For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem Page 8

  Chapter 8: Among The Mountains.

  Jonas was in high spirits as they started from the farm. He wasleaving no friends behind and, so long as he had John with him, hewas perfectly contented. He was delighted to be on the move againfor, although he had worked steadily in getting in the harvest,regular labor was distasteful to him and, accustomed as he had beento wander, for weeks, free and unchecked with his goats among themountains, the regular life and order of the farm were irksome tohim.

  John, on the other hand, was silent; replying briefly to the boy'squestions. He felt the danger of the enterprise upon which he hadembarked, and his responsibility as leader; and the thought of thegrief which his father and mother would feel, did ought befall him,weighed on his mind. Presently, however, he roused himself.

  "Now, Jonas, you must keep a sharp lookout round for, if we see anyRoman soldiers in the distance, I must hide my sword and bucklerbefore they discover us, and you must stow away your sling andpouch; then we will walk quietly on. If they question us, we aregoing to stay with friends at Capitolias and, as there will benothing suspicious about us, they will not interfere with us. Afterthey have passed on, we will go back for our arms. We are nottraveling in the direction of Gamala, and they will have no reasonto doubt our story."

  They did not, however, meet any of the parties of Roman horse whowere scouring the country, carrying off grain and cattle for theuse of the army; and they arrived, in the afternoon, on the bank ofthe Hieromax. Upon the other side of the river rose the steepslopes of Mount Galaad, high up on whose side was perched thelittle town of Abila.

  "Here we can wait, Jonas. We are nearly opposite the town. Theothers will, doubtless, soon be here."

  It was not long before the band made their appearance, coming alongin twos and threes as they had met on the river bank. By sunset thelast had arrived, and John found that each of his first recruitshad brought two others.

  He looked with satisfaction at the band. The greater part of themhad been fishermen. All were strong and active; and John saw thathis order that young men, only, should be taken had been obeyed,for not one of them was over the age of twenty-three and, as he hadlaid it down, as an absolute rule, all were unmarried. All were,like himself, armed with sword and buckler; and several had broughtwith them bags with javelin heads, to be fitted to staves, lateron. All their faces bore a look of determination and, at the sametime, of gladness.

  The massacre on the lake had excited the inhabitants of the shoreto fury, and even those who had hitherto held back from thenational cause were now eager to fight against the Romans; but manyshrunk from going to Gamala--which was, indeed, already as full offighting men as it could hold--and John's proposal to form a band,for warfare in the mountains, had exactly suited the moreadventurous spirits.

  All present were known to John, personally. Many of them were sonsof friends of Simon; and the others he had met at villagegatherings, or when fishing on the lake. There were warm greetings,as each accession to the party arrived; and each member of the bandfelt his spirits rise higher, at finding that so many of those heknew, personally, were to be his comrades in the enterprise.

  When the last comer had arrived, John said:

  "We will now be moving forward. We had best get well up themountain, before night falls. It matters not much where we camp,tonight; tomorrow we can choose a good spot for our headquarters."

  It being now the height of the dry season, the river was low, andthey had no difficulty in wading across. Then they struck up thehill, to the right of Abila, until they had fairly entered theforests which clothed the lower slopes of the mountains. Then Johngave the word for a halt.

  Dead wood was soon collected, and a fire made. Cakes of meal werebaked in the ashes and, after these had been eaten, the party layround the fire and, a few minutes later, John rose to his feet.

  Illustration: John Incites his Countrymen to Harass the Romans.

  "You all know the reason for which we are gathered together here.We all long for vengeance on the oppressors of our country, themurderers of our kinsmen and friends, the men who carry off ourwomen to shame and slavery in Rome. We are all ready to die, forour country and our God; but we would fain die doing as much harmto the Romans as we can, fighting like freemen in the open, insteadof rats slaughtered in a cage. That is why, instead of going intoGamala, we have gathered here.

