o die of despair, when he wondered at himself attempting to
trace Julian with all the directions of wild Judea to invite the
fugitives. Why might they not have fled toward Arabia as well, or even
toward the sea? Perhaps they had not gone far, but had hidden in the
rock, and had been left behind. Conflicting argument strove to turn
him from his path, but the old instinct, final resource after the mind
gives up the puzzle, kept him straight on the road to Pella.

He came upon the rear of a flock of sheep, heading away from him. A
Natolian sheep-dog, galloping hither and thither in his labor at
keeping them moving, scented the new-comer. There was a quick savage
bark that heightened at the end in an excited yelp of welcome. The
shepherd, a dim figure at the head of the flock, turned in time to see
his dog leaping upon the Maccabee.

"Down, Urge," the shepherd cried.

"Joseph, in the name of God," the Maccabee cried, "where is Laodice?"

He threw off the excited dog and rushed toward the boy, who turned
back at the cry with extended hands.

"True to thy promise, friend, friend!" the boy cried. "She is here!"

The Maccabee stiffened.

"Is there one with her?" he demanded fiercely.

"A man and her servant."

The Maccabee threw off the boy's hands.

"Where?" he cried.

"Ahead of the sheep," the boy said a little uncertainly.

The Maccabee dashed through the flock and rounding a turn in the road
came upon Laodice walking; behind her Momus; at her side was Julian of
Ephesus.

Immense strain had sharpened their sense of fear until it was as acute
as an instinct. Before the sound of the Maccabee's furious approach
reached Julian, the Ephesian whirled.

Towering over him, the very picture of retribution, was the man he had
left, apparently dead by his hand, by the roadside in the hills of
Judea months and months before.

For an instant, Julian stood petrified. Over his lips came a faint,
frozen whisper that Laodice heard--that was proof enough to her, the
moment after.

"Philadelphus--Maccabaeus!"

When his outraged kinsman put out vengeful hands to seize him, the
Maccabee grasped the air. Julian of Ephesus had vanished!

* * * * *

Among the rocks at the base of the cliff that sheltered Christian
Pella from the rude winds of the Perean mountains, the procurator of
the city, Philadelphus Maccabaeus, and his wife, Laodice, sat side by
side in the morning sun. There was a path l