The man's words gave me great comfort; for it seemed certainly more than probable, that if he pursued the course Zed mentioned, he must have found Bessy and old Jenny where I had left them, and taken them away under his escort; although I could not understand how the former happened to have quitted the place without leaving something to indicate what had occurred. She knew--she could not but know--the deep anxiety I should feel; and Bessy Davenport's was not a heart, I thought, to look upon that anxiety lightly. However, still I was comforted. Hope and expectation revived; and as soon as we got upon the high road, I pushed my horse on rapidly towards Jerusalem. He went very slow, it seemed to me; and indeed he was not the very best-blooded animal that ever was mounted. But at length we came to a spot where the town was first visible in the daylight; and there Zed, who knew the whole country well, checked his horse, exclaiming-- "Gorra mighty, master! they have set the town a-fire." At first sight, it seemed so; for up above the little town, rose upon the sky a bright red glare which could be produced by no ordinary cause. I checked my horse, too, and contemplated the blaze for a moment or so; but I remarked that the glare was steadfast, not rising and falling, nor spreading from place to place; and that though some flicker and some rolls of smoke were visible, yet there was none of that rapid change or those thick curling clouds which always hang over a considerable conflagration. In fact, it was more like the glare which hangs over a large and well-lighted city, than that of a fire. "We will go on, Zed, and see," I said; "I can't tell what this blaze is; the town is certainly not on fire." "Very well, master," said Zed, without the slightest hesitation; and on we pushed at the same rate as before. As we came to the first houses of the little town, we could hear the loud murmur of many voices, proceeding from the central part of the place; and, riding on, we came upon a very strange and even picturesque scene. I have before described, I think, the little market-place of the town, which the good people of the country have thought fit to call Jerusalem, upon what grounds or pretences it is impossible to discover; for certainly neither in architecture nor construction, nor natural site, does it bear the slightest resemblance to the capital of the kingdom of Judah. However, when the Mount Ida of this country is a hillock, not much bigger than a man's knuckles, and Syracuse is completely an inland town, it becomes clear that the people had very little reference to the Old World in the names they have bestowed in the New.