Chapter 16 Summary

The sunburned old hermit, Benjamin, with hat, beard, sandals, burlap loincloth, and water skin, stands on a mesa, watching a speck cross the desert, and meditating on peace. He descends to the arroyo and surprises his visitor, Dom Paulo. Benjamin demands Paulo return the goat to the Poet, who won it, or curse it and cast it into the desert. The grumpy old friends eventually embrace, and Benjamin confesses to throwing pebbles at fasting novices who camp too near, because one of them once mistook him for a distant relative, a scalawag Leibowitz, and Benjamin does not want it to happen again. Paulo cannot believe the Old Jew is pretends to be 12 centuries old, but Benjamin insists he buried Francis and informed New Rome where to find the grave. Accepting Benjamin's offer of hospitality, Paulo is exhausted climbing to the primitive hovel, in...