Two places on the track of the pursuit refused to befriend Gideon. The men of Succoth[203] on the east of Jordan, near the ford of the torrent Jabbok, and of Penuel further up the mountains, declined to supply his nearly exhausted troops with bread, and mocked at him, when he said he was chasing the kings of Midian. Halting only to threaten them with vengeance on his return, he hurried on after the enemy. The victorious Israelites had already slain 120,000, but 15,000 with the two kings had reached Karkor, far from any towns in the open desert-wastes east of the Jordan. Here they thought themselves secure, but Gideon ascending from the valley of the Jordan burst upon them, put them to a complete rout, and at last captured the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. Then in triumph the conqueror returned down the long defiles leading to the Jordan, followed by his cavalcade of captives mounted on their gaily decked camels (Judg. viii. 21). As he passed Penuel he razed to the ground its lofty watchtower, and slew the men of the city. Reaching Succoth he obtained from a young man of the place a description of its 77 head-men, and showed them the captive kings, and then “with the thorny branches of the neighbouring acacia-groves” he beat them to death. Then pushing westwards he reached his native Ophrah. There turning to the captive kings[204] and at length revealing the secret of this long pursuit, he enquired what manner of men they were whom they had murdered on the green slopes of Tabor. _As thou art, so were they_, was the reply, _each one resembled the children of a king_. The remembrance of his brethren, _the sons of his own mother_, filled the warrior with wrath. Had they shown mercy to them, he would have spared his prisoners, but now that could not be. Summoning, therefore, his firstborn Jether, he bade him draw his sword and slay them. But the boy quailed before those mighty kings, and at their request Gideon himself took the sword and slew them, and gathered up the golden chains and crescent-shaped collars and trappings of their camels (Judg. viii. 18–21).