on as to how their escape was to be effected. The
unexpected meal, which John's forethought had prepared for them,
had revived all their confidence in him; and they were ready to
follow him, wherever he might take them.

It was night when John called them to awake, but the glare of the
vast pile of the burning Temple lit up every object. The brightness
almost equalled that of day.

"It is time," John said, as the men rose to their feet and grasped
their arms. "I trust that we shall have no occasion to use weapons;
but we will carry them so that, if we should fall into the hands of
the Romans, we may fall fighting, and not die by the torments that
they inflict upon those who fall into their hands. If I could
obtain a hearing, so as to be brought before Titus, he might give
us our lives; but I will not trust to that. In the first place,
they would cut us down like hunted animals, did they come upon us;
and in the second, I would not, now, owe my life to the clemency of
the Romans."

A fierce assent was given by his followers.

"Now," John went on, "let each take his piece of bread, and put it
in his bosom. Leave your bucklers and javelins behind you, but take
your swords.

"Jonas, bring a brand from the fire.

"Now, let us be off."

None of those with him, except Jonas, had the least idea where he
was going; but he had instructed the lad in the secret of the pit
and, one day, had taken him down the passages to the aqueduct.

"You and I found safety before, Jonas, together, and I trust may do
so again; but should anything happen to me, you will now have the
means of escape."

"If you die, I will die with you, master," Jonas said.

And indeed, in the fights he had always kept close to John,
following every movement, and ready to dash forward when his leader
was attacked by more than one enemy; springing upon them like a
wildcat, and burying his knife in their throats. It was to his
watchful protection and ready aid that John owed it that he had
passed through so many combats, comparatively unharmed.

"Not so, Jonas," he said, in answer to the lad's declaration that
he would die with him. "It would be no satisfaction to me that you
should share my fate, but a great one to know that you would get
away safely. If I fall, I charge you to pass out by this
underground way; and to carry to my father, and mother, and Mary,
the news that I have fallen, fighting to the last, in the defence
of the Temple. Tell them tha