Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/273

Rh One young scribe even ran to him. "Art ill, most noble Caiaphas? Shall I bring thee water?"

"Nay, nay, leave me, thou fool," he said impatiently; and then, while the young man drew back terrified, he burst into a peal of horrible laughter, and all looked anxiously one at the other and whispered: "Methinks that Caiaphas hath gone mad from hatred of the Nazarene."

Then they returned to watch the gathering, pressing concourse, all crying, screaming, singing, shouting in honour of the Messiah.

" 'T was never so seen in Jerusalem," they murmured.

Then Caiaphas rose and went to the door and called his soldiers, to bid them close the windows and keep out the distracting noise. But in vain; they, too, had fled, and left the ante-chamber empty. But not for long. With loud-sounding, hasty step, the Procurator entered, a scornful smile upon his lips, a strange exultation in his eyes. Without a word, he seized the High Priest by the arm, and with sheer force, dragged him to the balcony.

"Dost remember thine own words?" he asked rapidly in a voice such as Caiaphas before had never heard. "Thou dost say it is written in Zechariah: 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass.' "

The rest kept silence while he spoke. Meantime Caiaphas was searching in the dark corners of his retentive brain for some subtle answer to this confounding verse; while they around who were versed