away from Bethlehem village.

"The caravan from Nazareth, I verily believe!" he exclaimed. "Hold fast,
Naomi, and I will take thee down to the gate. There I will tell thee all
the sights as they come in."

Rattling over the stones and down the steep paths in reckless fashion,
the little brother and sister were soon established in a spot where Ezra
could see all that was needful, and whisper what he saw in Naomi's ear.

"It is the caravan from Nazareth," he announced, "and they ride on
horses, camels, mules, but some walk. There are great numbers of them
and more are still to come. Some have fallen behind, they say, and are
far back upon the road. They are very weary and they smile but little.
Who would want to take the long journey in winter only to part with
money in the end?"

When Ezra and Naomi reached home, they found that, as their mother had
said, their house was full to overflowing with company from the Nazareth
caravan.

Abner and Joel, merchants of Nazareth, were there with Joel's son Amos
and his wife Elisabeth. Samuel's cousin, Daniel, who owned a large farm
in fruitful Galilee, had come, bringing with him as a matter of course
his friends, David and Phineas, neighboring farmers. All these people
had originally sprung from this city of David, and now back they came to
it, some in good, some in ill humor, but to a man obeying the command of
the Emperor at Rome.

Every inch of floor space in Samuel's little house was occupied that
night when the soft quilts were spread out, and the family and their
guests lay down to rest. Naomi and Jonas were cuddled in a corner next
their mother. But when Ezra came in late from feeding Michmash, the dim
light of the little oil lamp, that burned each night in all but the
poorest of Jewish homes, showed him a floor so crowded with soundly
sleeping guests that he knew not how to reach his own bed spread at his
father's right hand.

"Father!" whispered Ezra.

"My son," answered Samuel in a cautious voice.

"Father, it is so crowded here I would fain spend the night with old Eli
in the fields with the sheep. They are encamped below the khan in the
Fields of David. May I go? Old Eli said but yesterday that I had
neglected him of late."

"Go, my son. Give greetings to old Eli, and God's peace attend thee."

So Ezra slipped out under the dark starry sky to join the shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

CHAPTER VI

THE SHEPH