Nevertheless, a lad saw them, and told Absalom,.... Saw them conversing with the girl, and departing for David's army; according to Josephus , they were some horsemen that saw them about two furlongs or a quarter mile from Jerusalem, and acquainted Absalom with it:but they went both of them away quickly; made all the haste they could with their message to David:and came to a man's house in Bahurim; where very probably they had been informed David had been, whither he came weary, and had refreshment, 2Sa 16:14; or rather, perceiving they were discovered and pursued, they turned in hither, the first place they came to, for safety:which had a well in his court; which they observed, and was the reason of their turning in:whither they went down; to hide themselves from their pursuers, it being dry, as sometimes wells were in the summertime: Josephus says , a woman let them down by a rope.
Antiqu. l. 7. c. 9. sect. 7.