The gray light of the following morning, breaking between the cliffs of Moab, revealed two figures not far from the Fort of the Rocks.
One was the stalwart form of Judas, his red hair glowing like a sunrise on a mountain pinnacle as compared with the tiny body of his companion, the lame Mephibosheth. The boy's strength was utterly exhausted, so that he could scarcely stand with the aid of his crutch; but his tongue, as usual, was "like a strong man rejoicing to run a race."
"Up on my shoulder, Meph!" said Judas. "You can better whisper in my ear what I judge it were not well for even the trees to hear. She was unharmed? And you met her in the Wady? That is a good seven hours from here, Meph. And you have trudged all night to bring me tidings? The Lord bless you!"
"Amen!" responded Meph. "And General Apollonius moves at once upon us. He will attack us to-morrow or next day. Deborah bade me say that he would surely come by the Wady. They must move up the dry water-bed if they would reach us so soon, for it will take thrice the hours to march over the hills; and she says that one man on the cliff above is worth a score hemmed in by the walls of the great chasm they must pass through."
"God be praised! And is this all?" asked Judas.
"Except," added Meph, "that a rich convoy has already started from Shechem for Jerusalem by the direct road. In it are many merchants and women of rank."
"We want neither their pelf nor their women," said Judas. "Let them go their way, if they only keep out of ours. But this Apollonius I would have. He is the biggest hawk of them all. Oh, Meph! Meph! if we could only get his claws tangled in the Wady as you get the birds fastened in your nets!"
"I generally have to pull the string myself," said the boy. "You must pull just then and just so, but you get them."