“Nay, for there they will come too.  Follow up this gully till you reach the footpath a mile away, and by it walk to the village; so you will miss these robbers.”

“That is a good plan,” said Nehushta.  “Come, lady.”

“Whither are you going, Caleb?” asked Miriam, lingering, since she saw that he did not mean to accompany them.

“I?  Oh, I shall hide among the rocks near by till the men are passed, and then go to seek that hyena which has been worrying the sheep.  I have tracked him down and may catch him as he comes from his hole at sunset.  That is why I have brought my bow and arrows.”

“Come,” broke in Nehushta impatiently, “come.  The lad well knows how to guard himself.”

“Be careful, Caleb, that you get no hurt from the hyena,” said Miriam, doubtfully, as Nehushta seized her by the wrist and dragged her away.  “It is strange,” she added as they went, “that Caleb should choose this evening to go hunting.”

“Unless I mistake, it is a human hyena whom he hunts,” answered Nehushta shortly.  “One of those men struck him, and he desires to wash the wound with his blood.”

“Oh, surely not!  Nou.  That would be taking vengeance, and revenge is evil.”

Nehushta shrugged her shoulders.  “Caleb may think otherwise, as I do at times.  Wait, and we shall see.”

As it chanced, they did see something.  The footpath by which they returned to the village ran over a high ridge of ground, and from its crest, although they were a mile or more away, in that clear desert air they could easily discern the line of the high priest’s servants straggling along, driving before them a score or so of mules, laden with wine and other produce which they had stolen from the stores.  Presently the company of them descended into that gully along which the road ran, whence a minute or two later rose a sound of distant shouting.  Then they appeared on the further side, running, or riding their beasts hither and thither, as though in search of some one, while four of them carried between them a man who seemed to be hurt, or dead.

“I think that Caleb has shot his hyena,” said Nehushta meaningly; “but I have seen nothing, and if you are wise, you will say nothing.  I do not like Caleb, but I hate these Jewish thieves, and it is not for you to bring your friend into trouble.”

Miriam looked frightened but nodded her head, and no more was said of the matter.

That evening, as Miriam and Nehushta stood at the door of their house in the cool, by the light of the full moon they saw Caleb advancing towards them down the road, a sight that made Miriam glad at heart, for she feared lest he might have come into trouble.  Catching sight of them, he asked permission to enter through the door, which he closed behind them, so that now they stood in the little garden within the wall.

“Well,” said Nehushta, “I see that you had a shot at your hyena; did you kill it?”