Flight

: Hebrew Heroes

It was with a strange sense of happiness mingling with fear that Zarah

followed her father out of the apartment which had been her place of

confinement. The blessing of Abner lay so warm at the heart of his

daughter! Zarah was no longer like one peering into depths of darkness

to catch a glimpse of some terrible object below; she had discovered

what she had sought, and by the cords of love was, as it were, drawing

up
a perishing parent into security and light. It was rapture to Zarah

to reflect on what would be the joy of Hadassah on the restoration of

her son. The maiden could rejoice in past perils, and, with a courage

which surprised herself, confront those before her; so clearly could

she now perceive that her sufferings had been made a means of blessing

to those whom she loved.



With a light, noiseless step, Zarah, obeying the directions of her

newly-found parent, and keeping his form in sight, crossed the first

court which they had to traverse. It was paved, surrounded by pillars,

and open to the sky, of which the deep azure was paling into morning.

The place was perfectly silent. Zarah observed that her father glanced

up anxiously towards the building which formed the south side of the

court, where marble pillars, with wreathed columns and richly carved

capitals, supported a magnificent frieze. Antiochus himself occupied

that part of the palace. But no eye peered forth at that early hour on

the forms that glided over the marble-paved court below.



Under the shadow of the colonnade now reached, Pollux awaited his

daughter;--the first point of danger was happily passed. Pollux now

pointed to a broad, covered passage to the right, lighted by lamps, of

which some had already burnt out, and others were flickering. Zarah

saw at the further end forms of men dimly visible. The guards, weary

with the long night-watch, were apparently sleeping; for they appeared

to be half sitting, half reclining on the pavement, and perfectly still.



Zarah had now to go first, and with a throbbing heart the maiden

approached the soldiers, breathing an inaudible prayer, for she felt

the peril to be very great. The passage at the end of which the guards

kept ward opened into one of the small gardens which adorned the

interior of the extensive edifice, with a tank in the centre, from

which a graceful fountain usually rose from a statuary group of marble,

representing Niobe and her children. The fountain was not playing at

this hour, and there was not light sufficient to throw the shadow of

the statues upon the still water below.



It was impossible to reach the garden without passing between the two

guards. Zarah could not tell whether they were indeed sleeping, and

the space left between them was scarcely sufficiently wide to admit of

her traversing it. Frightened, yet clinging to hope, Zarah, with her

jar on her head walked slowly and cautiously on. Just as she was

gliding by the guards, one of them started and caught hold of her dress.



"Ha! slave, what mischief are you after at such an hour as this?"



"My lord has bidden me dip my jar in yon tank," said Zarah, in as calm

a tone as she could command.



"I trow your lord has heated himself with a stronger kind of drink, or

he would not need water to cool him now," said the Syrian, releasing

Zarah, who, wondering at her own success, rapidly hurried into the

garden. She almost forgot, in her haste to escape, that it was needful

to dip her jar into water, as she was still within view of the Syrian.

The maiden had to turn back one or two steps, and bend over the brink

of the tank. Its cool waters refreshed her, as she dipped her slender

fingers therein.



"Now," thought Zarah, "there is a long dark passage to traverse--is it

on the right or the left? I scarce can remember my father's

directions; and a mistake now might be fatal both to him and to me.

Oh, may Heaven direct me!"



As Zarah glanced anxiously on either side, she perceived to the left a

narrow opening in the mass of buildings which enclosed the garden. The

opening was so utterly dark, that it looked to the trembling girl like

the mouth of a sepulchre, and she feared to enter into it. As Zarah

stood hesitating, she could hear Pollux behind her giving the password

to the sentries. His voice strengthened the courage of his daughter;

it was a comfort to know that he was near. Quitting the garden, Zarah

entered the gloomy passage. It was not quite so dark within as it had

appeared from without. The maiden could dimly distinguish a niche in

the wall, in which she deposited her jar, which could now only burden

her in her flight.



The passage along which Zarah was groping her way was one merely

intended as a back-way, along which slaves carrying viands or other

burdens might pass, though it was not unfrequently used by courtiers

bound on secret errands. It conducted to a much wider passage or

corridor, which crossed it at right angles, and which led direct to a

postern-door of the palace, by which four guards kept watch night and

day. When Zarah reached the point where the smaller passage opened

into the larger, she became aware of the most formidable obstacle which

she had yet had to encounter--the presence of these guards; and to the

young fugitive the obstacle seemed insuperable. The door was strongly

bolted, and the soldiers were wide awake; there appeared to the mind of

Zarah not the smallest chance that they would unbar the door for her,

or suffer her to pass.



The heart of the young fugitive sank within her. It was terrible to be

so near to liberty, and yet have that impassable barrier between her

and freedom! How formidable looked the deadly weapons of the soldiers

as they gleamed in the waning torch-light; how stern the weather-beaten

countenances of that warriors of Antiochus Epiphanes!



Zarah leaned against the wall of the dark narrow passage, and listened

for the footsteps of her father behind her. She dared not venture out

of the shadow into the lighted corridor. Presently Pollux was at her

side; she felt his hand gently laid on her shoulder.



"All will be lost if you attempt to save me, father," murmured the

trembling girl. "Oh, go on without me--leave me to God's care; I can

never pass those guards."



"When I raise my hand, come forward and go forth," whispered Pollux.

