y, and only aggravate the distresses he sought to cure. With this
consideration he restrained his natural impetuosity, and at length
determined to attempt by stratagem what he thought could scarcely be
performed by force. He therefore silently withdrew, and skirted the
side of the wood which had concealed him, carefully remarking every
circumstance of the way, till he had ascended a mountain which
immediately fronted the camp of the soldiers, at no considerable
distance. He happened to have by his side a kind of battle-axe which
they use in the chase of bears; with this he applied himself to lopping
the branches of trees, collecting at the same time all the fallen ones
he could find, till, in a short time, he had reared several piles of
wood upon the most conspicuous part of the mountain, and full in view of
the soldiers. He then easily kindled a blaze by rubbing two decayed
branches together, and in an instant all the piles were blazing with so
many streams of light, that the neighbouring hills and forests were
illuminated with the gleam. Sophron knew the nature of man, always prone
to sudden impressions of fear and terror, more particularly amid the
obscurity of the night, and promised himself the amplest success from
his stratagem.

"In the meantime he hastened back with all the speed he could use, till
he reached the very wood where he had lurked before; he then raised his
voice, which was naturally loud and clear, and shouted several times
successively with all his exertion. A hundred echoes from the
neighbouring cliffs and caverns returned the sound, with a reverberation
that made it appear like the noise of a mighty squadron. The soldiers,
who had been alarmed by the sudden blaze of so many fires, which they
attributed to a numerous band of troops, were now impressed with such a
panic that they fled in confusion; they imagined themselves surrounded
by their enemies, who were bursting in on every side, and fled with so
much precipitation that they were dispersed in an instant, and left the
prisoners to themselves.

"Sophron, who saw from a little distance all their motions, did not wait
for them to be undeceived, but running to the spot they had abandoned,
explained in a few words to the trembling and amazed captives the nature
of his stratagem, and exhorted them to fly with all the swiftness they
were able to exert. Few entreaties were necessary to prevail upon them
to comply; they therefore arose and followed S