“I could not choose but hear.”
“Then pledge me. By the gods—”
“Nay, good tribune, I am a Jew.”
“By thy God, then, or in the form most sacred to those of thy faith—pledge me to do what I tell thee now, and as I tell thee; I am waiting, let me have thy promise.”
“Noble Arrius, I am warned by thy manner to expect something of gravest concern. Tell me thy wish first.”
“Wilt thou promise then?”
“That were to give the pledge, and— Blessed be the God of my fathers! yonder cometh a ship!”
“In what direction?”
“From the north.”
“Canst thou tell her nationality by outward signs?”