But the Galilean answered with exceeding vehemence, “If I must die with thee, I will not deny thee!”
And so likewise said all the others.
CHAPTER IX
BEFORE THE COCK CREW
The primal instinct which has ever led man to the kind bosom of earth in his darkest hour led the man Christ Jesus to Gethsemane. And there under the dense shadow of the ancient olives he threw himself down upon the ground for that last exceeding bitter struggle with his humanity.
And Peter, the Galilean, and the others—slept.
Tor had followed them, noiseless and unseen as a friendly shadow. He did not approach the King, his Master, nor did he again venture to accost Peter. Squatting motionless at the gate of the [pg 131]garden, the child thought confusedly but joyfully of his deliverance from the house of Pilate.
“It was because I prayed to my Father,” he told himself, and hugged his lean little body with a low laugh of pleasure. “Hereafter I need fear nothing. I will call and he will deliver me, and neither man nor demon can hinder.”
His soul went out in a flood of love toward the Man who had opened his eyes, and who was at that moment lying upon his face under the olives in a wordless agony, and the child’s pure thoughts mingled with the cloudy forms of angels which comforted him.