lumn above her head and, rebounding, fell at her feet. Titus noted
this, for she saw the man brought before him, and by his gestures
gathered that the general was speaking to him angrily. After this no
more arrows were shot at her, and she understood that their curiosity
being stirred by the sight of a woman chained upon a gateway, they did
not wish to do her mischief.

Now the August sun shone out from a cloudless sky till the hot air
danced above the roofs of the Temple and the pavings of the courts, and
the thousands shut within their walls were glad to crowd into the shadow
to shelter from its fiery beams. But Miriam could not escape them
thus. In the morning and again in the afternoon she was able indeed, by
creeping round it, to take refuge in the narrow line of shade thrown by
the marble column to which she was made fast. At mid-day, however, it
flung no shadow, so for all those dreadful hours she must pant in the
burning heat without a drop of water to allay her thirst. Still she bore
it till at length came evening and its cool.

That day the Romans made no attack, nor did the Jews attempt a sally.
Only some of the lighter of the engines were brought into the Court of
Women, whence they hurled their great stones and heavy darts into the
Court of Israel beyond. Miriam watched these missiles as they rushed by
her, once or twice so close that the wind they made stirred her hair.
The sight fascinated her and took her mind from her own sufferings.
She could see the soldiers working at the levers and pulleys till the
strings of the catapult or the boards of the balista were drawn to their
places. Then the darts or the stones were set in the groove prepared to
receive it, a cord was pulled and the missile sped upon its way, making
an angry humming noise as it clove the air. At first it looked small;
then approaching it grew large, to become small again to her following
sight as its journey was accomplished. Sometimes, the stones, which did
more damage than the darts, fell upon the paving and bounded along it,
marking their course by fragments of shattered marble and a cloud of
dust. At others, directed by an evil fate, they crashed into groups
of Jews, destroying all they touched. Wandering to and fro among these
people was that crazed man Jesus, the son of Annas, who had met them
with his wild prophetic cry as they entered into Jerusalem, and whose
ill-omened voice Miriam had heard again before Marcus was taken at the