CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ROAD TO PELLA There was no incident in the Maccabee's long struggle through the inky blackness of the tunnel leading under Moriah.
It was night when the first new air from the outside world reached him.

So he rushed into great open darkness, lighted with stars, before he knew that he had emerged from the underground passage.
Entire silence after the turmoil which had shaken Jerusalem for many months fell almost like a blow upon his unaccustomed ears.

The air was sweet.

He had not breathed sweet air since May.

The hills were solitary.