that disgrace 
 May not embitter more this bitter day? 
 
 Ammon. 
 So much of trick and subterfuge prevails 
 Thorough the city, that I could not come 
 Within a crossbow shot of him ; they fear 
 Treachery on every side, would deem that I 
 Was leaguered with the foes. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (suddenly) . 
 
 Then I shall go ! 
 
 Ammon. 
 Madness ! Thou, a woman, move among 
 War-demons with red-shotted eyes ? 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Love-driven, 
 Mere craven women dare as much as heroes ; 
 And go I must. 
 
 Ammon. 
 My Rahab, stay with me, 
 For we are linked in one by love and death 1 
 
Rahab 91 
 
 Rahab 
 (imperiously). 
 Nay, be my friend; prate not of love in these 
 Last hours of blood and tears. 
 
 [She turns as if to go. 
 Ammon 
 (goes to window to prevent her). 
 
 Thou must not go I 
 Rahab 
 (aside, moving away from him). 
 Salmon hath said that Jericho shall fall : 
 His God declared it: then, the city falls. 
 But in fair, open battle, not by craft! 
 The God of Israel must manage that! 
 And I must aid my father, his big heart 
 Shall never burst through me. 
 [Goes to Ammon. 
 Ammon. 
 
 Rahab, thy doom — 
 Rahab 
 (snatches up a veil which she winds about her 
 head) . 
 
92 Rahab 
 
 To the King's palace or the van of warl 
 I'll drag him here to safety, if it mean 
 Lies, tricks, unsexing me, or death itself, 
 So long as he be spared ! 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 It cannot be : 
 Lo, Jericho is straitly shut; no man 
 Goes in or out; a mere maid compass it? 
 
 Rahab. 
 No one so well as I. — Zuleika, come ! 
 
 [Zuleika hastens in. 
 Watch well o'er Asenath and mother, they 
 Shall be my lures for father ; he may come 
 To fetch them to a better hiding-place 
 Than my frail roof fronting upon the wall. 
 Ammon, I thank thee for thy news. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 I go 
 Beside thee! 
 
 Rahab. 
 Nay, 'tis mine to do this deed; 
 
Rahab 93 
 
 I must be free of guilt toward my kin, 
 
 To look e'en the Jehovah in the face ! (Aside.) 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 But I would guard thee — every path is pregnant 
 With peril. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Nay, a mightier than thee 
 Guards me and guides — give way! Father, to 
 thee! 
 
 [She hurries forth by the window 
 on to the wall, and so down into 
 the city. Ammon and Zuleika 
 look after her from the lattice. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 Divine daredevil ! Look, she threads the path — 
 Reaches the gate .... and hurtles through 
 
 the street 
 That rocks with riot; on her head is borne 
 A jug of water — she's a water-girl, 
 Selling a cool salvation to parched lips. . . . 
 
94 Rahab 
 
 She'll never gain her sire ! . . . Now, she 
 
 melts 
 In the multitude. . . . 
 
 Zuleika. 
 
 All prophecies miscarry; 
 My mistress dear is lost ! 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 But who is yon, 
 The tall, fair warrior? . . . He bears his 
 
 sword 
 Right soldierly, and seems to draw this way. 
 His garb is strange. ... By all our city's 
 
 shrines, 
 An Israelite! 
 
 [Ammon secretes himself behind a 
 pillar at the left; Zuleika goes 
 off opposite. Enter Salmon, 
 by the window, looking swiftly 
 around in search of Rahab. 
 Salmon. 
 Not here ? The cord is hung. 
 She cannot be gone forth ! 
 
Rahab 95 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 He knows her house? 
 
 She harbours Israel? 
 
 {He discloses himself. 
 
 What wouldst thou here? 
 
 Salmon. 
 I seek the mistress Rahab : haply thou 
 Canst help me. 
 
 Ammon. 
 What hast thou to do with her? 
 Why Israel again? 
 
 Salmon 
 (aside) . 
 Again ? 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 Not yet 
 Our walls are down ; back to thy fellow-dogs ; 
 Or draw, and die! 
 
 Salmon. 
 I come not here to brawl, 
 Rather to help, to save. If thou dost know 
 
96 Rahab 
 
 Where Rahab bides, I pray thee, tell me now, 
 And take large thanks. 
 
