The torches held by the bondsmen flared in swinging, more being lighted, and past them seemed to go dull red flashes, but these were the bright blades of Syrian darts obtained by Ulric for this business. Strong were the arms hurling, and the darts were better than arrows at so short a distance.

"Jupiter Tonans!" roared Caius. "I have a sheaf of them here in the chariot, for myself and my charioteers. Wise is the Saxon, and he provided them for me!"

A good thrower was he, and some who had stealthily crept on too nearly were smitten as they sprang forward. Then came the charge which had been purposed across the open space, but between its front and the chariot was a wall of Saxons, in full armor, shouting with the fierce joy of battle.

Down went the small leader, cloven to the jaws as if his helmet were of wood. Down went his companions rapidly, while the battle laughter of the vikings rang derisively in their ears.

The other multitude the legionaries were slaughtering pitilessly, but the command of the governor had been to follow, and the soldiers came not back at once.

"Slay! Slay!" shouted Caius. "I come!"

"Come not!" replied Ulric. "Abide where thou art and press on to thy house. We will keep these wolves at bay."

"A fight and I not in it?" said Caius, angrily. "Commandest thou me?"

"In the fight I am jarl!" said Ulric. "I am answerable for thy head. Drive on!"

"Thou art right!" said Caius, justly. "On, O charioteer! Obey thou the Saxon. I forgot that he is a prince and a captain among his own people. I will make him a Roman yet. He should not be a barbarian."

Hardly might any less than a king, nor even a king except at great cost and for policy, obtain Roman citizenship, but this was the meaning of the words of Caius.

Then an arrow flew and struck him upon the left arm, wounding him; but he mentioned it not, for he saw that the charge was broken and that the Saxons came to march with the chariot.

"Not one of them is missing," he thought. "So much for broad shields and good mail. The rioters had weapons, but no armor, and they were slain as cattle. This arm of mine is but scratched."

"On!" commanded the jarl, to his men. "I heard the centurion say he is wounded. O Caius, how art thou?"

"A sting on my arm," replied Caius. "We shall soon be at the house. This is naught."

"Let me see it speedily," said Ulric. "I have picked up an arrow with a grooved head. Thou knowest what that meaneth."

"Haste! Haste!" shouted Caius. "This thing is of Herod, the jackal! I am lost."

But the tumult had been stricken to quiet and the ground was strewn with the dead. Now as they went there came swiftly armed horsemen of the governor and behind these marched the Iberian legionaries. No visible fault might be charged by Caius upon his host of the feast. Not far was it to his place of abiding, but when the chariot halted there he sprang down and entered in a gloomy silence, followed by the jarl.

"Home, now," commanded the officer of the legionaries. "Our duty is done."

Back with them went all servants of the governor, but Caius was in an inner room removing his armor.

"I wore no armlets," he said, "lest the governor might see them. The arrow went past my shield while I threw a spear. Thou hast done well, O Saxon chief. But for thee I had been murdered. This is a small wound."

"I will suck it for thee before I bind it," said Ulric. "Then watch thou if it beginneth to burn, but set thou out hence before dawn."

"That will I this hour," said Caius, and orders went forth.

Great was the declared wrath of the governor of Samaria, for he came himself to inquire concerning the welfare of his guest. Not to him was anything said of a groove in an arrow wherein might be pressed some deadly juice, and he returned to his palace a seeming friend of Caius, complaining bitterly of the Jews and Samaritans, more of whom he threatened to slaughter for this night's business.

Ulric cared for his men. They had cuts and bruises which they made light of, but among them was no arrow wound. So light a missile would have been stopped by a leathern hauberk, and all their mail was of the highest temper of steel.

"We will ride soon," he told them. "Be ready to mount and leave this place of thieves."

"I like it well!" exclaimed Knud the Bear. "It was not a hard fight, as if these fellows had been Danes or Northmen, but I cleft many skulls and I think Wulf the Skater killed a score of them. Tostig was unlucky, and Ven, the son of Gerta, slew more Samaritans that he did."

"He did not," said Wulf. "Thy counting is not good. And I slew two men in armor also."

CHAPTER XXXIII.
The House of Pontius the Spearman.

The road from Samaria to Jerusalem hath many windings and there are hills to weary the wayfarer. Climbing one of these slowly was the chariot of Caius of Thessalonica. He was lying heavily upon the back seat, as one to whom this journey had become an insupportable burden.

"This long day draweth to its close, O jarl," he said to the horseman nearest him on the right. "The roads are worse to pass than were those of yesterday. We are now on the level near the ridge of the Mount of Olives. Soon we may see the city. My arm burneth and it is swelling."

"I would we were already with thy learned physician," replied Ulric. "Be of better cheer. I know little of such matters, but I think thou doest well. I will offer sacrifices for thee in this temple of the Jews. Hast thou ever done aught against their god? He is revengeful."

"I have not harmed him," said Caius. "I have not slain Jews. Do as thou wilt, for at this time there is no other god in Jerusalem. I will pay for thy oxen and Pontius will command the priests to offer them upon his altar. Thinkest thou, O Saxon, that any god hath power to heal the wound made by a poisoned arrow?"

"That I know not," said Ulric. "I have often wondered much what the gods may do. One of them healed me of my hurts from the tiger of Julius. Such a god might cast out a poison. He casteth out demons and he healed a leper. He opened the eyes of a blind man. I would that he were now in Jerusalem and that thou mightest look into his face. Also I must offer sacrifices of thanks for that matter. It is not right to obtain a gift from any god and then not to keep faith with him. A god should be dealt with as if he were a brave warrior."

"Well for thee!" exclaimed Caius. "I would indeed that he were here instead of in Galilee. No god may heal aught so far away, and as for this god of the Jews, they will not that a Roman enter his temple."

"Ben Ezra told me of the temple," said Ulric, "that a court is prepared into which all may come. There only will I enter. It is not well to anger priests in their temple, for they know the ways of their god and we know them not."

"Thou art young, but thou art cunning," said Caius. "But I have a great fear concerning this wound in my arm. It is not like any other, and I have been wounded often. A strange thing is poison. I have considered why the gods make such a thing and why they put it into the teeth of serpents. They are evil!"

"A god may need a serpent as thou needest a spear," said Ulric. "It is plain to me. If I were a god, I would make what I required for my errands. So do they work with winds and seas and rocks, and with thunders and with plagues of many kinds. No man getteth away from them if they have aught against him. Anger not the gods, for they are powerful and they are cunning."

"As thou hast said," replied Caius, gloomily, "I have spoken against them at times, and now they have reached me with this Syrian arrow from the quiver of Herod the jackal."

"Odin!" suddenly exclaimed the jarl; for the overwearied horse under him stood still without a pull of the rein, and before the eyes of the Saxons was the City of the Great King, the Holy City, Jerusalem the Beautiful.

