a firm grip, as if determined to fight should any onebar his way. But the soldier did not look at the man as much as he didat the woman. He thought that she was just as tall as the young motherwho got away from him the night before. He observed also that she hadthrown her skirt over her head. "Perhaps she wears it like this,"thought he, "to conceal the fact that she holds a child on her arm."
The nearer they approached, the plainer he saw the child which the womanbore on her arm outlined under the raised robe. "I'm positive it is theone who got away last night. I didn't see her face, but I recognize thetall figure. And here she comes now, with the child on her arm, andwithout even trying to keep it concealed. I had not dared to hope forsuch a lucky chance," said the soldier to himself.
The man and woman continued their rapid pace all the way to the citygate. Evidently, they had not anticipated being intercepted here. Theytrembled with fright when the soldier leveled his spear at them, andbarred their passage.
"Why do you refuse to let us go out in the fields to our work?" askedthe man.
"You may go presently," said the soldier, "but first I must see whatyour wife has hidden behind her robe."
"What is there to see?" said the man. "It is only bread and wine, whichwe must live upon to-day."
"You speak the truth, perchance," said the soldier, "but if it is as yousay, why does she turn away? Why does she not willingly let me see whatshe carries?"
"I do not wish that you shall see it," said the man, "and I command youto let us pass!"
With this he raised his ax, but the woman laid her hand on his arm.
"Enter thou not into strife!" she pleaded. "I will try some other way. Ishall let him see what I bear, and I know that he can not harm it." Witha proud and confident smile she turned toward the soldier, and threwback a fold of her robe.
Instantly the soldier staggered back and closed his eyes, as if dazed bya strong light. That which the woman held concealed under her robereflected such a dazzling white light that at first he did not know whathe saw.
"I thought you held a child on your arm," he said.
"You see what I hold," the woman answered.
Then the soldier finally saw that that which dazzled and shone was onlya cluster of white lilies, the same kind that grew in the meadow; buttheir luster was much richer and more radiant. He could hardly bear tolook at them.
He stuck his hand in among the flowers. He couldn't help thinking thatit must be a child the woman carried, but he felt only the coolflower-petals.
He was bitterly deceived, and in his wrath he would gladly have takenboth the man and the woman prisoners, but he knew that he could give noreason for such a proceeding.
When the woman saw his confusion, she said: "Will you not let us gonow?"
The soldier quietly lowered the spear and stepped aside.
The woman drew her robe over the flowers once more, and at the same timeshe looked with a sweet smile upon that which she bore on her arm. "Iknew that you could not harm it, did you but see it," she said to thesoldier.
With this, they hastened away; and the soldier stood and stared afterthem as long as they were within sight.
While he followed them with his eyes, he almost felt sure that the womandid not carry on her arm a cluster of lilies, but an actual, livingchild.
While he still stood and stared after the wanderers, he heard loudshouts from the street. It was Voltigius, with several of his men, whocame running.
"Stop them!" they cried. "Close the gates on them! Don't let themescape!"
And when they came up to the soldier, they said that they had trackedthe runaway boy. They had sought him in his home, but then he hadescaped again. They had seen his parents hasten away with him. Thefather was a strong, gray-bearded man who carried an ax; the mother wasa tall woman who held a child concealed under a raised robe.
The same moment that Voltigius related this, there came a Bedouin ridingin through the gate on a good horse. Without a word, the soldier rushedup to the rider, jerked him down off the horse and threw him to theground, and, with one bound, jumped into the saddle and dashed awaytoward the road.
* * * * *
Two days later, the soldier rode forward through the drearymountain-desert, which is the whole southern part of Judea. All thewhile he was pursuing the three fugitives from Bethlehem, and he wasbeside himself because the fruitless hunt never came to an end.
"It looks, forsooth, as though these creatures had the power to sinkinto the earth," he grumbled. "How many times during these days have Inot been so close to them that I've been on the point of throwing myspear at the child, and yet they have escaped me! I begin to think thatI shall never catch up with them."
He felt despondent, like one who believes he is struggling against somesuperior power. He asked himself if it might not be possible that thegods protected these people against him.
"This trouble is in vain. Let me turn back before I perish from hungerand thirst in this barren land!" he said to himself, again and again.Then he was seized with fear of that which awaited him on hishome-coming, should he turn back without having accomplished hismission.
Twice he had permitted the child to escape, and neither Voltigius norHerod would pardon him for anything of the kind.
"As long as Herod knows that one of the Bethlehem children still lives,he will always be haunted by the same anxiety and dread," said thesoldier. "Most likely he will try to ease his worries by nailing me to across."
It was a hot noonday hour, and he suffered tortures from the ridethrough this mountain district on a road which wound around steep cliffswhere no breeze stirred. Both horse and rider were ready to drop.
Several hours before he had lost every trace of the fugitives, and hefelt more disheartened than ever.
"I must give it up," thought he. "I verily believe it is time wasted topursue them further. They must perish anyway in this awful wilderness."
As he thought this, he discovered, in a mountain-wall near the roadside,the vaulted entrance to a grotto.
Immediately he rode up to the opening. "I will rest a while in this coolmountain cave," thought he. "Then, mayhap, I can continue the pursuitwith renewed strength."
As he was about to enter, he was struck with amazement! On each side ofthe opening grew a beautiful lily. The two stalks stood there tall anderect and full of blossoms. They sent forth an intoxicating odor ofhoney, and many bees buzzed around them.
It was such an uncommon sight in this wilderness that the soldier didsomething extraordinary. He broke off a large white flower and took itwith him into the cave.
The cave was neither deep nor dark, and as soon as he entered he sawthat there were already three travelers within: a man, a woman, and achild, who lay stretched out upon the ground, lost in deep slumber.
The soldier had never before felt his heart beat as it did at thisvision. They were the three runaways whom he had hunted so long. Herecognized them instantly. And here they lay sleeping, unable to defendthemselves and wholly in his power.
He drew his sword quickly and bent over the sleeping child.
Cautiously he lowered the sword toward the infant's heart, and measuredcarefully, in order to kill with a single thrust.
He paused an instant to look at the child's countenance. Now, when hewas certain of victory, he felt a grim pleasure in beholding his victim.
But when he saw the child his joy increased, for he recognized thelittle boy whom he had seen play with bees and lilies in the meadowbeyond the city gate.
"Why, of course I should have understood this all the time!" thought he."This is why I have always hated the child. This is the pretended Princeof Peace."
He lowered his sword again while he thought: "When I lay this child'shead at Herod's feet, he will make me Commander of his Life Guard."
As he brought the point of the sword nearer and nearer the heart of thesleeping child, he reveled in the thought: "This time, at least, no oneshall come between us and snatch him from
my power."
But the soldier still held in his hand the lily which he had broken offat the grotto entrance; and while he was thinking of his good fortune, abee that had been hidden in its chalice flew towards him and buzzedaround his head.
He staggered back. Suddenly he remembered the bees which the boy hadcarried to their home, and he remembered that it was a bee that hadhelped the child escape from Herod's feast. This thought struck him withsurprise. He held the sword suspended, and stood still and listened forthe bee.
Now he did not hear the tiny creature's buzzing. As he stood there,perfectly still, he became conscious of the strong, delicious perfumewhich came from the lily that he held in his hand.
Then he began to think of the lilies that the little one had saved; heremembered that it was a cluster of lilies that had hidden the