Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of
comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were
heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
"Where is he?" demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
"Over there--still there!"
"I thought I heard him cry out."
And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
desired to see him?
"They exchanged some strange words with him," Mannaeus replied, "with
the mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of
great tidings."
Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
tone full of alarm:
"Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep
the gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not
even be suspected that he still lives!"
Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann
was a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
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