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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Joshua, by Georg Ebers, Volume 1.
+#29 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+
+
+Title: Joshua, Volume 1.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5467]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 15, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSHUA, BY GEORG EBERS, VOLUME 1 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+JOSHUA
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 1.
+
+
+Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+Last winter I resolved to complete this book, and while giving it the
+form in which it now goes forth into the world, I was constantly reminded
+of the dear friend to whom I intended to dedicate it.  Now I am permitted
+to offer it only to the manes of Gustav Baur; for a few months ago death
+snatched him from us.
+
+Every one who was allowed to be on terms of intimacy with this man feels
+his departure from earth as an unspeakably heavy loss, not only because
+his sunny, cheerful nature and brilliant intellect brightened the souls
+of his friends; not only because he poured generously from the
+overflowing cornucopia of his rich knowledge precious gifts to those with
+whom he stood in intellectual relations, but above all because of the
+loving heart which beamed through his clear eyes, and enabled him to
+share the joys and sorrows of others, and enter into their thoughts and
+feelings.
+
+To my life's end I shall not forget that during the last few years,
+himself physically disabled and overburdened by the duties imposed by the
+office of professor and counsellor of the Consistory, he so often found
+his way to me, a still greater invalid.  The hours he then permitted me
+to spend in animated conversation with him are among those which,
+according to old Horace, whom he know so thoroughly and loved so well,
+must be numbered among the 'good ones'.  I have done so, and whenever I
+gratefully recall them, in my ear rings my friend's question:
+
+"What of the story of the Exodus?"
+
+After I had told him that in the midst of the desert, while following the
+traces of the departing Hebrews, the idea had occurred to me of treating
+their wanderings in the form of a romance, he expressed his approval in
+the eager, enthusiastic manner natural to him.  When I finally entered
+farther into the details of the sketch outlined on the back of a camel,
+he never ceased to encourage me, though he thoroughly understood my
+scruples and fully appreciated the difficulties which attended the
+fulfilment of my task.
+
+So in a certain degree this book is his, and the inability to offer it
+to the living man and hear his acute judgment is one of the griefs which
+render it hard to reconcile oneself to the advancing years which in other
+respects bring many a joy.
+
+Himself one of the most renowned, acute and learned students and
+interpreters of the Bible, he was perfectly familiar with the critical
+works the last five years have brought to light in the domain of Old
+Testament criticism.  He had taken a firm stand against the views of the
+younger school, who seek to banish the Exodus of the Jews from the
+province of history and represent it as a later production of the myth-
+making popular mind; a theory we both believed untenable.  One of his
+remarks on this subject has lingered in my memory and ran nearly as
+follows:
+
+"If the events recorded in the Second Book of Moses--which I believe are
+true--really never occurred, then nowhere and at no period has a
+historical event of equally momentous result taken place.  For thousands
+of years the story of the Exodus has lived in the minds of numberless
+people as something actual, and it still retains its vitality.  Therefore
+it belongs to history no less certainty than the French Revolution and
+its consequences."
+
+Notwithstanding such encouragement, for a long series of years I lacked
+courage to finish the story of the Exodus until last winter an unexpected
+appeal from abroad induced me to resume it.  After this I worked
+uninterruptedly with fresh zeal and I may say renewed pleasure at the
+perilous yet fascinating task until its completion.
+
+The locality of the romance, the scenery as we say of the drama, I have
+copied as faithfully as possible from the landscapes I beheld in Goshen
+and on the Sinai peninsula.  It will agree with the conception of many of
+the readers of "Joshua."
+
+The case will be different with those portions of the story which I have
+interwoven upon the ground of ancient Egyptian records.  They will
+surprise the laymen; for few have probably asked themselves how the
+events related in the Bible from the standpoint of the Jews affected the
+Egyptians, and what political conditions existed in the realm of Pharaoh
+when the Hebrews left it.  I have endeavored to represent these relations
+with the utmost fidelity to the testimony of the monuments.  For the
+description of the Hebrews, which is mentioned in the Scriptures, the
+Bible itself offers the best authority.  The character of the "Pharaoh of
+the Exodus" I also copied from the Biblical narrative, and the portraits
+of the weak King Menephtah, which have been preserved, harmonize
+admirably with it.  What we have learned of later times induced me to
+weave into the romance the conspiracy of Siptah, the accession to the
+throne of Seti II., and the person of the Syrian Aarsu who, according to
+the London Papyrus Harris I., after Siptah had become king, seized the
+government.
