Thus, as the Communication is a long sequence of Fortified remounting stations, so is the Line a long sequence of Taverns and Ordinaries, and absences of the same. One day, the Meridian having been closely enough establish’d, and with an hour or two of free time available to them, one heads north, one south and ‘tis Dixon’s luck to discover The Rabbi of Prague, headquarters of a Kabbalistick Faith, in Correspondence with the Elect Cohens of Paris, whose private Salute they now greet Dixon with, the Fingers spread two and two, and the Thumb held away from them likewise, said to represent the Hebrew letter Shin and to signify, “Live long and prosper.” The area just beyond the next Ridge is believ’d to harbor a giant Golem, or Jewish Automaton, taller than the most ancient of Trees. As explained to Dixon, ‘twas created by an Indian tribe widely suppos’d to be one of the famous Lost Tribes of Israel, who had somehow given up control of the Creature, sending it headlong into the Forest, where it would learn of its own gift of Mobile Invisibility.

“And…do you folk wear Special Hats, anything like that?” inquires Dixon. It sounds enough like the Frenchman’s Duck to make him cautious. “Most of thee, in Speech and Address, I’d’ve guess’d to be Irish…I thought thee were known for little People. This is a Wonder of the Wilderness, for fair…?”

“If, I say ‘if,’ you do see it,” advises the Landlord, “you’ll then talk of Wonders indeed.”

“Sure that Golem,– you have to catch him when he’s asleep,” asserts a short red-headed woodsman in Deerskins, who is holding a tankard in one hand and a Lancaster County rifle in the other.

“Of course,” adds a florid Forge-keeper who occupies the entire side of one Table, “that might not be for years.” He chuckles, and the Tankards rattle upon the Shelves.

“Aye, some of us have never seen him, only heard his steps on the nights when there is no Moon, or his voice, speaking from above the only words he knows,– ‘Eyeh asher Eyeh’ “—in on which, in Tone hush’d though ominous, the others now join.

“That is ‘I am that which I am,’ “ helpfully translates a somehow nautical-looking Indiv. with gigantick Fore-arms, and one Eye ever a-squint from the Smoke of his Pipe.

“Tho’ Rashi in his Commentary has, ‘I will be what I will be,’ as the Tense is ambiguous between present and future.”

“Isn’t that what God said to Moses?” Dixon inquires.

“Exodus 4:14. `Tis what the Indians’ll say to you, if you go far enough west,– being the Lost Tribes of Israel out there, whose creature this is.”

“In the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, you see, Jesus as a Boy made small, as you’d say, toy Golems out of Clay,– Sparrows that flew, Rabbits that hopp’d. Golem fabrication is integral to the Life of Jesus, and thence to Christianity.”

“Nor is it any Wonder here by South Mountain, anyway. Sometimes the Invisible will all at once appear,– sometimes what you see may not be there at all.”

“I am told of certain Stars, in the Chinese system of Astrology, which are invisible so long as they keep moving, only being seen, when they pause. Might thy Golem share this Property?”

The Company rush to enlighten Dixon. “’Tis shar’d with this whole accursèd Continent,” the quarrelsome Carrot-top lets him know, waving his Rifle and narrowly missing several Tankards upon the Table.

“—Which, as if in answer to God’s recession, remain’d invisible, denied to us, till it became necessary to our Souls, that it come to rest, self-reveal’d tho’ we pretended to ‘discover’ it….”

“By the time of Columbus, God’s project of Disengagement was obvious to all,– with the terrible understanding that we were to be left more and more to our own solutions.”

“America, withal, for centuries has been kept hidden, as are certain Bodies of Knowledge. Only now and then were selected persons allow’d Glimpses of the New World,–“

“Never Reporters that anyone else was likely to believe,– men who ate the Flesh and fornicated with the Ghosts of their Dead, murderers and Pirates on the run, monks in parchment Coracles stitched together from copied Pages of the Book of Jonah, fisherman too many Nights out of Port, any Runagate craz’d enough to sail West.”

“All matters of what becomes Visible, and when. Revelation exists as a Fact,– and continues, as Time proceeds. If new Continents may become visible, why not Planets, sir, as Planets are in your Line?”

“Ye’d have to ask Mason, who should be here Hourly.”

“Howbeit,– the Secret was safe until the choice be made to reveal it. It has been denied to all who came to America, for wealth, for Refuge, for Adventure. This ‘New World’ was ever a secret Body of Knowledge,– meant to be studied with the same dedication as the Hebrew Kabbala would demand. Forms of Land, the flow of water, the occurrence of what us’d to be called Miracles, all are Text,– to be attended to, manipulated, read, remember’d.”

“Hence you may imagine, we take a lively interest in this Line of yours,” booms the Forge-keeper, “inasmuch as it may be read, East to West, much as a Line of Text upon a Page of the sacred Torah,– a Tellurian Scripture, as some might say,–“

“Another case of, ‘as above, so below.’”

“No longer, Alas, a phrase of Power,– this Age sees a corruption and disabling of the ancient Magick. Projectors, Brokers of Capital, Insurancers, Peddlers upon the global Scale, Enterprisers and Quacks,– these are the last poor fallen and feckless inheritors of a Knowledge they can never use, but in the service of Greed. The coming Rebellion is theirs,– Franklin and that Lot,– and Heaven help the rest of us, if they prevail.”