The First Book of Samuel by SAREJESS (epub read online books txt) 📕

members. There was no way to save him; the scream of the man was lost in the roar of waves and wind. Samuel watched as the crew began carrying the goods to the side rail. The master merchant seeing this, hurried forward. “No, no you must not do this!” he shouted at the crew. They turned in confusion to the captain of the vessel. "Throw it over" he commanded, "I command here." "But I will lose a lot of money if you do this" said the master merchant. "You prefer to lose your life?” asked the captain.

"Surely there must be another way. Throw some of the passengers overboard!" snapped the master merchant. The captain looked at the man and said "You heard the man. The first one to be thrown over is to be this peace of filth in front of me" the captain said. Two of the crew moved forward and laid hands on the master merchant. "No, no!" he screamed. As the two sailors lifted him off his feet and tossed the man over board, his silken robes flying in the wind.

The struggle against the elements continued but it became apparent that they were taking on more water then the frail wooden vessel could manage so after a number of days when the vessel began to go to pieces, hurriedly the crew and passengers climbed into the small boat which they hoped would carry them to safety.

Through the waves the boat now moved before the wind carried by the forces of nature when the storm abated the crew exhausted slept the captain commanded them to set the sail and make for land the problem was they had no compass and only the stars sun and moon to guide them. For the first four days they headed in a northerly direction at first there had been a little water which had been shared now with the water supply exhausted the men became thirsty some one drank some sea water but vomited violently the sun rose the boat drifting on a course set by the captain but the winds were light and not much progress was made by the end of the forth day three of the twelve men who survived had died from exposure the rest now weak managed with great difficulty to lift there bodies over the side. It was during the night that the captain began to have hallucinations there was a vessel he could see it he shouted at the men in the boat excitedly they sat up and looked in the direction he pointed there was nothing but the dark black sea. It became apparent that the man was a danger to the rest of them when he began turning the boat in the direction of his imagined vessel. Quickly Samuel and another of the crewmen rose with a club in hand and beat the captain until he was unconscious. The blood from the wound on his head mixed with the salt water which lay at the bottom of the leaky boat.
When the sun rose, it was found that another of the crewmen had died during the night Samuel now took the rudder aiming the boat in the direction of mainland China which he reasoned could not be more then a few days sailing.

Throughout the day, thirst drove the men mad. At one stage one of the men stepped off the boat, falling into the water and sinking and without a shout or a word he was gone. The captain did not recover consciousness, he died in the evening. There was no one strong enough to lift his body over the side so they left his body where it laid. There were now seven of them, sunburned and dying of thirst. The thought that now came to the minds of the men was not of their fellow men, for most of the time they dreamed they were feasting at a table with lots of water to drink or another dreamed of his family. But the thought that filled all of the minds of the men was water, for once this hope was gone the fearful truth lay before them that their fates were sealed. Death by thirst is not a pleasant way to die. The heroics of dying by thirst expose the terrible truth that one is bound to die surrounded by water yet unable to drink it; a very ironic way to die but not a pleasant one. Thus as the men succumbed, the boat drifted towards the coast of the Indian subcontinent, for the hurricane had carried them much further then they had expected.


Phaboo was playing on the beach on the morning of his fifth birthday. Had anyone remembered, it would not have made a difference for the tribe to which he belonged did not keep records of when a person was born. A person was an infant, a child, a youth, a man or an old man. Thus it was he who first came across the small boat. Curiously he peeked over the gunwale; he recoiled in horror for the men on board the boat were dead. He ran quickly to call his father. "Pa, Pa come quickly there is a boat by the sea" he said. The father followed the sun to the waters edge. He too was shocked by what he saw. Quickly he sent the child off to get a village elder while he checked for signs of life. There was only one man who was alive, barely breathing, the rest were all dead. The village elders and a few men were coming to see the boat now.


CHAPTER SIX
Greece: Athens 367 AD
It was a hot and busy day when the ship on which Samuel had been sailing finally made landfall at the port city of Athens. Stepping ashore Samuel was struck by the number of people who were going about their business in the harbor. Some slaves were unloading grain from vessels; others were loading amphoras filled with wine and olive oil. The mighty Roman empires did not run on love of empire alone; it ran on the filled bellies of its soldiers.

