The Essenes waited a few moments longer and the knocking they had expected came at their door.  Do not open it, Saddoc cried.  He is for sure a robber sent in advance of his band, or it may be a prisoner of the Romans, and to harbour him may put us on crosses above the hills.  We shall hang!  Open not the door!  If it be a wayfarer lost among the hills a little food and water will save him, Jesus answered.  Open not the door, Jesus; though he be a prophet I would not open to him.  A prophet he may be, and no greater danger besets us, for our later prophets induced men to follow them into the desert, promising that they should witness the raising of the dead with God riding the clouds and coming down for judgment.  I say open not the door to him, Jesus!  He may be one of the followers of the prophets, of which we have seen enough in these last years, God knows!  The cavalry of Festus may be in pursuit of him and his band, and they have cut down many between Jerusalem and Jericho.  I say open not the door!  We live among terrors and dangers, Jesus; open not the door!  Hearken, Saddoc, he calls us to open to him, Jesus said, moving towards the door.  He is alone.  We know he is, for we have seen him coming down a path on which two men pass each other with difficulty.  He is a wayfarer, and we’ve been safe on this ledge of rock for many years; and times are quieter now than they have been since the dispersal of the great multitude that followed Theudas and were destroyed, and the lesser multitude that followed Banu; they, too, have perished.

Open not the door, Jesus!  Saddoc cried again.  There are Sicarii who kill men in the daytime, mingling themselves among the multitude with daggers hidden in their garments, their mission being to stab those that disobey the law in any fraction.  We’re Essenes, and have not sent blood offerings to the Temple.  Open not the door.  Sicarii or Zealots travel in search of heretics through the cities of Samaria and Judea.  Open not the door!  Men are for ever fooled, Saddoc continued, and will never cease to open their doors to those who stand in need of meat and drink.  It will be safer, Jesus, to bid him away.  Tell him rather that we’ll let down a basket of meat and drink from the balcony to him.  Art thou, Manahem, for turning this man from the door or letting him in?  Jesus asked.  There is no need to be frightened, Manahem answered; he is but a wanderer, Saddoc.  A wanderer he cannot be, for he has found his way along the path in the darkness of the night, Saddoc interjected.  Open not the door, I tell thee, or else we all hang on crosses above the hills to-morrow.  But, Saddoc, we are beholden to the law not to refuse bed and board to the poor, Manahem replied, returning from the door.  If we do not open, Jesus said, he will leave our door, and that will be a greater misfortune than any that he may bring us.  Hearken, Saddoc!  He speaks fair enough, Saddoc replied; but we may plead that after sunset in the times we live in——­