 Ammon. 
 So thou wouldst look upon 
 The lady Rahab? 
 
 \Mutterings swell into loud cries 
 from beyond the wall: "The 
 red cord, tear it down!" 
 
 Hark, they know her sign ! 
 Salmon. 
 Her sign? What say'st thou ? 
 Ammon 
 (with marked insolence). 
 
 Every trade may flaunt 
 Some emblem: "Ho! here's rest, refreshment 
 
 too, 
 For man and beast at Rahab's wayside 
 
 inn. 
 Come one and all." 
 
 Salmon 
 (fingering his sword). 
 
 This passes patience, sir! 
 
Rahab 97 
 
 Ammon 
 (mockingly). 
 A myriad pities ! 
 
 [ The cries are redoubled: "Rahab, 
 pull down the cord." "Ammon, 
 Ammon, the idler, the traitor, 
 kill him!" 
 Gods ! the rabble raves 
 In a sheer frenzy ! They would glut their rage 
 On her and me ! 
 
 Salmon 
 (turns to explore the house). 
 
 Find her I will, forthright. 
 
 Ammon. 
 Thou wottest not the house, good Israelite; 
 The women's quarters privy are to thee, 
 While all to me is like an open hand, 
 Known day — and night! 
 
 Salmon. 
 I would not foul her house 
 By killing thee! 
 
98 Rahab 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 How kind and courteous ! 
 I'll tell thee then, Rahab hath late gone forth, 
 The bird is flown, empty the gilded cage, 
 Bootless thy quest. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 By Abraham's bosom, no! 
 Not forth amidst the slaughtering! She hung 
 The red cord, then went forth ? 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 A signal that 
 To call thee, Jew ? I'll twist it round thy neck. 
 
 [He goes to the lattice to pluck the 
 cord from it; Ammon blocks 
 the way, and draws his sword. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Touch but the cord : I run thee through. 
 
 Ammon. 
 
 My blood 
 Needs letting. — Faugh ! A signal to a foe ! 
 
Rahab 99 
 
 Salmon. 
 A signal to all Israel, cur ! to spare 
 Her and her house. 
 
 {They fight; Salmon disarms Am- 
 mon, and closes with him; the 
 shouts beneath are repeated: 
 "Rahab, the cord; we would 
 have her and Ammon!" Gradu- 
 ally Salmon forces Ammon 
 near to the window, through it, 
 and by a supreme effort, hurls 
 him over the wall. A great 
 shout goes up from the crowd 
 below. 
 Salmon 
 (leaning, breathed, against the lattice and look- 
 ing down at the mob). 
 A brave man, though a foe : a fearful fate ! 
 Mere offal midst of unclean animals. 
 
 {Puts his hand before his eyes. 
 Her splendour dazzles when I shut mine eyes, 
 And see her in my dream. There was a way 
 
ioo Rahab 
 
 Her hair grew off her neck; the blended beauty 
 Of burnished locks and living flesh ; — I swear 
 By all our altars, by the sacred ark 
 Of God, that same slim neck did beckon me 
 Through all the warlike web of Israel's fate, 
 And made of the grim work a golden wonder ! 
 
 [Cries outside: "Rahab, Rahab/ 
 Seize her, seize her!" Then a 
 piercing woman's shriek. Sal- 
 mon looks forth again. 
 'Tis she .... they seek to scay her . . . 
 
 she escapes . 
 Is here! 
 
 [Rahab, breathless, her garments 
 torn, rushes on to the wall, and 
 through the window. 
 Rahab. 
 'Tis thou, Salmon ! The siege is o'er? 
 Salmon. 
 Nay, love, I scaled the wall, and sought thee, lest 
 Thy heart should fail thee ; would make sure the 
 cord 
 
Rahab ioi 
 
 Was hung, thy kinsfolk safe; and more than all, 
 Read in thine eyes again, O mistress mine, 
 A shining welcome ! 
 
 [Eagerly approaches her. 
 Rahab. 
 Stay, Lord Salmon. Love 
 Sits not with present peril. I obeyed 
 God's mandate, saved thy life, betrayed my 
 
 birthplace; 
 But now, when I behold it in sore straits, 
 Something within me, deep at my soul's core, 
 Cries out against it, and my native land 
 Seems lovely in destruction — loved too late ! 
 [She is shaken with sobs. 
 Salmon. 
 God's will, dear Rahab; and He knows each 
 
 heart, 
 Judges our doings not by what appears 
 Before our fellows, but by what we strive 
 To do. . . . What of thy kinsfolk? Are 
 
 they all 
 Housed safely? 
 
