time thou shalt hear everything; but now, Esora, understand nobody must know that a man is in the gardener’s cottage.  It is a matter of life and death for us.  I am here to serve you, Master, and it matters not to me what his story may be; but tell how he is wounded; are the wounds the clean wounds of the sword or the torn wounds of rods?  If he have been scourged——­ A cruel scourging it must have been, Joseph answered.  Now, before we go, Esora, understand that I shall send the two men away, one to Galilee and one to Jericho.  Better both should go to Jericho, she said.  I’d trust neither in Jerusalem.  Let them go straight from here as soon as the Sabbath is over, the journey is shorter, and they’ll be as well out of the way in one country as in the other.  Esora is wiser than I, Joseph thought, and together they shall go to Jericho, and with an important message.  But to whom?  Not to Gaddi, who might come up to Jerusalem to see me.  I’ll send a letter to Hazael, the Essene, and after having delivered the message they can remain at the caravanserai in Jericho.  Some excuse that will satisfy Gaddi must be discovered, Esora.  I shall find one later.  Both the men are now in bed, but if for some reason one of them should come down to the gardener’s cottage!  It isn’t likely, Esora answered.  Not likely, Joseph replied; but we must guard against anything.  If thou knewest the risk!  I’ll lock the door of the passage leading to their rooms, and I’ll do it at once.  Give me the keys.  She handed him the keys, and, having locked the men in, he returned, saying:  the wounded man, whom thou’lt cure, Esora, may be here for a month or more, and till he leaves us thou must watch the girl and see she doesn’t stray through the garden.  I can manage her, Esora answered.  But now about the poor man who is waiting for attendance in the gardener’s cottage.  What have ye done for him, Master?  I picked from his back the splinters I could see by the light of the lamp, and gave him some wine and water, and laid him on a linen cloth.  The old woman muttered that the drawing of the cloth from the wound would be very painful.  I dare say it will, Joseph returned, but I knew not what else to do, and it seemed to relieve him.  Can you help him, Esora?  Yes, I can; and she began telling him of her own famous balsam, the secret of which was imparted to her by her mother, who had it from her mother; and her great-grandmother learnt it from an Arabian.  But knowledge of the balsam went back to the Queen of Sheba, who brought the plant to King Solomon.  Thou must have seen the bush in the garden in Galilee.  It throws a white flower, like the acacia, and the juice when drawn passes through many colours, honey colour and then green.  The Egyptians use it for many sicknesses, and it heals wounds magically.  The sweet liquor pours from cuts in the branches, and care must be taken not to wound them too sorely.  This plant fears the sword, for it heals sword wounds, so the cuts in the tree are best made with a sharp flint