"I hear nothing," replied Deborah. Caleb put his fingers to his mouth, and imitated the three notes of the quail.
"He hears. He is answering. There he has stumbled and dropped his crutch. He's up again now."
"I hear nothing," repeated Deborah; but in another moment a sun-faded mat of hair was projected from over an adjacent rock.
"I thought that would bring you," shouted the lame boy, "that is, if you were anywhere on the outside of your stone cage—that's what I call Jerusalem. I have been whistling for an hour, like a bird left behind when the flock has flown southward, and I couldn't call up a mate. But my! it's good to see you, Caleb, and to-morrow Judas is going to whack the Greeks again. He knows how to fight. Did you ever see—of course you didn't, but I did—a little red ant fight a big black ant? Before black ant can turn, red ant rushes at him and bites him in two in the middle where his back is as thin as his legs; then he falls to and eats up the pieces. That's the way Judas fights. You'll see to-morrow or next day; for the Greeks are coming, sure; and Judas is lying for them, just as he did at Bethhoron."
So Meph's tongue and his crutch rattled on for an hour.
Nearing the city, Deborah and Caleb concealed themselves behind the rocks, or wandered, as the women and children do picking dried brambles for kindling. Meph in the meanwhile acted as a scout, and gave warning of every moving shadow in the distance. Only once did he sound any real alarm. It was when several horsemen dashed from the direction of Emmaus, and made for the west gate of the city. After a while our wayfarers cautiously approached the northwest corner of the wall, and disappeared in the crevice. Meph came out alone, and after beating the bushes wildly with his crutch hobbled off, muttering all sorts of imprecations on game that will not stand to be caught.
XXXVI
THE TEMPTRESS