Not like a prisoner escaping, but with the firm tread of a man who

doubts not his right and power to go where he will, the courtier of

Antiochus strode into the corridor and advanced towards the guards, who

saluted, in Oriental fashion, a noble of high distinction, whose person

was familiar to them all.



"The word is 'The sword of Antiochus.' Unbar that door, and quickly; I

am on business of importance which brooks no delay," said Pollux to the

guards in a tone of command.



The order was instantly obeyed. Zarah joyfully heard bolt after bolt

withdrawn, and then the creaking of the door upon its hinges; and felt

the freshness of outer air admitted through the opening.



Pollux seemed to be about to pass out, when he suddenly raised his

hand, as his appointed signal to his daughter. Zarah, gasping with

breathless anxiety, obeyed the sign, and glided forward to go forth

from the palace. One of the soldiers, however, instantly barred her

passage with his weapon.



"Let the slave pass," said Pollux sternly.



The point of the guard's weapon was lowered; but another of the

soldiers was about to remonstrate. "It is against orders," he began,

when Pollux interrupted him.



"Methinks you are one who served under me in the force of Giorgias,"

observed the courtier, with presence of mind.



"Ay, my lord," answered the soldier.



"When we next see Maccabeus, we must come to closer quarters with him,"

observed the noble. "Here, my brave men,"--he drew forth a purse heavy

with gold--"share this among you, and drink success to the brave."



The soldiers could scarcely repress a shout at the unexpected

liberality of Pollux. Not one of them so much as looked at Zarah as

she glided forth into the open air.



Oh, transporting sense of liberty! How delicious was the breath of

early morn on the fugitive's cheek; how glorious the open vault spread

above her, blushing in the first light of dawn! Pollux experienced,

though in a very inferior degree, some of the pleasure felt by his

daughter, as he joined her on the broad marble steps which led down

from the Grecian-built palace of Antiochus to the platform on which it

erected.



"This way, my child," whispered Pollux, as drew Zarah in the direction

of one of the high narrow streets of Jerusalem. "We must put as much

space as possible between us and pursuers before sunrise. Would that

we had started hours ago! Many dangers yet are before us."



One was nearer than the speaker was aware of. Scarcely had the

fugitives entered the nearest street when they encountered a Syrian

courtier, splendidly attired, whose unsteady gait betrayed in what

manner he had been passing the night. More than half intoxicated as he

was, Lysimachus instantly recognized Pollux.



"Ha! whither bound?" exclaimed Lysimachus, standing, or rather

staggering, in the narrow path directly in front of the fugitives.



"I give an account of my movements only to such as have a right to

demand it," said Pollux haughtily, attempting to pass his rival, while

Zarah kept close behind her father.



"The fox has caught sight of the trap--Pollux has found out that I hold

his death-warrant," cried Lysimachus; "and that his head must fall at

sunrise!"



Pollux started at the words of his enemy.



"He is making his escape!" continued Lysimachus, in a louder voice;

"he's falling off to the Hebrews! but this shall stop him!" and with a

quick, unexpected movement, the Syrian plunged a dagger into the breast

of Pollux, then himself fell heavily rolling over into the dust!

Lysimachus had been struck down by a blow from the hand of Lycidas, who

had been but a few paces behind him!



Zarah had caught sight of the Greek, and of the venerated form of

Hadassah at that momentous crisis; her eyes riveted on them, she had

not seen the blow inflicted on her father, who, though mortally

wounded, did not instantly fall. For Pollux also beheld his mother,

and the sudden, unexpected vision of her from whom he had so long been

divided, seemed to have power to arrest even the hand of death. Parent

and son met--they clasped--they locked each other in a first--a last

embrace!



"Oh, mother," exclaimed Zarah, "he has saved me; he is your own son

again, devoted to his country--to his God!"



Did Hadassah hear the joyful exclamation? If she did not, it mattered

but little, for she had already grasped with ecstasy all that its

meaning could convey; for the last sentence uttered by Lysimachus ere

he fell had reached her ear. Her son--her beloved--was "falling away

to the Hebrews," or rather was returning to the faith which he once had

abjured; he was given back--he was saved from perdition--he was

rescuing his child from death and his mother from despair! Hadassah's

mind had received all this, conveyed as it were in a lightning flash of

joy. She needed to know no more;--her son was folded in her arms!



Pollux and Hadassah sank together on the paved way. The sight of a few

drops of blood on the stones first startled Zarah into a knowledge that

Lysimachus had inflicted an injury on her father.



"Oh, he is wounded!" she exclaimed, throwing herself on her knees

beside him.



"Dead!" ejaculated Anna, who was vainly attempting to raise the head of

Pollux.



"No--no--not dead! Oh, Lycidas!--Lycidas!" exclaimed Zarah in horror,

intuitively appealing to the Athenian to relieve her from the terrible

fear which Anna had raised.



"It is too true," said Lycidas sadly; for he could not look upon the

countenance of Pollux and doubt that life was extinct. "We must gently

separate the son from the arms of his mother."



But they who had been so long separated in life could not be separated

in death; man had now no power to divide them. Often had Hadassah

thought that her heart would break with grief;--it had burst with joy!

Her day of sorrow was over; her long Sabbath rest had begun. The happy

smile which had lately played on her lips in sleep, now rested upon

them in that last peaceful slumber from which she should never again

awake to weep. She had been given her heart's desire, and so had

departed in peace. Blessed death; most joyful departure!



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