as as
furious as any, especially when the news came of the violation of
faith at Tarichea, and of the selling of nigh forty thousand men
into slavery.

"Father," he said, that evening, "I had thought to stay quietly
with you, until the Romans advanced against Jerusalem; but I find I
cannot do so. The massacre at Jotapata was bad enough, but the
slaughter of defenseless men, on the lake, is worse. I pray you,
let me go."

"Would you go into Gamala, and die there, John?" Simon asked.
"Better to die at the Temple, than to throw away your life here."

"I do not intend to go into Gamala, father, nor to throw away my
life--though I care little for it, except for the sake of you and
my mother and Mary--but I would do something; and I would save the
sons of our neighbors, and others, from the fate that assuredly
waits them if they enter Gamala. They know not, as I do, how surely
the walls will go down before the Roman engines; but even did they
know it, so determined are they to fight these slayers of our
countrymen that they would still go.

"What I propose to do is to carry out what I have always believed
to be the true way of fighting the Romans. I will collect a band,
and take to the mountains, and harass them whenever we may find
opportunity. I know the young men from our village will follow me,
if I will lead them; and they will be able to get their friends
along the shore to do the like. In that way the danger will not be
so great for, in the mountains, the Romans would have no chance of
overtaking us while, if we are successful, many will gather round
us, and we may do good service."

"I will not stay you, John, if you feel that the Lord has called
upon you to go; and indeed, you may save, as you say, the lives of
many of our neighbors, by persuading them to take to the hills with
you, instead of shutting themselves up in Gamala. Go down, then, to
the village, and talk to them; and see what they say to your plan."

John had little doubt as to his proposal being accepted by the
younger men of the village. The fact that he had been chosen as one
of the bodyguard of Josephus had, at once, given him importance in
the eyes of his neighbors; and that he should have passed through
the siege of Jotapata, and had escaped, had caused them to regard
him not only as a valiant fighter, but as one under the special
protection of God. Since his return, scarce an evening had passed
without parties coming, from one or other of