102 RAHAB 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Still my father heaas the troops, 
 Hearcens the King. I have but now returned 
 From a vain hope : to win him here. — Should he, 
 My grand old sire, die, then murder lies 
 'Twixt me and thee, my one white love is dyed 
 Deep crimson. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Die he shall not! I'll away 
 And seek him, drag him here, if needs. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Not so. 
 Strong is my faith he'll come to fetch the others, 
 My sister and my mother, to some place 
 He deems is danger-proof. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 He is not doomed 
 To die; I feel it in my soul. — O Sweet, 
 Between swift lanes of arrows have I run 
 Merely to look upon thy face again. 
 Their snarling was a very song to me 
 
Rahab 103 
 
 That seemed to say, the while they clove the air: 
 "This path to her; speed on !" 
 
 Rahab 
 (with a tremulous smile). 
 
 Thou art a poet. 
 Help me to save my father I Thy reward, 
 The turbulent woman in whose heart there 
 
 strive 
 A thousand passions — thine the last, and best. 
 Uplift me with thy love. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 God bring it so ! 
 The father-love thou showest is to me 
 Beautiful; so my people love their own, 
 And I foresee but holier harmony 
 Between us twain, in that thou guardest him 
 Even as thyself. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 Is this the final day 
 Of Jericho, dear, sinful city? Stands 
 The prophecy? 
 
1 04 R A H A B 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 Those lofty battle-birds, 
 The trumpets of our leader, shall ring forth 
 Their brazen menace ere the sun be set, 
 And these so mighty walls go down in dust, 
 A miracle ! 
 
 Rahab. 
 Marvellous thy works of war. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Armed men fore-lead our priests; and following 
 
 after, 
 The ark: and then the rereward last of all. 
 So circle they the city seven times, 
 Ere the trumps blow their blast. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 In after years, 
 Men's lips shall pity Jericho, and curse 
 Rahab, the self-same breath ! 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 Nay, love of mine, 
 A curse is on the city, but thy name 
 
Rahab 105 
 
 Is destined to be chanted praisefully 
 So long as faith is famed. 
 Rahab. 
 
 At least, I save 
 My mother, who forgets my erstwhile guilt, 
 My little sister of the lamb-like ways, 
 And — grant it, God! — my father — who comes 
 not! 
 
 [Goes to window, and looks to the 
 city. 
 
 Salmon 
 (drawing her away). 
 I came to comfort thee — to feed mine eyes 
 Upon thy face that blooms a passion-flower 
 Imperially set upon a hill; 
 A rose of Jericho, whose odorous buds 
 Bear this town's name beyond the Red Sea's 
 rim ! 4 
 
 Rahab. 
 Salmon, thy love re-makes me. In my days 
 Of girlhood, I would sometimes sudden stand 
 And hear about me, like an elusive voice, 
 
106 Rahab 
 
 The rapture of the wide world's wordless things : 
 The winds and waters, and the bird-filled sky, 
 The tiny caravans that haunt the grass 
 Of Summer, and God's ancient gold, the 
 
 stars 
 Then, sins came flocking and I heard it not, 
 That mystic call. Of late, the Spirit again 
 Of sun-bright days and nights of silver moons 
 Speaks to me, and I take it for a sign 
 My soul awakens. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 Dear, my soul is glad. 
 Rest in my love. Farewell; I come again 
 With Israel's triumph-song, to claim mine own ! 
 [He kneels to kiss her hand. The 
 King's trumpet is heard close 
 outside. Rahab rushes to the 
 window. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 'Tis the King's trumpeter. He comes, he 
 comes — 
 
Rahab 107 
 
 My father ! . . . Now be thanked my Gods, 
 
 and thine ! 
 Let him not see thee, it would craze his soul 
 To meet a foe, with ruin at his gates. 
 Dear Salmon, for my sake, leave not my house. 
 Tarry thou here a little. 
 
