Flocks of birds rose into flight, stirred from their feeding by the passage of so many mounted men. And from the jungle along the river bank they heard occasionally the roar of a lion, the growl of a bear and the shrill cry of a wild boar. Several times they flushed an oddlooking animal that Dacius called a jerboa, with hind legs fully as long as its body and an even longer tail, enabling it to cover ground in a series of startling leaps that created the illusion of flight.
Since they frequently crossed streams pouring down from the plateau above, there was plenty of fresh water for the horses. Once they paused to rest upon a height from which Dacius pointed out, far to the north, the sparkling blue waters of a lake which he said was called the Sea of Tiberius or Galilee. Beyond it, farther to the north, was a mountain range capped with snow, which Constantine remembered seeing from another direction when they had landed at Caesarea. Dacius, who had fought through this region in an earlier campaign against the Persians, named the peak Mount Her mon and the area of rich pastureland, heavily forested hills, and the prosperous people part of an ancient district called Gilead.
“It was to this region,” he told Constantine, “that King David of Israel fled nearly a thousand years ago, when he was driven out of Jerusalem by Absalom, his oldest son.”
“Where did you learn all this?” Constantine asked.
“It’s no tale, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Dacius assured him with a grin. “A Jewish general named Josephus fought with our armies under Titus, when they put down the great Jewish rebellion in this country a little over two hundred years ago. Josephus wrote a history of his people; you’ll find it well worth reading.”
“Why did this Absalom you spoke of rise against his father?” “David was one of Israel’s greatest kings, but when he grew old, Absalom became impatient to succeed him. He was the darling of the people and very vain, so some of the notables thought they could gain power for themselves by setting him up as king in his father’s place.”
“It has happened many times, before and since.”
“And will keep on happening, unless men change in their hearts,”
Dacius agreed. “David and Joab, his chief general, needed time to get an army together and David didn’t want Jerusalem destroyed in a battle between him and Absalom, so he left the capital. Even when Absalom pursued his father across the Jordan, David still ordered that the young prince not be killed, but Joab took care of that. Absalom wore his hair very long and as he was fleeing during the battle, it became caught in a tree, leaving him hanging. Joab saw him and pierced his heart with several darts.”
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