They walked without speaking, Paul afraid lest some chance word of his might awaken Jesus’ madness, and Jesus forgetful of Paul, his mind now set on Jerusalem, whither he was going as soon as Paul was safely out of the way of the Jews.  Each shut himself within the circle of his own mind, and the silence was not broken till Paul began to fear that Jesus was plotting against him, and to distract Jesus’ mind from his plots, if he were weaving any, he ventured to compare the country they were passing through with Galilee, and forthwith Jesus began to talk to Paul of Peter and John and James, sons of Zebedee, mentioning their appearances, voices, manner of speech, relating their boats, their fishing tackle, the fish-salting factory at Magdala, Dan, and Joseph his son.  He spoke volubly, genially, a winning relation it was of the fishing life round the lake, without mention of miracles, for it was not to his purpose to convince Paul of any spiritual power he may have enjoyed, but rather of his own simple humanity.  And Paul listened to all his narratives complacently, still believing his guide to be a madman.  If thou hadst not run away crying, he is mad, he is mad! thou wouldst have heard how my crucifixion was brought about; how my eyes opened in the tomb and——­ Interrupting Jesus, Paul hastened to assure him that if he cried out, he is mad, he is mad, he had spoken the words unwittingly, they were put into his mouth by the sickness in which Jesus had discovered him.  And the sickness, he admitted, might have been brought about by the shock of hearing thee speak of thyself as the Messiah.  But, Paul, I did not speak of myself as the Messiah, but as an Essene who during some frenzied months believed himself to be the Messiah.  But, shepherd, Paul answered, the Messiah promised to the Jews was Jesus of Nazareth, who was raised by his Father from the dead, and thou sayest that thou art the same.  If thou didst once believe thyself to be the Messiah thou hast repented thy blasphemy.  Let us talk no more about the Messiah.  In the desert these twenty years, Jesus answered.  But not till now did I know my folly had borne fruit.  Nor do I know now if Joseph knew that a story had been set going.  It may be that the story was not set going till after his death.  Now it seems too late to go into the field thou hast sown with tares instead of corn.  To which Paul answered:  it is my knowledge of thy seclusion among rocks that prompts me to listen to thee.  The field I have sown like every other field has some tares in it, but it is full of corn ripening fast which will be ready for the reaping when it shall please the Lord to descend with his own son, Jesus of Nazareth, from the skies.  As soon as the words Jesus of Nazareth had left his lips Paul regretted them, for he did not doubt that he was speaking to a madman whose name, no doubt, was Jesus, and who had come from Nazareth, and having got some inkling of the true story of the resurrection had little by little conceived himself to be he who