He didn't see them until he dismounted. There were three of them and they came out of the inn menacingly. The one with the feather came up to Baruch as soon as he'd dismounted.
"Sir, we have orders to inspect all travelers on this road."
"May 1 know why, sergeant?"
"The murder of a high official of the Church."
"I'm coming from Bremen. Where did this terrible thing happen?"
"in Munster, five days ago. In any case, we have orders to go through everything. Wherever it comes from."
Baruch, very courteously, showed them his credentials as emissary from the kingdom of Denmark on his way to Leipzig, and asked the sergeant to have the deference not to search through the rest of the papers in the document pouch, to which the sergeant agreed, Because we're not looking for papers.
"And what is it you're looking for?"
"We're not authorized to reveal that to anyone."
"In that case, I'm at your disposition, gentlemen."
And they went through absolutely everything, the bastards. Everything meaning that they put him in a room, they made him tell his name (Peter Nielsen), birthplace (Alborg), profession (optician) and the reason for his journey (1'm sorry, but for obvious reasons 1 cannot say any more than 1 already have). Afterwards, amiably but firmly, they stripped him naked. He reminded them uselessly that he was an emissary of the kingdom of Denmark, and they went over every stitch of his stinking clothing, his pouch, his shoes, his blanket and Lambertus's saddlebags, and left him shaking with indignation and cold. When he had dressed, he demanded that the sergeant apologize to an emissary of the kingdom of Denmark on his way to Leipzig, but the sergeant and his soldiers had no time for games and paid him no mind. Besides, two more travelers had arrived. At the inn that night, they told him that his horse was unwell and he could change mounts.
Baruch said nothing but he slept with one eye open, listening from time to time to poor Lambertus neighing, and before it was light, ignoring the advice of the stableboy, he mounted Lambertus with the intention of following the sun. Below him, still in shadow, the famous city of Magdeburg. Lambertus, who was starting to urinate blood, now walked purely out of obedience. So when they arrived at the banks of the Elba, he dismounted, took off the saddle, and made the beast lie down on the grass. His breathing was so labored that it broke your heart, and it was clear that he was in unbearable pain.
"1 hope you will forgive me, dear Lambertus," he whispered into his ear. And he severed his jugular with the stiletto. The animal shuddered harder than the episcopal secretary and his eyes became glassy. Without waiting for the death throes to end and after making sure that he was completely alone, Baruch opened the horse's gut with a precise motion. He thrust his hands into the stench spilling out of the intestines, and then farther, until he came to the stomach. All of the coins were there, bloody, filthy, but whole, offering their gold to Baruch. He left nothing behind. When he was picking out the last one, he thought he could feel a slight tremor in Lambertus's body. Goodbye, Lambertus, he said without turning around, as he left carrying the saddle.
He went on foot for a couple of days. On a road outside Modkem, Baruch Benedictus Gerrit Peter Anslo Olson van Loo Nielsen bought a tall, nervous horse, which he baptized with the name of Lambertus, and pushed on to get away from those places where, involuntarily, he had left traces.
5
"After thirty-six days of traveling under fearful conditions, 1 finally arrived, Adonai be praised, at the end of my journey. Spread before my eyes, weary of so much winter, were the houses of the city of Lodz, and in one of them was the family to whom I was to bring my present."
(How could we be so lucky.)
"You are an honorable and well-known person, Reb ltshak. I had to ask only once and 1 was sent to the right house. The first person 1 saw… was sweet Sarah, who was standing on a mound of peat, looking out over the road."
(How nice he is. 1 could just eat him.)
"And here 1 am. Now you know everything about me."
Everyone was respectful of the silence that fell. Baruch himself broke it after taking a sip of that warm and welcoming wine.
"1 don't want to disturb you," he announced. "With your permission, I'll prepare to return to Amsterdam as soon as I've recovered my strength."
(But what are you saying? You just got here.)
Silence. ltshak Mattes was thinking of the newcomer as a possible assistant to whom he could teach the secrets of the art of cutting, given that Chaim was distancing himself, drawn by study and prayer. Temerl was thinking, Poor young man, he must rest for as long as he wants and the voyage is dangerous. He can't leave until summer. Chaim was appraising Baruch's eyes, but silently. He was silent inside.
(Let him stay. Stay. Forever, Josef.)
At night, when everyone was asleep, Chaim Mattes shook him energetically by the shoulder. Young Baruch, half asleep, thought, This is it, Maarten has sent someone after me and I'm finished.
"Josef, wake up!"
It took a while for him to realize that it was suspicious Chaim, with a light in his hand. Baruch tried to sit up, his eyes wide with fright. Chaim, yes. He calmed down.
"What do you want? What is it?"
Chaim, with the flat of his hand, kept him down.
"Everything you said tonight was a lie."
"What?"
"No one in Amsterdam knows my father. That's impossible."
"He's on the list. And he certainly thinks it's possible."
"Pride and arrogance blind our eyes."
"You concentrate on the Torah and leave me in peace."
Chaim left the light on the nightstand. The chiaroscuro was reminiscent of Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Once again, he held Baruch down.
"Why have you come?"
"On the orders of my master."
Chaim opened his fist. Five gold florins. He left them on top of the nightstand.
"How is it that you're so rich? Your purse is full."
"What you're doing is an insult to your family's hospitality."
"What have you come to do?"
"For your own peace of mind, tell your father to find out… 1 don't know, if ltche Hertz in Warsaw buys second quality at the price of first."
"If 1 find out that you're trying to steal from my father, I'll kill you.
He gave him a seemingly affectionate slap on the cheek and left the room, with the candle. Baruch, in the dark, began to make plans.
Two rooms farther down, Sarah, in her dreams, recited the Aleinu transported with joy at Josef's existence and begged him not to leave, never to leave.
He had to wait for three days. On the fourth, ltshak Mattes, after shutting himself up with his son for hours in the workshop, left for Warsaw to look into the business of that Hertz. Baruch had to wait only until the suspicious son went to cheder to teach the boys the rudiments of the Mishnah, the reflections of the Gemara and the history of the people of God taught in the Torah. All praise to Elohim, because finally Chaim's eyes are no longer boring into my thoughts.
Baruch waited for the moment when Temerl was involved with preparing that night's borsch and turned his best smile onto Sarah.
"Why don't you show me the workshop?"
"When father isn't here, we can't go in."
Baruch put his hand on her back, made her tremble with emotion and said, But I'm here, and I'm a sort of big brother, right?
(Big brother, little brother, any kind of brother, Josef, I love you.)
"Yes."
"So?"