XXIBATTLE OF BETHHORON
Thesun had long risen the next day when Deborah came out of a little hut on the brow of Bethhoron Heights, several leagues to the northwest of Jerusalem. It was one of a score of half-burned and half-demolished structures which marked the site of a deserted hamlet.
A group of men, who had been lying among the rocks hard by, rose and silently saluting her walked away; but not without backward glances that betokened both reverence and curiosity.
From her high outlook Deborah's eyes took in the vast plain of Sharon, which lay at her feet. In the far distance the blue sea mingled with the blue of the sky; a wonderful background for the nearer landscape, which seemed like a garden. Yellow grain-laden fields, patches of variegated poppies and lilies, vast sections of green meadow, and groves of fig and orange diminished by distance suggested parterres of flowers; while the white highways from CÅ“le-Syria and the coast seemed but footpaths. Far to the north the sky was dotted with circling eagles, while the dust clouds beneath suggested the fancy that these birds were flying cinders flung upward by some conflagration.
Deborah put her hand to her brow, and gazed long in that direction. The dust haze began tosparkle as with fire-flies. Her trained eyes recognized the far gleam of spear and helm.
"They come," she ejaculated.
She signalled to an armed peasant near her. "You are sure that Judas got the message?"
"I myself delivered it, my lady. Already our little army is on its way northward. By night they will guard every road leading up from the plain; and then, themselves kept out of sight, they will follow southward and strike any detachment of the Greeks that ventures to ascend the hills. But Judas must believe that they will not attempt any ascent until they get as far down as this, for Simon and John are hard by, and examining every slope and runway along the front of Bethhoron."
Later in the day the astute surmise of Judas was demonstrated to have been correct. As Deborah watched, she plainly distinguished the detachments of the Syrian hosts succeed one another in their southerly movement, like billows of grain under a strong breeze. When night fell the plain of Sharon right before her gleamed with camp-fires, as the sea with phosphorescence; while on every side she heard the rustle of the moving bands of her countrymen, together with the subdued voices of command. But not a light glowed on the brow of Bethhoron.
Late in the night Judas came to her.
"My child, you should not be here. It was enough to have sent us word."
"I could not remain in the city," replied Deborah, "for I clearly foresee that to-morrow we shall have a great victory, which the Lord will give us, or else we shall be utterly destroyed."
"But here you are in danger," responded Judas."I beg you to return to the city. If we succeed we shall soon join you there. If we are destroyed the Lord will raise up others to avenge us, for His cause rests with no single army. He is the Lord of Hosts, and will fill our places with better men. You must live to be for them what you have been for us. It is enough that we die."
"Nay, Judas, entreat me not. The daughter of Elkiah will meet the fate of the sons of Mattathias. It is my father's spirit that speaks through my lips. I shall seek no danger, but I must cheer our brave brothers, and staunch their wounds or close their eyes in death. Do not think me rebellious, but to this duty I am surely called by Him who commands us both."
"I dare not command you, Deborah, for you are closer to God than I, and know His will more perfectly. But this thing meets not my judgment. Only do not follow the men over the heights. Yet I think we shall succeed on the morrow. General Seron is making a mistake as clearly as did Apollonius. When his host attempts to pass over Bethhoron it must keep to the highway. With his horsemen and armament he cannot climb the ledges, nor can his footmen march through the tangles of brush and swamp. They must follow the zigzagging of the road, and move in a long and twisting file like a string crumpled in one's hand. His line may be twenty furlongs in length, but it will all be within five furlongs' reach of us. Our men can cross these thickets and stone fields as swallows skim the ground. Behind the rocks and brushwood one of our archers will have a score for his target. Besides, we will have the advantage of fighting from higherground. I have no fear. Our onslaught will be sudden; they have as yet no dream of opposition. One is tempted to make a night attack upon their camp. But it is better to wait; for, if I mistake not, to-morrow they will move up the Heights like a line of captives to the headsman's block. Yonder is the valley of Ajalon, above which the sun stood still until Joshua had gotten the victory. Pray with us, Deborah, that the sun may not set to-morrow until we too have been victorious. If the sun will not lengthen the day for us, we will so crowd it with valorous deeds that we shall make it like many days in one. Farewell! Do not venture beyond the Heights."