  "I am the youngest among you; but I have so far assumed theleadership because, in the first place, I have been much withJosephus, who--although he may now, most unworthily, have gone overto the Romans to save his life--was yet a wise governor, and agreat leader. From him, I have learned much of the Romans. In thesecond place, I have seen more of their warfare than any of you,having passed through the terrible siege of Jotapata. Lastly, Ibelieve that God, having saved me almost alone of all the host thatdefended the town, has intended me as an instrument for hisservice.

  "Therefore have I taken upon myself the command, in the firstplace, of this band; but at the same time, if you think that I amtoo young, and would rather place another at your head, I willstand aside, and release from their oath those who have alreadysworn. I am not self seeking. I crave not the leadership over you,and will obey whomsoever you may choose for your chief. But towhomsoever is the leader, prompt obedience must be given; for theremust, even in a band like this, be order and discipline. We workfor a common good, but we must yield to the direction of one will,and one head.

  "Now, what say you? I will walk away, to leave you free to consultone with another; and will abide by your decision, whatever it be.Only the decision, once made, must be adhered to. There must be noafter grumbling, no hesitation or drawing back. You must haveabsolute confidence, and give absolute obedience, to him whom youchoose. For only so can we hope to succeed in our enterprises."

  John had gone but a short way among the trees, when he was calledback again. All had come prepared to follow him. His father hadalways been a man of weight and position among the villagers on theshore and, democratic as were the Jewish institutions, there wasyet a certain respect paid to those of position above theirfellows. John's experience and, especially, his escape fromJotapata, seemed specially to mark him as one destined to play animportant part. And his quiet resolute bearing, now--the feelingthat he knew what was to be done, and how to do it; that he was, infact, their natural leader--came home to all, and it was withsincerity that they assured him that they accepted him as theirleader.

  "Very well," John said, quietly. "Then let those who have notalready taken the oath stand up, and do so."

  This was done, and John then said:

  "Now, I will tell you more of my plans; although these, of course,cannot be in any way settled until we see how things turn out. Itis by watching for opportunities and seizing the right moment,only, that we can hope for success. We are all ready to give ourlives for our country, but we do not wish to throw them away. Wewant each of us to do as much as possible. We want to live, so asto share in the defense of the Temple; therefore, we have tocombine prudence with daring.

  "As for an attack upon any strong body of Roman troops, it would beimpossible--unless they attempt to follow us among the mountains.One of our first duties will be to learn the country well, so thatwe may know where to defend ourselves, should they come up afterus; where, from eminences, we can cast down rocks upon them; wherethere are crags which we can climb, but up which their heavy-armedsoldiers cannot follow us. This is our first task for, as yet, theyhave not commenced the siege of Gamala. When they do so, we mustdraw down near them and hide ourselves, mark the position of theircamp, see how their tents are arranged, and where their sentriesare placed.

  "Then we can begin work: sometimes falling upon their guards; atother times creeping in past their sentries, scattering through thecamp and, at a given signal, firing their tents with the brandsfrom their fires; slaying those who first rush out, and then makingoff again to the hills.

  "Then, too, they will be sending great numbers of men up the hills,to cut timber an
d branches for their embankments, theirbreastworks, and the construction of the wattles to protect theirmachines. We shall be in hiding and, when a party of men separatesfrom the rest, we will fall upon these; we will harass theirworkers from a distance, always avoiding a regular combat, buthindering their work, and wearing them out. Thus we may do betterservice, to the defenders of Gamala, than if we were within thewalls.

  "At present we have only swords, but we must get bows and arrows.It would not have been safe to have carried them across the plains;but we can procure them at Abila, or Jabez Galaad. I fear that weshall not be able to interfere with the provisioning of thearmy--for upon the plains we shall have no chance with theircavalry--but, here in these mountains, stretching away over Peraeainto Arabia and Moab, we can laugh at pursuit by the Romans; andeven Agrippa's light-armed Arabs will have difficulty in followingus, and of them we need have little fear. At Jotapata we provedourselves a match for the Romans; and their light-armed troops willnot care to venture against us, alone, as they will not know ournumbers, and will fear being led into ambushes.

