to hear his father and his friends speak
in tones of such admiration for Josephus, as the man who was
regarded not only as the benefactor of the Jews of Galilee, but as
the leader and mainstay of the nation, that he had long ardently
desired to see him; and to find that he had now been rescued from
death by him, and that he was now talking to him face to face,
filled him with confusion.

"You are a brave lad," Josephus said, "for you kept your head well,
in a time when older men might have lost their presence of mind.
You must have kept your boat dead before the wind; and you were
quick and ready, in seizing the rope and knotting it round
yourself, and the maid with you. I feared you might try and fasten
it to the boat. If you had, full of water as she was, and fast as
we were sailing before the wind, the rope would barely have stood
the strain."

"The clouds are breaking," the captain of the boat said, coming up
to Josephus, "and I think that we are past the worst of the gale.
And well it is so for, even in so staunch a craft, there is much
peril in such a sea as this."

The vessel, although one of the largest on the lake, was indeed
pitching and rolling very heavily; but she was light and buoyant
and, each time that she plunged bows under, as the following waves
lifted her stern high in the air, she rose lightly again; and
scarce a drop fell into her deep waist, the lofty erections, fore
and aft, throwing off the water.

"Where do you belong, my lad?" Josephus asked. "I fear that it is
impossible for us to put you ashore, until we reach Capernaum; but
once there, I will see that you are provided with means to take you
home."

"Our farm lies three miles above Hippos."

"That is unfortunate," Josephus said, "since it lies on the
opposite side of the lake to Capernaum. However, we shall see. If
the storm goes down rapidly, I may be able to get a fishing boat to
take you across, this evening; for your parents will be in sore
trouble. If not, you must wait till early morning."

In another hour they reached Capernaum. The wind had, by this time,
greatly abated; although the sea still ran high. The ship was soon
alongside a landing jetty, which ran out a considerable distance,
and formed a breakwater protecting the shipping from the heavy sea
which broke there when the wind was, as at present, from the south.

Mary came out from the cabin, as the vessel entered the harbor,
wrapped up from head to foot in the woo