King of the Jews Part 14

This must be announced to the High Priest Annas and the rest. Then shall the sentence be confirmed by the whole a.s.sembled council, and the prisoner will immediately be brought before Pilate in order that he may confirm it and have it executed."

The priests then departed, crying as they went, "G.o.d deliver us soon from our enemy."

When the council had been dismissed and all was still, Judas, moving as one distracted, came down the street in front of the high priest's palace; as he went he muttered to himself: "Fearful forebodings drive me hither and thither. That word of Annas' 'He must die!' Oh, that word pursues me everywhere." Then, as if he remembered all that had happened, Judas cried, "No, it cannot come to that; they will not carry things so far! That would be too terrible if my Master--no!--and I--guilty of it? No! Here in the house of Caiaphas, I will inquire how things stand. Shall I go in? I can no longer bear this uncertainty, and it terrifies me to ascertain the certainty. My heart throbs with terror--surely I shall not have to hear the worst. Yet it must come some time." And thereupon he went into the house of the high priest.

Meanwhile in the hall of Caiaphas the Temple Watch was standing waiting the result of the examination of Jesus before Caiaphas. In the hall were the servant maids, Sarah and Hagar, who seeing the soldiers standing outside, went to the door, and said, "You may come in here."

It was Hagar who spoke first, and Sarah added, "It is more comfortable in here."

"True for you, good people," said Melchi, one of the soldiers. Then calling out, "Ho, comrades, come in! It is better for us to lie down in the hall."

Then said a soldier named Arphaxad, "I like this; I wish we had come in long ago; how stupid we are, always standing outside in the open air and s.h.i.+vering. But where is there any fire?"

"Sarah," added another soldier, "go and bring us fire, also wood to lay thereon."

"Willingly," said Hagar.

"That you shall have," said Sarah. They went out together to comply with the soldier's wish.

"Will the trial soon come to an end?" asked several of the soldiers.

"It will last," said Melchi, "until all the witnesses are examined."

"And," added Panther, "the accused will also use all his eloquence to get himself out of the sc.r.a.pe."

"That will help him nothing," said Arphaxad; "he has offended the priests too much." Then returned the serving maids with a brazier in which there was a little fire and some wood, which they placed thereon, making a great smoke.

"Here is your fire," said Hagar, "wood and fire tongs."

Then cried the soldiers together, "Thanks, you good girls."

"Yes," said Panther, stooping down over the brazier, "that is good.

Now take care that the fire does not go out." Several of the soldiers stooped over the fire, piled on wood, and Sarah busied herself with bringing in meat and bread.

Peter and John, who had been wandering about the streets seeking for tidings, came to the door, John preceding Peter. Hagar, who saw John standing in the entrance of the door, said, "John, comest thou also hither in the middle of the night? Come in here, then, thou must warm thyself. Could you make a little room for this young man here?" said Hagar addressing the soldiers.

"Yes, indeed," cried the band together.

Then said John, "Good Hagar, I have a companion with me; can he not also come in?"

"Where is he?" said Hagar. "Let him come in; why does he stand out in the cold?"

John went to where Peter was standing, but came back alone.

"Where is he?" said Hagar.

"He stands on the threshold, but does not trust himself to come in,"

replied John.

Then Hagar went to the door and said, "Come in, good friend; do not be afraid."

All the soldiers cried, "Friend, come also in here to us and warm thyself!" Peter without saying a word timidly drew near to the fire and warmed his hands in the smoke.

The men went on talking round the fire and Arphaxad said, after a pause, "We still see and hear nothing of the prisoner."

Several then asked together, "How much longer must we wait here?"

Then said Panther, "Probably he will come out from the trial as a man condemned to death."

"I wonder," said Arphaxad, "whether his disciples will be sought after?"

Peter trembled as the band with hoa.r.s.e laughter cried aloud, "That would be a fine piece of work if they all had to be captured!"

Then said Panther, "It would not be worth the trouble. If the Master is once out of the way, then the Galileans will fly and never let themselves be seen again in Jerusalem. But," said Panther, "one at least ought to receive sharp punishment; he who in the garden drew his sword and cut off Malchus' ear."

"Yes, yes," cried the band, laughing, "that should be, as it is said, an ear for an ear!"

"Ha, ha, ha, a good idea!" laughed Panther, "but that rule would here find no application, for Malchus has his ear back again."

During this time, while the soldiers were laughing and talking, Hagar was curiously looking at Peter. Immediately a pause took place, Hagar said to Peter, "I have been observing thee for some time. Now, if I do not mistake, thou art one of the disciples of the Galilean. Yes, yes, thou wert with Jesus of Nazareth."

Peter started up from the fire over which he had been warming his hands and stammered out, "I? No, I am not. Woman, I know him not, neither know I what thou sayest."

When Hagar thus spoke all the soldiers looked at Peter, who fearing his attack on Malchus might be resented, tried to slip through the band and escape un.o.bserved. Pa.s.sing the fire, he came close to the other waiting maid, Sarah, who, looking him full in the face, said in a shrill voice, "See, this man was also with Jesus of Nazareth."

The attention of the whole band being aroused, they all cl.u.s.tered around Peter, asking, "Art thou also one of the disciples?"

Levi said, "Thou art one of them, quite certainly."

Peter in the midst of armed and violent men, looked confusedly from side to side and declared, "Upon my soul--I am not--I do not know the man."

Even as he spoke the c.o.c.k crew, but the rattle of the weapons of the soldiers and imminent menace of a violent death left him no leisure to attend to anything but his own safety, for a soldier at the same moment exclaimed, "Look at this man. Of a truth he was also with him."

Then said Peter stoutly, "I know not what ye have to do with me. What does this man matter to me?"

But the soldiers crowding round him said, "Yes, yes, thou art one of them. Thou art also a Galilean; thy speech betrayeth thee."

Then Peter, raising his hands on high, said with a troubled voice, "G.o.d be my witness that I do not know the man of whom ye speak;" and the c.o.c.k crew a second time.

Then Melchi, pressing forward, looked Peter full in the face and said, "Did I not see thee in the garden with him, when my cousin Malchus had his ear cut off?"

At this moment, when the situation was getting very serious for Peter, attention was called off from him by a cry from the soldiers round the fire. "Make ready, they are bringing in the prisoner." Selpha then brought in Jesus bound between Malchus and Balbus.

"Now, how have things gone?" eagerly inquired Arphaxad.

"He is condemned to death," said Selpha.

The soldiers mocking, cried, "Poor king!"

At this moment Jesus met Peter, and looked upon him with a gaze full of sorrow. Peter smote his head with his hand and went out into the night.