  "There is one question which we have to consider, and that is food;as to flesh, we shall have it in abundance. There will be manyflocks of goats, belonging to those in Gamala, straying among themountains without an owner; therefore of goats' milk and flesh wecan take abundance, but there will be a scarcity of grain. I havesome money with me, with which we can purchase it at Abila, and thevillages. As for Jabez Galaad, it is too close to Gamala; and theRomans will probably ascend the hill and destroy it, or place aguard there. At any rate, the money will be sufficient to purchasemeal for us, for some time--much longer, probably, than Gamala willbe able to hold out--and when that has fallen, it will be time toarrange about the future. Only let us take nothing without payment;let us not be like the robber bands, which prey upon the people,until they long for the Romans as masters.

  "Only we must remember that, while we desire now to do the Romansas much harm as possible, this is but the beginning of our work;and that we must save ourselves for the future. Gamala is but onetown; and we shall have plenty of opportunities for striking at theenemy, in the future. We have put our hands to the plow now and, solong as the war lasts, we will not look back. It may be that ourexample may lead others to follow it and, in that case, the Romans'difficulties will thicken, every day. Were there scores of bands ofdetermined men, like us, hanging around them; ready to attack smallbodies, whenever they venture away from their camps to gather inprovisions and forage, and to harass them, at night, by constantalarms, we could wear them out.

  "Only, we must always avoid a pitched battle. In irregular fightingwe are as good as they--better, for we can move more quickly--butwhen it comes to fighting in order of battle, we have no chancewith them, whatever. Their cavalry, the other day outside Tarichea,were like wolves among a flock of sheep. Nothing but disaster cancome of fighting in the plain. Every people should fight in the waythat suits them best, and an attempt to meet an enemy in their ownway of fighting is sure to lead to disaster. Let the Roman keep theplain, with his cavalry and his heavy infantry; let the Jew, lightfooted and swift, keep to the hills. He is as much superior, there,as is the Roman in the plains.

  "And now, we must establish signals. We will get horns, at Abila;and I will fix upon signals. One long note will mean, gather to me;two, fall back gradually; three, retire at once with all speed, tothe spot agreed upon, before setting out in the morning. Two shortnotes will mean, advance and attack in the manner arranged; oneshort note, oft repeated, will tell you the Romans are advancing,sound your horns--for it were well that each provided himself witha cow's horn, so that the signals can be repeated. If we arescattered over a hillside among the trees, and the Romans hearhorns sounded in many quarters, they will think that there must bea large body of men assembled. This will make them slow andcautious in all their movements; will force many to stand prepared,with their arms, to guard those at work; and will altogetherconfuse and puzzle them.

  "And now, we will lie down and sleep; as soon as it is dawn, wewill be on foot again."

  The next two days were spent in exploring that part of themountains: examining the direction, and extent, of each valley andravine; seeing where steep precipices afforded an opportunity forrolling down rocks upon an enemy passing along the valley, ortrying to storm the height; in searching for pools in driedwatercourses; and in deciding upon a spot favorable for the camp.They fixed upon a spot high up on the mountains, two miles east ofAbila, as their headquarters. It was in a pass between two peaks,and gave them the option of descending either to the north orsouth, or of skirting along the mountains towards the sources ofthe Jabbok river, and thence crossing the Hermon range beyond thelimits of Peraea.

  Jonas was sent, the first thing, to discover whether the Romans hadtaken possession of Jabez Galaad; which lay but five miles fromGamala, and on the southern side of the range of hills on whosewestern spur Gamala was built. He returned, in a short time, sayingthat he had found the inhabitants in a state of great alarm; forthat a Roman force could be seen, coming up the road from theplain. Most of the fighting men of the town were in Gamala; therest, with the young women, were leaving, so that only old peopleand children would be found in the town when the Romans arrived.Jonas also brought word that Vespasian's whole army was movingagainst Gamala.

