XV
THE BATTLE OF THE WADY
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."
Judas laughed and assured Meph that he would make a strategist if not a champion some day; and with gigantic strides he went over the hills.
Within an hour the Fort of the Rocks was deserted by all save the women, the aged, the sick, and children. In single bands the armed men moved northward, following the depression between the hills, filing like ants close to the clumps of rock so that no eye less sharp than an eagle's would have detected a moving army. As night fell, the Jews, who had been scattered during the daylight, gathered in among the rocks bordering the great Wady. In the darkness they felt their way each to such couch as he might find between the boulders. Soon all was silent, except for the coming and going of Judas and his brethren, giving encouragement or command.
At the same time the army of Apollonius was approaching, a league to the west. A squadron of horsemen led the van. These followed the roadway, whose white line was extinguished by the clouds of dust raised by thousands of hoofs. Lance-point and helmet gleamed dimly through the darkness answering the stars, as when heavenly bodies are reflected in rippling water. The command to move in silence did not prevent the clicking of weapons and the low rumble of horses' feet on the beaten road.
Foot soldiers, armed with pikes, bows, and swords, followed the horsemen. Then came camels and asses, laden with provisions and heavier weapons. To the rear struggled hundreds of camp followers; merchants to purchase the spoil; and those of baser sort to revel in the expected rapine. The usual swarm of women were there to make their Circean camp wherever the troops should halt.
It was past midnight when the van of the Greeks reached the opening of the Wady. The soldiers needed rest after their rapid march. Each company scattered to right or left, maintaining only relative order. Then silence fell upon the host. Ten thousand men were scarcely distinguishable from the rocks and bushes amid which they slept. The sharp challenge of a sentinel, the accidental clash of a weapon against a stone, mingled with the hoot of an owl or the bark of some jackal as he found his usual path of marauding blocked by the strange forms of men.
Yet other eyes than those of night-prowling birds and beasts penetrated the darkness. Judas and his brethren had taken oversight of the Greek host almost as comprehensive as was that of Apollonius and his staff.
"I fear," said Judas to a comrade, "lest something untoward has happened the maiden; for this is the spot, and the stars mark the hour. God forbid that we have erred in sending her upon this unwomanly venture!"
"Yet," said Jonathan, "the information she has sent us is worth the sacrifice of a life."
"But not such a life, my brother. If she has been ensnared, I know not how to rejoice in any victory so dearly bought. Meph says she was at the very tent of Apollonius."
"You think overmuch of the daughter of Elkiah," replied Jonathan. "Besides, she would have her own way."
"Aye, and has it. List!"
The three whistling notes of a quail floated from a long distance, and were scarcely answered by the same signal when a woman stood beside them.
"God be praised!" and the two Maccabees each raised in turn her hand to his lips.
"But why this attire, Deborah? We looked for a Greek helmet at least," said Judas, touching her long flowing robe, which even the night showed to be of a gaudy color.
"The Greek women have the freedom of their camps," replied Deborah. "No greater dangers than insulting words have threatened me there, and words do not harm if the soul does not hear them."
"Still, for every such word a Greek life shall pay before another night comes," said Jonathan.
"Not in my revenge, brave men," replied Deborah. "We must not think of such things. What shall we care for insults when our cause is so shamed? But to my account. Apollonius rides with the middle division. The squadron of Syrian horse under Syron leads. Philip has sent a detachment from Jerusalem to join in the fray. The whole army moves into the valley at daybreak. God grant it may be to them the 'valley of the shadow of death.' But yet, how can I wish such things? Sometimes my woman's heart cries out against the cruelty of our most righteous war. But I am woman no longer. My heart has bled so much that my nature has turned to blood. Have you any order for me?"
"None, but that you rest. Do not stay near the battle, for though we pray for victory we are but a handful against a multitude. Our armor is little more than our courage; theirs is brass and iron."
"It matters not," said Deborah. "Did you hear my Caleb's dream? It was of a little hole in the sandy beach which drank up the sea."
"The Lord grant that this Wady be the hole," responded Judas. "If He forsake us not, few of the Greeks will come out at the other end. But to your rest, my daughter! You will need great strength of body and soul to comfort those in the Fort of the Rocks, who will mourn for many of us to-morrow. God watch between us!"
Deborah went a little way in the direction of the Fort of the Rocks. Jonathan accompanied her until she insisted upon lying down to rest in a secure spot, feeling too fatigued to resume her journey before to-morrow.
But no sooner had Jonathan's form disappeared through the night than she rose.
"I cannot stay away from the battle," she said to herself. "Many of these, my brothers, will fall. My place is among them. But this blood, this blood! God, must it be? Yet I, a woman, have helped prepare this slaughter."
She fell upon her knees. "Lord, spare Thy people. If blood must flow let it be of those only who have destroyed Thy altars, and blasphemed Thy Holy Name. Spare Judas and Jonathan, and—all these Thy people! Avenge Thou our cause! As the sun drinks the water from the pools, so may Thy vengeance drink the blood of the enemy, and Thy land be purged!"
She rose and walked rapidly, not toward the Fort of the Rocks, but in the direction of the Greeks.