n Isaac and the men retired, Jonas rose also to go, but
Simon stopped him.

"Remain with us, Jonas. Your life has been strangely cast in that
of John's, and I would that, henceforth, you take your place as one
of the family. You saved his life at Jotapata, and you will
henceforth be as an adopted son to me.

"Martha, I know that you will spare some of your affection for the
lad, who is as a younger brother to John; and who would, I
believe--nay I feel sure--if need be, give his life for his
friend."

"I would do so, indeed," Jonas said, simply. "He found me an
outcast, whom none cared for. He has treated me like a brother, and
I would gladly die for him."

Martha said a few kind words to Jonas, whose quiet and somewhat
subdued manner, and whose evident affection for John, had greatly
pleased her; and Mary gave him a little nod, which signified that
she gladly accepted him as one of the family.

"And now, Martha," Simon said, "you have not yet told me how proud
you must feel, in the doings of our son. Our friends here are never
weary of congratulating me; and truly I feel thankful that a son of
mine should have done such deeds, and that the Lord should have
chosen him, to use him as an instrument of his will."

"My dear father," John interrupted, "I have told you that there is
nothing at all out of the way in what we have done. Jonas and the
others did just as much as I did, and methinks that some of them
make much more than is needful of our skirmishes, and praise me
because in so doing they praise themselves, who did as much as I
did."

"But I do not understand you, Simon," Martha said. "I know that
John fought bravely at Jotapata, and that it was marvelous that he
and Jonas escaped, when so many fell. Is it this that you are
speaking of?"

"What! Has John said nothing about what he has been doing, since?"
Simon asked, in surprise.

"No, father, I said nothing about it," John said, before his mother
could speak. "I thought, in the first place, that you would like to
tell them; and in the next, the people there had heard such
magnified reports that I could not, for very shame, lay claim to be
the hero they had pictured to themselves."

"But what has he done?" Martha asked, more and more surprised;
while Mary, at his last words, sprang to her feet, and stood
looking at him with an intent and eager face.

"He should have told you, Martha," Simon said. "It is no light
thing that this son of ours has done.