  John had given Jonas money, before he started, to purchase bows andarrows. He had brought back bows for the whole party, and as manyarrows as he could carry.

  "I paid nothing for them," he said, as he threw them down. "The manwho sold them was praying those who were leaving the town to takethem--for he thought that, if the Romans found them in his house,they would destroy it--but no one listened. All were too busy, incarrying off such of their household goods as they could take, toburden themselves further; so he gladly gave me as many as I couldtake. I carried off nearly all his bows; and I left him breaking upthe rest, and his store of arrows, in order to burn them before theRomans arrived.

  "A boy, carrying a bag of arrowheads, came with me some littledistance. I paid the man for them, and they are now hidden in theforest. You can fetch them when you will, but I could not carrymore with me than I have got."

  "You have done well, Jonas," John said, as the men seized each abow, and divided the arrows among them; and then stood waiting,expecting orders from John to proceed, at once, to harass the Romancolumn as it ascended the hill.

  John said, in answer to their looks:

  "We will not meddle with them, today. Did we shoot at them, theywould suppose that we belonged to Jabez Galaad; and would, inrevenge, destroy the town and all those they may find within it;and our first essay against them would bring destruction uponthousands of our countrymen."

  The others saw the justness of his reasoning, and their faith inhim as their leader was strengthened by his calmness, and readinessof decision.

  "Is the bag of arrowheads heavy, Jonas?"

  "It is as much as the boy, who was about my own age, could carry,"Jonas replied.

  "Then do you, Phineas, and you, Simeon, go with Jonas to the placewhere the bag is hidden, and carry it to the place we have fixedupon for our camp. If, on the way, you come across a herd of goats,shoot two or three of them and take them with you, and get firesready. The day is getting on, but we will go across the mountains,and see where the Romans are pitching their camp and, by sunset, wewill be with you."

  Making their way along the mountain the band came, after an hour'swalking, to a point where they could obtain a view of Gamala. Thecity stood on the western extremity of the hill which, aftersloping gradually down, rose suddenly in a sharp ridge like thehump of a camel--from which the town had its name, Gamala. On bothsides, this rock ended abruptly in a precipitous chasm; in whichran the two branches of the Hieromax, which met at the lower end ofthe ridge, and ran together into the end of the lake at Tarichea,three miles away.

  Thus, Gamala was only accessible from behind, where the ridgejoined the mountains. Across this neck of land a deep
fosse hadbeen dug, so as to cut off all approach. The houses were crowdedthickly on the steep slope of the ridge, which was so abrupt thatthe houses seemed to overhang one another. On the southern crag,which was of immense height, was the citadel of the town. There wasa spring, supplying abundance of water, within the walls. Had itbeen defended by a garrison as brave and numerous as that ofJotapata, it would have been well-nigh impregnable; but Cheres andJoseph, who commanded, had none of the genius of Josephus, althoughthey were brave and determined.

  The city was crowded with fugitives from all parts; and hadalready, for seven months, resisted a besieging force which Agrippahad sent against it. It was impossible to blockade the wholecircuit of the town; but Vespasian took possession of all theneighboring heights, and established his camp, with that of theFifteenth Legion, on the hill facing the city to the east. TheFifth Legion threw up works, opposite the center of the city; whilethe Tenth set to work to fill up ditches and ravines, in order tofacilitate the approaches.

  Agrippa approached the wall, to persuade the inhabitants tosurrender; but was struck on the right elbow by a stone from asling, and forced to retire. This insult to the native king, whocame in the character of an ambassador, enraged the Romans; andthey set about the operations for the siege with great vigor. Inspite of the efforts of the Jews, the fosse which protected thewall on the east was speedily filled up; and the Romans then began,as at Jotapata, to raise an embankment facing the wall.

