Leon Uris (65 page)

She was the one person he could trust and care for. Why of all people on earth did it have to happen to her? How many times in that stinking camp on Cyprus had Karen expressed her simple, all-powerful faith to him? Now Karen was hurt and her despair was deep pain to him.

What did she have left? Himself and Mrs. Fremont. What was he to her? He was a millstone—a nothing. There were times he wanted to hate Mrs. Fremont but he couldn’t because he knew that she was good for Karen. With Karen’s father out of the way perhaps Mrs. Fremont would take her to America.

He stood in the way.

He knew Karen wouldn’t leave him. In Dov’s mind there was only one thing to do.

A youth named Mordecai was a secret recruiter for the Maccabees at Gan Dafna. From him Dov succeeded in discovering where and how to make contact with the underground organization. The cottages of the faculty were never locked at Gan Dafna. He waited one evening until they were all at dinner, then rifled several cottages. He stole a few objects of gold jewelry and fled to Jerusalem.

Bruce Sutherland went directly to Dr. Lieberman and got him to urge Kitty to bring Karen to Sutherland’s villa for a week or two to allow her to recover from the shock.

Karen bore her grief with the same dignity and courage that had carried her through a life filled with tragedy. Kitty Fremont was wise. She never left the girl’s side.

The fate of Karen’s father along with the disappearance of Dov Landau added up to a grim victory for Kitty. She felt that in time she would be able to get Karen to America. Kitty thought about it constantly at Sutherland’s villa, detesting herself at times for finding consolation in Karen’s tragedy, but she could not stop her thoughts. Since she had first seen Karen in the tent at Caraolos her entire life had revolved around the girl.

One day after lunch Ari Ben Canaan came to Sutherland’s villa. He waited in the study while the servant fetched Sutherland from the terrace patio. Bruce excused himself and left the girls sunning. The two men spoke for nearly an hour, transacting their business.

“I have a friend of yours here,” Sutherland said after they had concluded their discussion. “Kitty Fremont is spending a fortnight here as my house guest with the young Clement girl.”

“I heard you two had become great friends,” Ari said.

“Yes, I think Katherine Fremont is one of the finest women I have ever met. You should run up to Gan Dafna and see what she has done with some of those children. There was a boy who didn’t even talk six months ago who now has not only opened up but is starting to play a bugle for the school band.”

“I’ve heard about that too,” Ari said.

“I insisted she come here and bring the Clement girl. The child found her father. Poor chap is completely and incurably insane. It was a terrible shock, needless to say. Come on out to the garden.”

“I’m sorry. I have some other things to attend to.”

“Nonsense, won’t hear of it.” He took Ari’s arm and led him out.

Kitty had not seen Ari since the Mount Tabor affair. She was startled by the first sight of him. Ari had been neglecting himself.

She thought that Ari was amazingly gentle in his conveyance of condolence to Karen. He showed her a tenderness that he apparently reserved for his own people. He had never treated Kitty that way. Was this because Ari accepted Karen as one of them, Kitty wondered? Then she grew angry at herself. It seemed to her that she was beginning to categorize every word and situation on its meaning in relation to Karen’s Jewishness. Now perhaps she was creating meanings that did not even exist.

Kitty and Ari walked through Sutherland’s rose garden.

“How is she?” Ari asked.

“She is a very strong and courageous child,” Kitty said. “It was a shocking experience but she is doing remarkably well.”

Ari looked back to where Karen and Sutherland were playing checkers. “She is a lovely girl,” he said sincerely.

His words surprised Kitty. She had never heard that tone of appreciation from him before and she had wondered if things of beauty even reached him. They stopped at the end of the path where a low stone wall ran around the edge of the garden. Beyond the wall the valley lay at the bottom of the hill with Safed beyond. Kitty sat on the wall and stared out at the Galilee, and Ari lit a cigarette for himself and one for her.

“Ari, I’ve never asked a personal favor of you. I am about to do so.”

“Of course.”