Deep is the valley of Jehoshaphat, through which runneth the brook Kidron under its many bridges and between its gardens and palaces. Beyond this valley, as the whole company stood still to admire, they saw the mighty walls of the city, high and white, and the castles and the towers, but beyond and above all these, in the bright light of the declining sun, they saw the glories of the temple which was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world.

"It is Asgard!" said Ulric, thoughtfully, "and I see the temple of a god that hath power on earth to heal wounds and to give sight, and to whom demons give obedience. I think he is not as are the gods of the North, and I will ask this son of his more about him."

But the Saxons who were halted with him said one to another:

"We have come out into the world far enough. We will see this one city and we will do somewhat of fighting perhaps. But then we will find a keel, or take one, and we will return to the Northland, whether the jarl goeth with us or not. The winter of this land is warm, not cold, and we may not abide it. We will go into our own fiords as the ice cometh out, seeing we may not get there sooner."

So strong is homesickness, and so it will change the hearts and the wills of brave men.

At that hour a youth sat in a vaulted chamber of a great building upon one of the hills of Jerusalem. Around him the furniture was good, but somewhat plain, and there were weapons and armor of many kinds scattered here and there. In a corner was a couch, and there were chairs and tables, and on the tables unlighted lamps.

"I do know," he said, "that Pontius the Spearman is in the city. Why doth he not send for me? I am not in a prison, yet I am not permitted to go out into the city since I returned from Cæsarea. The procurator cannot think that I know aught more than my messages, nor fear lest I should betray him. Why, then, am I shut up in this chamber of the castle?"

Little remembered the haughty procurator of so small a matter as a young Greek messenger for whom he had no present need. Somewhere among the household this Lysias was sure to be awaiting a summons, and there were weighty matters on hand. One was before him pressingly in the hall of audience, for he himself stood there angrily reading a written scroll which had been brought to him.

"The high priest and the eagles once more!" he exclaimed. "This god of the Jews! What is he to me? I anger him not. Little he careth for the standards of the cohorts. Go thou! Tell Caiaphas it shall be as he willeth, and I will send him oxen for his sacrifices. The tribute gatherers have brought me even too many horned cattle, and his god may have them."

A dignified man, long-robed, gray-bearded, solemn-faced, who stood before him, bowed low, responding:

"I hear thee, most noble Pontius. I will bear to the high priest thy answer. It shall be to us as a promise from Cæsar. May the blessing of Jehovah of Hosts be upon him and thee."

"Go!" said Pontius, petulantly. "If he cannot do better for the Romans than he hath done for the Jews, my oxen are but wasted."

Lowly bowed the Jewish noble, but there was pride in his obeisance, and as he went out at the gate he muttered:

"The gift of Jehovah to these heathen would be the coming of Messiah the Prince and the slaughter of their legions in the valley that is before Jezreel until the blood should be as a river to wade horses in."

"What thinkest thou, Cornelius," said the procurator to a soldier of noble presence who stood near him; "must we yield to these dogs forever, with their continual turmoil?"

"They have their god," said Cornelius. "I have read much about him. He is gone from them for a while, but he hath promised to come back again. I think we should make him one of the gods of Rome and set up his image in the Pantheon with that of Jupiter."

"That were good policy," said Pontius, "and it would leave these priests of his nothing more to complain of. They are a pestilent nest of fault-finders and some of them get to the ear of Cæsar, doing us mischief; for they are crafty serpents."

"I fear God," said Cornelius. "We are but men and we see but little, while the eyes of God are everywhere."

"Go thou to Joppa, then," said Pontius, "and let no man pass out of the fort without thy knowledge. Thou keepest the gate. Keep it well."

Soldierly, friendly, was the parting word of Cornelius to his commander, but he was a free Roman and there was no servility in his courtesy, nor was there any fear.

"Him, also, I may trust," said Pontius, "but O for the coming of Caius of Thessalonica! I will see, also, Lysias, the Greek, and I would that Ben Ezra were returned from his cave in Carmel with his treasures. I will let him keep a part of them because I have further use for him before he dieth."

In the strong inner chamber of the procurator's castle Lysias walked slowly up and down chafing at his imprisonment, but his eyes glanced hither and thither and they were watchful.

"What!" he suddenly exclaimed, low-voiced. "Is the corridor door ajar? Would it be my death warrant to look out into the corridor? I am under no command not to look, but I may well be prudent where there are so many sharp swords."

The door was but slightly opened, as if he who last passed through had shut it carelessly; but there are traps in prison houses, and Lysias hesitated, going to listen at the narrow crevice, but not laying a hand upon wall or door.

"No sound," he thought. "I may open and close again. Who knoweth what may be here? I offend no order of any officer."

Nevertheless, he trembled as he obeyed the strong impulse that was in him. A step forward and he was in the corridor. It was lofty, its floor was of pictured tiling, and it was lighted by windows at each end. Into it came another vaulted passage three fathoms away, and he went swiftly to that opening.

"Vast is this palace," he was thinking, but at the next beating of his heart he went forward with a great bound, for the music of a woman's voice in a gay song fell upon his ear.

"She is here!" he exclaimed. "Now I care not if I die, so I but see her."

Wide open was a door into this second passage and through it poured the song, accompanied by the touching of a small harp. It was a love song, and he heard:

"Sapphira! O my beloved! I am here!"

She sprang to her feet and the lyre fell from her hand. O she was beautiful, in her sudden astonishment and fear, but he who came toward her with open arms seemed even more beautiful than she, for his face was radiant and his eyes were a flame of fire.

"Sapphira?"

"O rash one! Thou art lost! What am I to thee any more? Am I not the slave of the procurator of Judea? Thou art not my Lysias; thou art but a rider of horses."

In her face was a great struggle of pain, nevertheless, and in his was a whiteness, for he fell upon the floor and lay there moaning.

"Foolish boy!" she said, stooping over him. "I love thee, but I am not now thine, nor can I be. The past is dead, and the gods have bidden us eternal separation. Destroy me not and destroy not thyself. Go lest the sword find thee here! The scourge is close to thee, and sudden death both for thee and me."

"I care not for the scourge or the sword," said Lysias, slowly rising and gazing at her. "I care only for thee, O false one! Hast thou utterly changed away from me?"

"What I was that I am not," she said. "What thou art thou knowest. Art thou mad, also, to cast thyself against the power of Pontius? Leave me lest I call for help! I will not die on thy account. I love life, and life is full of love for such as I am. What need have I of thee, O lost lover?"

Anger was in her eyes now, and greater fear, for that which she said was true.

"Kiss me!" he said, faintly, "and I will go. The gods have abandoned me!"

Then stepped she forward and kissed him on the lips and a spasm shook him from head to foot, shaking her also.