  The day after the Romans had established their camp, John and hisfollowers advanced along the mountain until they could look downupon it and, for a long time, watched the Romans at work, andlearned all the details of the camp.

  "You must fix them in your minds," John said, "in order that, evenon a dark night, you may be able to make your way about it withoutdifficulty; so that you may be able, after striking a blow, to flydirectly to the mountain--for any who get confused, and miss theirway, will assuredly be killed. You see, the enemy have placed astrong guard, halfway up the hillside, in order to protectthemselves from surprise; but it will be possible, by moving downto the streams, and then mounting again, to reach the camp withoutpassing through them. And by the same way we must make our retreatfor, if we succeed in setting the camp on fire, the flames willenable the guard on the mountains to see us approaching them.

  "I had hoped that we might be able to penetrate, unobserved, to thetent of Vespasian, and to slay him and some of his generals but, bythe bustle that we see round that tower on the hillside, and by thestrong force of cavalry picketed round it, it is evident that hehas taken up his quarters there and, indeed, from the top of thetower he can look down upon the town, and on all that is passingthere, and issue his directions to his troops accordingly; so wemust give up that idea. Another time, we may be more fortunate.

  "But see, a great number of troops are ascending the hill towardsus, doubtless to cut timber for their works. As soon as they are atwork, we will attack them."

  The party retired into the forest and, as soon as they heard thesound of the Roman axes, they crept quietly forward; movingnoiselessly, with their sandaled feet, among the trees. When withina short distance of the Romans, John ordered them to halt; andcrept forward, with Jonas, to reconnoiter. There was little fear oftheir being heard, for several hundred men were at work, fellingtrees; a line of sentries, at ten paces apart, standing under armsto prevent a surprise. The Romans were working too thickly topermit of any successful action, by so small a party; and John sawthat the idea of an attack must be abandoned, and that he mustconfine himself, for the present, to harassing the sentries.

  Rejoining his men, he told them what he had discovered; and badethem scatter along the line and, crawling up under the protectionof the trees, to approach as near as they could to the line ofsentries; and then to shoot at them--or at the workmen, many ofwhom, having thrown off their heavy armor to enable them the betterto work, offered more favorable marks for the arrows than thesentries--whose faces, only, were exposed.

  They were on no account to come to close quarters with the Romans.If the latter advanced, they were instantly to retire, approachingagain as soon as the Romans recommenced their work; and so tocontinue, until he blew the signal for them to draw off,altogether. They were not to begin until they heard his signal forattack.

  After allowing some little time to elapse for the men to get intoposition, John blew his horn. A moment, and cries and shouts wereheard along the whole Roman line. The sound of chopping instantlyceased, and the Roman trumpets blew to arms.

  John had advanced sufficiently near to see the Roman workmen before hegave the signal. Jonas was a little in advance of him and, as the hornsounded, he saw him step out from behind a tree, whirl his sling roundhis head and discharge a stone and, almost simultaneously, a Romansentinel, some forty paces away, fell with a crash upon the ground.

  The Roman soldiers who had retained their armor ran instantlyforward, to support their sentries. The others hastily buckled ontheir breastplates, caught up their bucklers and helmets, andjoined their comrades. Arrows continued to fall among them fromtheir invisible foes and, although most of these fell harmless fromtheir armor, several soldiers fell, in addition to the seven oreight who had been killed by the first volley.

  The centurion in command soon saw that the number of his assailantswas small but, afraid of being drawn into an ambush, he hesitatedto give orders for an advance; but dispatched a messenger instantlyto camp, contenting himself with throwing out strong parties ahundred yards in advance of his line. These now became the objectsof attack, while arrows ceased to fall among the main body of thetroops.

