d
Jerusalem, and entered into the little synagogue at the foot of this
hill, and began to preach to His townsfolk His glad tidings of spiritual
liberty and brotherhood and eternal life.

But they were filled with scorn and wrath. His words rebuked them, stung
them, inflamed them with hatred. They laid violent hands on Him, and
led Him out to the brow of the hill,--perhaps it was yonder on that
steep, rocky peak to the south of the town, looking back toward the
country of the Old Testament,--to cast Him down headlong.

Yet I think there must have been a few friends and lovers of His in that
disdainful and ignorant crowd; for He passed through the midst of them
unharmed, and went His way to the home of Peter and Andrew and John and
Philip, beside the Sea of Galilee, never to come back to Nazareth.

III

A WEDDING IN CANA OF GALILEE

We thought to save a little time on our journey, and perhaps to spare
ourselves a little jolting on the hard high-road, by sending the
saddle-horses ahead with the caravan, and taking a carriage for the
sixteen-mile drive to Tiberias. When we came to the old sarcophagus
which serves as a drinking trough at the spring outside the village of
Cana, a strange thing befell us.

We had halted for a moment to refresh the horses. Suddenly there was a
sound of furious galloping on the road behind us. A score of cavaliers
in Bedouin dress, with guns and swords, came after us in hot haste. The
leaders dashed across the open space beside the spring, wheeled their
foaming horses and dashed back again.

"Is this our affair with robbers, at last?" we asked George.

He laughed a little. "No," said he, "this is the beginning of a wedding
in Kafr Kenna. The bridegroom and his friends come over from some other
village where they live, to show off a bit of _fantasia_ to the bride
and her friends. They carry her back with them after the marriage. We
wait a while and see how they ride."

The horses were gayly caparisoned with ribbons and tassels and
embroidered saddle-cloths. The riders were handsome, swarthy fellows
with haughty faces. Their eyes glanced sideways at us to see whether we
were admiring them, as they shouted their challenges to one another and
raced wildly up and down the rock-strewn course, with their robes flying
and their horses' sides bloody with spurring. One of the men was a huge
coal-black Nubian who brandished a naked sword as he rode. Others
whirled their long muskets in the air