"Let thy love die within thee," she said, "and trouble me no more, for I live happily in this palace, where all are my friends. Make me not thine enemy, for in this thou art a robber."

"That am I," he murmured. "I will go. I came far and risked all to see thee. I knew nothing concerning women. Now that I know thee, what thou art, I have no need of thee. Love will die, for all else is dead. Sing thou thy song, but be sure that all thy roses will wither on thy bosom."

"Cursest thou me?" she exclaimed. "Beware what thou sayest! I have power!"

"As a caged leopard hath power, so hast thou," said Lysias. "I leave thee. Be thou a slave, for that is all that is in thee"—and he was gone.

She stood and looked at the doorway by which he had departed, and her lips were without color and her hand was on her bosom.

"What is this?" she asked. "Did I love him better than I knew? Was I too much in fear that I sent him from me? One cometh who would slay him. It is best that he should go lest he should die. Women must be prudent, but this pain is great. I did love him. O that he had not come again, for before he came I was happy. O ye gods, what shall I do? O beautiful Aphrodite, help me, for thou knowest love!"

In the corridor lingered Lysias listening, and then he walked on, staggering as he went.

"O woman! woman!" he whispered. "What is woman and what is man? She is changed and I change not. I cannot hate her, as I thought I could, now she hath spoken. I will wait cunningly, for I am sure that in this palace is one who calleth for my knife or for a spear thrust. I will find him."

In a moment more he was in his own place, still leaving its door ajar, as at the first, but he began to search among the weapons and the armor in the room, finding a small, sharp blade with an ivory handle, and hiding it in his bosom.

"It will do," he said, "but I would I might wear mail."

At that he was stooping over some fine steelwork and he heard a step behind him. It was a crafty thought which bade him continue his speech.

"The procurator knoweth me only as a postboy," he said. "I might serve him better in mail. He hath not many who would be true to him as I would. There are those who are false, but I could bring him a good sword in a hand he might surely trust."

"O Greek!" said a deep, stern voice. "What is this that thou sayest? Put on the mail!"

"O most noble Pontius!" exclaimed Lysias, turning, but lifting the armor. "Thou didst not send for me, therefore I came not."

"Speak not," said Pontius, "save to tell me all that thou hast seen and heard here and at Joppa and at Cæsarea. I have a work for thee."

Lysias told all save his meeting with Sapphira, and the procurator listened.

"Thou hast ears and thou hast eyes," he said at last. "I set thee free of all other service but this that I now tell thee. Thou wilt have another abiding place than this, but thou wilt come and go freely among my servants, being known to them as my messenger whom none may hinder. Now hath one come from the Damascus gate saying that my friend Caius of Thessalonica draweth near, and with him his Saxon gladiators. He is wounded, and my physician meeteth him. Go thou. Hear all. See all. Report to me of his swordsmen.

"Now hearken! Among the female slaves of my wife is one in whom is a peril, for she is fair. For women I care not, but there are men who are fools before bright eyes. In the banquet room and in the balconies get thou speech with this Sapphira. She will be spoken to by my wife that she may hide nothing from thee lest she die in the arena. Judea and Samaria are worth more to me than is the blood of one fair serpent. Come!"

Lysias now stood before the procurator in mail and helmet, girded with a light sword and bearing a silver-gilded buckler. It was the arms and armor of the Syrian mercenaries of Pontius, but as of an officer among them, ordered to duty at the palace.

"Thou wilt go on foot to the Damascus gate," said Pontius. "The physician waiteth Caius at his house. Deliver this scroll to Caius and remain with his company until thou canst bring me exact tidings concerning his wound."

"O most noble Pontius," said Lysias, "I pray thee permission to say this word."

"Say on!" said the Spearman.

"Only in being true to thee have I any hope of life, for thy enemies are my enemies. I also will at times to attend at the school of Gamaliel, as I told thee."

"That is thy value to me," said Pontius. "Wert thou any man's bondservant, or wert thou other than a youth, a scholar of Gamaliel, I would have no use for thee. All they of his manner of teaching are handicraftsmen, even if they are rich. What is thy work?"

"I am a shaper of arrows," said Lysias, "and I know the making of a bow. Thou mayest yet require to have a sharp arrow sent surely to a mark of thy choosing."

"Say thou no more!" commanded the procurator. "Thou art wise to preserve thy head. Only a fool throweth away his life. Go!"

For they had walked out along the passage and before them was a gate of the palace. It was not the great gate, but even here were armed legionaries, and their officer and others with him took note of Lysias and of the manner of his sending.

"He is the trusted messenger of the procurator," said one. "I heard of him from the captain of the temple. When he hath borne many messages we shall cease to see him."

Lysias passed on down the steep street in his brilliant armor as one having a shadow of authority, but his heart was bitter within him.

"I am to see her again," he murmured. "I would she were dead and I dead with her. I will but live to strike this unknown one, even if I stab him with a blade of Pontius. But I must be cunning with these Saxons. Do I not know what manner of pirates they are? Not among any other crew, I think, shall I find men so tall and so strong as are my old comrades from The Sword. Their jarl would be a prince of gladiators, but I am not glad that he and his come now to Jerusalem."

Away behind him in the palace, in the room where he had met her, sat Sapphira.

"What is this?" she exclaimed. "Did I not see him walking with the procurator as one walketh with a near friend? Is he, then, more than a horse boy? Is he an officer of the palace, and greater than I? Now am I indeed in pain, for I have need of friends. O love! Why was I cruel to thee? Come again, O my beloved! My Lysias! I will tell thee that I am not changed! Will he return if I call him? He will, for I am beautiful. I am favored by Aphrodite. She will make him bend to me as I will. It was but for a moment, and I was in fear. None must see me this day. I will go at once as if I were summoned by the wife of the procurator. Woe to any who shall hinder me."

She caught up and threw over her head a veil and over her body a flowing robe of silk embroidered with needlework. Then, as if fear hastened her, she flitted away along the main corridor and disappeared.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
The School of Gamaliel.

With all honor did the captain of the Damascus gate of Jerusalem receive Caius of Thessalonica, the friend of Pontius the Spearman. The chariot halted before the gate and in it sat the stern Roman centurion, giving no external token of a wound or of suffering.

"O noble Caius," said the captain, after his first greeting, "I have this, also, for thee from the procurator, that his physician, who is also thine, hath gone before thee to thy house. May the gods give him both skill and success."

"I thank the procurator and thee, also," said Caius. "I will now drive on."

"A moment, O most noble Caius," interrupted the officer of the guard. "A messenger even now. He is from the procurator."

There was no stir among the mounted swordsmen who rode before and behind the chariot, but they sent quick glances to each other as their eyes fell upon this messenger.