Before noon of the following day, the advance of Seron's troops was well up the ascent by the winding road, in exactly the order which Judas had anticipated. For miles the army stretched away, almost to Lydda; the glare of clustered spear-heads showing like the golden spots on a python. In places detachments which were far removed from one another in the marching order were brought close together by the loops of the road, while intervening fields of boulders separated them, so that they were not in helpful proximity.
But no danger was visible to the Greeks. Helmets were thrown off and piled on wagons with the baggage. There were songs in which the men from one province tried to drown the voices of men from other parts of the King's realm with their strange melodies. The only precaution shown was by the very foremost of the army of invaders, who, obeying their General's order of discipline, sent out scouts. These threaded their way slowly between the boulders near the crest of Bethhoron; leisurely feasting themselves upon the berries which glowed blue and red at their fingers.
One closely watching these scouts and pickets would have noted that when a Greek soldier surmounted the crest he neither returned nor made sign to those following. He simply disappeared, his comrades supposing that he had passed in safety. But an eagle flying over the spot would have paused to hover, with beak parted for the carrion feast that awaited him there; for behind the ledge were masked the deadliest shots among the Jewish bowmen, and those most expert with the short lance, having from boyhood used it in hunting. Men who could elude the sagacity of the fox, and pin the wary beast to the ground with a throw of threescore paces, made quick finish of a Greek armed with a long and heavy sarissa, which was fit only for close prodding.
Behind the van came the staff of Seron, men bemedalled for exploits in many battles. Then followed squadrons of horse, crowding their sweaty flanks, and rubbing the greaves from their riders' legs in the attempt to keep full number abreast on the narrow road. So the python's head reached the Heights of Bethhoron.
Suddenly the crest of the hill burst as with an earthquake. A roar as of thunder articulated the war cry, "Mi-camo-ca-ba!" Every rock scintillated with spear-heads. Arrows clouded the air, and fell in deadly showers upon the unshielded Greeks, leaving scarcely a man or a horse standing on the near roadway. Hundreds of these shafts, as if borne by wings, so far was their flight, dropped amid Seron'ssuite, and the gayest plumes first nodded beneath the deadly challenge.
Under cover of this storm of missiles, and before the enemy could sufficiently recover from consternation to clearly discern the meaning of the attack, the armored Jews dashed over the crest. As when a dam bursts, the living flood poured down the slope, carrying everything before it. Mi-camo-ca-ba! the wild cry from a thousand throats, drowned all shouts of command. But one sound was heard above the din. It was the lion voice of Judas, as with the sword of Apollonius he hewed his way through the half-formed phalanges. The first stretch of road was not cleared of the foe before those on the second bend were hemmed in by the patriot archers, who had gained the covert of rocks on either side, and swept the highway with unerring aim. For the Greeks to advance was impossible; orderly retreat equally vain. Those who stood their ground were huddled together as for quicker slaughter. Those in the rear turned backward in flight. The splendid squadrons, blinded by panic, became like herds of riderless horses, spurred by the sting of arrows. Cavalry dashed back upon the infantry following, carrying these foot soldiers along as a freshet its débris. In less than two hours the army of Seron was in hopeless rout over the white hills and across the green cornfields of the plain of Sharon.
The Maccabæans did not follow in pursuit. To have done so would have revealed to the enemy the fewness of their assailants. Should the Greeks regain their wits and resume the fight, Judas foresaw that his men, away from their coverts of rocks andcopses and in the open plain, would be readily annihilated by superior numbers. He let the panic do its work.
"It's the angel of the Lord," he said, "though his wings are black with God's curse."
So Judas was content to watch the writhing of the python whose head he had crushed.
Seron and the survivors of his staff displayed their genius by escaping in the opposite direction to the retreat of the mass of the army. They turned off from the highway, and crossed the fields toward the southeast in the direction of Jerusalem, their only covert now. Several of the horses of his suite were abandoned, having broken their legs as they slipped between the rocks; others refused to enter the thickets of underbrush which had already torn their flesh, until they were unmercifully prodded by the spurs of their riders. A handful of officers at length struck a hoof path that with many windings debouched into the highway near the summit of Bethhoron, whence they made their way toward the city.