lready
at Golgotha."

Ben-Hur stared at them.

"The cross!" was all he could for the moment say.

"They took him last night, and tried him," the man continued.
"At dawn they led him before Pilate. Twice the Roman denied
his guilt; twice he refused to give him over. At last he washed
his hands, and said, 'Be it upon you then;' and they answered--"

"Who answered?"

"They--the priests and people--'His blood be upon us and our
children.'"

"Holy father Abraham!" cried Ben-Hur; "a Roman kinder to an
Israelite than his own kin! And if--ah, if he should indeed
be the son of God, what shall ever wash his blood from their
children? It must not be--'tis time to fight!"

His face brightened with resolution, and he clapped his hands.

"The horses--and quickly!" he said to the Arab who answered the
signal. "And bid Amrah send me fresh garments, and bring my sword!
It is time to die for Israel, my friends. Tarry without till I come."

He ate a crust, drank a cup of wine, and was soon upon the road.

"Whither would you go first?" asked the Galilean.

"To collect the legions."

"Alas!" the man replied, throwing up his hands.

"Why alas?"

"Master"--the man spoke with shame--"master, I and my friend
here are all that are faithful. The rest do follow the priests."

"Seeking what?" and Ben-Hur drew rein.

"To kill him."

"Not the Nazarene?"

"You have said it."

Ben-Hur looked slowly from one man to the other. He was hearing
again the question of the night before: "The cup my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it?" In the ear of the Nazarene he was
putting his own question, "If I bring thee rescue, wilt thou accept
it?" He was saying to himself, "This death may not be averted.
The man has been travelling towards it with full knowledge from
the day he began his mission: it is imposed by a will higher
than his; whose but the Lord's! If he is consenting, if he goes
to it voluntarily, what shall another do?" Nor less did Ben-Hur
see the failure of the scheme he had built upon the fidelity of
the Galileans; their desertion, in fact, left nothing more of it.
But how singular it should happen that morning of all others! A dread
seized him. It was possible his scheming, and labor, and expenditure of
treasure might have been but blasphemous contention with God. When he
picked up the reins and said, "Let us go, brethren," all before him
was uncertainty. The faculty of resolving quickly, without which
one cannot be