"Shall we let him go?" Nicanor inquired coldly.
"If some of my legionaries or those erratic Jews fail to get him
between here and Jerusalem, he shall get into Jerusalem. But by
Hector, he will earn his entry!"
They saw the old man mount by the causeway of earth which the Romans
had built over the siege wall for the passage of the troops, saw him
an instant outlined against the sky on the summit, and the next
instant he disappeared.
Titus touched his horse and rode at a trot toward the causeway
himself. He would see the end of this mad venture.
In the hour of sunrise the sentinel above the North Gate in the Old
Wall saw among the ruins of the houses of Coenopolis a figure dodging
painfully hither and thither. It was not habited in the brasses of the
Roman armor. Also, it hobbled as if lame and ran toward the gate fast
closed below the sentry.
The Jew, too intensely interested in the great climax enacting in the
city below, ceased to remark on this figure.
Presently, however, he looked again into ruined Coenopolis. He saw
there this un-uniformed figure wrapped in fierce embrace with a young
legionary. Almost before the sentry's astonishment shaped itself into
exclamation, the legionary was tumbled aside as if crushed and the old
figure hobbled on.
Suddenly there appeared in the path of the wayfarer a galloping
horseman, who drew his mount back on his haunches, then spurred him to
ride down the old man.
The sentry on the Old Wall made a choked sound, unslung his bow and
sent an arrow singing. There was a shout and the figure of the
horseman plunged from his saddle face down on the earth.
The wayfarer flung himself away and rushed toward the wall, only a
little distance away.
But all Coenopolis seemed to swarm now with legionaries, afoot or
horseback.
The Jewish sentry rushed to the edge of the tower overhanging the
gate.
"Open!" he shouted below. "One cometh!"
With a rattle and clang of falling bars and chains the gate of the Old
Wall swung.
Disregarding the known wishes of Titus, two of the legionaries
simultaneously let fly their javelins. But the mute, hobbling
uncertainly, was not a steady mark and under the whistle of arrows
received and sent, he blundered up the causeway leading to the Gate of
the Old Wall, and the portal slowly and ponderously closed behind him.
Wild howls of derision and exultation went up from the Jews. Many of
the soldiers clambered down to satisfy their curiosity about the
latest addition to the starving garrison. But he proved to be a
deformed old man, mute and weary, who was distressed for fear he would
be detained by them and who hobbled out into the besieged city and
posted as fast as his legs could carry him toward the house of
Amaryllis, the Seleucid.