At the same moment the sand on the bank crackled, and a tall man, in a long brown cloak, and carrying a pilgrim’s staff, came forward.  His black beard fell almost to his waist, where a cord held the cloak together.  His high forehead was shaded by a broad-brimmed hat; his eye was directed to the fisherman in the boat.

“Boatman, can you take three men across the lake?”

“The lake is wide,” answered Simon, pointing to his fragile craft.

“They want to get to Magdala to-day.”

“Then they can take the road by Bethsaida and Capernaum.”

“They are tired,” said the other.  “They have travelled here from the desert, and by a wide detour through Nazareth, Cana, and Chorazin.”

“Are you one of them?” asked Simon.  “I ought to know you.  Haven’t we been fishing together at Hamath?”

“It may be that we know each other,” was the somewhat roguish reply.  In fact, they knew each other very well.  Only Simon had become so strange.

Now he said:  “If it will really be of service to you, I’ll go gladly.  But you see for yourself that my boat is bad.  You are exhausted, my friend; you have travelled far while I have rested in the shade the whole day.  I haven’t deserved any fine food.  May I offer you these grapes?”

The black-bearded man bent down, took the grapes, and vanished behind the cypresses.

He went to a shady spot where were two other men, both dressed in long, dark woollen garments.  One was young and had delicate, almost feminine, features, and long hair.  He lay sleeping, stretched out on the grass, his staff leaning against a rock near him.  The other sat upright.  We recognise Him.  He is Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth.  He has come hither from the wilderness, through Judaea and Galilee, where sympathising companions joined Him, a boatman, called James, and His former apprentice, John.  With one hand He supported His brow, the other rested protectingly on the sleeping John’s head.  The long-bearded man came hurrying up, crying: 

“Master, I have received some grapes for you.”

He who was thus addressed pointed to the sleeping youth, lest He should be waked with loud talking.  Then he said softly; “James!  Shall I forgive the lie for the sake of the good you wish to do me?  Who knows anything of me?  The grapes were given to you.”

“And I will eat them,” returned James; “only permit me to eat them in the way in which they taste best to me.”

“Do so.”

“They taste best to me if I see you eat them.”

Jesus took the gift, and said:  “If we both satisfy ourselves, my dear James, what will there be for poor John?  We are inured to fatigue; he is unaccustomed to it.  I think that, of the three of us, it is John who ought to eat the grapes.”

Since the long-bearded man offered no objection, John ate the grapes when he awoke.  James announced that the fisherman was willing to take them, so they proceeded to the bank and got into the boat.