t thou
give of thy abundant hair, Mary?"

"Of my hair? Yea, thou shalt have all--even my blood for my brother
Larazus."

"Seat thyself and bid thy servant to give me a plait of thy hair. And
thou, Martha, bring me a knife wholly of iron and have thy man-servant
in readiness with an ax."

Mary sat down on a stool and unbound her hair. In the middle of the
back a plait was made, and this was cut from her head.

"Evil are the spirits that have taken possession of the master of this
abode and fierce must be the contention of the angel of the Lord else
they accomplish their dark desire. Pray thou who standest about this
bed and seest the knife bound in this hair, that the path of evil
spirits be cut off." Taking the iron knife which Martha handed him, he
prayed over it, tied Mary's hair about it, uttered another prayer and
turned toward the servant who had appeared with an ax. "Take thou this
to the valley. Find there a thorn-bush aside from the pathway and
there tie the iron knife by the hair of Mary and repeat the scripture
which is on the scroll I give thee, and as the Lord appeared in a
thorn-bush to Moses, so shall he appear again. And if thine eyes be
holden that thou seest not the flame, yet will it of a surety be there,
this being the sign--the bush be not consumed. Then shalt thou turn
aside as did Moses when the Lord commanded him to take his shoes from
his feet, for so shalt thou be on holy ground. And when thou hast hid
thy face a sufficient time for the angel of the Lord to find thy iron
knife to destroy the evil spirits, then shalt thou turn again to the
bush and cut it down. Go thou, and hasten."

"How long ere thy skill will waken our brother?" Martha asked anxiously.

"Until the angel of the Lord doth overcome the demons of disease."

"Aye," said Mary, "but the time passes and the sleep of our brother
deepens." She bent over the couch and taking the hand of her brother
called softly, "Lazarus! Oh, that the Master was here! One touch of
his hand--one sound of his voice would be enough!"

"Who is this to whom thy sister's heart calleth?" the physician asked
Martha. "Some magician?"

"The Galilean Rabbi--Jesus," she answered.

"Him they call 'Jesus of Nazareth'?"

"Even the same."

"He is an impostor. Away with him! To whom hath it been given save to
a physician to cast out evil spirits with his pills and potions? Thy
sister doth behave foolishly."

While the household was eng