Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/439

Rh &quot;We may have to fight,&quot; they replied.

&quot;Oh, then, I will not be first to run away!&quot;

They took the retort in good-humor, and the messenger said, &quot;You seem stout enough. Come along.&quot;

Ben-Hur put off his outer garments.

&quot;You think there may be fighting?&quot; he asked, quietly, as he tightened his girdle.

&quot;Yes.&quot;

&quot;With whom?&quot;

&quot;The guard.&quot;

&quot;Legionaries?&quot;

&quot;Whom else can a Roman trust?&quot;

&quot;What have you to fight with?&quot; They looked at him silently.

&quot;Well,&quot; he continued, &quot;we will have to do the best we can; but had we not better choose a leader? The legionaries always have one, and so are able to act with one mind.&quot;

The Galileans stared more curiously, as if the idea were new to them.

&quot;Let us at least agree to stay together,&quot; he said. &quot;Now I am ready, if you are.&quot;

&quot;Yes, let us go.&quot;

The khan, it should not be forgotten, was in Bezetha, the new town; and to get to the Prætorium, as the Romans resonantly styled the palace of Herod on Mount Zion, the party had to cross the lowlands north and west of the Temple. By streets—if they may be so called—trending north and south, with intersections hardly up to the dignity of alleys, they passed rapidly round the Akra district to the Tower of Mariamne, from which the way was short to the grand gate of the walled heights. In going, they overtook, or were overtaken by, people like themselves stirred to wrath by news of the proposed desecration.

When, at length, they reached the gate of the Prætorium, the procession of elders and rabbis had passed in with a great following, leaving a greater crowd clamoring outside.

A centurion kept the entrance with a guard drawn up full armed under the beautiful marble battlements. The