 [Conducts him to the left entrance, 
 places him behind the curtain 
 and claps her hands for Zu- 
 LEIKA, who comes in at left. 
 
 Father comes; 
 Call in the others. 
 
 [Exit Zuleika, returning with 
 Asenath and Amorah. 
 May the fates be kind, 
 In this great hour that makes or mars us all ! 
 
 [Nathaniah comes in unattended, 
 by the way of the wall: looks at 
 Rahab, then goes to the other 
 women, showing special tender- 
 ness for Asenath. 
 

 108 Rahab 
 
 Amorah. 
 Husband, unharmed ! Is't well with Jericho ? 
 
 Nathaniah 
 (sombrely). 
 Jericho totters, — not because of dreams ! 
 But that corruption eats into her heart 
 And makes her battle-feeble. Just beyond 
 The walls is Israel; within, gaunt hunger 
 Begins to stalk with hollow eyes; the rabble, 
 Vomited from a city's lairs of vice, 
 Mutter and growl and threat: each moment 
 
 here 
 Hinders my duty. Come ye, now, with me, 
 For I will hide ye where, whate'er betides, 
 Lust shall not break thy peace. No harbour 
 
 this 
 For soldiers and their kind. Now hot-foot hence, 
 I sin in coming for ye. 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 Father, no; 
 Let us not leave this house, — 'tis safer here. 
 Our tower of strength is Rahab. 
 
Rahab 109 
 
 Amorah. 
 
 Yea, mayhap 
 
 Our elder daughter — 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Daughter ! Name her not. 
 Fold Asenath from harm and keep her close 
 Till she hath left the house : this is no spot 
 For virgins. I will go into the garden 
 To choose our readiest way — and then we'll 
 
 forth 
 Together. 
 
 Rahab. 
 Hold 1 They must not go, nor thou ; 
 Let me but leave the place ; I am loath to make 
 It noisome for thee ; but do beg thee, sir, 
 Seek not the terrible outer ways ! 
 Nathaniah 
 (with emotion). 
 
 My lease 
 Of life runs out: my bones shall bleach in the 
 
 sun, 
 My body feed the jackals. What of that? 
 
no Rahab 
 
 Why live without a country? Better lie 
 Among the stark and undistinguished dead; 
 In that gaunt company I shall not hear 
 The ribald flout thy name: "The gold-won 
 
 Rahab, 
 Look, 'tis Nathaniah's daughter!" 
 Rahab. 
 
 Father mine, 
 Thine anguish kills me; think me not — 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Now peace ! 
 Thou froward one ! Our councils are not thine. 
 
 (To the others.) 
 I carry papers of the King; designs 
 That show the windings of our treasure-house. 
 I must entrust them to my master. Come, 
 Thy veils, thy veils ! 
 
 [Mntterings again heard below. 
 
 Zuleika 
 
 (who has been watching at the window). 
 
 Mistress, the people murmur. 
 
Rahab hi 
 
 They ask the meaning of the cord that dangles 
 The lattice down. 
 
 [She returns to the window. 
 
 Nathaniah 
 (turns and sees it). 
 
 Some colour-frippery! 
 Or is it for a lure to gather here 
 Thy lovers ? 
 
 Rahab. 
 It repels mine enemies, 
 And thine, O father. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Folly from a fool, 
 As juices from the betel nut ! Make haste. (To 
 the other women.) 
 
 ASENATH. 
 
 If they should kill thee, father, we are left 
 Alone. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 Two women and a heap of words ! 
 No more of this — away ! 
 
ii2 Rah ab 
 
 ZULEIKA 
 
 (coming from the window). 
 
 She speaks but truth. 
 Our house alone is safe : the seething mob 
 Spit out their hate, demand the Israelites 
 They fancy here; mere beasts that pant for 
 
 blood, 
 No sense of friend or foe. 
 
 Nathaniah 
 (striding towards window). 
 
 One word from me 
 Will still their clamour. 
 
 [Gazes on mob. Hoarse cries of 
 "Rahab, the cord," etc. 
 
 Pull the bauble down; 
 It maddens them. 
 
 He tries to detach it. 
 
 Rahab 
 
 (rushes to him, and climbs lattice, making the 
 
 cord secure) . 
 
 The signal stays, our lives 
 Hang by that slender line ! 
 
