walks on the sea----"

"Nonsense!"

"That he turns water into wine, feeds the multitude, raises the dead----"

"Raises the dead!" And the tetrarch added in the _sotto voce_ of thought,
"So did Elijah."

"That he had been in the desert----"

"With Aretas?"

"No; I questioned him on that point. He had never heard of Aretas, but he
said that in the desert this Satan had come and offered him--what do you
suppose? _The empire of the earth!_"

Antipas shook with fright. "It must have been Aretas."

"But that he had refused."

"Then it is John."

"There, you see." And Pahul dandled himself with the air of one who is
master of logic. "That's what I said myself. I said this: 'If he can raise
the dead, he can raise himself.' "

"It _is_ John," the tetrarch repeated.

"I am sure of it," the butler continued. "But he did not say so. Judas
didn't either. On the contrary, he declared he was not. He said John was
not good enough to carry his shoes. I saw through that, though," and Pahul
leered; "he knew whom I was, and he lied to protect his friend. I of
course pretended to believe him."

"Quite right," said the tetrarch.

"Yes, I played the fool. H'm, where was I? Oh, I asked Judas who then his
friend was, but he went over to where a woman stood; he spoke to her; she
moved away. Some of the others seemed to reprove him. I would have
followed, but at that moment his friend stood up; a khazzan offered him a
scroll, but he waved it aside; then some one asked him a question which I
did not catch; another spoke to him; a third interrupted; he seemed to be
arguing with them. I was too far away to hear well, and I got nearer; then
I heard him say, 'I am the bread of life.' Now, what did he mean by that?"

Antipas had no explanation to offer.

"Then," Pahul continued, "he said he had come down from heaven. A man near
me exclaimed, 'He is the Messiah;' but others----"

"The Messiah!" echoed the tetrarch. For a moment his thoughts stammered,
then at once he was back in the citadel. On one side was the procurator,
on the other the emir of Tadmor. In front of him was a drunken rabble,
wrangling Pharisees, and one man dominating the din with an announcement
of the Messiah's approach. The murmur of lutes threaded through it all;
and now, as his thoughts deviated, he wondered could that announcement
have been the truth.

"But others," Pahul continued, "objected loudly. For a little I could not
catch a word. At last they beca