claw behind him which the gardener
found."

"I trust then it is known also that the fault was none of mine. But,
Nou, whither shall we go who have neither friends, nor home, nor money?"

"I know not; but doubtless in this wall also there is a door. If the
worst comes to the worst, a Christian has many brothers; moreover, with
your skill in the arts you need never lack for a living in any great
city in the world."

"It is true," said Miriam, brightening; "that is, if I may believe
Marcus and my old master."

"Also," continued Nehushta, "I have still almost all the gold that the
Phoenician Amram gave us when I fled with your mother, and added to it
that which I took from the strong box of the captain of the galley on
the night when you were born. So have no fear, we shall not want; nor
indeed would the Essenes suffer such a thing. Now, child, you are weary;
go to rest and dream that you have your lover back again."

It was with a heavy heart that Caleb, defeated and shamed, shook the
dust of the village of the Essenes off his feet. At dawn on the morning
after the night that he had fought the duel with Marcus, he also might
have been seen, a staff in his bandaged hand and a bag of provisions
over his shoulder, standing upon the little ridge and gazing towards the
house which sheltered Miriam. In love and war things had gone ill with
him, so ill that at the thought of his discomfiture he ground his teeth.
Miriam cared nothing for him; Marcus had defeated him at the first
encounter and given him his life; while, worst of all, these two
from whom he had endured so much loved each other. Few, perhaps, have
suffered more sharply than he suffered in that hour; for what agonies
are there like those of disappointed love and the shame of defeat when
endured in youth? With time most men grow accustomed to disaster and
rebuff. The colt that seems to break its heart at the cut of a whip,
will hobble at last to the knacker unmoved by a shower of blows.

While Caleb looked, the red rim of the sun rose above the horizon,
flooding the world with light and life. Now birds began to chirp, and
beasts to move; now the shadows fled away. Caleb's impressionable nature
answered to this change. Hope stirred in his breast, even the pain of
his maimed hand was forgotten.

"I will win yet," he shouted to the silent sky; "my troubles are done
with. I will shine like the sun; I will rule like the sun, and my
enemies shall whither beneath