to Judas, for he had soon no light but that of the stars
to guide him. The wind was rising; it rustled amidst the tamarisks,
and shook the leafy crests of the evergreen palms; it bore to the ear
of the almost exhausted traveller the wild howl of the jackals, rising
higher and higher in pitch, like the wail of a human being in distress.
Weary indeed and footsore was the Asmonean, but still he bravely
pressed forward, till at length he heard the welcome sound of the waves
of the Mediterranean lashing the coast near which stood Modin, about an
English mile from the town of Joppa.

Thankful was Judas to reach his father's home, where, the heavy strain
upon his powers being for awhile relaxed, he slept the deep sweet sleep
of the weary, after a journey which could have been accomplished on
foot in a single day only by a man possessing great powers of
endurance, as well as physical strength.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST STRUGGLE.

The arrival of Apelles, the emissary of Antiochus Epiphanes, had thrown
the town of Modin into a state of great excitement. A proclamation was
made in the morning of the following day, that all the inhabitants,
men, women, and children, should assemble in the market-place at noon,
to obey the mandate of the king, by worshipping at an altar of Bacchus,
which was erected at that spot. "Curses, not loud but deep," were
muttered in many a Hebrew home. Some of the Syrian soldiers had been
quartered for the night with the inhabitants of Modin. The fatted calf
had to be killed, the best wine poured out, for idolatrous guests whose
very presence polluted a banquet. The Syrians repaid the reluctant
hospitality of their hosts by recital of all the horrors of the
persecution in Jerusalem. They told of the barbarities perpetrated on
Solomona and her sons; shuddering women clasped their children closer
to their bosoms as they heard how two mothers had been flung from the
battlements at the south side of the Temple, with their infants hung
round their necks, because they had dedicated those martyr babes to God
in the way commanded by Moses. Such examples of cruelty struck terror
into the hearts of all whose faith and courage were not strong. It was
evident that Antiochus was terribly in earnest, and that if his wrath
were aroused by opposition, the horrors which had been witnessed at
Jerusalem might be repeated at Modin. The plea of terrible necessity
half silenced the consciences of many Hebrews