Even the Rabbis and Pharisees preached a campaign to clear the rocks and sandy flats of the dangerous and destructive hordes by which they were infested.

The famous band of the chiefs, Barabbas and Dismas--so it was said--were not the worst.

Much more ominous were the vagrant crowds that gathered about the so-called Messiah from Nazareth, who, feeling himself safe in the desert, indulged in disorderly speeches and acts.

So it was settled to send out a large company of soldiers, led by the violent Pharisee, Saul, a weaver who had left his calling out of zeal for the law, in order to free the land from the mob of robbers and heretics.
Now about this time Dismas, the old robber-chief, fell into deep contrition.

His heart had never really been in his criminal calling.
Murder was particularly hateful to him, and, so far as he was free to do so, he had always sought to avoid it.