is not so!" and Mary's voice broke in
sobs.

"Smite the Master," angrily exclaimed Martha. "Him to be King of the
Jews?"

"Yea, they did smite him," the fisherman answered. "They did curse him
and as they turned away they spat upon him. Some of his disciples bore
arms and in the struggle the servant of the High Priest lost an ear.
Would God it had been the High Priest's head the sword severed! And as
they rudely pushed him on, he whispered a word in the ear of a disciple
asking that swift news of his arrest be brought to Lazarus of Bethany.
Then took they him."

"Where have they taken him?" Joseph asked.

"To Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin; to the Judgment Hall of Pilate; to the
scourger and the cross if they have power."

"To the Roman judgment seat--to the scourgers--to the cross--the cruel,
cruel cross? Nay, not the _cross_! Save him!
Lazarus--Joseph--Strangers--Men of Israel, save him whom we love! Let
not the hand of Rome hang his body on a cross!" Mary plead hysterically.

"Calm thyself, Mary," Joseph said. "The Jew hath not power to take the
life of Jesus, and Pilate doth hate the Sanhedrin with such fierce
hatred that for nothing short of Temple gold or fear of Caesar would he
sign a death-warrant that would please a Jew."

"Trust not to Pilate," plead the fisherman. "Pilate is but Rome in
Palestine and doth not Rome love the cross? Aye, in our own Galilee
were not two thousand of our sons and fathers crucified, and left for
dogs to gnaw because they followed the Gaulonite and refused Rome the
tax? The cross is fearful and bloody. Jesus of Nazareth must be saved
from the cross!"

"Yea, by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must he be saved!" Lazarus
shouted. "Let us away and arouse the hills and awake the valleys where
thousands of armed Galileans are sleeping. Other thousands there are
of Zealots whose hands are ever near a blade. And will not the
Nationalists strike for the honor of the nation? And the Essenes?
Aye, all these will we waken, and more, and by morning when the city
gates swing open such a populace will enter as proclaimed him King.
The time hath come for Israel to strike--aye, to strike with the sword!"

"A mob is not an army, Lazarus. Though the populace shout hosannahs or
breathe curses it is all one to the sword of Rome."

"Aye, Joseph, but the wrath of Israel will make of scythes and reaping
hooks, blades to strike off the shackles of Rome, and from the fastness
of