+
+The Naville excavations have fixed the location of Pithom-Succoth beyond
+question, and have also brought to light the fortified store-house of
+Pithom (Succoth) mentioned in the Bible; and as the scripture says the
+Hebrews rested in this place and thence moved farther on, it must be
+supposed that they overpowered the garrison of the strong building and
+seized the contents of the spacious granaries, which are in existence at
+the present day.
+
+In my "Egypt and the Books of Moses" which appeared in 1868, I stated
+that the Biblical Etham was the same as the Egyptian Chetam, that is, the
+line of fortresses which protected the isthmus of Suez from the attacks
+of the nations of the East, and my statement has long since found
+universal acceptance.  Through it, the turning back of the Hebrews before
+Etham is intelligible.
+
+The mount where the laws were given I believe was the majestic Serbal,
+not the Sinai of the monks; the reasons for which I explained fully in my
+work "Through Goshen to Sinai."  I have also--in the same volume--
+attempted to show that the halting-place of the tribes called in the
+Bible "Dophkah" was the deserted mines of the modern Wadi Maghara.
+
+By the aid of the mental and external experiences of the characters,
+whose acts have in part been freely guided by the author's imagination,
+he has endeavored to bring nearer to the sympathizing reader the human
+side of the mighty destiny of the nation which it was incumbent on him to
+describe.  If he has succeeded in doing so, without belittling the
+magnificent Biblical narrative, he has accomplished his desire; if he has
+failed, he must content himself with the remembrance of the pleasure and
+mental exaltation he experienced during the creation of this work.
+
+Tutzing on the Starnberger See,
+September 20th, 1889.
+                                   GEORG EBERS.
+
+
+
+JOSHUA.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+"Go down, grandfather: I will watch."
+
+But the old man to whom the entreaty was addressed shook his shaven head.
+
+"Yet you can get no rest here......
+
+"And the stars?  And the tumult below?  Who can think of rest in hours
+like these?  Throw my cloak around me!  Rest--on such a night of horror!"
+
+"You are shivering.  And how your hand and the instrument are shaking."
+
+"Then support my arm."
+
+The youth dutifully obeyed the request; but in a short time he exclaimed:
+"Vain, all is vain; star after star is shrouded by the murky clouds.
+Alas, hear the wailing from the city.  Ah, it rises from our own house
+too.  I am so anxious, grandfather, feel how my head burns! Come down,
+perhaps they need help."
+
+"Their fate is in the hands of the gods--my place is here.
+
+"But there--there!  Look northward across the lake.  No, farther to the
+west.  They are coming from the city of the dead."
+
+"Oh, grandfather!  Father--there!"  cried the youth, a grandson of the
+astrologer of Amon-Ra, to whom he was lending his aid.  They were
+standing in the observatory of the temple of this god in Tanis, the
+Pharaoh's capital in the north of the land of Goshen.  He moved away,
+depriving the old man of the support of his shoulder, as he continued:
+"There, there!  Is the sea sweeping over the land?  Have the clouds
+dropped on the earth to heave to and fro?  Oh, grandfather, look yonder!
+May the Immortals have pity on us!  The under-world is yawning, and the
+giant serpent Apep has come forth from the realm of the dead.  It is
+moving past the temple.  I see, I hear it.  The great Hebrew's menace is
+approaching fulfilment.  Our race will be effaced from the earth.  The
+serpent!  Its head is turned toward the southeast.  It will devour the
+sun when it rises in the morning."
+
+The old man's eyes followed the youth's finger, and he, too, perceived a
+huge, dark mass, whose outlines blended with the dusky night, come
+surging through the gloom; he, too, heard, with a thrill of terror, the
+monster's loud roar.
