When he had spoken, reaching his right hand backward he grasped the foot of the great golden crucifix. It snapped off like glass, and he threw it on the marble floor at the feet of the priest. The fragment broke into many bits. It was apparently not wood, but plaster. "Sacrilege!" cried the priest, in a stifled voice, as if the sound were wrung from his throat. His eyes seemed to be starting out of his great purple face. The man quietly replied: "No, but my right; for you are the sacrilegist and the blasphemer who makes of the Son of man a hideous caricature." Then the priest stepped forward, and gripped Markus by the wrist. The latter made no resistance, but cried in a loud voice that reverberated through the church: "Do your work, Caiaphas!" After that he suffered himself to be led away to the sacristy. The Image in the Forum BY ROBERT BUCHANAN (English novelist and dramatist, 1814-1901) Not Baal, but Christus-Jingo! Heir Of him who once was crucified! The red stigmata still are there, The crimson spear-wounds in the side; But raised aloft as God and Lord, He holds the Money-bag and Sword. See, underneath the Crown of Thorn, The eye-balls fierce, the features grim! And merrily from night to morn We chaunt his praise and worship him Great Christus-Jingo, at whose feet Christian and Jew and Atheist meet! A wondrous god! most fit for those Who cheat on 'Change, then creep to prayer; Blood on his heavenly altar flows, Hell's burning incense fills the air, And Death attests in street and lane The hideous glory of his reign. O gentle Jew, from age to age Walking the waves thou could'st not tame, This god hath ta'en thy heritage, And stolen thy sweet and stainless Name! To him we crawl and bend the knee, Naming thy Name, but scorning Thee! The Quest BY FREDERIK VAN EEDEN (Sequel to the scene quoted on page 360. Jesus has been held for examination as to his sanity) "Does he often have those whims, Johannes," asked Dr. Cijfer, "when he will not speak?" "He has no whims," said Johannes, stoutly. "Why, then, will he not reply?" "I think you would not answer me," returned Johannes, "if I were to ask you if you were mad." The two learned men exchanged smiles. "That is a somewhat different situation," said Bommeldoos, haughtily. "He was not questioned in such a blunt manner as that," explained Doctor Cijfer. "I asked about his extraction, his age, the health of his father and mother, about his own youth, and so forth--the usual memory promptings. Will you not give us some further information concerning him? Remember, it is of real importance to your brother." "Mijnheer," said Johannes, "I know as little as yourself about all that...." There was a knock at the door. The nurse came and said, "Here is the patient." Then he let Markus in....