rd by the dogs of Rome. Thy
knife is long and keen, but the sword of the enemy is longer--and
methought the curtain moved again."

"Nay, but to stay thy fears I will look."

Jael turned toward the door but had taken only a step when the leather
was thrust aside and two soldiers sprang in.

"Jael! Thy strong arm! Thy knife!" Sara cried.

"Give me the knife, dog of a Jew," commanded one of the soldiers,
drawing his sword. "Give me, else will I strike thy head from thy body
and kick it like offal into the darkness of the night! Give me," and
he held out his hand.

"Get the knife," was Jael's reply as he flung it through the uncovered
door.

"By the gods! Now shalt thou come before the bar of justice to answer
the charge of sedition against the mighty Caesar and his king, thy
Herod."

"Nay, no king of mine is that Idumean fox whose brother's wife doth
defile his bed. Such for Rome, but not for Israel!"

"Dog of a Jew!"

"Swine of a Roman!"

For a moment the two measured glances. Then Jael was seized on each
side by one of the soldiers, the first spitting in his face with the
question, "Swine of a Roman am I?"

"Yea, verily--son of a she-swine," and Jael blew the contents of his
mouth in the face of the soldier, who struck him across the cheek with
his sword, exclaiming: "This for thy portion to-night, then the cross."

Grandmother Rachael had taken refuge on the oven step and was wringing
her hands and muttering prayers, while Sara was keeping as close as
possible to Jael.

"Have pity, sir," she begged of the soldier when the cross was
mentioned. "Have pity, he hath done thee no harm."

"Hold your tongue, woman," the soldier replied without looking at her,
"else the cross will be thy portion also."

"And to the cross I choose to go if there my Jael goeth," she replied.

Then the second soldier, casting admiring glances on Sara, said, "She
is a fair maiden; she shall be my spoil."

"Jove Almighty!" exclaimed the other, catching his sword-point in the
front of her bodice and laying it open. "A fair maiden indeed. Not
thine, but mine shall she be," and he motioned his fellow soldier to
stand back.

"The God of our fathers strike thee dead!" Jael shouted in wrath.

"The God of thy fathers! Ha! Ha! The God of thy fathers hath no more
power than yonder driveling granny. By Rome hath the God of thy
fathers been smitten. To Rome belongs the maiden."

"Of all the spoil," the soldier who had