face Antipas paused to get breath. "More wine!" he
called. He drained the cup and throwing it across the table, arose and
walked the length of the room and back with heavy strides. Then he sat
down and pounded the table shouting, "Hear, oh, Zador Ben Amon! not
until the desire of Pilate be the desire of the son of Herod the Great
shall Antipas and Pilate come together! Dost thou understand? Like
fleas on a dog these secret societies thou fearest may vex Rome. That
is Rome's grievance. In Galilee know they better for the Gaulonite is
yet remembered. Yet will I comb the province clean with teeth of steel
that not one breaching insurrection may escape."

Antipas was trembling with rage. Zador Ben Amon saw that he had done
little less than insult his host by his untimely suggestion about
Pilate.

"Let not the peace of Antipas be disturbed by the power of Pilate in
Jerusalem," he said quietly, moving nearer Antipas. "Like the mist of
the morning his days pass, and what man knoweth who shall be Procurator
then?"

"What meanest thou?" and the Tetrarch leaned forward with returning
interest.

"We must be alone."

Antipas turned around to his stewart. "Begone!" he commanded. When
the door had closed behind him, Zador's host with burning eyes
whispered, "A plot? Hast thou heard in Rome of a plot against the life
of Pilate?"

"Whether plot I know not. But by evil omens is the day marked for him,
deadly as the Ides of March."

"Evil omens? From an oracle?"

"From an oracle under the wings of a raven and bat. Came the omen from
the entrails of a falcon which, when spread before the oracle, did lift
themselves one against the other. Then did they tremble without touch
of hand and did wrap themselves in a knot and struggle together until
they did burst asunder. And from that which was hidden therein came
forth the hind foot of a hare."

"The meaning thereof?" and Antipas waited.

"That which be hidden is no Roman. That which hideth it shall meet
death by strangulation. Then shall that which hath been swallowed come
forth to run a swift race."

Antipas reflected a moment. His anger was leaving him, but the tips of
his teeth were not yet showing.

Zador Ben Amon turned to his cloak and from a wallet took out three
leather cases, two of which he opened and placed on the table. The
first contained a ring, the second a frontlet. "Of so excellent a
nature hath been thy entertainment," said the Jew, "t