"As the Lord liveth! I may trust my words in your ears, Judas, son of Mattathias, whose father has a score of times taken from my hands the Passover Lamb, and slain it for the feast in my master's house. And in whom can I confide if not in the daughter of Elkiah, the just man, Nasi of our Sanhedrin in days when not even the gold of Egypt or Syria could bribe it to wrong judgment? And if this man be not Dion, page of King Philip of Macedon, and Captain in the army of his son Perseus, may my words be deafness evermore in his ears if he listens to them." "Amen!" responded Dion. "I am your man so far." "Aye, and let thy Amen be the anathema of an old man whose eyes in Sheol may soon look upon the face of my master, to whom and to God I go to render my account. My son, put thy hand beneath my thigh, and swear that thou art he." Dion obeyed. As he did so Gideon put his hand upon the young man's brow, and pushed back the thick curling locks. He felt with his long thin fingers beneath the hair; then suddenly cried, with excitement that barely allowed distinct utterance: "Thou art Dion, but not the Greek." "I am Greek for as many generations as thou art Jew," replied Dion, laughing. "I swear, old man, that I am a Greek." "The Lord forgive your oath!" replied Sirach. "But what was I saying? Had I told my tale?" "No, good man, you had not yet begun it. We are waiting to hear it and to believe it, if it be not too incredible, for your memory seems as tangled as your tongue." "Aye, and believe it you shall. There was once in Alexandria, in the days of Ptolemy called Euergetes--that damnable king who bade them gather all the Jews in the hippodrome that they might be trampled to death by the feet of his elephants--there was among these sons of Abraham one named Nahum, son of Nahum of Jerusalem. By a miracle from the hand of the Lord the infuriated beasts were tamed and harmed not one of our people, even as the lions in the presence of Daniel." "We have heard the story," said Dion, impatient at the old man's prolixity. "Nahum escaped death; but, having been a leader of our people against the tyrant, Ptolemy followed him and his children with persecution. He seized the estates, and sought to kill all his lineage. Nahum fled.