Young as he is, the eyes of
the people are upon them. For with a small band, which he gathered
here, he harassed the enemy several days and, boldly entering their
camp, destroyed it by fire."

"Oh, John!" Mary said, in a low voice; while Martha exclaimed:

"What! Is the John, of whom we have heard so much--the young man,
of whom the people speak as their future leader--our boy? You
cannot mean it, Simon!"

"There is no mistake about it, Martha. The lad came to me; and said
he thought that, with a small band, he could cause much trouble to
the Romans. So I told him he could go, not knowing whether he spoke
from the restlessness of youth, or because it was the will of the
Lord that he should go and fight for the country. Indeed, it seemed
to many that his marvelous escape from Jotapata showed that God had
need of him. So I did not withstand him. There were many from the
villages round who were ready to join themselves to him, and follow
him, for the fame of his escape had made him much talked of.

"So he went, with twenty-four followers and, of course, Jonas here;
and truly he did, as all men say, great things. And though he saved
not Gamala--as indeed could not have been done, save by a miracle
of God, with so small a band--he did much and, by the burning of
their camp, not only struck a heavy blow upon the Romans, but he
inspired the people with hope.

"Before, it seemed that to resist the Romans was to bring certain
destruction upon those who adventured it; now men see that with
prudence, united with bravery, much may be done and, in the spring,
John will be followed by a great gathering of fighting men, from
all the country round."

Martha sat, in speechless surprise, looking at her son.

"My dear mother," John said, "what I told you before, when you were
praising the unknown John, is equally true now that it is John your
son. We acted with common sense which, so far, no one seems to have
exercised in our struggle with the Romans. We just kept out of
their reach, and took good care never to come to actual blows with
them. We constantly threatened them; and compelled them, who knew
nothing of our numbers or strength, to cease working.

"As to the burning their camp, of course there was a certain amount
of danger in it, but one cannot make war without danger. We crept
through their sentries into the camp, in the night, and set it on
fire; and then made our escape, as best we could. As only one of
our number w