gh his thick headdress.
But the impetus of his spring was sufficient. The Roman, taken by
surprise by this sudden attack, tottered, and then fell with a
crash, John falling on the top of him.

John was almost blinded by the blood which streamed down his
forehead, from the blow he had last received; but he dashed it
aside, seized his long knife and, in another moment, would have
slain his enemy, had not the latter exclaimed:

"Strike, Jew! I am Titus."

John was confused by the last blow he had received, but a thousand
thoughts whirled in his brain. For an instant he grasped the knife
more firmly, to slay the son of the chief enemy of his country;
then the possibility of carrying him away a captive occurred to
him, but he saw that this was out of the question. Then another
thought dashed across his brain.

"Swear," he said, in Greek, for he was ignorant of Latin, "by your
gods, to spare the Temple, or I will kill you."

There was a moment's hesitation. The knife was already descending,
when Titus exclaimed, in the same language:

"I swear to do all in my power to save the Temple."

John's knife fell from his hand. He tried to rise to his feet; then
everything seemed to swim round, and he fell, insensible. Titus
rose to his feet. He was shaken by the fall; and he, too, had lost
much blood. Panting from his exertions, he looked down upon his
prostrate foe; and the generosity which was the prevailing feature
of his character, except when excited in battle, mastered him.

"By Hercules," he exclaimed, "that is a gallant youth; though he is
a Jew, and he has well-nigh made an end of me! What will Vespasian
say, when he hears that I have been beaten in fair fight, and owe
my life to the mercy of a Jew? How they think of their temple,
these Jews! Why, I would not injure it, were it in my power to do
so. Have not our emperors sent offerings there? Besides, we war not
with the gods of the people we conquer.

"Ah, here come Plancus and the others! This will be a lesson to me
not to trust myself, alone, among these mountains again. It is the
first time I have done so, and it shall be the last."

A messenger had, in fact, arrived at Carmelia, with an order from
Vespasian for him to go to Hebron--as he had a desire to speak with
him--and ordering Plancus, a centurion, to follow with his troop,
Titus had sprung on his horse, and ridden off at once.

The Romans were soon upon the spot, and were loud in exclamation of
surp