This Scarlet Cord Read Free Page B

speak to her myself. This is a respectable house and she will need to be reassured that the girl is not a prostitute.”
    “Yes, Father.”
    As soon as they were alone together, Rahab looked up at Sala. He was a very good-looking boy. His hair was black as night and worn shorter than the men of Jericho wore theirs. His nose was thin and elegantly curved and his dark brown eyes looked both warm and intelligent. He was quite tall, taller than her brother Shemu, but slender. She wondered how old he was but didn’t think it would be polite to ask.
    “What language were you speaking?” she asked instead.
    “Hebrew. We are Israelites, Rahab. There are many Israelites in Canaan, but most of them live in small towns in the Judean hills. My father and I live in Ramac, the only Israelite city on the Great Sea. We came to Gaza to buy a new ship for my father’s fleet. He is a merchant.”
    “I do not know about Israelites,” Rahab said, careful to pronounce the word correctly. “Are you different from us?”
    “Yes, we are different. We do not worship your gods, we worship one God only, the God who created the world.”
    Rahab frowned. This sounded strange to her. “Is this god like our Baal?”
    Sala’s lips tightened and for a moment he looked forbidding. “He is nothing like Baal, or any other of your gods. He is the one true God; your gods are just make-believe.”
    Sala was making her nervous. It was not good luck to say bad things about the gods. Besides, she was sure it was the lady Asherah who had saved her from the bandits. But she did not want to argue with Sala—he was her savior after all. So Rahab smiled and asked a different question and they were still talking when Lord Nahshon came back into the room.

Three
    D URING THE TIME L ORD N AHSHON WAS AWAY, S ALA learned the names and likes and dislikes of everyone in Rahab’s family as well as the specifics of her kidnapping. When Lord Nahshon returned, an older woman with a brown, wrinkled face was with him. Sala thought she looked like a shriveled old date.
    Sala’s father said, “Rahab, this is Hura, and she is going to watch over you while we are in Gaza. We are a group of men and you cannot be alone with us. It would not be right. Hura will show you to the room I have taken for you and then she will bring you some fresh clothing. She has a granddaughter who is about your size.”
    Lord Nahshon spoke with quiet authority, but Rahab shook her head. “Thank you, my lord, but I don’t want to stay here, I want to go home. Please, can’t you just send me back to my father?”
    Lord Nahshon looked a little taken aback and Sala smothered a grin. His father was not accustomed to having his arrangements questioned by anyone, let alone a little girl.
    “When I have decided how to accomplish that, I will inform you,” Lord Nahshon replied, looking down his hawk-like nose.
    Rahab didn’t seem satisfied by this answer. She glanced at Sala and he shook his head slightly, telling her she shouldn’t ask anything else right now.
    Her lips pinched together and an elusive dimple flickered in her cheek. Then she bowed her head and said, “All right, I will go with Hura.” She turned to the door, then stopped, looked back, and added with conscientious politeness, “Thank you, Lord Nahshon, for helping me.”
    “You are welcome,” Sala’s father replied.
    After the door had closed behind her, Lord Nahshon turned to Sala, shaking his head. “Whatever made you pick that child up, Sala? She is a Canaanite; she has nothing to do with us.”
    “It was the look of terror on her face,” Sala said. “You would have done the same thing, Father. It would have been heartless not to help her. She is a little girl. I couldn’t just ignore her.”
    Lord Nahshon sighed. “Well, I suppose I am saddled with her now. As you say, it would be heartless to turn her loose on the streets of Gaza. A girl child who looks like that, some unsavory character would be sure to pick her