Rah ab 1 13 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 Be headstrong then. 
 Befuddle thee with dreams and conjurers. 
 Keep the girl with thee ; I am for the King. 
 
 Rahab 
 (aside to AsenathJ. 
 Implore him : when he takes thee to his arms, 
 Get thou the papers hidden in his breast. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 Do thou, Amorah, watch thy younger child 
 As the great leopard cat her offspring. 
 
 Asenath 
 (rushing to him). 
 Father, thou wilt not leave us ! 
 
 [While he embraces her, she gets 
 the papers. 
 
 Nathaniah 
 (softened). 
 
 Little one, 
 All will be well, and thou be cherished soft; 
 But go I must. 
 
1 14 Rah ab 
 
 ASENATH 
 (going to RAHABJ. 
 I have them ! 
 RAHAB (seizing the papers, casts them into the 
 jaws of the image of the god Moloch, 
 whence flames issue). 
 
 My soul sings ! 
 Father, thou goest to assist the King: 
 The papers to deliver. Give them me, 
 And I will do it. 
 
 Nathaniah 
 
 (feels instinctively in his bosom, and misses 
 
 papers) . 
 
 Robbed! Wanton, by thee? 
 Rahab 
 (opens her arms wide before him). 
 Rend me apart, and all that's mine ! 
 Nathaniah. 
 
 No matter; 
 I'll forth, if but to die ! 
 
 ZULEIKA 
 
 (rushes from the window down to the others 
 with a wild cry). 
 
Rah ab 115 
 
 Oh, what is this ! 
 [A wonderful great noise of trum- 
 pets and shouting, and the fall 
 of mighty stones, as the walls of 
 Jericho go down. Then rises 
 clear above it all the victor-song 
 of the children of Israel. Dur- 
 ing the song, a lurid light plays 
 over the city. 
 Victor Song. 
 The Lord is a Man of War, 
 The Lord is his name. 
 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed glo- 
 riously. 
 All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away, 
 
 Terror and dread fall upon them. 
 By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as 
 
 a stone. 
 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed glo- 
 riously. 
 
 [With a choral swell. 
 Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah! 
 
u6 Rahab 
 
 [All are moved and dazed. Then 
 Nathaniah shakes of his stu- 
 por. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 Fallen ? All lost ! And I was cooped up here. — 
 Women ! But I will go to welcome death, 
 Not wait it here ! 
 
 [Is hastening to window: Rahab 
 throws herself before him. 
 Rahab. 
 
 Salmon, I summon thee ! 
 [Salmon steps forth from the cur- 
 tain. 
 Seize on this man, chief councillor to our King; 
 Let him not flee ! 
 
 [From both sides, and in through 
 the window, begin to pour the 
 dark-garbed Israelites with sav- 
 age looks and gestures. A sign 
 from Salmon quells them. 
 Salmon 
 (gravely, going to Nathaniah,). 
 
R AH AB 117 
 
 I hold thee, noble sir, 
 An enemy of Israel. 
 
 Nathaniah. 
 And betrayed 
 By mine own child, under her roof of sale ! 
 Rahab 
 (radiantly). 
 Saved by thy child, beloved, and by one 
 His country's leader. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 And her lover-leal. 
 [ To his soldiers. 
 Lions ye are in Jericho's proud streets, 
 Prey-hungry : here be lambs. The city dies, 
 The only remnant, Rahab and her kin. 
 
 [To Nathaniah. 
 Good sir, thine honour, and thine house's honour 
 Shall be perpetual. 
 
 Rahab. 
 
 My lord, my love ! 
 [He seeks to embrace her: she holds 
 him off. 
 
1 18 Rah ab 
 
 But O my country's shame! Divided gladness! 
 I walk to joy above my people's graves! 
 My destiny is sombre. . . . Once again 
 The dream, the vision ! 
 
 [As she recites, the motif of 
 Rahab's Song is heard once 
 more, passing into a triumphant 
 major. 
 
 Hear the words : "By faith 
 The harlot Rahab perished not with them 
 That believed not, when she had received the 
 
 spies 
 With peace." The voice uplifts me. (To Sal- 
 mon.,) Be thy God 
 My God. I leave the old bad life behind. 
 An outworn garment. 
 
 Salmon. 
 
