ut to inquire who were the
newcomers. When they were told that they were from Galilee and
Peraea, and had come down only to fight for the Holy City--that
they would harm no one, and had nothing in common with any of the
factions--confidence was restored, and offers were at once made to
take in ten, fifteen, or twenty men, according to the size of the
houses; for the people soon saw that the new arrivals would prove a
protection from the attacks and insults of small numbers of Simon's
men--who had hitherto pervaded the lower town, breaking into
houses, robbing and murdering wheresoever they chose.

The grain was all stored in the house that had been hired; and here
John took up his quarters, with the men of his own company and
those of Asher, one of his bravest and most determined captains.
The rest were all accommodated in houses in the same street. And as
this, like most of the streets of Jerusalem, was very narrow, John
felt that it could be defended against an attack by a greatly
superior force.

It was but half an hour after the band had been settled in their
quarters that a shriek was heard at the end of the street. John ran
out in time to see a woman struck down; while a body of some twenty
half-drunken soldiers, with drawn swords, were trying to force in
the door of a house. John sounded his bugle, and there was a rush
of armed men into the street. John put himself at the head of the
two companies with him, and advanced against the soldiers, and
sternly ordered them to desist. The soldiers, astonished by the
sudden appearance of so large a body of armed men, drew back in
astonishment.

"Who are you?" one, who seemed to be their leader, asked.

"It matters not who I am," John said, quietly. "It is enough, as
you see, that I have a force here sufficiently strong to make
myself obeyed. This street, henceforth, is mine; and beware of
attempting plunder or violence here, for whoever does so surely
dies!"

Muttering threats below their breath, the soldiers sullenly
withdrew. An hour later, one of the inhabitants ran in to inform
John that a large body of men were coming down from the upper city.
John immediately called his men to arms and, at their head, took up
his position at the end of the street.

Ere long, a crowd of soldiers were seen approaching. At their head
strode one whom John at once guessed to be Simon, himself. When he
arrived within ten paces Simon stopped, surprised at the compact
order and re