it might kill her. Also when that was gone there was no more. So she
drank half of it in slow sips, then tied the string as well as she was
able and set it down again.

Now the wine, although it was mixed with water, took hold of her who for
so long had eaten nothing save a mouldy crust, so that strange sounds
drummed in her ears, and sinking down against the column she became
senseless for a while. She awoke again, feeling somewhat refreshed and,
though her head seemed as though it did not belong to her, well able
to think. Her arms also were better and her fingers had recovered their
feeling. If only she could loose that galling chain, she thought to
herself, she might escape, for now death, however strong her faith, was
very near and unlovely; also she suffered in many ways. To die and
pass quick to Heaven--that would be well, but to perish by inches of
starvation, heat, cold, and cramped limbs, with pains within and without
and a swimming sickness of the head, ah! it was hard to bear. She knew
that even were she free she could not hope to descend the gateway by
its staircase, since the doors were locked and barred, and if she passed
them it would be but to find herself among the Jews in the vaulted
chambers beneath. But, so she thought, perhaps she could drop from the
roof, which was not so very high, on to the paving in front of the first
stair, and then, if she was unhurt, run or crawl to the Romans, who
might give her shelter.

So Miriam tried to undo the chain, only to find that as well might she
hope to pull down the Gate Nicanor with her helpless hands. At this
discovery she wept, for now she grew weak. Well for Miriam was it that
she could not have her wish, for certainly had she attempted to
drop down from the gateway to the marble paving, or even on to the
battlements of the walls which ran up to it on either side, her bones
would have been shattered like the shell of an egg and she must have
perished miserably.

While she grieved thus, Miriam heard a stir in the Court of Israel, and
by the dim starlight saw that men were gathering, to do what she knew
not. Presently, as she wondered, the great gates were opened very softly
and out poured the Jews upon their last sally. Miriam was witnessing the
death-struggle of the nation of Israel. At the foot of the marble steps
they divided, one-half of them rushing towards the cloister on the
right, and the other to that upon the left. Their object, as it seemed
to