both are gone, now; and old Josephus had a fleet of men-of-war in these

waters eighteen centuries ago--a hundred and thirty bold canoes--but

they, also, have passed away and left no sign. They battle here no more

by sea, and the commercial marine of Galilee numbers only two small

ships, just of a pattern with the little skiffs the disciples knew. One

was lost to us for good--the other was miles away and far out of hail.

So we mounted the horses and rode grimly on toward Magdala, cantering

along in the edge of the water for want of the means of passing over it.

How the pilgrims abused each other! Each said it was the other's fault,

and each in turn denied it. No word was spoken by the sinners--even the

mildest sarcasm might have been dangerous at such a time. Sinners that

have been kept down and had examples held up to them, and suffered

frequent lectures, and been so put upon in a moral way and in the matter

of going slow and being serious and bottling up slang, and so crowded in

regard to the matter of being proper and always and forever behaving,

that their lives have become a burden to them, would not lag behind

pilgrims at such a time as this, and wink furtively, and be joyful, and

commit other such crimes--because it would not occur to them to do it.

Otherwise they would. But they did do it, though--and it did them a

world of good to hear the pilgrims abuse each other, too. We took an

unworthy satisfaction in seeing them fall out, now and then, because it

showed that they were only poor human people like us, after all.

So we all rode down to Magdala, while the gnashing of teeth waxed and

waned by turns, and harsh words troubled the holy calm of Galilee.

564

The Innocents Abroad