Week in and week out, he had never been away from the sound of groaning thousands.

Not since he had assumed his disguise to Laodice in the wilderness had he been close to the immemorial repose of nature.

All his primitive manhood rushed back to him, now infuriated with a fear that his love was the spoil of another.
All instinct became alert; all his intelligence and resource assembled to his aid.

It came to him as inspiration always occurs at such times, that if the pair proceeded rationally, they would move toward a secure place at once.

Pella occurred to him in a happy moment.
He took his bearings by the stars and hurried north and east.
He came upon a road presently, almost obliterated by a summer's drift of dust and sand.