urn while he spoke to us on the road hither? and I cited
prophecies that were testimony that the Messiah must suffer before he
entered into glory. And Khuza answered: did you not recognise him,
Cleophas, by the way in which he broke bread? Now you speak of it, I
replied--

Our eyes that had not seen saw, and we knew that Jesus had been with us,
and hurried to Jerusalem to tell the apostles that we had seen him. But
their hearts are hard and narrow and dry, as Jesus himself well knew,
and as he said would be evinced at the striking of the hour, and when we
told Peter that Martha and Mary had been to the sepulchre and found the
stone rolled away he answered: I too have visited the sepulchre and saw
nothing. It was open, but I saw no young man sitting in white raiment,
nor did an angel greet me. John said: three days have now passed away
since he was put on the cross, and in three days he was to have returned
in a chariot of fire by the side of his Father and made a great Kingdom
of happiness and peace in this country. But he hasn't come; he has
deceived us and put our lives in jeopardy, for if the Pharisees find us
here they'll bring us before Pilate, who is a man without mercy, and
eleven more will hang on crosses.

Salome, mother of John and James, too, got in her word and railed
against Jesus for having brought them all from Galilee for naught. John
and James, he promised me, were to sit on either side of him in Kingdom
Come. Whereupon Peter said: thou liest, woman. I was to sit on his right
hand. And while these disciples disputed on Jesus' words Bartholomew
praised Judas, who had withdrawn as soon as Jesus began to talk of the
angels that would surround the chariot. Thomas reproved Bartholomew,
saying that Jesus never said that there would be angels; and they all
began to wrangle, asking each other how many angels would be required to
match a Roman legion. Nor were they sure that Jesus said he was God's
own son, and equal to God; at which many were scandalised and turned
away their faces; nor could they say that they had not desired to find a
god in him on account of the chairs. I'm not speaking of James and John.
And then the ugly twain turned upon us, saying that we--myself and
Khuza--were but disciples and could baptize with water, but not with the
holy breath, which was reserved for the apostles; nor with fire. At his
words the lightning flashed into the room, and John said: we are in the
midst of a great miracl