"Silence, O jarl," he had said in Greek to Ulric as he drew near him. "I shall go with thee speedily. I thank the gods that I now see thee again. I can do many good things for thee and thine. I pray thee bid them, also, to be as if we were strangers."

"They need no bidding," said Ulric. "Hael to thee."

No further word did either of them speak, but Lysias waited at the side of the chariot while Caius read the parchment epistle. It was but brief, and when it was ended the centurion said to Lysias:

"Go thou and come again. I will answer for thee to Pontius. Say that I bid him be with me within the hour lest evil come. Haste! On thy head! O charioteer, drive to my house! On, O jarl!"

"Behold," thought Lysias, "I am in a sore strait. Pontius will scourge me! But I will run."

A swift runner was he, even with the mail upon him, and at the gate of the procurator's palace he halted to draw breath.

"In! In!" exclaimed the officer of the portal. "I will announce thee. The procurator giveth a feast, but I may go to him. This must be some strange errand!"

"The gods be with thee!" said Lysias. "Tell him!"

It was but a few terrible moments, full of fear for the young Greek, and he stood in an anteroom before the stern Spearman.

"What did I bid thee?" he demanded.

"Slay thou me if thou wilt, most noble procurator," bravely responded Lysias, "but Caius of Thessalonica sendeth thee greeting and these words: 'Be thou with me within the hour lest evil come.' I beg thee, O Pontius, let me say this much more: for I heard him whisper, 'Lest he give his power into the hand of him of the Black Castle and his neck to the headsman of Cæsar.' I have not at all disobeyed thee, O Pontius. He bade me return to his house for another commandment."

"Be thou there on his arrival and I will count it thy strict obedience," said Pontius. "Thou art not a legionary, nor under the law of the legion. I think thou servest me well."

Away ran Lysias murmuring: "So narrow is the measure between Roman favor and Roman vengeance! He may die ere I risk his wrath again."

Nevertheless, it is not easy for one of the great to depart from a feast whereat governors and senators and princes are reclining, and Pontius went in to pay the duty of host to his many guests, so that Lysias was in no peril concerning his errand.

The chariot had reached its halting place and Caius had walked into his house, upheld somewhat by his pride, but more by the arm of Ulric, the son of Brander.

Already the physician had examined the wound made by the Syrian grooved arrow.

"O Saxon," he asked, "thou didst suck this poison well and quickly?"

Ulric did but nod his head.

"Then know thou, my lord Caius," said the man of skill, "that but for thy swordsman thou wert already dead. I will do what I can for thee, but it will be long before thou wilt bear thine armor. This wound must be neither bandaged nor closed, but washed only and kept open. Saxon, give me thy sharpest blade."

"It is my seax," said Ulric, drawing it. "What am I to do?"

"Cut into this hard swelling," said the physician. "Cut the depth of two finger breadths and withdraw thy blade."

"Cut!" said Caius. "Am I afraid of an edge?"

"So bidden, I will cut," said Ulric, and the sword point went into the swollen arm.

"I thought so," said the physician. "With that green corruption spurteth out much evil. Widen the cut. Caius is saved. I will put into the gash an ointment that I will bring. It is well for thee, O Caius, that thy strong swordsman is thy trusty friend. I go."

Behind them, by express authority, now stood Lysias, listening, and he said:

"Most noble Caius, this is my command from the procurator. I must go to him."

"Tell thou him the saying of the physician," said Caius. "Tell him, also, that I change not my greeting. He must come."

Again went Lysias, and again he stood before the procurator telling all that he had heard and seen.

"Pause thou here a moment," said Pontius. "I would have speech with my wife."

Still as a statue stood the young Greek, and none who came or went dared ask him whence he came, but suddenly an arm was around his neck and a kiss was upon his cheek.

"I am here, beloved, but I may not linger. I will see thee often. I am still thy Sapphira."

He stirred not, spoke not, nor did he turn to see, but there was a grating of teeth.

"O Lysias! O love!"

"Speak not of that which is dead," he said to her. "Go thou thy way. This is no place for the foolishness of unfaithful women. I will indeed meet thee again, but thou art a slave and I am a free warrior. Go!"

White was now the face of Sapphira and her lips were quivering, but she whispered:

"Scorn me not! I was frightened, and so I was cruel. I do love thee; and thou wilt need me in this place, which is as a spider's web. I go. Follow me not!"

"Follow thee?" laughed Lysias, scornfully. "I did follow thee from far, but now I am as a weapon in the hand of the procurator. I shall serve not thee, but him."

"Ha!" muttered one who heard. "This is, then, the trusted one. Him we must slay."

Well for that speaker if his lips had been closed, for in the shadow behind him stood Pontius the Spearman.

"They who will not betray me must die?" he thought within himself. "Then do I now know one mark at which my Greek may send his sharpest arrow and be guiltless. He may slay this Iberian swine with his own hand."

For the mutterer was a guest who had risen from a table, and he was one who had been an officer of Herod's household, but was now pretending to be an enemy of the cunning tetrarch, the jackal of the Black Castle.

The guest returned to his reclining, and Sapphira had vanished as a lamp that goeth out, but the procurator came forward.

"Say to Caius that I come. Abide thou in his house this night and on the morrow until I send for thee, save that thou mayest go in the morning to the school of Gamaliel. Hast thou money for thy uses?"

"O most noble Pontius," said Lysias, "the swift ass that was mine own is in thy stable. All baggage of mine is in the armory room where thou didst find me. I have gold and silver pieces enough in my pouch for this present. I am not poor, so that what I have be not taken from me."

"I will give orders in these thy matters," replied Pontius. "He who serveth me well is rich enough. Thou shalt have thy swift ass and such other beasts as thou wilt. Go now. I believe thee brave and prudent. Thou art young, too, and the girl is fair. Youth is the time for trifling. Provide thee soon a good bow and arrows of thine own choosing."

"Thanks, O noble Pontius! Thanks! I will send sure arrows at thy bidding!" So saying, the young Greek departed.

Long was the conference that night between the Saxons and Lysias.

"We are little surprised," said the jarl, "for we knew thou wert going to this place. Thou art a good fighter and thou hast rightly taken the procurator for thy captain. I have heard that he casteth the pilum even better than do other Romans. I could follow such a man into battle, knowing that he is fitted to lead. Hast thou found thy Sapphira?"

"Speak not of her, O jarl," said Lysias. "Ere long thou mayest thyself look upon her, but there is a peril in her name at this hour."

"I read thy face," said Ulric. "Keep thou thine own secret. But thou mayest say to Pontius the Spearman that he hath no surer friend than Caius of Thessalonica."

"Even now they are together," replied Lysias. "The procurator will know all that is known to thy friend, but I fear the careless tongues of thy Saxons. They speak to one another concerning triremes and old fights at sea. I would they were in their North country."

