"Dost thou—in truth, dost thou not know?" he demanded.
"Accused though I am, I am a good Jew, Rabbi. Never until now have I wished to know where they house themselves. But even were it the powers of darkness which alone could help me, now, I should not hesitate! Where are these apostates?"
"Here, in Ptolemais. What wilt thou have of them, Marsyas?"
"Were not heathen and idolaters instruments for the Lord's work? Have not even the beasts of the fields served His ends?"
"What dost thou meditate?"
"Saul's undoing!" Eleazar heard him thoughtfully and answered after a silence.
"So be it, then; if thou choosest that spirit, it must serve. Thou hast a dead friend to avenge and I, the guiltless oppressed to justify. So the one end, the prevention of Saul's work, be attained, what matter if the spirit be mine or thine!"
"Well enough; the means, then! Where are these Nazarenes?"
"They—they meet on the water-front, nightly, since the oppression hath been instituted against them," Eleazar answered reluctantly, as if he doubted the propriety of betraying a knowledge of the apostates' habits.
"Nightly!" Marsyas repeated. "So then to-night! Where is the place? We will go there!"