He ran out of the Temple, and towards the house where he had slept the night before.
The earthquake seemed to have shaken all Jerusalem into the streets. Strange words were afloat. A question overheard in passing one excited group, an exclamation in another, made him run the faster.
At Reuben's shop he found Jesse and Ruth both crying from fright. The attendant who had them in charge told him that his friends had been gone nearly all day.
"Where?" demanded Joel.
"I do not know exactly. They went out with one of the greatest multitudes that ever passed through the gates of the city. Not only Jews, but Greeks and Romans and Egyptians. You should have seen the camels and the chariots, the chairs and the litters!" exclaimed the man.
A sudden fear fell upon the boy that this was the day that the One he loved best had been made king, and he had missed it,—had missed the greatest opportunity of his life.
"Was it to follow Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth?" he demanded eagerly.
The man nodded.
"To crown Him?" was the next breathless question.
"No; to crucify Him."