Oldnewland*
Book III
THE LAND OF BLOOM
CHAPTER I
T was a sparkling spring morning when the company left Friedrichsheim for Tiberias. The automobile that awaited them at the door was large enough to seat a dozen persons.
"Thunder and lightning," shouted Kingscourt, in a good humor. "This is Noah's Ark ; there is room for all the antidiluvian cattle, and humanity."
“There will only be eleven of us,” said David.
“Eleven? I only see nine,” and Kingscourt counted. “You seem to count little Fritz for three. It was not a bad idea either to take the baby with you.”
Little Fritz, who now made his appearance in the arms of his nurse, seemed to understand that they were talking about him. With a loud, exclamatory “Oh—oh,” he stretched out his hand to grasp Kingscourt’s white beard.
“We will pick up two friends en route,” said David’s wife. “They are Reschid Bey and the architect Steineck.”
The servants loaded up the boot of the car with baggage, a case of bottles of milk for the child and some edibles being put in the seating compartment. The driver and a black servant took their places; Miriam, Sarah and Friedrich took the front seats. Kingscourt desired to sit in the covered area of the car, as he said, to be shielded from the wind; in truth it was because he had heard that little Fritz would be accommodated there. He clambered in and reached out his arms to the child, who cuddled up against him and refused to return to his nurse. David, as he stepped in, tried paternal persuasion, but the child would not obey, and Kingscourt added to these representations by asking the child to quit him, but, on the other hand, he had not the slightest desire to let go of the little one, whom he tickled light-heartedly. “Such a boy!” he said. “I don’t care if old Kingscourt is ridiculed by the whole of Haifa. It so happens no one knows me here.”
And so the party drove away. The black servant sounded the post-horn with a good spirit; the tallyho re-echoed far and wide.
“Splendid!” said Kingscourt. “This is just like in the good old times when they blew the post-horn.”
David replied, “He is announcing our approach to Reschid; we don’t want to lose any time.”
They drove through the now well-known Carmel street dalewards. Reschid stood in front of his house ready for the trip. The greeting was joyful. The