Accordingly, the
rest of them were massacred by the wild hordes near Nicasa--in the
same town in which, during the early days of Christianity, so many
fateful debates had taken place.
But the Hermit escaped, and returned to Constantinople, where he
waited for the great army of the Crusaders. He waited a whole year,
just as confident of victory and undismayed as before.
* * * * *
In the little town Tiberias, on the shore of the Lake of Gennesareth
sat the old Jew Eleazar, with his family, prepared to celebrate the
Passover, or the Exodus from Egypt. It was the tenth day of the
month Nisan of the year 1098. The lake shone clear, and its banks
were green; the oleanders were in blossom, the lilies had sprung up
in the pleasant season when the earth rejoices.
It was evening; all members of the family were dressed as though for
a journey, with shoes on their feet and staves in their hands. They
stood round the covered table on which the roasted lamb smoked in a
dish surrounded by bitter lettuce. The ancestral wine-cup was filled
with wine, and white unleavened bread laid on a plate close by.
After the head of the family had washed his hands, he blessed the
gifts of God, drank some wine, returned thanks, and invited the
others to drink.
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