f the full moon they saw Caleb advancing towards
them down the road, a sight that made Miriam glad at heart, for she
feared lest he might have come into trouble. Catching sight of them, he
asked permission to enter through the door, which he closed behind them,
so that now they stood in the little garden within the wall.

"Well," said Nehushta, "I see that you had a shot at your hyena; did you
kill it?"

"How do you know that?" he asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"A strange question to put to a Libyan woman who was brought up among
bowmen," she replied. "You had six arrows in your quiver when we met
you, and now I count but five. Also your bow was newly waxed; and look,
the wax is rubbed where the shaft lay."

"I shot at the beast, and, as I think, hit it. At least, I could not
find the arrow again, although I searched long."

"Doubtless. You do not often miss. You have a good eye and a steady
hand. Well, the loss of a shaft will not matter, since I noticed,
also, that this one was differently barbed from the others, and double
feathered; a true Roman war-shaft, such as they do not make here. If
any find your wounded beast you will not get its hide, since it is known
that you do not use such arrows." Then, with a smile that was full of
meaning, Nehushta turned and entered the house, leaving him staring
after her, half in wrath and half in wonder at her wit.

"What does she mean?" he asked Miriam, but in the voice of one who
speaks to himself.

"She thinks that you shot at a man, not at a beast," replied Miriam;
"but I know well that you could not have done this, since that would be
against the rule of the Essenes."

"Even the rule of the Essenes permits a man to protect himself and his
property from thieves," he answered sulkily.

"Yes, to protect himself if he is attacked, and his property--if he has
any. But neither that faith nor mine permits him to avenge a blow."

"I was one against many," he answered boldly. "My life was on the
hazard: it was no coward's act."

"Were there, then, a troop of these hyenas?" asked Miriam, innocently.
"I thought you said it was a solitary beast that took the sheep."

"It was a whole company of beasts who took the wine, and smote those in
charge of it as though they were street dogs."

"Hyenas that took wine like the tame ape whom the boys make drunken over
yonder----"

"Why do you mock me," broke in Caleb, "who must know the truth? Or if
you do not know it, here i