No answer made the man Jesus, but he laid his hand upon the arm of the crippled one.
"Odin!" exclaimed Ulric. "Look! He can stand upon his feet! He lifteth his hands! Thou art right, Ben Ezra. It were evil for me to speak. The cripple singeth! He is praising his god, and well he may."
"Go thou to the priest at Jerusalem," he heard the rabbi from Nazareth say to each in turn of the men who had been cured. "See thou tell no man."
"What meaneth he?" thought Ulric. "Have not all we seen with our own eyes this which hath been done? I would I were healed of something, then would I know what is this secret between them and their god. He is a strong one. What will Ben Ezra now say about his Jehovah? I think this may be a stronger god, for Jehovah doth not well guard the Jews from the Romans."
But there stood the rabbi, Jesus, and he was saying many things to the multitude. Clear was his voice and deep, and they who were not near him needed not to lose a word that he was saying.
"I understand him not," muttered Sigurd. "I am glad to have seen him, but he is not like our gods of the North. It is time we were marching, O jarl."
"Haste then," added Ben Ezra. "This Jesus is a learned rabbi, and he healeth, but the swords of the Romans are not far behind us."
"I would have speech with him before I go," said Ulric to Ben Ezra. "What is this that he saith concerning unending life? Do we not all die? Do we not all go to the gods? He is lying. It is not good for a son of Odin to lie."
"Speak to him not," said Ben Ezra. "He is touching the sick. Never before have I seen a rabbi like this."
"He is of the seed of David," said a short, dark man who stood near. "He is the Christ that was to come. He is yet to be our King. I am one of his disciples. I shall be a prince when he is crowned."