“Karen is going to get over her father in time, but there is another thing that she may not get over. Dov Landau has run away from Gan Dafna. We assume he has gone to Jerusalem to join the Maccabees. As you know, she has taken the boy as a personal crusade. The loss of her father has magnified the loss of Dov. She is eating her heart out for him. I want you to find him for us and bring him back to Gan Dafna. I know you have the connections which can locate him. He would come back if you could convince him that Karen needs him.”

Ari blew a stream of smoke and looked at Kitty with curiosity. “I don’t think I understand you at all. The girl belongs to you now. He is the one possible person who stands in your way and he has removed himself.”

Kitty looked at him evenly. “I should be offended by what you say but I’m not because it’s true. The fact is that I can’t build my own happiness on her misery. I can’t take her away to America with this thing with Dov unresolved.”

“That is very commendable.”

“It isn’t honorable intent, Ari. Karen is a wise girl about everything but that boy. We all have our weak spots, I suppose. She will get over him far more quickly if he is at Gan Dafna. With him away in the Maccabees she will magnify his image until it is beyond proper proportion.”

“Forgive me for thinking in simple terms, Kitty. You are shrewd.”

“I love that girl and there’s nothing sinister or devious about it.”

“You’re making sure she has no place to go but with you.”

“I’m making certain that she knows she has a better place to go. Perhaps you don’t believe this, but if I knew it was better for her to stay in Palestine, this is where she would stay.”

“Maybe I do believe that.”

“Can you in all honesty tell me that I am doing something wrong by wanting to take her to America?”

“No ... it is not wrong,” Ari said.

“Then help me get Dov back.”

There was a long silence, then Ari snuffed out his cigarette on the wall. He peeled the paper, unconscious of his action and scattering the loose tobacco and balling the paper into a tiny knot which he put into his pocket. P. P. Malcolm had taught him never to leave traces of a cigarette. Cigarette butts were glaring signposts to Arabs in search of enemy troops.

“I can’t do it,” Ari said.

“You can. Dov respects you.”

“Sure, I can find him. I can even force him back to Gan Dafna and say, ‘Stay put little boy, the ladies don’t want you to get hurt.’ Dov Landau has made a personal decision that every Jew in Palestine has got to make with his own conscience. The feeling about this is very intense. My father and my uncle haven’t spoken to each other for fifteen years over it. Every fiber of Dov Landau’s being shrieks out for revenge. He is being driven with an intensity that only God or a bullet can stop.”

“You sound as though you condone the terrorists.”

“Sometimes I am in complete sympathy with them. Sometimes I detest them. Yet I would not want to be the judge of their actions. Who are you and I to say that Dov Landau is not justified? You know what they’ve done to him. You are wrong about something else. If he is brought back he can only bring more pain to that girl. Dov must do what he must do.”

Kitty got down from the wall and brushed her skirt and they walked toward the gate. “Ari,” she said at last, “you are right.”

Sutherland joined them as they walked outside to his car. “Are you going to be around long, Ben Canaan?” he asked.

“I have a few things to attend to in Safed. I better get them done.”

“Why don’t you come back and join us for dinner?”

“Well, I ...”

“Please do,” Kitty said.

“Very well. Thank you.”

“Good. Come on back up just as soon as you are through in Safed.”

They waved as he drove down the hillside, past the Taggart fort and out of sight.

“
He who guards Israel shall neither rest nor sleep
,” Kitty said.

“Good Lord, Kitty. Have you gotten around to Biblical quotations?”

They opened the gate and walked back toward the patio.

“He looks exhausted.”

“I think he looks fine,” Sutherland said, “for a man who works a hundred and ten hours a week.”

“I’ve never seen such dedication ... or would you call it fanaticism? I was surprised to see him here, Bruce. I didn’t know you were mixed up in this business.”

Sutherland stuffed a pipe full of tobacco. “I’m not really actively engaged. The Haganah came to me and asked me to make an appraisal of the Arab armies’ strength outside Palestine. They simply want a professional, nonpartisan point of view. See here, Kitty, don’t you think it is time you became honest with yourself in this matter?”

