At last he washed his hands, and said, 'Be it upon you then;' and they answered--" "Who answered ?" "They--the priests and people--'His blood be upon us and our children.'" "Holy father Abraham!" cried Ben-Hur; "a Roman kinder to an Israelite than his own kin! And if--ah, if he should indeed be the son of God, what shall ever wash his blood from their children?
It must not be--'tis time to fight!" His face brightened with resolution, and he clapped his hands.
"The horses--and quickly!" he said to the Arab who answered the signal.

"And bid Amrah send me fresh garments, and bring my sword! It is time to die for Israel, my friends.

Tarry without till I come." He ate a crust, drank a cup of wine, and was soon upon the road.
"Whither would you go first ?" asked the Galilean.
"To collect the legions." "Alas!" the man replied, throwing up his hands.
"Why alas ?" "Master"-- the man spoke with shame--"master, I and my friend here are all that are faithful.

The rest do follow the priests." "Seeking what ?" and Ben-Hur drew rein.
"To kill him." "Not the Nazarene ?" "You have said it." Ben-Hur looked slowly from one man to the other.

He was hearing again the question of the night before: "The cup my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?" In the ear of the Nazarene he was putting his own question, "If I bring thee rescue, wilt thou accept it ?" He was saying to himself, "This death may not be averted.
The man has been travelling towards it with full knowledge from the day he began his mission: it is imposed by a will higher than his; whose but the Lord's! If he is consenting, if he goes to it voluntarily, what shall another do ?" Nor less did Ben-Hur see the failure of the scheme he had built upon the fidelity of the Galileans; their desertion, in fact, left nothing more of it.
But how singular it should happen that morning of all others! A dread seized him.