Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief

by William O. Stoddard

No answer made Ulric, and the centurion turned away his horse.

The gate had been passed and now the low hill of Calvary, or Golgotha, was at hand. The multitude grew as the rising tide of the sea, for all Jerusalem was stirred by this affair and the prophet of Galilee had friends as well as enemies, and many who came were weeping bitterly.

"In a strange manner," thought the jarl, "have the valkyrias come for me and for him. Where, now, is his father, that he hath thus deserted his son in such a place? Are the Romans more powerful than the gods? It is but little that we must die. Shortly I shall be in Valhalla, and I think Hilda will come to meet me at some place that is appointed. There, also, I will wait for Miriam until she shall come. I am glad that I have smitten down her enemies, giving my life for hers, and that I have made provision for her welfare."

The summit of the hill was level, and here a space was kept clear that the multitude might not hinder by pressing. Here were three holes in the earth already dug to receive the long timbers after the crosspieces and the victims should be spiked upon them.

The raiment of the condemned was the execution fee of the Roman soldiers, and there was a stripping done, but the tunic of Jesus was gambled for by them because it was of one piece, to be spoiled by dividing.

The three crosses now lay upon the sand and Ulric looked earnestly upon them, for a strong and sudden memory came into his mind.

"The token of Hilda!" he exclaimed, but in a whisper, hoarse with pain. "These are but as the runes that she showed me upon the sandy beach of the North coast before I sailed thence in The Sword. Now know I that my voyage is ended, and I die, as she said, by the hands of the soldiers of Cæsar. But I had not thought of such a death as this!"

First of all did the soldiers seize rudely upon Jesus, scoffing at him, and terrible was the swiftly performed work of the driving of the spikes, but there was not heard by any a cry of pain.

"Brave is he!" thought Ulric. "I also will hold my peace."