Hastily and with a practised hand he bound up Seraiah’s wound, for the old place had broken out afresh. The injured man, consumed by the thirst that follows the loss of blood, begged for water. Benjamin supplied him with a draught from the bottle which he carried, and followed it up with some rough wine of the country in a wooden cup. By this time the robbers, who had finished their work of spoiling the dead, were ready to return to their hiding-place among the hills. “Come, captain,” said the Edomite, “’tis time to go; you had best leave your friend to himself, or you will see more of his countrymen than you will quite like.” “Go,” said Benjamin; “I will follow you soon.” Seraiah was now sufficiently revived to be able to sit up. The robber offered him bread and flesh. “’Tis clean meat,” he said. The wounded man, however, refused it. It might be of a lawful kind, but he did not know that it had been lawfully killed, and he contented himself with bread to which he added a few raisins with which he happened to have provided himself. Another draught of wine completed the repast. “Benjamin,” he said, when he had finished, “you are too good for this life, for these friends. Come with us and fight on our side, for be sure that it is the side of the Lord. I will intercede for you to our captain, and he is as merciful as he is strong.” “Nay, nay,” said Benjamin, “you are too confident; yours may be the side of the Lord, for I don’t know much about these things, but the side of the Lord, as far as I have been able to see, does not always win. I hate these Greeks. They robbed me of my house and everything that I had. May all the curses that are written in the Law overtake them! But they are very likely to get the best of it after all.” “Did you see how they fled to-day?” cried Seraiah. “Yes; you made them run,” said the robber, with a grim laugh. “It was rare sport to see them pelt helter-skelter down the pass, like so many sheep with a dog after them. But there are many more where these came from, and they will simply trample you down.” “That will not be done so easily as you think. Is Judas the Hammer—for that is what the people call him—a likely man to be so dealt with? Nay, Benjamin, he is another Joshua, another David, and I am as sure as if a prophet had told me that the Lord of Hosts is with him, and will deliver the heathen into his hands.” Benjamin was silent awhile. Then he said, in an altered tone, “You say the truth about Judas, the son of Mattathias. A better captain to lead, a better soldier to strike with the sword, I never saw. I would gladly follow him. And verily I would sooner fight for my people than for my own hand. But your ways are over-strict. I cannot put up with these ‘religious’ as you call them. Why should I not eat pig’s flesh if I can get it? It has a good relish, and it has never harmed me yet.”