"So would not I," said Ulric, "unless I were to sail with them. I may not now leave this city of Jerusalem, and to sail to the north were to sail into ice fields. We must wait until the spring."

Not so thought the homesick vikings in their comfortable lodgings in the house of Caius. Even now they were talking of the sea.

"It is but a few miles to this seaport called Joppa," they said. "We will learn somewhat concerning the road thither and the shipping. We are free men, with the Middle Sea so near at hand."

Caius of Thessalonica slept well after his long communing with the procurator, and when he awoke the jarl sat near him.

"Thou art watchful!" exclaimed Caius. "But in Jerusalem I am safe. I have to tell thee, however, that thy gladiators may not abide within the walls. The quarters for such as they are out in the valley of Jehoshaphat, near the amphitheater. No games are going on at this time, but there will be abundant sport in the days after the Passover feast, when Herod cometh."

The jarl's brow darkened, but he said only: "So be it. I will guide them to their place. I myself will inspect the city and the forts and offer sacrifices, as I told thee. But this know thou, O noble Caius, that not in this city nor in any other is treachery dead. I fear for thee. How is thine arm? I would see it."

"Thou hast knowledge of wounds, but not of poison," replied Caius. "Uncover it."

The jarl did so, and he looked thoughtfully at the sore and then at the feverish face of the noble Roman.

"This man will die slowly," he thought, "but he will die, for this wound healeth not. I will not be here when he dieth, lest I be deemed by others only fit food for wild beasts. So will I say to my companions."

"It changeth little," he said aloud to Caius. "Who shall read a thing like this? I will go and return, but I would my sword might be near thee if there is need of it."

"Go, O jarl," said Caius. "I will send for thee if I require thee. Fulfill thy will concerning the city, for all men may come and go. Only that thou must leave thy weapons from thee or the legionaries will disarm thee. The Jews, also, go unarmed."

"For that I have no care," said Ulric, "but it were a sore thing for Tostig the Red, for instance, to have no hilt near his grip."

"March them away quickly!" exclaimed Caius. "While thou art known to be with me as a guard thou mayest wear thy sword and thy mail. The rules go no further, for there have been many tumults and much bloodshed in Jerusalem."

The jarl answered not to that, but took his leave, and not at all as a servant. Rather did it seem as if the centurion were under his command. He went to his men, and well pleased were they to find their quarters were to be without the walls.

"O jarl," said Wulf the Skater, "this is much better. I would thou wert able now to show us our way to the sea. We have learned much from Lysias and from others. There is good shipping upon the coast and the right keel might be found by brave men."

"Also triremes of Cæsar," replied the jarl. "The coast is well guarded. We will wait a little."

Out into the streets they marched, with him at their head, and many turned to look upon their array as they went on to the gate. The dwellers in Jerusalem were accustomed to seeing various kinds of armed men, but these were unlike any others. Nevertheless, there were devout Jews who lifted hands to curse them in the name of Jehovah, as heathen gladiators whose presence was a pollution of the city of God.

The amphitheater, when they came to it, was found to be larger than that of Tiberias, with more dens for wild beasts and with a better and longer course for the running of races.

"I have been told," said the circus servitor who guided them, "that Herod the Great delighted much in horses. Also that one value of the circus was as a place of execution for tribes who had rebelled against him. His horsemen on the frontier scouted far and wide for captives and his cages here were ever full."

"I care not for circuses," said Wulf the Skater. "I have seen enough of them."

"And I," replied Tostig; "if I might kill an elephant, it would please me. I have a curiosity to know how long it taketh so huge a beast to die."

"Thou wilt see elephants enough," said the servitor, "but they do not often spend them upon the games. They are costly, and they come from far. Men and women are plentiful, and they make as good sport in the killing."

The buildings prepared as quarters for trained gladiators, not slaves, were rude but spacious, and here did Ulric leave his friends while he returned to the city, but he remembered the saying of Caius concerning his armor.

"I may wear a tunic and robe only at most times," he said to himself. "But under the tunic may be a coat of fine mail and hidden by the robe may be a seax. I will not be defenseless altogether where there are so many secret daggers as I hear of. I would have speech with Lysias, if I may. I trust him not entirely, and I forget not that he is now of the household of the procurator."

Not justly altogether was he thinking of the young Greek, for Lysias was a man walking among perils and having a wounded heart under his bright mail and his gay apparel. It was but the next day when he made his first entrance at the school of Gamaliel. Celebrated over the inhabited earth was this academy, and many came from distant lands to hear the teachings of the great and learned rabbi. Among them, also, were those whose real purpose was to obtain for themselves the reputation of scholarship through the name of Gamaliel their teacher, and they were even as Lysias in that matter. In such a company, however, small attention was paid to one more young Greek, who seemed to be rich, save that none questioned him unwisely after being informed that his protector was Pontius the Spearman. Moreover, if there were those who bowed and made way for him on that account, there were others who bent their brows and drew aside their garments that he should not touch them.

"Thou art imprudent," said an elderly man to one of these. "Restrain thy zeal, I pray thee."

"He is a dog!" growled the zealot. "His heathen master slew my father causelessly in the temple, mingling his blood with his sacrifice to Jehovah. I am of Galilee."

"I will ask thee, then," said his adviser, "sawest thou ever this Galilean prophet who cometh from Nazareth? It is said that he worketh many wonders."

"I have seen him," said the zealot, "and wonders he doth work. Hath any other rabbi raised the dead? Who else cleanseth a leper or openeth the eyes of the blind?"

"If thou liest not," was the surly response, "he is indeed one of the learned. I will hear his teachings when he cometh to Jerusalem to the Passover feast. But he will work no wonders here."

"Knowest thou that?" sneered the zealot. "But this thou knowest from the law, that it is not well for thee to speak evil of a rabbi. He who revileth one of the learned goeth to Gehenna."

"I reviled him not!" exclaimed the adviser, as if in sudden fear. "I am a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I am a keeper of the whole law. Verily I will hear thy rabbi when he speaketh. But beware thou of offending the procurator!"

"Messiah cometh!" said the Galilean fiercely. "He bringeth a sword! He will make his garments red in the blood of the heathen!"

"Let not the priests hear thee!" sharply responded the Pharisee. "To them only is given the discerning of such matters. Thou wilt yet be cast out of the synagogue."

The angry Galilean walked slowly away. "What know the Pharisees and the priests concerning Jesus of Nazareth?" he muttered. "I think of him that he is a more learned rabbi than any here in Jerusalem."

Now Lysias heard these men, and already had he learned from the Saxons in what manner their jarl had been healed of his hurts in Galilee.

