"It would only ensure evil to you if we did, mother. No, we will keep together."
The Roman soldiers rode up, and roughly ordered the party to accompany them back to the main body, which consisted of fifty men. The leader, a young officer whose garments and armor showed that he belonged to a family of importance, rode forward a few paces to meet them.
"Some more of this accursed race of rebels!" he exclaimed.
"We are quiet travelers," John said, "journeying from Capitolias to Tarichea. We have harmed no one, my lord."
"You are all the same," the Roman said, scowling. "You speak us fair one day, and stab us in the back the next.
"Pomponius," he said to a sergeant, "put these two lads with the rest. They ought to fetch a good price, for they are strong and active. As to the girl, I will make a present of her, to the general, to send to his wife in Rome. She is the prettiest Jewess I have seen, since I entered the country. The old woman can go. She is of no use to anyone."
Martha threw her arms round Mary; and would have striven to resist, with her feeble strength, the carrying out of the order, when John said in Hebrew:
"Mother, you will ruin us all, and lose your own life! Go home quietly, and trust to me to save Mary."