before the
Romans arrived.

"A boy, carrying a bag of arrowheads, came with me some little
distance. I paid the man for them, and they are now hidden in the
forest. You can fetch them when you will, but I could not carry
more with me than I have got."

"You have done well, Jonas," John said, as the men seized each a
bow, and divided the arrows among them; and then stood waiting,
expecting orders from John to proceed, at once, to harass the Roman
column as it ascended the hill.

John said, in answer to their looks:

"We will not meddle with them, today. Did we shoot at them, they
would suppose that we belonged to Jabez Galaad; and would, in
revenge, destroy the town and all those they may find within it;
and our first essay against them would bring destruction upon
thousands of our countrymen."

The others saw the justness of his reasoning, and their faith in
him as their leader was strengthened by his calmness, and readiness
of decision.

"Is the bag of arrowheads heavy, Jonas?"

"It is as much as the boy, who was about my own age, could carry,"
Jonas replied.

"Then do you, Phineas, and you, Simeon, go with Jonas to the place
where the bag is hidden, and carry it to the place we have fixed
upon for our camp. If, on the way, you come across a herd of goats,
shoot two or three of them and take them with you, and get fires
ready. The day is getting on, but we will go across the mountains,
and see where the Romans are pitching their camp and, by sunset, we
will be with you."

Making their way along the mountain the band came, after an hour's
walking, to a point where they could obtain a view of Gamala. The
city stood on the western extremity of the hill which, after
sloping gradually down, rose suddenly in a sharp ridge like the
hump of a camel--from which the town had its name, Gamala. On both
sides, this rock ended abruptly in a precipitous chasm; in which
ran the two branches of the Hieromax, which met at the lower end of
the ridge, and ran together into the end of the lake at Tarichea,
three miles away.

Thus, Gamala was only accessible from behind, where the ridge
joined the mountains. Across this neck of land a deep fosse had
been dug, so as to cut off all approach. The houses were crowded
thickly on the steep slope of the ridge, which was so abrupt that
the houses seemed to overhang one another. On the southern crag,
which was of immense height, was the citadel of the town. There was
a spring, suppl