"This prophet!" he thought. "I will see him if I may. Alas for me, there is no temple here to Mercurius or to Apollo! I have great need to offer sacrifices. No! not to Juno nor to Venus! They have not dealt well with me. I think I shall now hate Sapphira when I see her. How is it then that I also love her, seeing that I would slay her if I could? This is that strange thing between a fool and a woman."

CHAPTER XXXV.
In the Court of the Women.

It was still the winter time in the Northland, but in Judea the spring had returned. In the lowlands there was already much heat and a swift growth of all fruits of the earth, but in a high place, like Jerusalem upon her hills, the days were cooler and oft the nights were frosty, so that men builded fires in their braziers.

"This is not according to nature," said Lars, the son of Beolf, among his companions. "We have had no snow save a few flakes, and there hath been no ice thicker than the blade of my seax. I weary of this land!"

"Hael to the Northland!" exclaimed Tostig the Red. "Hael to the driving storms and the glittering ice, and to the frost and to the snow!"

"I will not stay here," said Knud the Bear. "I will depart from an accursed country wherein there is never good winter. But didst thou hear the keeper? He saith that ships at Joppa dare not put to sea because of the rough weather. What seamen are these!"

"O men!" said Wulf the Skater. "By Odin! If vikings were at the oars and if I were at the helm, a keel would seek the open sea."

"We will even go to Joppa when we may," said Tostig. "But our errand will be to the Northland, that we may bring back fleets, and in them Saxons, to march with the jarl into the great battle in Esdraelon. We are too few."

"I am with thee," said another tall viking. "I have considered this matter, and I think it is also the mind of the jarl. He may not go with us, but his secret will is that we go speedily without him. Then will he truthfully say to the Romans that he did not command us to go. I will no longer be shut up in this place as if I were one of the beasts in yonder dens waiting for my turn to be made a bloody show of. I am a free warrior, not a caged wild creature. I will go to the sea."

Other voices were raised in strong accord with his, and their talk went on until their minds were on fire and their purposes had become firmly fixed, for they were men of experience and of great courage. The jarl came not among them at this time, for he was even then at the temple gate inquiring as to the right method of obtaining cattle for his sacrifices to Jehovah. A servitor went into one of the inner courts and brought out a dealer who had bullocks at hand, and this man began to name prices, counting them in shekels of the temple.

"What know I of shekels?" exclaimed Ulric.

"Thou dost not need to know," broke in a voice behind him. "O jarl, I am here. He asketh thee too much. Let me attend to this matter. Well for thee that thou hast it in thy mind to offer sacrifices to the living Jehovah!"

"O my friend!" exclaimed the jarl. "Glad am I of thy coming! This charge is thine."

"Who art thou that meddlest with another man's affair?" demanded the dealer angrily.

"Silence, thou!" was the peremptory reply. "I am Ben Ezra, the interpreter of Caius of Thessalonica, and this is the captain of his guard and of his Saxons. Beware that thou deal not fraudulently with any of his people lest I have a hand laid upon thee. I am in my right in this matter."

"That do I now admit," replied the dealer in a changed manner, "but I charge him not too much. Come thou and see the cattle."

But the prices he shortly named were less than the half of his former asking.

"Pay him, O jarl," said Ben Ezra. "It is well. Offer thy burnt offering, for thou hast great need of the favor of Jehovah in that which cometh upon thee. I will remain with thee, for I also offer sacrifices. O dealer, I will buy of thee. Let the beasts be without blemish. I will have, also, a lamb and two doves and wine for the oblation. Pause not, for I have conferred with the high priest and he knoweth my matter, and this is of his direction."

But for the guiding of Ben Ezra the jarl had been dealt with as an ignorant man, a foreigner having money, but now all things were accomplished with order and rectitude. Nevertheless, the jarl was displeased that he was compelled to remain without in the court of the heathen, not going near the altar whereon his offerings were burnt.

"They would prevent such as I am," he said, "from drawing too near their God and getting acquainted with him. I would both see his face and hear his voice. Evil, evil, is this manner of the Jews! Are they of higher degree in the sight of their God than am I, the son of Odin?"

Nevertheless, from the place assigned him he might see all, and there he stood watching the manner of the slaying of his bullocks and the going up of the great smoke and the swinging of the censers. He listened, also, reverently to the chanting of the priests and the Levites and the responses of the Jewish congregations in the other courts.

"Ben Ezra," he remarked, "might enter the inner court, going where he would, for he is a Jew of high degree. He told me, also, that over yonder is the court of the women. I have offered my sacrifice. Why do I linger here?" For his face grew suddenly pale as if he had been stricken through with a spear, and he exclaimed again, "The court of the women."

Loudly swelled the sonorous chorus of the many chanting voices and there came back strange echoes from the inner walls of the temple. The majesty and the splendor of the temple service were unspeakable, but the jarl turned away from it and strode swiftly out of the court of the heathen. He walked on until he might stand in a place near the broad passage by which the women worshipers, veiled or unveiled, were continually coming and going.

"O Miriam!" he thought. "My eyes have sought thee as I have walked the streets of this city. Hilda cometh not any more to counsel me. I am dark in all my mind. If thou art not here what do I any longer in Jerusalem? It is not Asgard, and here are no gods at all. It is but a city of men like myself, and the women are as other women, and the Romans have the rule in spite of this Jehovah."

His thoughts were burning within him and he felt the sickness of disappointment and failure, and his eyes were dull with longing as he gazed upon this procession of Hebrew women. Suddenly his heart gave a great leap, but he stood still, for he heard a voice saying:

"Miriam! Thy veil! Cover thyself! Yonder Roman stareth at thee!"

"I will cleave him to the jaws!" exclaimed Ulric, turning quickly.

But before he could move a pace or discern one man from another whom to strike a hand was upon his arm and he heard a whisper which thrilled him from head to foot.

"I am Miriam! I am now veiled! Harm not thyself nor me. I think he heard thee not. Strike not a Roman lest thou be crucified. Follow me, O beautiful one. Follow not too nearly, but mark well the house into which I go. The woman with me is my aunt. The Roman of whom she warned me is but a dealer in slaves—but he is a Roman. Come!"

"I follow thee, O my beloved," whispered the jarl, "but if he toucheth thee, he shall die if he were Cæsar!"

Sunken-eyed, hollow-cheeked, with a forehead low and sloping, was the dealer in human cattle who stood shortly at the street side without the portal. His lips were moving with an evil expression upon them, and his eyes had seen too well the exceeding beauty of the Jewish maiden.

"A thousand sesterces for her at Rome," he muttered. "How shall I obtain her? Pontius hath bidden us beware of angering the Jews."

Then he came forward a pace and spoke aloud, with small ceremony, to Ulric.

"She spoke unto thee, O gladiator. Who is she, and what doest thou here?"