+
+Both stood straining their eyes and ears to pierce the darkness; but
+instead of gazing upward the star-reader's eye was bent upon the city,
+the distant sea, and the level plain.  Deep silence, yet no peace reigned
+above them: the high wind now piled the dark clouds into shapeless
+masses, anon severed that grey veil and drove the torn fragments far
+asunder.  The moon was invisible to mortal eyes, but the clouds were
+toying with the bright Southern stars, sometimes hiding them, sometimes
+affording a free course for their beams.  Sky and earth alike showed a
+constant interchange of pallid light and intense darkness.  Sometimes the
+sheen of the heavenly bodies flashed brightly from sea and bay, the
+smooth granite surfaces of the obelisks in the precincts of the temple,
+and the gilded copper roof of the airy royal palace, anon sea and river,
+the sails in the harbor, the sanctuaries, the streets of the city, and
+the palm-grown plain which surrounded it vanished in gloom.  Eye and ear
+failed to retain the impression of the objects they sought to discern;
+for sometimes the silence was so profound that all life, far and near,
+seemed hushed and dead, then a shrill shriek of anguish pierced the
+silence of the night, followed at longer or shorter intervals by the loud
+roar the youthful priest had mistaken for the voice of the serpent of the
+nether-world, and to which grandfather and grandson listened with
+increasing suspense.
+
+The dark shape, whose incessant motion could be clearly perceived
+whenever the starlight broke through the clouds, appeared first near the
+city of the dead and the strangers' quarter.  Both the youth and the old
+man had been seized with terror, but the latter was the first to regain
+his self-control, and his keen eye, trained to watch the stars, speedily
+discovered that it was not a single giant form emerging from the city of
+the dead upon the plain, but a multitude of moving shapes that seemed to
+be swaying hither and thither over the meadow lands.  The bellowing and
+bleating, too, did not proceed from one special place, but came now
+nearer and now farther away.  Sometimes it seemed to issue from the
+bowels of the earth, and at others to float from some airy height.
+
+Fresh horror seized upon the old man.  Grasping his grandson's right hand
+in his, he pointed with his left to the necropolis, exclaiming in
+tremulous tones: "The dead are too great a multitude.  The under-world is
+overflowing, as the river does when its bed is not wide enough for the
+waters from the south.  How they swarm and surge and roll onward!  How
+they scatter and sway to and fro.  They are the souls of the thousands
+whom grim death has snatched away, laden with the curse of the Hebrew,
+unburied, unshielded from corruption, to descend the rounds of the ladder
+leading to the eternal world."
+
+"Yes,  yes,  those  are  their  wandering  ghosts," shrieked the youth in
+absolute faith, snatching his hand from the grey-beard's grasp and
+striking his burning brow, exclaiming, almost incapable of speech in his
+horror: "Ay, those are the souls of the damned.  The wind has swept them
+into the sea, whose waters cast them forth again upon the land, but the
+sacred earth spurns them and flings them into the air.  The pure ether of
+Shu hurls  them  back to the ground and  now--oh look, listen--they are
+seeking the way to the wilderness."
+
+"To the fire!"  cried the old astrologer.  "Purify them, ye flames;
+cleanse them, water."
+
+The youth joined his grandfather's form of exorcism, and while still
+chanting together, the trap-door leading to this observatory on the top
+of the highest gate of the temple was opened, and a priest of inferior
+rank called: "Cease thy toil.  Who cares to question the stars when the
+light of life is departing from all the denizens of earth!"
+
+The old man listened silently till the priest, in faltering accents,
+added that the astrologer's wife had sent him, then he stammered:
+
+"Hora?  Has my son, too, been stricken?"
+
+The messenger bent his head, and the two listeners wept bitterly, for the
+astrologer had lost his first-born son and the youth a beloved father.
+
+But as the lad, shivering with the chill of fever, sank ill and powerless
+on the old man's breast, the latter hastily released himself from his
+embrace and hurried to the trap-door.  Though the priest had announced
+himself to be the herald of death, a father's heart needs more than the
+mere words of another ere resigning all hope of the life of his child.
+
+Down the stone stairs, through the lofty halls and wide courts of the
+temple he hurried, closely followed by the youth, though his trembling
+limbs could scarcely support his fevered body.  The blow that had fallen
+upon his own little circle had made the old man forget the awful vision
+which perchance menaced the whole universe with destruction; but his
+grandson could not banish the sight and, when he had passed the fore-
+court and was approaching the outermost pylons his imagination, under the
+tension of anxiety and grief, made the shadows of the obelisks appear to
+be dancing, while the two stone statues of King Rameses, on the corner
+pillars of the lofty gate, beat time with the crook they held in their
+hands.