“I told you I’m not going to be partial to either side.”

“Kitty, I’m afraid you’re acting like an ostrich. You’re sitting in the middle of a battlefield and saying ‘Don’t hit my house, my blinds are drawn.’ ”

“I’m getting out, Bruce.”

“Then you’d better do it quickly. If you believe you can stay on much longer the way you have then you are living in a fool’s paradise.”

“I can’t bring myself to it just yet. I must have a little more time until Karen has recovered from this.”

“And is that the only reason?”

Kitty shook her head. “I guess I’m afraid of a showdown. There are times when I am sure I have beaten this thing of her and Palestine—and other times, like right now, I’m terrified of putting it to a test.”

From Sutherland’s villa before dinner they could see the enormous full moon hanging over the city.

“ ‘
Three great gifts hath the Lord granted Israel, but everyone of them will be won by suffering. One of them is the Land of Israel
,’ ” Sutherland said. “Those are the words of Bar Yohai two thousand years ago. I would say he was a wise man.”

“Speaking of wise men, I am going to the Sea of Galilee tomorrow. Have you been there yet, Kitty?” Ari asked.

“No, I’m afraid my travel has been rather restricted.”

“You should see it for sure. You’d better go soon. It will be too hot in a few weeks.”

“Why don’t you take her?” Karen said quickly.

There was an embarrassed silence.

“That ... that’s really a good idea,” Ari said. “I could work my schedule around to take a few days off. Why don’t we all go, the four of us?”

“I don’t care to,” Karen said. “I’ve hiked there twice already with the Gadna.”

Bruce Sutherland picked up Karen’s cue. “Not me, old chap. I’ve seen the lake a dozen times.”

“Why don’t you go with Ari?” Karen said.

“I think I’d better stay here with you,” Kitty answered.

“Nonsense,” Sutherland pressed. “Karen and I will get on just fine by ourselves. As a matter of fact it will be a pleasure to get rid of you for a few days, not to mention the fact that Ari looks as though he could stand a bit of a rest.”

Kitty laughed. “Ari, I smell an underhanded plot. It appears we have a pair of matchmakers trying to make a
shiddoch
.”

“Listen to her!” Karen cried in excitement.

“Shucks, I’m just a
sabra
at heart. It looks as though you’re trapped, Ari.”

“That suits me fine,” he said.

E
ARLY THE NEXT MORNING
Ari and Kitty drove to the Sea of Galilee. They entered the Genossar Valley which ran along its northern shores. Across the lake the browned-out hills of Syria loomed over this low point on the earth and the warm, sultry air hung still.

This is God’s own sea, Kitty thought. Once again she was alone with Ari Ben Canaan and once again she felt the timelessness of the land close in on her as she had felt it in the Judean hills. Why was she more affected when she was with Ari, she wondered?

At the edge of the sea he took her to the ruins of the synagogue of Capernaum. Here, Jesus walked and taught and healed. Words came to Kitty’s mind that she thought she had forgotten.
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee and saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea ... And they went into Capernaum and straight away on the Sabbath He entered into the synagogue and taught.

It was as though He had never left. On the water’s edge fishermen cast their nets into the sea and a small flock of black goats grazed and the ages had not passed.

From there Ari took her to the church which marked the place of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes a short distance from Capernaum. The floor of the church held a Byzantine mosaic depicting cormorants and herons and ducks and other wild birds which still inhabited the lake.

And then they moved on to the Mount of Beatitudes to a little chapel on the hill where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

These were His words spoken from this place. As she saw the Christian holy places the thought came to confuse her that Ari Ben Canaan and David Ben Ami and her own Karen seemed to live with a closeness to all this that she could never attain.

They sped past the sleeping Arab village of Migdal, the birthplace of Mary Magdalene, and then beneath the Horns of Hattin, which held the tomb of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses and the chief prophet of the Druses, but Kitty’s attention was distracted by her mental turmoil.

Then the car turned away from the plains of Hattin and into a flat field where a burst of scarlet hit their eyes. The field was a red carpet of wild flowers.