After crossing the outermost trench, he remained standing in the shadow of a cypress, the boughs of which, had been shattered by a catapult, and looked about him.
He could see nothing far and near, and at once hurried with rapid steps towards the church.
Had he looked round once more, he surely would not have done so.
For, as soon as he left the tree, a second figure rose from the trench, and reached the shade of the cypress in three leaps.
"I have won, Johannes! This time fortune favours the younger brother!" said this personage.
And he cautiously followed the man, who was rapidly walking on.
But suddenly he lost sight of him; it seemed as if the earth had swallowed him up.
And when he had reached the outer wall of the church, where the man had disappeared, the Armenian (for it was Perseus) could discover neither door nor any other opening.
"No doubt about it," he said to himself, "the appointment has been made within the temple. I must follow."
But at that place the wall could not be climbed.