ack, with naked, brawny
neck, barred the window, so that nothing more could be seen. And
suddenly the noise ceased.

"What's that? Why are they silent? Have they suddenly divined the
truth?"

Momentarily the whole head of Judas, in all its parts, was filled with
the rumbling, shouting and roaring of a thousand maddened thoughts! Had
they divined? They understood that this was the very best of men--it
was so simple, so clear! Lo! He is coming out, and behind Him they
are abjectly crawling. Yes, He is coming here, to Judas, coming out a
victor, a hero, arbiter of the truth, a god....

"Who is deceiving Judas? Who is right?"

But no. Once more noise and shouting. They are scourging Him again. They
do not understand, they have not guessed, they are beating Him harder,
more cruelly than ever. The fires burn out, covered with ashes, and the
smoke above them is as transparently blue as the air, and the sky as
bright as the moon. It is the day approaching.

"What is day?" asks Judas.

And lo! everything begins to glow, to scintillate, to grow young again,
and the smoke above is no longer blue, but rose-coloured. It is the sun
rising.

"What is the sun?" asks Judas.

CHAPTER VIII

They pointed the finger at Judas, and some in contempt, others with
hatred and fear, said:

"Look, that is Judas the Traitor!"

This already began to be the opprobrious title, to which he had doomed
himself throughout the ages. Thousands of years may pass, nation may
supplant nation, and still the air will resound with the words, uttered
with contempt and fear by good and bad alike:

"Judas the Traitor!"

But he listened imperturbably to what was said of him, dominated by a
feeling of burning, all-subduing curiosity. Ever since the morning when
they led forth Jesus from the guardroom, after scourging Him, Judas
had followed Him, strangely enough feeling neither grief nor pain nor
joy--only an unconquerable desire to see and hear everything. Though
he had had no sleep the whole night, his body felt light; when he was
crushed and prevented from advancing, he elbowed his way through the
crowd and adroitly wormed himself into the front place; and not for a
moment did his vivid quick eye remain at rest. At the examination of
Jesus before Caiaphas, in order not to lose a word, he hollowed his hand
round his ear, and nodded his head in affirmation, murmuring:

"Just so! Thou hearest, Jesus?"

But he was a prisoner, like a fly tied t