+
+Then the fever struck the youth to the ground.  His face was distorted by
+the convulsions which tossed his limbs to and fro, and the old man,
+failing on his knees, strove to protect the beautiful head, covered with
+clustering curls, from striking the stone flags, moaning under his breath
+"Now fate has overtaken him too."
+
+Then calming himself, he shouted again and again for help, but in vain.
+At last, as he lowered his tones to seek comfort in prayer, he heard the
+sound of voices in the avenue of sphinxes beyond the pylons, and fresh
+hope animated his heart.
+
+Who was coming at so late an hour?
+
+Loud wails of grief blended with the songs of the priests, the clinking
+and tinkling of the metal sistrums, shaken by the holy women in the
+service of the god, and the measured tread of men praying as they marched
+in the procession which was approaching the temple.
+
+Faithful to the habits of a long life, the astrologer raised his eyes
+and, after a glance at the double row of granite pillars, the colossal
+statues and obelisks in the fore-court, fixed them on the starlit skies.
+Even amid his grief a bitter smile hovered around his sunken lips; to-
+night the gods themselves were deprived of the honors which were their
+due.
+
+For on this, the first night after the new moon in the month of
+Pharmuthi, the sanctuary in bygone years was always adorned with flowers.
+As soon as the darkness of this moonless night passed away, the high
+festival of the spring equinox and the harvest celebration would begin.
+
+A grand procession in honor of the great goddess Neith, of Rennut, who
+bestows the blessings of the fields, and of Horus at whose sign the seeds
+begin to germinate, passed, in accordance with the rules prescribed by
+the Book of the Divine Birth of the Sun, through the city to the river
+and harbor; but to-day the silence of death reigned throughout the
+sanctuary, whose courts at this hour were usually thronged with men,
+women, and children, bringing offerings to lay on the very spot where
+death's finger had now touched his grandson's heart.
+
+A flood of light streamed into the vast space, hitherto but dimly
+illumined by a few lamps.  Could the throng be so frenzied as to imagine
+that the joyous festival might be celebrated, spite of the unspeakable
+horrors of the night.
+
+Yet, the evening before, the council of priests had resolved that, on
+account of the rage of the merciless pestilence, the temple should not be
+adorned nor the procession be marshalled.  In the afternoon many whose
+houses had been visited by the plague had remained absent, and now while
+he, the astrologer, had been watching the course of the stars, the pest
+had made its way into this sanctuary, else why had it been forsaken by
+the watchers and the other astrologers who had entered with him at
+sunset, and whose duty it was to watch through the night?
+
+He again turned with tender solicitude to the sufferer, but instantly
+started to his feet, for the gates were flung wide open and the light of
+torches and lanterns streamed into the court.  A swift glance at the sky
+told him that it was a little after midnight, yet his fears seemed to
+have been true--the priests were crowding into the temples to prepare for
+the harvest festival to-morrow.
+
+But he was wrong.  When had they ever entered the sanctuary for this
+purpose in orderly procession, solemnly chanting hymns?  Nor was the
+train composed only of servants of the deity.  The population had joined
+them, for the shrill lamentations of women and wild cries of despair,
+such as he had never heard before in all his long life within these
+sacred walls, blended in the solemn litany.
+
+Or were his senses playing him false?  Was the groaning throng of
+restless spirits which his grandson had pointed out to him from the
+observatory, pouring into the sanctuary of the gods?
+
+New horror seized upon him; with arms flung upward to bid the specters
+avaunt he muttered the exorcism against the wiles of evil spirits.  But
+he soon let his hands fall again; for among the throng he noted some of
+his friends who yesterday, at least, had still walked among living men.
+First, the tall form of the second prophet of the god, then the women
+consecrated to the service of Amon-Ra, the singers and the holy fathers
+and, when he perceived behind the singers, astrologers, and pastophori
+his own brother-in-law, whose house had yesterday been spared by the
+plague, he summoned fresh courage and spoke to him.  But his voice was
+smothered by the shouts of the advancing multitude.