  John moved round the flank, till he gained a position whence hecould observe the camp. The trumpets above had been heard there,and the troops had already taken up their position under arms. Ashe looked on, he saw the messenger run up to a party of mountedofficers. A minute later a trumpet sounded, and a strong body ofArabian archers advanced, at a run, up the slope. John at oncewithdrew to his first position, and sounded the order for instantretreat; and then, hurrying back half a mile, sounded the note forhis followers to assemble at the spot where he was standing.

  In a few minutes, all had joined him. They were in high spirits atthe success of this first skirmish; and wondered why they had beenso suddenly called off, when the Romans had shown no signs ofadvancing against them.

  "There are fully a thousand Arab archers in the forest, by thistime," John said. "They are as fleet of foot as we are, and itwould be madness to remain. We have stopped their work, for a time;and have killed many, without a scratch to ourselves. That is wellenough, for today. Tomorrow we will beat them up, again."

  At daybreak, two of the party were sent forward to the edge of thewood, to see with what force the Romans went out to work. Theybrought back the report that they were accompanied by a strong bodyof archers; and that, as soon as they reached the forest, thearchers were scattered in front of them for a long distance, andthat it would be impossible to approach them, unobserved.

  On the previous afternoon, John had dispatched Jonas to Abila, andhe had returned with a number of cows' horns. Round the fire in theevening, the men had set to work to pierce the points with heatedarrowheads, and had converted them into instruments capable ofgiving a deep, prolonged sound. On the return of the scouts, Johnset his men in motion.

  "We cannot fight them, today, but we can hinder their work. We willscatter through the forest and, as we approach them, each is tosound his horn; and continue to do so, from time to time. TheRomans will think that a great force is advancing against them."

  This was done, with the effect John had anticipated. Hearing thesound of horns, all over the mountainside, the Romans concludedthat a great force was advancing to attack them; and the archerswere at once recalled. The troops all stood to arms and, forseveral hours, remained waiting an attack. Then, after strongbodies of heavy-armed troops--preceded by the archers, skirmishingbefore them--had pushed some distance into the forest withoutmeeting with an enemy, the work
recommenced; a considerable numberstill standing to their arms, as protectors to the rest.

  Although a certain amount of time had been gained, for the city, bythe interruption of the work of bringing in timber, John hadundertaken these sham attacks rather with the purpose ofaccustoming his band to work together, and to give them confidence,than with the view of troubling the Romans. In this he wasperfectly successful. The band, when they reached their camp, thatevening, were in high spirits. They had, for two days, puzzled andbaffled a large Roman force; had inflicted some loss upon them, andforced them to desist from their work. They were pleased withthemselves, and their leader; and had lost much of the dread of theRomans which the capture of Jotapata, Japha, and Tarichea, and thetales of their cruelty and ferocity, had excited among the wholepopulation.

  A reverse, at the commencement of their work, would have beenfatal; and John had felt that, however earnest the men were, intheir determination to die fighting for their country, the loss ofa few of their number at the outset would have so dispirited therest that the probability was that the band would disperse--orwould, at any rate, be unwilling to undertake any desperateoperation. But in their present mood they were ready for anyenterprise upon which he might lead them; and he, accordingly, toldthem that he should abstain, next day, from a continuance of hisattacks upon the working party; but that, at night, he would carryout the design of setting fire to their camp.

  Accordingly, the following day, the Romans pursued their workunmolested; although they still continued the precaution of keepinga force of archers, and parties of heavy-armed troops, in advanceof those working in the wood. John did not move till the afternoon;and then, descending the hill to the right, he skirted along in thelower forest until within two miles of Gamala. Here he halted untilnightfall.

  While waiting for the hour of action, he gave final instructions tohis men, and assigned to them the order in which they should ascendfrom the river towards the rear of the camp. When they approachedthe spot where they would probably find Roman sentries posted, theywere to advance singly, crawling along upon the ground. Those whofirst went through were to keep straight on until they reached thefurther end of the camp; stopping, as near as they could judge,fifty paces apart. They were then to wait for half an hour, so asto be sure that all would have gained their allotted positions.Then, when they saw a certain star sink below the horizon (a methodof calculating time to which all were accustomed) they were tocreep forward into the Roman camp; and each to make his way, asnoiselessly as possible, until he came within a few paces of one ofthe smoldering fires of the Romans, and to wait until they heard asingle note from John's horn.