Even for the sake of Miriam was the jarl somewhat calm in his manner and cunning in his speech, but his voice was unpleasant.

"O Roman," he said, "art thou unwise? Seest thou not that I am a sword? One greater than thou art will answer for my going and coming. I but do his bidding. When thy head passeth suddenly from thy shoulders thou wilt ask no more questions concerning a damsel who is guarded by the strong and high one. I will watch for thee henceforth. I am one who needeth not to be commanded a second time concerning a sword cut."

"Aha!" snarled the dealer. "I have seen thee heretofore. Thou art captain of the gladiators of Caius of Thessalonica. I quarrel not with him."

"Nor dost thou need any quarrel with the procurator," said Ulric. "His arm is longer than thine. Keep back thy foot from unknown ground lest thou shalt meet a man coming unto thee in sudden haste."

No word came back, but the man's face darkened venomously, for a Roman liketh not a rebuke from a barbarian; but there was fire in the eyes of the jarl and his right hand went under his mantle, and the dealer understood well the meaning of the movement. Nevertheless, a mere trafficker in the flesh of men and women may not wisely stir the wrath of a centurion or of a man in authority. A Roman may not be scourged or crucified, but he may die suddenly as well as another. So turned he sullenly away about his affairs, and the jarl went on his way.

The streets of Jerusalem are narrow with the exception of the broad thoroughfares which lead to the outer gates and the main approaches to the temple. It was a narrow passage between high palace buildings into which Miriam and her aunt hastily turned their feet not long after, escaping from observation by the cruel eyes of the dealer in slaves. No word did they utter, and those whom they met spoke not unto them, for there are laws of privacy and due reserve among the Jews relating to the public greeting of women. He who annoyeth them transgresseth and is liable to be called to an accounting. They walked onward rapidly, and now the way led along the side of a mount beyond which was the valley which divideth the city into, as it were, two cities. Ever at a little distance behind them strode a tall shape which did not manifestly appear to pursue them, but for which all other wayfarers made room on approaching.

"The gladiator seemeth to be in wrath," said one who looked upon him. "Beware of the anger of these wild heathen, for they are even as tigers, and they know no law."

Light was now in his eyes, nevertheless, and his stepping was that of a stag upon the hills.

"I have found her!" he muttered, joyously. "I have fulfilled the token that was given me by Hilda in my dream upon The Sword. Now shall I not soon see Hilda herself? Hath she not guided me in this, and is she not now with the gods? This may indeed be the city from which I shall pass on into Asgard. I am glad that I offered sacrifices in the temple this day, for at once have I received this answer from Jehovah that he hath shown favor unto me. He is indeed the chief God of this land to this day, for he hath not permitted the Romans to destroy his temple nor to slay his priests. I think that if they were to do so, he would be angry and he would surely take his revenge upon them. That would I do if I were a god."

The door of a large house swung open as of itself before Miriam and her companion, but Miriam paused upon the threshold. Turning and glancing quickly up and down the street, and seeing no peril, she raised a hand and beckoned. Ulric came quickly, but Miriam's aunt was already within.

"Think not to enter with me now," said the Jewish maiden, hastily. "But tell me quickly, what art thou in Jerusalem? Why art thou here? What doest thou in Jehovah's temple?"

"O Miriam, the beautiful!" he responded, gazing upon her joyously, "I am even as I said to thee in Esdraelon. I am Ulric, the jarl of the Saxons. I am of Odin's line. Of the sons of the gods. I offered sacrifices in the temple of Jehovah asking for thee, and thou seest that he granted my petition."

Even as he spoke she stepped back within the doorway, and he also entered with her, but as yet the door closed not behind them.

"I understand thee partly," she said, trembling greatly. "Thou art a prince among thine own people. O that thou wert a son of Abraham! O that thou wert not a slayer of men in the circus!"

"That I am not!" exclaimed Ulric. "Such business is not for me. I am a free warrior. I go not again into the circus. I am with Caius of Thessalonica for a season, for I am his friend and his guard. I came out from the Northland into the world that I might seek for the city of the gods, that there I may meet my kindred. But I will ask of thee, O beautiful one! O Miriam! how knowest thou Hilda of the hundred years?"

Her eyes burned earnestly upon him while he was speaking and her face was as the dawn of a new day, for in it there were many changes, the color coming and departing and the lips quivering.

"I know her not," she said; and now they had drifted on into a small anteroom near the door, her veil, also, having been put aside more perfectly. "Who is this Hilda, that thou askest of me such a question?"

"Surely thou knowest her?" he said. "She is a saga woman of the Northland. She is learned in all the old runes that are written on the rocks and on the tombs, and she talketh with the gods in their places. I know that it is now many months since she hath been laid in her own tomb in the cleft of the rocks, but I saw her with thee, speaking to me in a dream, when I was on the sea in my ship. She bade me sail on and find thee, and this I have done. Therefore I am glad that I offered sacrifices to thy God. Henceforth he shall be to me as Odin, the God who is over all the other gods."

She listened as if his voice were music and as if she willed that he might not cease speaking.

"Thou hast said!" she now exclaimed, and a voice behind her, deep and sonorous, added:

"Amen! A great King is he, above all gods. He is the God of gods, and beside him there is no other; for Jehovah, our God, is one God, and there is none like him. O heathen man, thou hast well spoken. This day hast thou become his servant, for he hath sent unto thee his commandment in a dream, and thou hast obeyed him. Also thou hast done well in offering thy burnt sacrifices."

"That did I according to the directions given me by Ben Ezra from the priests," said the jarl. "But who art thou?"

"I am Isaac, the aged, the kinsman of this maiden," was the response. "O heathen man, I am glad that thou hast powerful friends, for at this hour we are among perils, both she and I—and all our house. I will tell thee, for one Abbas—accursed be he of Jehovah!—threateneth us with destruction."

"Do I not know him!" exclaimed Ulric. "But surely he is nidering! He is a weak man, and a traitor and a thief. If this be so, his blood be upon his own head, for he must die. I have a matter concerning him that he knoweth not. O Miriam, I am a leader of men, and I am not imprudent. Evil is he who is careless concerning such as thou art. Tell thou me, that I may have strength to obey thee, do I now remain here longer, or do I depart?"

As a man wrestling with himself was the jarl, and her face grew wonderfully kind and sweet as she looked upon him; but Isaac now stood by her gazing at the jarl, and the wrinkled features of the old man were full of fear and trouble.

"Depart!" she said, softly. "It is enough that I have seen thee again. Fail not to return, but when thou comest to the door ask only for Isaac. O that thou wert of my own people!"

"I care not for that matter!" exclaimed Ulric. "It will not be long before I come——"

But his eyes were looking down, for upon his own broad, powerful hand came, gently alighting as a bird, a whiteness which was lighted wonderfully by the red glow of the ruby in the ring. But the hand of Miriam lingered not, flitting coyly away as if the bird were frightened, and in the fingers of the jarl, the son of Odin, there was a strong tremor.

