that hung over Jerusalem. From the
street beneath, the near call of a trumpet sounded which seemed to be
echoed by farther and fainter trumpet-calls, each telling the hour of the
passing night. When she lay down again she slept. Through the window at
the side of the bed the rich blue of the sky faded into gray and as this
was shot across with a thin streak of rosy pink the cry "_Staurosate_!
_Staurosate_!" came across the stillness of the yet unawakened morning.

With a start Claudia sprang up crying--"Whence cometh that cry, thin like
the howl of a lone wolf, and sharp like its fangs: 'Crucify him! Crucify
him?' Like the cry of a beast calling the pack, it soundeth. Pilate!"
She pressed her hands to her head and looked toward Pilate's empty couch.

"Ah--it cometh to me! At the third watch was Pilate called to the
Praetorium and hath not returned. A dream it hath been! Aye! It doth
come to me!" She drew back a pace and an expression of horror marked her
face as she cried, "It doth come to me! I see troops--swords--trembling
of the earth--thunder answered by earthquake--black clouds, like great
bats of death settling low--the rush of fire, like a cataclysm--and then
darkness! And then--and _then_--what see I?"

Claudia shaded her eyes with her hands and peered into the darkness of
the dream, the horror on her face deepening, and her breath coming swift
and hard. "What see I? In the darkness--the thick impenetrable darkness
dead to all light, I see the hands of Pilate--_and they drip with blood_!
And over against those crimson hands I see the pale face of the Jew. Ye
gods! It is a warning!"

For a moment she stood dazed with terror. Then she shouted to her maids,
"Margara! Zenobe! Hasten! Summon my eunuch. I must have speech with
Pilate!"

When the eunuch appeared, Claudia cried: "Ah, my scarred eunuch! Warning
hath been given me in a dream that all is not well at the Judgment Hall.
Ah, a dream--such a dream--a dream in which earth and air and sky and
water war and are not satisfied! A dream of fire and death and open
graves and darkness--and Pilate and the Jew," and Claudia shivered and
wrung her hands.

"If thou wouldst calm thyself, most noble mistress, and make known thy
great fear, thy servant might bring thee help," the eunuch said.

"Aye, my eunuch. Ere the midnight trumpet sounded was Pilate awakened by
request for soldiers from Antonio to arrest one seditious. Again before
dawn su