"Of the Princess!" cried Dion, examining the basket. "You are right; this is such work as one finds in the bazaars at Antioch. Deborah, this was intended for neither Caleb nor me, but for yourself." He noted more closely the fruit. "These fruits are not all such as grow in these lands. The figs and almonds thus pressed together I have seen only in the capital, and one place else--in the house of Menelaos. It is a favorite with the Priest. Deborah, I see through the damnable plot. Menelaos, to accomplish his purpose on the property of Elkiah, must leave no scion of the house alive. I swear that this is that villainous Priest's design, executed too, by a practised poisoner, and she--Heaven forbid that I make a false charge!--she is none other than the Princess. Before the sun sets I will probe the secret with my knife, though it lies at the bottom of this Priest's black heart." "Give the child tepid water," he added. "Watch him that he does not sleep; but that I think will not be possible for some hours yet. The poison rather stimulates wakefulness until the life is burned out with its fires. I have at the Citadel some of the medicine Theron bade me always keep with me." As Dion left the apartment a great uproar rose in the streets. Cries filled the air. "The Jews have fled before Gorgias. They are being driven into the city." "The Jews are not fleeing, sister," said Caleb. "They have been pursuing. I see a mighty eagle. He has swirled above a flock of doves, but, quick as the lightning flashes, a little bird has darted upon him. He has mounted upon the eagle's back. His beak is sharper than a sword, and cuts the eagle through. The great bird falls. Surely the little bird is Judas." Whether Caleb's vision was the vagary of his fever-heated brain, or a true prognostication from inner sight granted him in compensation for his outer blindness, one may not say, since we have not ourselves passed through the borderland of the world of sense. XXXIX BATTLE OF EMMAUS Meph's simile of the stratagem of the little red ant which bites his antagonist into two will give our club-footed friend a place among the wisest critics of military affairs; for this was the plan of the battle of Emmaus as executed by Judas. The Greek armies gathered near Emmaus numbered about fifty thousand men, under leaders who were rendered expert by wars in many lands. The Maccabæans had not more than one-tenth that number. This little army was further reduced by Judas' command dismissing all newly married men, and all whose ripening crops might divide their attention between peace and war, and all whose lack of zeal made them hesitate or question the wisdom of the call to battle. Not more than three thousand bowed in prayer and consecration as the sun went down on Mizpah.