+
+The courtyard was now lighted, but each individual was so engrossed by
+his own sorrows that no one noticed the old astrologer.  Tearing the
+cloak from his shivering limbs to make a pillow for the lad's tossing
+head, he heard, while tending him with fatherly affection, fierce
+imprecations on the Hebrews who had brought this woe on Pharaoh and his
+people, mingling with the chants and shouts of the approaching crowd and,
+recurring again and again, the name of Prince Rameses, the heir to the
+throne, while the tone in which it was uttered, the formulas of
+lamentation associated with it, announced the tidings that the eyes of
+the monarch's first-born son were closed in death.
+
+The astrologer gazed at his grandson's wan features with increasing
+anxiety, and even while the wailing for the prince rose louder and louder
+a slight touch of gratification stirred his soul at the thought of the
+impartial justice Death metes out alike to the sovereign on his throne
+and the beggar by the roadside.  He now realized what had brought the
+noisy multitude to the temple!
+
+With as much swiftness as his aged limbs would permit, he hastened
+forward to meet the mourners; but ere he reached them he saw the gate-
+keeper and his wife come out of their house, carrying between them on a
+mat the dead body of a boy.  The husband held one end, his fragile little
+wife the other, and the gigantic warder was forced to stoop low to keep
+the rigid form in a horizontal position and not let it slip toward the
+woman.  Three children, preceded by a little girl carrying a lantern,
+closed the mournful procession.
+
+Perhaps no one would have noticed the group, had not the gate-keeper's
+little wife shrieked so wildly and piteously that no one could help
+hearing her lamentations.  The second prophet of Amon, and then his
+companions, turned toward them.  The procession halted, and as some of
+the priests approached the corpse the gate-keeper shouted loudly: "Away,
+away from the plague!  It has stricken our first-born son."
+
+The wife meantime had snatched the lantern from her little girl's hand
+and casting its light full on the dead boy's rigid face, she screamed:
+
+"The god hath suffered it to happen.  Ay, he permitted the horror to
+enter beneath his own roof.  Not his will, but the curse of the stranger
+rules us and our lives.  Look, this was our first-born son, and the
+plague has also stricken two of the temple-servants.  One already lies
+dead in our room, and there lies Kamus, grandson of the astrologer
+Rameri.  We heard the old man call, and saw what was happening; but who
+can prop another's house when his own is falling?  Take heed while there
+is time; for the gods have opened their own sanctuaries to the horror.
+If the whole world crumbles into ruin, I shall neither marvel nor grieve.
+My lord priests, I am only a poor lowly woman, but am I not right when I
+ask: Do our gods sleep, or has some one paralyzed them, or what are they
+doing that they leave us and our children in the power of the base Hebrew
+brood?"
+
+"Overthrow them!  Down with the foreigners!  Death to the sorcerer Mesu,
+--[Mesu is the Egyptian name of Moses]--hurl him into the sea."  Such
+were the imprecations that followed the woman's curse, as an echo follows
+a shout, and the aged astrologer's brother-in-law Hornecht, captain of
+the archers, whose hot blood seethed in his veins at the sight of the
+dying form of his beloved nephew, waved his short sword, crying
+frantically: "Let all men who have hearts follow me.  Upon them!  A life
+for a life!  Ten Hebrews for each Egyptian whom the sorcerer has slain!"
+
+As a flock rushes into a fire when the ram leads the way, the warrior's
+summons fired the throng.  Women forced themselves in front of the men,
+pressing after him into the gateway, and when the servants of the temple
+lingered to await the verdict of the prophet of Amon, the latter drew his
+stately figure to its full height, and said calmly: "Let all who wear
+priestly garments remain and pray with me.  The populace is heaven's
+instrument to mete out vengeance.  We will remain here to pray for their
+success."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Bai, the second prophet of Amon, who acted as the representative of the
+aged and feeble chief-prophet and high-priest Rui, went into the holy of
+holies, the throng of inferior servants of the divinity pursued their
+various duties, and the frenzied mob rushed through the streets of the
+city towards the distant Hebrew quarter.
+
+As the flood, pouring into the valley, sweeps everything before it, the
+people, rushing to seek vengeance, forced every one they met to join
+them.  No Egyptian from whom death had snatched a loved one failed to
+follow the swelling torrent, which increased till hundreds became
+thousands.  Men, women, and children, freedmen and slaves, winged by the
+ardent longing to bring death and destruction on the hated Hebrews,
+darted to the remote quarter where they dwelt.
