Authors: Geoffrey Household

The Brides of Solomon (26 page)

BOOK: The Brides of Solomon

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Mayne, the drivers and their mates caught the infection of romance. They felt themselves explorers, and would have deliberately supplied adventure if there had not been enough in reality. The
crossing of deserts by motor vehicles was then too new to be taken for granted. The lorries on their solid tyres ponderously ground and bumped over irregularities of surface. Halts were frequent,
and the running repairs of heavy complexity and doubtful value. The children were battered and bruised by the journey; but at night, wrapped in blankets on the sand, they abandoned themselves
utterly to sleep—sleep which all their lives, said Joseph and Aviva, they remembered for its quality of peace. The next day they would have conquered.

Of this they were so sure that Mayne, against his better judgement, resumed the journey with a single lorry; the other had to be abandoned to await a tow to workshops. But even springs and axles
obeyed the children. The remaining truck crept stolidly north until, instead of lonely shepherds, they saw huts with men and women sitting idle after harvest at the doors. Patches of sparse stubble
began to appear among the scrub and dry thorn.

Was it at last Palestine? Well, no one could say for certain. But it was decidedly not Egypt. Two hours later the lorry limped into an Arab village and approached a group of European colonists,
deep-eyed and sunburned, who waited patiently and could not yet see what precious freight was packed on blankets under the canvas hood.

Again the children asked if they had come to Palestine, and this time, though maps and politicians might be unwilling to commit themselves, history had no doubt. Mayne could not remember what he
answered. He was very anxious to hand over his charge and retreat into the desert before civilians and military could overwhelm him with embarrassing questions. Nor could he trust himself to speak,
for long war and sacrifice and promise, children and place and the ancient sanctities of Jew and Christian were of profound emotional power.

‘You said,’ Aviva reminded him: ‘this is Beersheba. I must leave you now.’

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Drew Padrutt

978-1-5040-0677-4

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

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