But Ben Amram's voice rang through the din. 'Brethren!' He rose from wiping the frothing lips of the stricken creature, and his face had the fiery gloom of a seer's, and the din died under his uplifted palm. 'Brethren, the Lord hath saved us!'
'Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever!' The Rabbi began the phrase, and the congregation caught it up in thunder.
'But hearken how. Last night at the _Seder_, as I opened the door for Elijah, there entered Maimon the _Meshummad_! 'Twas he quaffed Elijah's cup!'
'Nay, but God sends the Prophet of Redemption in strange guise,' the physician said. 'Listen! Maimon was pursued by a drunken mob, ignorant he was a deserter from our camp. When he found how I had saved him and dressed his bleeding face, when he saw the spread Passover table, his child-soul came back to him, and in a burst of tears he confessed the diabolical plot against our community, hatched through his instrumentality by some desperate debtors; how, having raised the cry of a lost child, they were to have its blood found beneath our Holy Ark as in some mystic atonement. And while you all lolled joyously at the _Seder_ table, a bottle of blood lay here instead of the Consecration wine, like a bomb waiting to burst and destroy us all.'
A shudder of awe traversed the synagogue.
'But the Guardian of Israel, who permits us to sleep on Passover night without night-prayer, neither slumbers nor sleeps. Maimon had bribed the _Shamash_ to let him enter the synagogue and replace the Consecration wine.'
'Red Judah!' It was like the growl of ten thousand tigers. Some even precipitated themselves upon the writhing wretch.
'Back! back!' cried Ben Amram. 'The Almighty has smitten him.'
'"Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,"' quoted the Rabbi solemnly.
'Hallelujah!' shouted a frenzied female voice, and 'Hallelujah!' the men responded in thunder.
'Red Judah had no true belief in the God of Israel,' the physician went on.
'May he be an atonement for us all!' interrupted the Cantor.
'For a hundred roubles and the promise of personal immunity Red Judah allowed Maimon the _Meshummad_ to change the bottles while all Israel sat at the Seder. It was because the mob saw the _Meshummad_ stealing out of the synagogue that they fell upon him for a pious Jew. Behold, brethren, how the Almighty weaves His threads together. After the repentant sinner had confessed all to me, and explained how the Cossacks were to be sent to catch all the community assembled helpless in synagogue, I deemed it best merely to get the bottles changed back again. The false bottle contained only bullock's blood, but it would have sufficed to madden the multitude. Since it is I who have the blessed privilege of supplying the Consecration wine it was easy enough to give Maimon another bottle, and armed with this he roused the _Shamash_ in the dawn, pretending he had now obtained true human blood. A rouble easily procured him the keys again, and when he brought me back the bullock's blood, I awaited the sequel in peace.'