ngrily threatened the
mountain with his fist--

"You too, damn you!"

Suddenly he changed his quick movements into a comfortable, concentrated
dawdling, chose a place by a big stone, and sat down without hurry. He
turned himself, as if seeking a comfortable position, laid his hands
side by side on the grey stone, and heavily sank his head upon them.
And so for an hour or two he sat on, as motionless and grey as the grey
stone itself, so still that he deceived even the birds. The walls of the
ravine rose before him, and behind, and on every side, cutting a sharp
line all round on the blue sky; while everywhere immense grey stones
obtruded from the ground, as though there had been at some time or
other, a shower here, and as though its heavy drops had become petrified
in endless split, upturned skull, and every stone in it was like a
petrified thought; and there were many of them, and they all kept
thinking heavily, boundlessly, stubbornly.

A scorpion, deceived by his quietness, hobbled past, on its tottering
legs, close to Judas. He threw a glance at it, and, without lifting
his head from the stone, again let both his eyes rest fixedly on
something--both motionless, both veiled in a strange whitish turbidness,
both as though blind and yet terribly alert. And lo! from out of the
ground, the stones, and the clefts, the quiet darkness of night began to
rise, enveloped the motionless Judas, and crept swiftly up towards
the pallid light of the sky. Night was coming on with its thoughts and
dreams.

That night Judas did not return to the halting-place. And the disciples,
forgetting their thoughts, busied themselves with preparations for their
meal, and grumbled at his negligence.

CHAPTER III

Once, about mid-day, Jesus and His disciples were walking along a stony
and hilly road devoid of shade, and, since they had been more than
five hours afoot, Jesus began to complain of weariness. The disciples
stopped, and Peter and his friend John spread their cloaks and those of
the other disciples, on the ground, and fastened them above between two
high rocks, and so made a sort of tent for Jesus. He lay down in the
tent, resting from the heat of the sun, while they amused Him with
pleasant conversation and jokes. But seeing that even talking fatigued
Him, and being themselves but little affected by weariness and the heat,
they went some distance off and occupied themselves in various ways. One
sought edible roots among