all been
so good to me that I would work till I dropped for you. I wouldn't
have worked before, not if they had beaten me ever so much; because
they were always unkind to me, and why should one work, for those
who do nothing for you but beat and ill-use you?"

"You should always do your duty, Jonas," Simon said. "If others do
not do their duty to you, so much the worse for them; but that is
no excuse for your not doing your duty, as far as you can."

Jonas, being a little behind Simon, made a little face expressive
of his disagreement with this opinion; but he said nothing.

They followed the course of the river Hieromax down to Capitolias;
where they slept, that night, in the house of some friends of Simon
and, on the following evening, arrived at the farm. John received a
hearty greeting, from Isaac and the other men; and several of the
fishermen, when they heard of his return, came in to see him.

For the next fortnight, John and Jonas worked from daylight till
dark and, by the end of that time, the greater part of the corn was
gathered in the granary. A portion was stored away in a deep pit,
straw being laid over it when the hole was nearly full, and earth
being thrown in level to the surface; so that, should the Romans
come and sack the granary, there should still remain a store which
would carry them on until the next harvest.

Then the news came, from across the lake, that the Romans were
breaking up their camp at Scythopolis, and were moving towards
Tiberias. No resistance was expected to be offered there. The
greater part of the inhabitants had, all along, been well affected
to the Romans; and had only been compelled by, a small faction in
the city and by the fear of the country people of Galilee, to join
in the insurrection. It was, too, the richest city in the dominions
of King Agrippa for, although these lay for the most part east of
Jordan, the towns of Tiberias and Tarichea were included in them.

Tiberias was, in fact, his chief city. Here he had his richest
palace; and the city, which greatly benefited by being the seat of
his government, was Roman rather than Jewish in its hopes and
feelings. So confident was Vespasian that no resistance would be
offered that, when he arrived within half a mile of the town, he
sent forward an officer, with fifty horse, to exhort the people to
open their gates.

When he got near the town, the officer dismounted and went forward
to speak; when a party of the war