 Mine to aid thee, sweet; 
 "Beneath the cypresses, under the stars !" 
 Rahab (taking pearl from her bosom and 
 kissing it). 
 The pearl shows no discolour from my breast. 
 
Rahab 119 
 
 Out of the house of bondage, out of Passion, 
 To love and light. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Rahab, of Israel! 
 
 Curtain. 
 
Hale's Dramatists of Fo-day 
 
 Rostand, Hauptmann, Sudermann, 
 Pinero, Shaw, Phillips, Maeterlinck 
 
 By Puof. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Jr., of Union 
 College. With gilt top, $1.50 net. (By mail, $1.60.) 
 
 An informal discussion of their principal plays and of 
 the performances of some of them. A few of those con- 
 sidered are Man and Superman, Candida, Cyrano 
 de Bergerac, L'Aiglon, The Sunken Bell, Magda, 
 Ulysses, Letty, Iris, and Pelleas and Melisafide. The 
 volume opens with a paper "On Standards of Criti- 
 cism," and concludes with " Our Idea of Tragedy," and 
 an appendix of all the plays of each author, with dates 
 of their first performance or publication. 
 
 Bookman: "He writes in a pleasant, free-and-easy way. . . . He 
 accepts things chiefly at their face value, but he describes them so accu- 
 rately and agreeably that he recalls vividly to mind the plays we have seen 
 and the pleasure we have found in them." 
 
 New York Evening Post : " It is not often nowadays that a theatrical 
 book can be met with so free from gush and mere eulogy, or so weighted 
 by common sense ... an excellent chronological appendix and full 
 index . . . uncommonly useful for reference." 
 
 Dial : " Noteworthy example of literary criticism in one of the most in- 
 teresting of literary fields. . . . Provides a varied menu of the most 
 interesting character. . . . Prof. Hale establishes confidential relations 
 with the reader from the start. . . . Very definite opinions, clearly 
 reasoned and amply fortified by example. . . . Well worth reading a 
 second time." 
 
 New York Tribune-' "Both instructive and entertaining." 
 
 Brooklyn Eagle: "A dramatic critic who is not just 'busting' himself 
 with Titanic intellectualities, but who is a readable dramatic critic. . . . 
 Mr. Hale is a modest and sensible, as well as an acute and sound critic. . . . 
 Most people will be surprised and delighted with Mr. Hale's simplicity, 
 perspicuity, and ingenuousness." 
 
 New York Dramatic Mirror: " Though one may not always agree 
 with Mr. Hale's opinions, yet one always rinds that he has something 
 interesting to say, and that he says it well. Entertaining and generally 
 instructive without being pedantic." 
 
 The Theatre: " A pleasing lightness of touch. . . . Very readable 
 book." 
 
 Henry Holt and Company 
 
 Publishers New York 
 
SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Brooke's Ten Plays of Shakespeare 
 
 By Stopford A. Brooke 
 
 8vo. Gilt top, $2.25 net. By mail, $2.38 
 
 An interpretation of the methods of Shakespeare as an artist by 
 the well-known writer on English literary history. Each play consid- 
 ered (the list includes Midsummer NighVs Dream., Winter's Tale, 
 Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Richard II., Richard III., Mac- 
 beth, Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus) is not so much analyzed 
 as "appreciated" in a thoroughly sympathetic spirit and genial style. 
 
 "A more delightful volume of criticism it would be hard to find 
 * * * one could scarcely have a more fascinating or more helpful 
 companion with whom to wander through Shakespearean fields * * * 
 his discrimination is markedly keen * * * each is illuminative and 
 lovers of Shakespeare owe Mr. Brooke a debt of gratitude." — Boston 
 Transcript. 
 
 "Mr. Brooke justifies his interpretation by the personality of his 
 point of view and more than all by the admiration and enthusiasm with 
 which he approaches the subject. A delightful analysis of the poetry 
 of the play, and indeed the great charm and value of his criticism as a 
 whole lie in the emphasis which he places upon the art of Shakespeare 
 and the keen zest which his comment adds to one's own delight in the 
 beauty of the plays * * * The plays are treated with individuality 
 and insight and with a finish and charm of style which would render 
 the volume eminently readable, even to a jaded student of Shake- 
 speare." — Times Review. 
 
