Then with a gesture of authority the Master caused the crowd to draw back from the bier, until at last there remained only the corpse, the mother and Himself in a cleared space in the center.  Then a strange and wonderful scene began.  With His gaze fixed upon the face of the corpse, and in an attitude that indicated a supreme effort of His will, the Master was seen to be making some mighty effort which called into play the highest forces at His command.  The Apostles, having been instructed by Him in Occult power, recognized the nature of the manifestation, and their faces paled, for they knew that He was not only pouring out His vital force into the body in order to recharge it with prana, but that He was also essaying one of the highest and most difficult of occult feats—­that of summoning back from the Astral Plane the higher vehicles and the Astral Body—­the very soul of the youth—­and forcing it once more into its mortal frame, which He had recharged with vital energy and strength.  They knew that He, by the mightiest effort of His will, was reversing the process of death.  And with a full appreciation of the real nature of the wonder that was being worked before them, their limbs trembled beneath them and their breath came from them in gasps.

Then cried the people, “What saith this man to the corpse?” “Arise, youth!  Open thine eyes!  Breathe freely!  Arise, I say unto thee—­arise!” Did this stranger dare to defy God’s own decree?

The corpse opened its eyes and stared around in wild amaze, the glare not fully faded away!  Its chest heaved in great agonizing gasps as if fighting again for life!  Then its arms were lifted up—­then its legs began to move—­now it raised itself upright and began to babble meaningless words—­now the look of recognition came into its eyes, and its arms clasped themselves around the mother’s neck, while sob after sob broke from its lips!  The dead lived—­the corpse had come to life.

The people fell back overcome with the awful terror of the sight, and the funeral procession scattered in all directions, until only the sobbing mother and the youth remained, weeping in their mutual love and joy, and forgetting even the Master and His followers in their great flood of affection.

And, leaving them thus, Jesus and His followers passed away on their pilgrimage.  But the fame of the miracle spread from town to town, even up to the great capital, Jerusalem.  And men wondered or doubted, according to their natures, while the temporal and ecclesiastical authorities began to again ask themselves and each other whether this man were not a dangerous person and an enemy to established custom and order.