“Aye,” quick the Boy made answer, “it shall be Uplifted high that every man may see; Not Jews alone but even ye of Rome; And men from Britain too, on farthest shore Of Rome’s great Empire: they shall see and know The King who reigns upon that living throne; And in the Islands of unchartered seas The King shall lifted be, that all may know; And worlds still undiscovered shall bow down To do Him homage, yet shall hate His name. For homage goes with hate, and hate will be The measure of the homage that shall swell In pæans great around the royal throne.” Fidus looked wond’ring at the Boy Who spoke, As if the right to build the throne were His And He could give it to the friend who asked This only boon, as pledge of love untold. “And I would build it strong so it could go O’er sea and land, and last for aye and aye.” “So thou wouldst build the throne?” again the Boy Half musing spoke. Across His face once more The Shadow fell; and, as he stood, His hands He lifted up and out, as if in prayer. Another Shadow fell upon the ground, The arms and body strangely like a Cross. Fidus was silent till the prayer was done. The sun now set, and all the shadows passed. They, arm in arm, ran fast to Joseph’s house. But, at the door they paused and, said the Boy: “Thou must remember ever this thy day When I the promise gave that I can keep, For thou shalt build His throne!” The years passed on, And Fidus to the Roman hosts returned Where, welcomed as a soldier’s clever son, He wrought in wood for all the legions there In Jaffa, where his father had been killed. For eighteen years he stayed beside the sea And, working at the trade that Joseph taught, He never once forgot the precious pledge The Boy had made. But never saw nor heard Aught of his friend. Then he was sent away By Pilate’s call, unto Jerusalem. The evening of the day when he arrived Great turmoil swept along the Jaffa road, And near the Gate of Gardens, where the hill Called Calvary lifted up its rocky head. He heard the crowds discuss a Wonder-Man The priests had taken, and was on His way To judgment. “Out on such a King,” cried one, “Himself He can not save from shameful death. To-morrow’s sun will see Him lifted up Above the hill, and throw the Shadow of A Cross upon you fools who thought Him King.”