The horsemen resumed their journey.
"Strange!" thought Vergilius, turning his charger and looking back.
"They be surely those who have travelled far." The squad of cavalry, under plume and helmet, moved on, passing the Joppa gate and riding slowly down a long hill.
"See the glowing clouds yonder," said Vergilius, pointing westward.
"Ay, they be fair as the tents of Kedar," was the answer of David.
"There is a great beauty in the sky and the blue hills," Vergilius remarked, thoughtfully.
"And you would kill, look not upon them--they are so fair." "If I close my eyes, then, I do see a thing more fair." "What ?" "The face of one I love.

It is a love greater than all other things--fame or king or fatherland." "Or revenge ?" inquired David.
For a little Vergilius made no answer; but presently he said: "I am a Roman; who seeks my life shall lose his own." They came upon a ewe lying in the roadway.

She looked up with a mute appeal, but moved not.

She seemed to reckon upon the kindness of them approaching.

The squad parted, passing on either side.