One closely watching these scouts and pickets would have noted that when a Greek soldier surmounted the crest he neither returned nor made sign to those following. He simply disappeared, his comrades supposing that he had passed in safety. But an eagle flying over the spot would have paused to hover, with beak parted for the carrion feast that awaited him there; for behind the ledge were masked the deadliest shots among the Jewish bowmen, and those most expert with the short lance, having from boyhood used it in hunting. Men who could elude the sagacity of the fox, and pin the wary beast to the ground with a throw of threescore paces, made quick finish of a Greek armed with a long and heavy sarissa, which was fit only for close prodding.
Behind the van came the staff of Seron, men bemedalled for exploits in many battles. Then followed squadrons of horse, crowding their sweaty flanks, and rubbing the greaves from their riders' legs in the attempt to keep full number abreast on the narrow road. So the python's head reached the Heights of Bethhoron.
Suddenly the crest of the hill burst as with an earthquake. A roar as of thunder articulated the war cry, "Mi-camo-ca-ba!" Every rock scintillated with spear-heads. Arrows clouded the air, and fell in deadly showers upon the unshielded Greeks, leaving scarcely a man or a horse standing on the near roadway. Hundreds of these shafts, as if borne by wings, so far was their flight, dropped amid Seron's suite, and the gayest plumes first nodded beneath the deadly challenge.
Under cover of this storm of missiles, and before the enemy could sufficiently recover from consternation to clearly discern the meaning of the attack, the armored Jews dashed over the crest. As when a dam bursts, the living flood poured down the slope, carrying everything before it. Mi-camo-ca-ba! the wild cry from a thousand throats, drowned all shouts of command. But one sound was heard above the din. It was the lion voice of Judas, as with the sword of Apollonius he hewed his way through the half-formed phalanges. The first stretch of road was not cleared of the foe before those on the second bend were hemmed in by the patriot archers, who had gained the covert of rocks on either side, and swept the highway with unerring aim. For the Greeks to advance was impossible; orderly retreat equally vain. Those who stood their ground were huddled together as for quicker slaughter. Those in the rear turned backward in flight. The splendid squadrons, blinded by panic, became like herds of riderless horses, spurred by the sting of arrows. Cavalry dashed back upon the infantry following, carrying these foot soldiers along as a freshet its débris. In less than two hours the army of Seron was in hopeless rout over the white hills and across the green cornfields of the plain of Sharon.
The Maccabæans did not follow in pursuit. To have done so would have revealed to the enemy the fewness of their assailants. Should the Greeks regain their wits and resume the fight, Judas foresaw that his men, away from their coverts of rocks and copses and in the open plain, would be readily annihilated by superior numbers. He let the panic do its work.
"It's the angel of the Lord," he said, "though his wings are black with God's curse."
So Judas was content to watch the writhing of the python whose head he had crushed.
Seron and the survivors of his staff displayed their genius by escaping in the opposite direction to the retreat of the mass of the army. They turned off from the highway, and crossed the fields toward the southeast in the direction of Jerusalem, their only covert now. Several of the horses of his suite were abandoned, having broken their legs as they slipped between the rocks; others refused to enter the thickets of underbrush which had already torn their flesh, until they were unmercifully prodded by the spurs of their riders. A handful of officers at length struck a hoof path that with many windings debouched into the highway near the summit of Bethhoron, whence they made their way toward the city.