"I, with my voice, expressed the yearnings that they felt in their
victorious breasts, and plotted for them. After council and
organization we went forth by night and finding Idumean patrols by the
score sleepy and inert from overfeeding we robbed them of that which
was our own. Then we sought out hungry Bezethans and fed them when
they promised to become of our party. Nothing was more simple! By dawn
we had a hundred under our ruin, bound to us by oath and the
enticements of our larder, and hungry only for fight! Will you believe
me when I boast that I have an army in Jerusalem?"
She heard him with a strange confusion of emotions. In her soul she
was excited and eager for his success; but here was a strong and
growing enemy to Philadelphus, who was reluctant to become a king! Her
impulsive joy in a forceful man struggled with her sense of duty to
the man she could not love.
"Why do you tell me these things?" she said uneasily. "It is perilous
for any one to know that you are constructing sedition against these
ferocious powers in Jerusalem."
"Ah, but you fear for me; therefore you will not betray me. None else
but those as deeply committed know of it."
He had confided in her, and because of it his ambitions took stealthy
hold upon her.
"But--but is there no other way to take Jerusalem, except--by
predatory warfare?" she hesitated.
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