Ben-Hur gave the speaker a surprised look.
"A Hebrew ?" he asked him.
The man replied with a deferential smile, "I was born within a stone's-throw of the market-place in Jerusalem." Ben-Hur was proceeding to further speech, when the crowd surged forward, thrusting him out on the side of the walk next the woods, and carrying the stranger away.

The customary gown and staff, a brown cloth on the head tied by a yellow rope, and a strong Judean face to avouch the garments of honest right, remained in the young man's mind, a kind of summary of the man.
This took place at a point where a path into the woods began, offering a happy escape from the noisy processions.

Ben-Hur availed himself of the offer.
He walked first into a thicket which, from the road, appeared in a state of nature, close, impenetrable, a nesting-place for wild birds.

A few steps, however, gave him to see the master's hand even there.

The shrubs were flowering or fruit-bearing; under the bending branches the ground was pranked with brightest blooms; over them the jasmine stretched its delicate bonds.