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Much of his facial distortion was the result of his efforts to convey his ideas by expression and by his attempts to overcome the interference of his wry neck with the sweep of his vision. "Whom have we in our party, Momus?" Costobarus asked. As the man made rapid, uncouth signs, the master interpreted. "Keturah, Hiram and Aquila and thou and I, Momus.
"Thou leavest Ascalon for the peril of Jerusalem?" "Can Jerusalem be more perilous than Ascalon this hour?" Costobarus asked. "Yes, by our fathers!" Philip declared. "Nothing can be so bad as the condition of the Holy City. But what has happened? Three days ago thou wast as securely settled here as a barnacle on a shore-rock!
There were no gardens; it had been two seasons since the wheat and the barley had been reaped last, and the seaboard of southern Judea, in the path of Rome the destroyer, was a wilderness. Over all this immense slope the eyes of Costobarus wandered.
"But there are those of good repute here in Ascalon, sober men and excellent women, who say that our hope for the Branch of David is too late that Israel is come to judgment, this hour for He is come and gone and we received Him not!" Costobarus turned upon her sharply. "What is this?" he demanded. "O my husband," she insisted hopefully, "it measures up with prophecy!
Costobarus looked away from her and was silent for a time. "Daughter," he said finally, "thou hast learned indeed that thine is to be no luxurious life. In thy restrained heart there are no dreams. Let not thy youth, when thou seest him, put obstacle in the way of thy duty. Whether thou lovest him or lovest him not, he is thy husband, thy fellow in a great labor for God and for Israel.
"Philadelphus Maccabaeus hath sent to me, bidding me send Laodice to him in Jerusalem," Costobarus said in a low voice. Philip's eyes widened with sudden comprehension. "He hath returned!" he exclaimed in a whisper. For a time there was silence between the two old men, while they gazed at each other. Then Philip's manner became intensely confident.
But Laodice, so filled with loneliness and apprehension, was moved to sympathy for the solitary and friendless woman. She leaned toward her father and said in a low voice: "Let her come with us, father; she is a woman and afraid." Aquila heard that low petition and he flashed a look at the stranger that seemed reproachful. But Costobarus was speaking.
It had been long since the last meal in the luxurious house of Costobarus. The boy in the meantime produced unleavened loaves from the carry-all of sheepskin that hung over his shoulders, and without explanation disappeared among his flock. Presently he returned with a small skin of milk. "We have goats in the flock," he said. "A shepherd can not live without a goat.
"The hour for the Maccabee, indeed," Costobarus ruminated. "And the hour for Him whom we all expect," Philip added in a low tone. Costobarus bowed his head. Presently he drew a scroll from the folds of his ample robe. "Hear what Philadelphus writes me: Cæsarea, II Kal. Jul. To Costobarus, greetings and these by messenger; I learn on arriving in this city that Judea is in truth no man's country.
Momus, lifting himself by the stirrup, seized the stiff figure and laid it down upon the sands. Aquila dismounted and the three men bent over the woman. Then Costobarus glanced up quickly at Laodice, made a sign to Momus, who, with a face devoid of expression, climbed back into his place on the neck of the camel.
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