ed, to quench their ravening thirst. For it is written: 'Greater love
hath no man than this, if a man lay down his life for his friends.'"

"Oh, Arthur, Arthur; there is greater love than this! If a man lay down
the life of his best beloved, is not that greater?"

And It answered again:

"Who is thy best beloved? In sooth, not I."

And when he would have spoken the words froze on his tongue, for the
singing of the choristers passed over them, as the north wind over icy
pools, and hushed them into silence:

"Dedit fragilibus corporis ferculum,
Dedit et tristibus sanguinis poculum,
Dicens: Accipite, quod trado vasculum
Omnes ex eo bibite."

Drink of it, Christians; drink of it, all of you! Is it not yours? For
you the red stream stains the grass; for you the living flesh is seared
and torn. Eat of it, cannibals; eat of it, all of you! This is your
feast and your orgy; this is the day of your joy! Haste you and come to
the festival; join the procession and march with us; women and children,
young men and old men--come to the sharing of flesh! Come to the pouring
of blood-wine and drink of it while it is red; take and eat of the
Body----

Ah, God; the fortress! Sullen and brown, with crumbling battlements
and towers dark among the barren hills, it scowled on the procession
sweeping past in the dusty road below. The iron teeth of the portcullis
were drawn down over the mouth of the gate; and as a beast crouched
on the mountain-side, the fortress guarded its prey. Yet, be the teeth
clenched never so fast, they shall be broken and riven asunder; and the
grave in the courtyard within shall yield up her dead. For the Christian
hosts are marching, marching in mighty procession to their sacramental
feast of blood, as marches an army of famished rats to the gleaning; and
their cry is: "Give! Give!" and they say not: "It is enough."

"Wilt thou not be satisfied? For these men was I sacrificed; thou hast
destroyed me that they might live; and behold, they march everyone on
his ways, and they shall not break their ranks.

"This is the army of Christians, the followers of thy God; a great
people and a strong. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a
flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind
them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them."

"Oh, yet come back, come back to me, beloved; for I repent me of my
choice! Come back, and we will