"Ulric," she said, pronouncing his name for the first time, with a great sigh, "God hath sent us this promise of deliverance from our destroyers. Thy Hilda was in the Northland?"

"An hundred years old was she," said the jarl, "when I bade her farewell. I loved her more than aught else upon earth. She was a princess, and her hair was as the snow, and her smile was exceedingly dear to me. Didst thou ever know and love such a one?"

"I think she is as Hannah, the prophetess of my people!" exclaimed Miriam. "But she, too, hath departed. She was a mother in Israel!"

"Haste!" interrupted Isaac. "Let the young heathen go his way! This is unseemly for a maiden of Judah! He may not remain. But, O youth, if thou canst do anything, withhold not thy hand."

"Fear not!" said the jarl. "I will quickly attend to Abbas and to whoever worketh with him!"

But his eyes were gazing deeply into the eyes of Miriam, and it seemed as if in this manner they were speaking to one another.

"Go!" she whispered. "Have I not thy ruby? Keep thou, also, my token. I am thine!"

"O Miriam," whispered back Ulric, "I think thee also a daughter of the gods. I go!"

The door closed behind him and he strode away, but immediately Isaac spoke chidingly.

"Thou art mad!" he exclaimed, "O foolish daughter of Israel! O unwise damsel! What is this stranger unto thee?"

"O Isaac, my kinsman," she replied, "this matter concerneth both thy life and mine. Did he not fulfill the law of sacrifices? I will go to my chamber, but I enjoin upon thee that thou greet him kindly when he returneth."

"That much I will do," said the old man as one who prudently considereth a difficult affair. "Am not I a man of understanding? If Jehovah hath sent us a sword for our protection, blessed be his name! Even this day hath Abbas been with me, and he hath afflicted me sorely."

"What said he?" she inquired.

"More than I may wisely tell thee," said Isaac. "Only that he again hath demanded thee as the bride of this Tyrsus of Chronea. If thou shalt refuse, he will surely bring thee and thy household before a judge with whom is a gift and in whose hand is destruction."

"Tell thou that to Ulric the Jarl!" she said, vehemently. "Where is now thy wisdom? What more, then, hast thou to say? Is not this the spoiling of thy goods? If I were given to Tyrsus wouldst thou escape the greed of Abbas?"

"Father Abraham!" groaned the old man. "We are in the power of the heathen. Do as thou wilt and I will speak well to thy swordsman."

Far down the street, not knowing or caring whither he went, was Ulric the Jarl, but one who stood at the wayside watched his coming and put out a hand.

"Halt, O jarl! Go no further. Such as thou art have need of caution. At yonder turn into the valley there are Roman guards and they will arrest thee as a gladiator escaped from the circus. Enter not a difficulty."

"O Ben Ezra," exclaimed Ulric, "what sayest thou? Am not I a free warrior?"

"Not long wilt thou be free at all," said the Jew, "if thou wanderest imprudently. The edicts have been strengthened. The master of the games is a hard man and subtle. Go thou rather to the house of Caius or out into the valley of Jehoshaphat."

"Thou art my friend," said Ulric, "and I will ask thee of an important matter. Knowest thou of the doings of Abbas?"

"He is in the city," said Ben Ezra. "What is thy need of him? He is evil."

"I require of him nothing but his blood upon a blade," said Ulric. "He is a plotter against both Caius and the procurator."

"Come thou with me to thy friend's house," replied Ben Ezra. "I know this to be true, but Abbas may not be slain openly."

"If Pontius will command me," said Ulric, "I will bring him this serpent's head on the morrow. Otherwise I will guide my own doing. It is but a stroke of a sharp sword."

Little said they after that until they were in the house of Caius, but when they were there it was Ben Ezra and not the jarl who was summoned to confer with the centurion. Not long was he absent, but when he returned his face was dark.

"Trust not a Roman," he whispered to Ulric. "To them all other men are but as cattle. Thou art only a swordsman in the eyes of this Caius. Slay not Abbas lest thou anger him. He is thy friend truly, but it is a Roman friendship, with a dagger in it. Go thou to thy men. Would thou wert on the sea! Thou hast no right to sell them to the circus."

"That will I not!" said Ulric. "But I will confer with them speedily."

So went he away, but he went with Ben Ezra.

There are many cunnings among those who struggle in the net of power, and a great subtlety had been born in the mind of Lysias. "If the Saxons remain," he had thought, "I am lost. It is long before they may be slain in the arena. I will go and talk with them again. This galley that, is to bear the messenger of Herod lieth at Joppa."

Therefore, even while Ulric had offered his sacrifices, the young Greek was among the Saxons telling them many things.

"This is no merchant craft," he had told them. "This galley of Herod is small, but strong for a rough sea. Ye are crew enough."

"That are we," said Tostig the Red. "But the jarl might forbid our going."

"If ye go not," said Lysias, "ye will be penned as dangerous beasts. The jarl only is secure among the great, his friends. He cannot protect you from the master of the games."

"That dog was here to look at us to-day," said Knud the Bear. "I like him not. I will wear no fetters of his clamping. O ye sons of the free vikings, I go to the sea. Who will go with me to take this keel of Herod?"

"No man will remain behind," said Wulf. "The night shadows come. There are horses in the stables. Every man to his armor, and let us take our treasure with us. We will slay as we go and leave behind us a good mark."

Nevertheless, they were prudent, as became warriors who were few in number, and the guards of the circus had as yet no command concerning them save to let them come and go as they would for a season. The stables were near and the horses were many, and with these were only slaves who feared to speak to a swordsman. Therefore, if a Saxon came to look at beasts or to examine saddles and bridles, no man hindered him. It was but thought that he had curiosity as to trappings which he might use in the games. He did well to take thought concerning his own business against the hour when he must slay or be slain. But all the while a fire burned more hotly in the hearts of the men, for the words of Lysias were in full accord with many sayings of the jarl.

"He hath been troubled in mind concerning us," they said. "He knoweth not what to do. We will take away from him this burden, for we are men and we may save ourselves. It is not meet that we should encumber our jarl unduly. He hath done well with us. He would not have us linger to be slain."

Nevertheless, the dusky hour was at hand and Ulric came not to them, as he at first thought. From the house of Caius he had been silently led to the house of Ben Ezra, his friend guiding him as a man who is in deep thought. The way seemed one which led toward the valley of Jehoshaphat, through many streets, but they came to a door before which Ben Ezra paused and turned to the jarl.

"I will trust thee," he said, "for it is needful. This is the house of my abiding."

"Not large," said Ulric, "and the front of it is dark and ancient. I will go in with thee."