He took a lantern along and was about to light it.
"'Don't!' said the Rabbi in a low voice.

'I don't need any light.
Lock the gates from the inside!' "'But, Mr.von Rosenberg----' "'Lock it, I say!' "The watchman obeyed.
"'Now lead me to the grave of the holy Rabbi Simeon-ben-Yehudah!' "'Hold on to my coat, esteemed sir,' said the watchman.

'It is dark and you may stumble over the old graves.' "'I can see better at night than in the daytime, my son!' answered the learned Polish Jew.
"'Here is the grave!' "The old Rabbi reverently leaned over the tombstone.

The watchman heard him pronounce a prayer in Jewish.

He used so many words of ancient Hebrew, or some other words of a language he did not understand, that he knew only a few separate expressions, although he himself had been in the past a teacher at the Bohemian community.
"Having completed his prayer, the stranger turned to the watchman of the cemetery: "'When you accepted the position from your predecessor, did he not give you certain instructions ?' "'Me ?' "'Yes, you! It was so from the day the first person was buried in this place.' "'Well, and what if he did give such instructions,--how does that concern you?
This the first time I am asked about this matter since I am employed here.' "'Because this happens once in a hundred years, and human life rarely lasts as long as that.' "'I see that you know about it, Rabbi,' said the frightened watchman.