As we came near we heard the people shouting, and nearer still made out the sounds. Was it? Yes, I could not be mistaken. "The Baal Shem! The Baal Shem!" My heart beat violently. What a stroke of luck was this! "The Baal Shem is there!" I cried exultantly. The woman grew worse. "The Baal Shem!" she shrieked. "He is a holy man. He will slay us with a glance." "Peace, my beautiful creature," said the driver. "You are more likely to slay him with a glance." This time his levity grated on me. I peered eagerly towards the gates, striving to make out the figure of the mighty Saint! The dense mob swayed tumultuously. Some of the people ran towards our cart. Our horse had to come to a stand-still. In a trice a dozen hands had unharnessed him, there was an instant of terrible confusion in which I felt that violence was indeed meditated, then I found our cart being drawn forward as in triumph by contesting hands, while in my ears thundered from a thousand throats, "The Baal Shem! The Baal Shem!" Suddenly I looked with an incredible suspicion at the old man, smoking imperturbably at my side. "'Tis indeed a change for Brody," he said, with a laugh that was half a sob. A faintness blotted out the whole strange scene--the town-gates, the eager faces, the gesticulating figures, the houses, the frightened woman at my side. It was the greatest surprise of my life. VII A chaos of images clashed in my mind. I saw the mystic figure of the mighty Master of the Name standing in the cemetery judging betwixt the souls of the dead; I saw him in the upper world amid the angels; I saw him serene in the centre of his magic circle, annihilating with his glance the flaming hordes of demon boars; and even as the creatures shattered themselves into nothingness against the circle, so must these sublime visions vanish before this genial old man. And yet my disillusion was not all empty. There were still the cheers to exalt me, there was still my strange companion, to whose ideas I had already vibrated, and whose face was now transfigured to my imagination, gaining much of what the visionary figure had lost. And, amid all the tumult of the moment, there sang in my breast the divine assurance that here at last were the living waters, here the green pastures. "Master," I cried frantically, as I seized his hand and kissed it. "My son," he said tenderly. "Those murderers have evidently informed the townspeople of my coming." "It is well," said I, "I rejoice to witness your triumph over a town so rabbi-ridden." "Nay, speak not of _my_ triumph," reproved the Master. "Thank God for the change in _them_, if change there be. It should be indifferent to man whether he be praised or blamed, loved or hated, reputed to be the wisest of mankind or the greatest of fools." "They wish you to address them, Master," I cried, as the cheers continued. He smiled.