Eleazar, accompanied by Simon, then passed on into the presence of Maccabeus, while Lycidas pursued his way. The smile with which the young Hebrew had spoken was still on his lips when he entered the apartment in which the prince sat alone, but the first glance of Eleazar at Judas banished every trace of that smile.
"You are ill!" he exclaimed anxiously, as he looked on the almost ghastly countenance of his brother; "you have received some deadly hurt!"
The chief replied in the negative by a slight movement of the head.
"The weight of responsibility, the lack of sleep, the exhaustion of yesterday's conflict, are sapping your strength," observed Simon gravely. "Judas, you are unfit to encounter the toils of the long march now before us."
"I was never more ready—never more impatient for a march," said Maccabeus, rising abruptly, for it seemed to him as if violent physical exertions alone could render life endurable.
"I marvel," said Eleazar, "if our graceful young proselyte will bear
hardships as bravely as he has proved that he can encounter danger.
Methinks he shows amongst our grim warriors as a marble column from
Solomon's palace amongst the rough oaks that clothe the hill-side. If
Lycidas is to be—"
"He is to be—the husband of Zarah," interrupted Maccabeus. His voice sounded strange and harsh, and he turned away his face as he spoke.
"The husband of Zarah!" re-echoed Eleazar in amazement; "why"—Simon's warning pressure on the young man's arm prevented his uttering more. The brothers exchanged significant glances. That was the last time that the name of Zarah was ever breathed by either of them in the hearing of Maccabeus.
Zarah found that her residence in her new home would be but a brief one, and that she was likely to return to Jerusalem far sooner than she could have anticipated when she had set out on her night journey so short a time before. Rachel—a woman who, though well stricken in years, had lost none of the energy and enthusiasm of youth—was filled with triumphant joy at the victory of Bethsura, and declared to Zarah her intention of starting for the city in advance of the army.
"I have a vow upon me—a solemn vow," said the old Jewess to the maiden. "Long have I mourned over the desolation of Zion; and I have promised to the Lord that if ever holy sacrifices should again be offered up in the Temple at Jerusalem, my heifer, my fair white heifer, should be the first peace-offering. I have vowed also to go up myself to the holy city, and make there with my own hands wafers anointed with oil, to eat with the sacrifice of thanksgiving. The time for keeping my vow has arrived. We will go up together, my daughter, and my bondsman shall drive the white heifer before us. My soul cannot depart in peace till I have looked upon the sanctuary in which my ancestors worshipped, and with a thankful heart have performed this my vow to the Lord."