ket. At the sight of Mary his steps
hesitated, and his eyes followed hers to where the palace lay. Then he
crossed the zigzag of the intervening space, but he had to touch her
outstretched arm before she noticed him.

"Simon!" she exclaimed, with that start one has when suddenly awaked.

"Yes, Simon indeed;" and through the silence of the sook his clear laugh
rang. "I frightened you, did I not?"

Mary interrupted him. "Haven't you heard? Has not Eleazer told you----"

"When I left Bethany he was sleeping with both fists closed. Martha----"

"The Master is arrested. Last night he was before the Sanhedrim; he is
before the procurator now."

Hurriedly Mary gave an account of what had occurred. As the recital
continued, Simon's expression grew darker than his curling hair, he
clutched at the basket which he held, so tightly that the handle severed,
the basket fell, and fruit that imprisoned the sunlight rolled on the
ground.

"They were for the Master," he said. "I thought he would sup with us
to-night."

"He may do so yet," she answered. "Perhaps----"

"Never!" cried a voice from the lattice. "They are leading him to Guelgolta
now."

Beyond, through the palace gate, a mass undulated, the body elongated,
expanding as it moved. It was black, but at the sides was the glisten that
cobras have. About it dust circled, and from it came the rumble of thunder
heard afar. As the bulk increased, the roar deepened; the black lessened
into varying hues. To the glisten came the glint of steel; the cobra
changed into a multitude, the escort of a squad of soldiery, fronted by a
centurion and led by the banner of Imperial Rome.

Behind the centurion, Jesus, in his faded sagum, staggered, overweighted
by the burden of a cross. Two comrades in misery were at his side, but
they moved with steadier step, bearing their crosses with the brawn of
muscular and untired arms. The soldiers marched impassibly, preceding the
executioners--four stalwart Cypriotes, distinguishable by the fatness of
their calves--while behind was the Sanhedrim, and, extending indefinitely
to the rear, the rabble of yelling Jews.

In a cobra's coils is death, its eyes transfix. Neither Mary nor Simon had
spoken, and now, as the soldiery was upon them, they leaned yet nearer the
wall. For a moment Mary hid her face. At her feet the Christ had fallen,
and from her came one wail, choked down at once. She stooped to aid him,
but he stood up unassisted and reached