The brethren waited for Jesus to return, but he did not return to them; and at nightfall a watch was set at the bridge head, and the same was done for many succeeding days, till the story reached the Brook Kerith that Joseph had been killed in the streets of Jerusalem by order of the Zealots.  Priests never forget to revenge themselves on those that do not submit to their ideas and exactions, Hazael muttered, thereby stirring the curiosity of the brethren; but he could not tell them more, Joseph’s relation having been insufficient to make plain the truth that Joseph, as Jesus’ friend, must have earned the High Priest’s displeasure.  A very little suspicion, he said to himself, is enough to bring about the death of a man in our days; and the priests were always jealous and afraid of prophets.  Is then our Jesus a prophet?  Saddoc asked, and Manahem’s eyes were full of questions.  I can tell ye no more than I’ve said already, Hazael answered, and the brethren forgot their curiosity, for their hearts were stirred with pity.  A great grief it surely will be, they said to one another, when Jesus returns and hears that his friend is dead, and they asked which among them should be the one to tell him of this great loss that had befallen him.  Not I, said one, nor I, another answered, and as they passed into their cells it was the opinion of all that Hazael should tell him.

Next morning when they came forth from their cells, after giving thanks for the returning light, they stood on the hillside, hoping that every minute would bring them sight of Jesus returning.  At last a shepherd came through the dusk, but it was not Jesus but Amos coming towards them, and the news he brought was that he had met Jesus on the hills wandering like one of disordered mind.  He has taken my sheep from me and has lost them, I fear.  But why, the brethren cried, didst thou leave thy sheep to him?  To which Amos could make no straightforward answer:  all he knew was that he had met Jesus and been greatly frightened by his speech and his show of gestures and demeanour.  All the same, he said, I felt I had better let him have the sheep.  And the brethren said:  ruin has befallen us this time.  We know the reason of the disordered mind that thou tellest of.  Joseph was slain by the Zealots in Jerusalem by order of the priests, and the tidings must have come to Jesus as he wandered out on to the hills seeking his friend, and it was they that robbed him of his mind.  We are ruined, the brethren cried, for our sheep are with him, and he without thought for anything but his grief.  Amos could not answer them nay, for their words seemed to him but the truth, and they all returned to the cenoby to mourn for Jesus and themselves till Jesus was brought back to them by some shepherds who found him wandering, giving no heed to the few sheep that followed him; only a few had escaped the wolves, and the brethren charged Amos with the remnant, muttering among themselves:  his heart is broken.