ignal to his daughter. Zarah, gasping with
breathless anxiety, obeyed the sign, and glided forward to go forth
from the palace. One of the soldiers, however, instantly barred her
passage with his weapon.

"Let the slave pass," said Pollux sternly.

The point of the guard's weapon was lowered; but another of the
soldiers was about to remonstrate. "It is against orders," he began,
when Pollux interrupted him.

"Methinks you are one who served under me in the force of Giorgias,"
observed the courtier, with presence of mind.

"Ay, my lord," answered the soldier.

"When we next see Maccabeus, we must come to closer quarters with him,"
observed the noble. "Here, my brave men,"--he drew forth a purse heavy
with gold--"share this among you, and drink success to the brave."

The soldiers could scarcely repress a shout at the unexpected
liberality of Pollux. Not one of them so much as looked at Zarah as
she glided forth into the open air.

Oh, transporting sense of liberty! How delicious was the breath of
early morn on the fugitive's cheek; how glorious the open vault spread
above her, blushing in the first light of dawn! Pollux experienced,
though in a very inferior degree, some of the pleasure felt by his
daughter, as he joined her on the broad marble steps which led down
from the Grecian-built palace of Antiochus to the platform on which it
erected.

"This way, my child," whispered Pollux, as drew Zarah in the direction
of one of the high narrow streets of Jerusalem. "We must put as much
space as possible between us and pursuers before sunrise. Would that
we had started hours ago! Many dangers yet are before us."

One was nearer than the speaker was aware of. Scarcely had the
fugitives entered the nearest street when they encountered a Syrian
courtier, splendidly attired, whose unsteady gait betrayed in what
manner he had been passing the night. More than half intoxicated as he
was, Lysimachus instantly recognized Pollux.

"Ha! whither bound?" exclaimed Lysimachus, standing, or rather
staggering, in the narrow path directly in front of the fugitives.

"I give an account of my movements only to such as have a right to
demand it," said Pollux haughtily, attempting to pass his rival, while
Zarah kept close behind her father.

"The fox has caught sight of the trap--Pollux has found out that I hold
his death-warrant," cried Lysimachus; "and that his head must fall at
sunrise!"

Pollux started at the wor