 Shakespeare's London 
 
 By Henry Thew Stephenson 
 With 42 illustrations, 357pp. I2mo. $2.00 net. By mail, $2.15 
 
 At once a vivid portrayal and a careful and scholarly study, 
 largely from contemporaneous sources, of the topography, customs, aud 
 picturesque side of Elizabethan life. The illustrations are mostly from 
 old prints. 
 
 "Excellent reason for appearance * * * It is something more than 
 a mere topographical survey ; the daily life of the people is described as 
 vividly as their streets, their houses, and the mere external aspects of 
 their week to week existence * * * Brings each scene directly before 
 the eye of the reader." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 Ten Brink's Five Lectures on Shakespeare 
 
 Translated by Julia Franklin 
 12mo. Gilt top, $1.25 
 
 Contents : The Poet and the Man ; The Chronology of Shake- 
 speare's Works ; Shakespeare as Dramatist, as Comic Poet, as Tragic 
 Writer. 
 
 "No single volume on the great dramatist is, in our judgment, 
 superior in value to this modest but extremely able work." — Outlook. 
 
 Henry Holt and Company 
 
 Publishers (H, '06) New York 
 
 
FOUR NOTEWORTHY DRAMAS 
 
 The Princess of Hanover 
 
 A Play. By Margaret L.Woods, author of "A Village 
 Tragedy." $1.50 net. (By mail, $1.57.) 
 
 Thomas Hardy calls this play " the book I have read with the 
 most interest and pleasure during the year." The London 
 Times says, " It reminds us at every turn of some of the best 
 Elizabethan dramatists." 
 
 Nathan the Wise 
 
 A dramatic Poem. By GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING. 
 Translated by Ellen Frothingham. Preceded by a brief 
 account of the dramatist and his works, and followed by 
 Kuno Fischer's Essay on "Nathan the Wise." $1.50. 
 
 King Rene's Daughter 
 
 A Danish Lyrical Drama. By Henrik Hertz. Trans- 
 lated by Theodore Martin. i6mo, gilt. $1.25. 
 
 A modern classic, which has been played at leading theatres in 
 Germany, France, Holland, Sweden, England, and the United 
 States. 
 
 Shakuntala ; or, The Recovered Ring 
 
 A Hindoo Drama, by Kalidasa. Translated from the 
 Sanskrit by A. Hjalmar Edgren, Ph. D., sometime Pro- 
 fessor of Romance Languages, and Instructor in Sanskrit 
 in the University of Nebraska. i6mo, gilt top. $1.50. 
 
 Shakuntala is one of the world's dramas— indispensable in a 
 library of dramatic literature. 
 
 Henry Holt and Company 
 
 Publishers (iii '05) New York 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE'S MEMOIRS 
 
 Records of a Girlhood 
 
 Large iamo, with Portrait. $2.00 
 
 Nation : — " The book is so charming, so entertaining, so 
 stamped with the impress of a strong, remarkable, various 
 nature, that we feel almost tormented in being treated to a view 
 only of the youthful phases of the character. Like most of the 
 novels we read, or don't read, this volume is the history of a 
 young lady's entrance into life. Mrs. Kemble's young lady is a 
 very brillant and charming one, and our only complaint is that 
 
 we part company with her too soon What we have here, 
 
 however, is excellent reading." 
 
 Records of Later Life 
 
 Large i2mo. $2.00 
 
 The Independent: — "It is too unique and rich in the vari- 
 ous, not to say contrarious, phases of genius to be dispatched 
 
 in a word Both the letters and the later notes are 
 
 immensely entertaining. They sparkle with bright things and 
 bristle with points, and whether she has to describe men or 
 things, a landscape or affairs, or to write with graphic force, in 
 comic strain, or with brilliant point, her pen never fails. It is 
 easy to believe that all the bright spirits of contemporary time 
 are to be met in these pages, from all professions and all stations 
 in life; from England and America, with a great host besides 
 from Italy and France. There is excellent criticism on books, 
 new and old, on music and singers, on actors and the stage." 
 
 N. Y. Evening Post:—' It makes a very charming addition 
 to the literature of 'reminiscences.' It is impossible to read 
 ten pages of it without perceiving that we are in the society of a 
 superior mind and character." 
 
 Henry Holt and Company 
 
 Publishers (iv '05) New York 
 
 C 32 89 ■••■<* 
 
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