A Struggle For Rome Volume Ii Part 16

He was the first to enter the pa.s.sage of the aqueduct.

"Paukares and Gubazes, take the Jew between you. At the first suspicion, down with him!"

And so, now creeping on all fours, now stooping and cautiously feeling their way, in complete obscurity, the Armenians slid and crept after Johannes, taking care not to make any noise with their weapons.

All at once Johannes cried in a low voice:

"Hold the Jew! down with him! Enemies! Arms! No, no; let him alone!" he added quickly. "It was only a snake that rustled past me. Forward!"

"Now to the right," said the Jew; "here the pa.s.sage leads into the temple."

"What lies here?--bones?--a skeleton! I can bear it no longer! The mouldy smell suffocates me! Help!" sighed one of the men.

"Let him lie! Forward!" ordered Johannes. "I see a star!"

"It is the daylight in Neapolis," said Jochem; "only a few steps more."

Johannes's helmet struck against the roots of a tall olive-tree, which spread over the mouth of the pa.s.sage in the atrium of the temple. We know this tree. As he avoided the roots, Johannes struck his helmet with a loud jingle against the side wall; he stopped short in alarm.

But he only heard the rapid flutter of the wings of numerous pigeons which flew startled out of the branches of the olive-tree.

"What was that?" said a hoa.r.s.e voice above him. "How the wind howls in the old ruins!"

It was the widow Arria.

"O G.o.d!" she cried, kneeling before the cross, "deliver us from evil!

Let not the city fall until my Jucundus returns! Alas! if he does not find his mother! Oh, let him again come the way he went that unhappy day, when he descended into the secret labyrinth to seek the hidden treasure! Show him to me as I saw him last night in my dream, rising up from below the roots of the tree!"

And she turned to look at the hole.

"O dark pa.s.sage! into which my happiness disappeared, give it up to me again! G.o.d! by this way lead him back to me."

She stood exactly before the opening with folded hands, her eyes piously raised to heaven.

Johannes hesitated as he issued from the hole and perceived her.

"She prays," he murmured. "Shall I kill her whilst praying!"

He waited; he hoped that she would turn away.

"It lasts too long! G.o.d knows I cannot help it!"

And he got quickly out from among the roots.

The old woman now raised her half-blind eyes; she saw a glittering form rise from the earth. A ray of ecstasy flashed across her features. She spread out her arms.

"Jucundus!" she cried.

It was her last breath.

The sword of the Byzantine had pierced her heart.

Without a cry, a smile upon her lips, she sank down amid the flowers; Miriam's flowers.

Johannes turned and quickly helped up his brother Perseus, and then the Jew and the first three soldiers.

"Where is the sally-port?"

"Here to the left. I will go and open it!"

Perseus directed the soldiers.

"Where are the steps to the tower?"

"Here on the right," answered Jochem--it was the staircase which led to Miriam's chamber--how often had Totila slipped in there! "Be quiet! I hear the old man."

It was really Isaac.

He had heard the noise from above; he came to the top of the steps with his torch and spear.

"Who is it down there? is it thou, Miriam? who comes?" he asked.

"I, Father Isaac," answered Jochem; "I wished once more to ask----" and he stealthily went up another step.

But Isaac heard the rattle of arms.

"Who is with thee!" he asked, advancing and holding out his torch. He now saw the armed men crouching behind Jochem.

"Treachery! treachery!" he screamed; "die, thou blot upon the Hebrews!"

and he furiously struck his broad partisan into Jochem's heart, who could not retreat.

Jochem fell dead among the soldiers.

"Treachery!" again cried Isaac.

But the next moment Johannes struck him down, sprang over his corpse, hurried to the ramparts, and unfolded the flag of Byzantium.

Below the axes were busy; the sally-port fell, beaten down from within, and with shrill cries--it was already quite dark--the Huns rushed by thousands into the city.

All was over.

A portion filled the streets with carnage; one troop broke open the nearest gates, letting in their comrades from outside.

Old Uliaris, with his little troop, hurried from the castle; he hoped to drive the intruders out; in vain; a spear was hurled which felled him to the ground.

And round his corpse fell, fighting bravely, the two hundred faithful Goths who yet surrounded him.

Then, when they saw the imperial banner waving on the walls, the citizens of Neapolis arose. Led by old friends to the Romans, such as Stepha.n.u.s and Antiochus the Syrian--Castor, a zealous friend of the Goths, had lost his life in attempting to hold them back--they disarmed the single Goths in the streets, and sent an emba.s.sy with thanks, congratulations, and pet.i.tions for mercy on the city to Belisarius, who, surrounded by his brilliant staff, now rode into the Porta Capuana.