  Each was at once to spring forward, seize a lighted brand and firethe nearest tent; and then to crawl away--cutting, as they went,the ropes of the tents, so as to bring them down, and create asmuch confusion as possible. Then, either by crawling or, ifdiscovered, by leaping to their feet and making a sudden rush, allwere to make their way down to the river again; to follow its banksfor half a mile, and then wait in a body for an hour. At the end ofthat time they were to make their way back to their camp in themountain; certain, by that time, that all who were alive would haverejoined them. Should he himself not be with the party, they wereat once to proceed to the election of another leader.

  At about ten o'clock they again moved forward and, descending tothe river, followed its banks until they arrived at the spot theyhad fixed on; then, in single file, they began to climb the hill.John placed himself in the middle of the line, in order to have acentral position when the attack began. As soon as they reached thetop of the slope, they lay down and, one by one, crawled forwardinto the darkness; two or three minutes being allowed to elapsebetween the departure of each man. They could hear the call of theRoman sentries as they answered each other, every half hour; andknew that the line was but a hundred yards or so in front of them.The night was very dark, and no sudden shout proclaimed that thoseahead had been noticed.

  When John's turn came to advance, Jonas was to follow next behindhim. All had left their bows, arrows, bucklers, and swords behindthem, and carried only their knives; for they had not come tofight, and the knives were required only for cutting the tent ropesor, in case of discovery, to enable them to take a life or twobefore they fell, fighting. Each had sworn to kill himself, if hefound escape impossible, in order to escape a death by torture ifhe fell alive into the hands of the Romans.

  John, on approaching the line of sentries, was guided by sound,only, in trying to avoid them. He could not see their figures; butcould hear the sound of their footsteps, and the clash of theirarms, as they tramped a few yards backwards and forwards. He was,like his comrades, stripped to the waist--having only on a shortgarment, reaching halfway down the knee--as it was upon speed, andactivity, that his life would depend.

  Without interruption, he crawled through the lines of sentries andcontinued his course until he was, as near as he could tell,opposite the center of the long line of tents; then he lay quiet,watching the setting of the star. No sound was heard from the campin front; although from down the hillside beyond it came a confusednoise, as of a host of men at work; and the glare of many firesreddened the skies for, there, five thousand men were at workraising the embankment against the doomed city; while the archersand slingers maintained a never-ceasing conflict, of missiles, withthe defenders on the walls.

  The star seemed, to John, as if it hung on its course; so long wasit in sinking to the horizon. But at last it sank; and John,crawling noiselessly forward, made his way into the Roman camp. Itwas arranged with wide and regular streets, laid out withmechanical accuracy. Here and there, in front of a tent of acommanding officer, sentries paced to and fro; the sound of theirfootsteps and the clash of their arms, each time they turned,giving warning of their positions. In the center of the streets thefires--round which the soldiers had, shortly before, beengathered--still glowed and flickered for, although the days werehot, the cold at night rendered fires desirable; and there was anabundance of fuel to be obtained, from the hills.

  John crawled along with the greatest care. He had no fear of beingseen, but had he come roughly against a tent-rope he might havebrought out some wakeful occupant of the tent to see who wasmoving.

  He continued his course until he found himself opposite a fire, inwhich some of the brands were burning brightly; while there was nosentry on guard, within a distance of fifty yards. So far,everything had gone well; neither in passing through the lines ofthe sentries, nor in making their way into the camp, had any of theband been observed. It was certain now that some, at least, wouldsucceed in setting fire to the tents, before they were discovered;and the wind, which was blowing briskly from the mountains, wouldspeedily spread the flames; and a heavy blow would be inflictedupon the enemy.