The Burial 277

Continued his account.

The bodies of Dismas and Gestas, their eyes pecked out by birds of prey, were picked up, and then a search was undertaken for the third body. It was soon located. Some man had...

" Levi Matvei, " said Pilate, stating rather than questioning.

" Yes, Procurator..."

Levi Matvei had been hiding in a cave on the northern slope of Bald Skull, waiting for it to get dark. He had Yeshua Ha-Notsri's naked body with him. When the men entered the cave with a torch, Levi flew into a fit of rage and despair. He shouted that he had committed no crime and that anyone had the right, according to the law, to bury the body of an executed criminal if he wished to. Levi Matvei kept saying that he did not want to part with the body. He was agitated, and kept shouting something incoherent, begged, then threatened or cursed..."

" Did they have to seize him? " asked Pilate gloomily.

" No, Procurator, they did not, answered Afranius very soothingly, " The daring madman was calmed when it was explained that the body would be buried."

Levi, after absorbing what had been said, quieted down, but declared that he wasn't going away, and wanted to take part in the burial. He said he would not go away even if they were going to kill him, and even offered them the bread knife he had with him for this purpose.

" Did they chase him off? "

" No, Procurator, they did not. My assistant allowed him to take part in the burial."

" Which of your assistants was in charge? " asked Pilate.

" Tolmai, " replied Afranius, adding with alarm, " Did he perhaps make a mistake? "

" Go on, " replied Pilate, " there was no mistake. In general, I am beginning to feel somewhat at a loss, Afranius, since apparently I am dealing with a man who never makes mistakes. And that man is you."

They put Levi Matvei into the cart along with the bodies of the executed men, and two hours later they arrived at a deserted canyon north of Yershalaim. There the men worked in shifts and in about two hours they had dug a deep ditch and buried all three of the bodies.

" Were they naked? "

" No, Procurator. The men had brought chitons for that very purpose. Rings were put on the fingers of the corpses. Yeshua's ring had one marking, Dismas's two, and Gestas's three. The ditch was filled in and covered over with rocks. Tolmai knows what the identifying marker is."

" Ah, if only I had foreseen it!, " said Pilate, frowning. " I would have liked to have seen that Levi Matvei."

" He is here, Procurator."

Pilate's eyes widened and he stared at Afranius for some time before he said, " Thank you for all that was done in this matter. Please have