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The Coming of the King Part 97

"He refuseth nothing now. The tongue of the 'King of the Jews' waggeth no longer in profane bragging against Caesar. Let us see to him."

When the soldiers had turned up the hill, the woman behind the rock spoke again. "Oh, my eunuch," she said, "go thou to the cross and inquire of the Jew. They say he is dead€"dead," and her voice ended in a sob.

"Be comforted, most gracious Claudia. Methinks they speak what they know not. Yet will thy servant inquire."

While the eunuch was gone a group of soldiers came down the road bearing a purple robe. Near the rock behind which Claudia stood concealed they seated themselves, removed their helmets and dropped dice in them.

"A goodly apparel," one soldier said, holding forth the robe.

"Yea, and a crown went with it," a second said.

"Yea, and a cross followed after it," a third added.

"For Pilate is the friend of Caesar."

"Thus ever with those Rome hath cause to fear," the first soldier observed as he shook the dice in his helmet. Then in turn the soldiers rattled their dice and spoke.

"Look thou! Look thou!"

"Aye, but look here."

"Yea, but cast thine eyes on my luck!"

"I throw well!"

"I throw better!"

"I throw best! Look! The garment is mine!"

While they had been casting lots for the robe, several bystanders had collected. Among them was a thickly built man with a peculiar mark on his face. Straight above the line of his black beard it lay across one cheek like a red and purple band ending in a black mark at the tip on his ear. He wore a handsomely embroidered turban and carried a blue cloak. When the game, which he watched with interest, was finished and the new owner of the robe had taken possession of it, the bystander said, "How fareth the King whose robe now becometh thine?"

"When we left him but a short time since, he no longer begged for water and his head hung limp."

"Perhaps he hath but fainted," the man with the blue cloak suggested.

"Then shall the breaking of bones make sure his end."

"Knowest thou where the bone-breaker is?"

"I am he."

"And when wilt thou break the bones of his body?"

"What matter to thee when his bones are broken?"

"None save this. When the vast darkness that just now is lifting, was blackest, I heard a company of his followers whispering, and they did say he swore that, though dead, yet on the third day would he rise from the grave."

"And thou wouldst know of a surety that his legs are broken so that if he be stolen from the tomb his legs carry him not far?" and the soldiers laughed. "Fret not, the bones of the Jew will soon be broken."

"Wouldst thou break them sooner for a piece of gold?" and he drew from his cloak a wallet.

The soldier sprang up eagerly and held out his hand saying, "A coin upon the palm doth grant thy desire before thine eyes. The coin€"then come, let us to the bone-breaking."

The man with the wallet had his hand on the gold, and the man with the heavy sword had his hand well held out for the gift, when a woman appeared suddenly before them and said to the soldier, "Lift not thy hand against the bones of the Jew!"

"What meanest thou€"follower of the Jew?" the soldier replied angrily.

"Nay, not a follower of the Jew am I. Yet I know he was a just man."

"Thou dost lie with clumsy tongue," the soldier declared. "Thou art one of his followers."

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