Samuel looked up and for a moment was over whelmed by the shear beauty of what he saw. Before him rose one of the most awe inspiring sights ever to grace the face of the world; the acropolis with its tall columns reaching to the sky. The sound of bells and gongs as the priests and priestess called the faithful of Zeus to prayer.

This was a land of legend, the land that had inspired the stories of Helen of Odysseus and of Agamemnon. How mighty Zeus would descend and spend a night of fervent love making with a shepherdess and leave in the early morning. It was the land where later a son would be born to the shepherdess and he would turn out to be one of the strongest men in all the world. It was also a land of jealous gods who played tricks on each other using unsuspecting mortals as pawns in their games of spite. And then of course there was the ambrosia of the gods; that wonderful liquid which could restore life and make one immortal if one happened to drink it.

Greece, once a mighty confederation of city states, was now nothing more then a large city under the rule of the mighty Roman Empire. This was the city faithful to the goddess Athena into which Samuel stepped that hot September morning in 367AD. His first priority was to find one Greek wine merchant by the name of Cladavarious, whom he had previously done some small business with. If Cladavarious was dead Samuel would then try to find his son or grandson. Samuel was still trying to get used to the novelty of being so long-lived as he moved the through the crowded streets. He realized that he would have to be careful not to rouse suspicion in this regard. He had made one or two mistakes in the past that had almost lead to his exposure. Now he realized that caution must be his watchword when it came to dealing with short lived mortals.

He entered the large city market place and was overwhelmed by the vast number of commodities available here. In one corner were the stalls of the olive oil merchants, on an embankment the stands of the sheep and cattle sellers, in the center of the great market place was the slave stand where slaves were hauled up onto the sellers block while the slave seller began his bidding war. “Here we have a fine young man from the regions of Arabia, healthy, strong arms and legs, good teeth, not unpleasant in features. Come citizens what am I bid? Do I here 5 Drachmas? Come do I hear six? This is a fine young man who could keep a lovely lady happy at night. Am I bid 7?” The people standing around bid. The young Arab eventually sold to a lascivious woman in her forties, who Samuel would later find out had a reputation for cruelty. Samuel passed on, coming at last to the row of stalls belonging to the wine sellers. Walking slowly he occasionally asked if any one knew the wine seller Cladavarious. He was met with shakes of the head. “No one like that here,” was the response until he came upon a rather tall Greek who was picking meat from his teeth with a silver tooth pick. “Sorry to disturb you” said Samuel “I am looking for the wine merchant Cladavarious do you know him?” “Why I know who he was?” said the man. “Oh is he dead?” asked Samuel. “Yes he has gone, my poor dear father, he is gone ten years. But tell me stranger, what business have you with him?” “I knew him once in Rome” said Samuel. “He sold wines, I bought wine” he continued.

“You must have been very young in the trade then to know my father” said the man smiling. “I was” said Samuel cautiously. “My father owned an Inn. Your father visited us often” said Samuel. “Oh well then you will want to do your business with me” said the man. “I am Demetrius, son of Cladavarious, wine merchant to the Roman Empire at large and to you in particular, and your name is Samuel Ben Ezra. “At your service sir” said Samuel. “How may I serve you today Samuel Ben Ezra?” asked Demetrius. “I am new to your fine city and was wondering where I might find a place to start an inn. Something small, you understand nothing to imposing, you catch my meaning I am sure” said Samuel. “Indeed I do sir” said Demetrius “if you have not found a place to stay I offer my house as your home until you have ‘found your feet’ so to say.” “Wait a moment while I set things in order here, then we can go home.” Calling to a friend who worked for him, Demetrius told the man to take care of business because something had come up, and to make dammed sure that nothing went missing or “by Zeus” some one would pay. Thus saying, Demetrius the Greek, led our friend Samuel away to his home upon the hill over looking the Acropolis.
Greece the Ageine Sea 367 AD

Demetrious the son of Cladavarious, the Greek was quite a man of property, having inherited the wine farm of his father with the wine shop. Later, when he married, he inherited through his wife the property of his father in law, a prosperous olive oil merchant, thus he was able to buy the house on the hill a short distance from the Acropolis. The view from the villa was