The crowd had grown attentive. Peloni's face was pale as death. What was this great thing, fallen so unexpectedly from the impassive heaven his hopelessness had challenged? But the _Possemacher_ captured the moment. "Father Noah's drunk again!" A great laugh shook the crowd. But Peloni dug his nails into his palms. "Read on! Read on!" he cried hoarsely. "'The Place of Refuge is in the State of New York, the largest in the American Union, and the spot to which I invite my beloved People from the whole world is called Grand Island.'" Peloni drew a deep breath. His face had now changed to the other extreme and was flushed with excitement. "Noah's Ark!" shot the _Possemacher_ dryly, and had his audience swaying hysterically. "For God's sake, brethren!" cried Peloni. "This is no joke. Have you forgotten already that here we are only animals?" "And they went in two by two," said the _Possemacher_, "the clean beasts, and the unclean beasts!" "Hush, hush, let us hear!" from some of the crowd. "'Here I am resolved to lay the foundation of a State, named Ararat.'" "Ah! what did I say?" the exultant _Possemacher_ shrieked at Peloni. "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the crowd. "Noah's Ark resting on Ararat!" The dullest saw that. Peloni was taken aback for a moment. "But why should not the place of Israel's Ark of Refuge be named Ararat?" he asked of his neighbours. "If only his name wasn't Noah!" they answered. "That makes it even more appropriate," he murmured. But "Noah's Ark" was the nickname that kills. Though the reader continued, it was only to an audience exhilarated by a sense of Arabian Nights fantasy. But the elaborate description of the grandeurs of this Grand Island, and the eloquent passages about the Century of Right, and the ancient Oracles, restored Peloni's enthusiasm to fever heat. "It is too long," said the reader, wearying at last. Peloni rushed forward and took up the task. The first sentence exalted him still further. "'In God's name I revive, renew, and reëstablish the government of the Jewish Nation, under the auspices and protection of the Constitution and the Laws of the United States, confirming and perpetuating all our Rights and Privileges, our Name, our Rank, and our Power among the nations of the Earth, as they existed and were recognized under the government of the Judges of Israel.'" Peloni's voice shook with fervour. As he began the next sentence, "'It is my will,'" he stretched out his hand with an involuntary regal gesture. The spirit of Noah was entering into him, and he felt almost as if it was he who was re-creating the Jewish nation--"'It is my will that a Census of the Jews throughout the world be taken, that those who are well treated and wish to remain in their respective countries shall aid those who wish to go; that those who are in military service shall until further orders remain true and loyal to their rulers.