As it happened, they were fortunate upon that journey, since, with the armed guard of twenty men who accompanied Caleb, they were too strong a party to be attacked by the wandering bands of thieves, and, although it was reported that Titus and his army had already reached Caesarea from Egypt, they met no Romans.  Indeed, their only enemy was the cold, which proved so bitter that when, on the second night, they camped upon the heights over against Jerusalem, having no tents and fearing to light fires, they were obliged to walk about till daylight to keep their blood astir.  Then it was that they saw strange and terrible things.

In the clear sky over Jerusalem blazed a great comet, in appearance like a sword of fire.  It was true that they had seen it before at Tyre, but never before had it shown so bright.  Moreover, there it had not the appearance of a sword.  This they thought to be an ill omen, all of them except Benoni, who said that the point of the sword stretched out over Caesarea, presaging the destruction of the Romans by the hand of God.  Towards dawn, the pale, unnatural lustre of the comet faded, and the sky grew overcast and stormy.  At length the sun came up, when, to their marvelling eyes, the fiery clouds took strange shapes.

“Look, look!” said Miriam, grasping her grandfather by the arm, “there are armies in the heavens, and they fight together.”

They looked, and, sure enough, it seemed as though two great hosts were there embattled.  They could discern the legions, the wind-blown standards, the charging chariots, and the squadrons of impetuous horse.  The firmament had become a battle-ground, and lo! it was red as with the blood of the fallen, while the air was full of strange and dreadful sounds, bred, perhaps, of wind and distant thunder, that came to them like the wail of the vanquished and the dull roar of triumphant armies.  So terrified were they at the sight, that they crouched upon the ground and hid their faces in their hands.  Only old Benoni standing up, his white beard and robes stained red by the ominous light, cried out that this celestial scene foretold the destruction of the enemies of God.

“Ay!” said Nehushta, “but which enemies?”

The tall Caleb, marching on his round of the camp, echoed: 

“Yes, which enemies?”

Suddenly the light grew, all these fantastic shapes melted into a red haze, which sank down till Jerusalem before them seemed as though she floated in an ocean of blood and fire.  Then a dark cloud came up and for a while the holy Hill of Zion vanished utterly away.  It passed, the blue sky reappeared, and lo! the clear light streamed upon her marble palaces and clustered houses, and was reflected from the golden roofs of the Temple.  So calm and peaceful did the glorious city look that none would have deemed indeed that she was already nothing but a slaughter-house, where factions fought furiously, and day by day hundreds of Jews perished beneath the knives of their own brethren.