+
+How the workman had grasped a hatchet, the housewife an axe, they
+themselves scarcely knew.  They were dashing forward to deal death and
+ruin and had had no occasion to search for weapons--they had been close
+at hand.
+
+The first to feel the weight of their vengeance must be Nun, an aged
+Hebrew, rich in herds, loved and esteemed by many an Egyptian whom he had
+benefitted--but when hate and revenge speak, gratitude shrinks timidly
+into the background.
+
+His property, like the houses and hovels of his people, was in the
+strangers' quarter, west of Tanis, and lay nearest to the streets
+inhabited by the Egyptians themselves.
+
+Usually at this hour herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were being
+watered or driven to pasture and the great yard before his house was
+filled with cattle, servants of both sexes, carts, and agricultural
+implements.  The owner usually overlooked the departure of the flocks and
+herds, and the mob had marked him and his family for the first victims of
+their fury.
+
+The swiftest of the avengers had now reached his extensive farm-
+buildings, among them Hornecht, captain of the archers, brother-in-law of
+the old astrologer.  House and barns were brightly illumined by the first
+light of the young day.  A stalwart smith kicked violently on the stout
+door; but the unbolted sides yielded so easily that he was forced to
+cling to the door-post to save himself from falling.  Others, Hornecht
+among them, pressed past him into the yard.  What did this mean?
+
+Had some new spell been displayed to attest the power of the Hebrew
+leader Mesu, who had brought such terrible plagues on the land,--and of
+his God.
+
+The yard was absolutely empty.  The stalls contained a few dead cattle
+and sheep, killed because they had been crippled in some way, while a
+lame lamb limped off at sight of the mob.  The carts and wagons, too, had
+vanished.  The lowing, bleating throng which the priests had imagined to
+be the souls of the damned was the Hebrew host, departing by night from
+their old home with all their flocks under the guidance of Moses.
+
+The captain of the archers dropped his sword, and a spectator might have
+believed that the sight was a pleasant surprise to him; but his neighbor,
+a clerk from the king's treasure-house, gazed around the empty space with
+the disappointed air of a man who has been defrauded.
+
+The flood of schemes and passions, which had surged so high during the
+night, ebbed under the clear light of day.  Even the soldier's quickly
+awakened wrath had long since subsided into composure.  The populace
+might have wreaked their utmost fury on the other Hebrews, but not upon
+Nun, whose son, Hosea, had been his comrade in arms, one of the most
+distinguished leaders in the army, and an intimate family friend.  Had he
+thought of him and foreseen that his father's dwelling would be first
+attacked, he would never have headed the mob in their pursuit of
+vengeance; nay, he bitterly repented having forgotten the deliberate
+judgment which befitted his years.
+
+While many of the throng began to plunder and destroy Nun's deserted
+home, men and women came to report that not a soul was to be found in any
+of the neighboring dwellings.  Others told of cats cowering on the
+deserted hearthstones, of slaughtered cattle and shattered furniture; but
+at last the furious avengers dragged out a Hebrew with his family and a
+half-witted grey-haired woman found hidden among some straw.  The crone,
+amid imbecile laughter, said her people had made themselves hoarse
+calling her, but Meliela was too wise to walk on and on as they meant
+to do; besides her feet were too tender, and she had not even a pair of
+shoes.
+
+The man, a frightfully ugly Jew, whom few of his own race would have
+pitied, protested, sometimes with a humility akin to fawning, sometimes
+with the insolence which was a trait of his character, that he had
+nothing to do with the god of lies in whose name the seducer Moses had
+led away his people to ruin; he himself, his wife, and his child had
+always been on friendly terms with the Egyptians.  Indeed, many knew him,
+he was a money-lender and when the rest of his nation had set forth on
+their pilgrimage, be had concealed himself, hoping to pursue his
+dishonest calling and sustain no loss.
+
+Some of his debtors, however, were among the infuriated populace, though
+even without their presence he was a doomed man; for he was the first
+person on whom the excited mob could show that they were resolved upon
+revenge.  Rushing upon him with savage yells, the lifeless bodies of the
+luckless wretch and his family were soon strewn over the ground.  Nobody
+knew who had done this first bloody deed; too many had dashed forward at
+once.
+
+Not a few others who had remained in the houses and huts also fell
+victims to the people's thirst for vengeance, though many had time to
+escape, and while streams of blood were flowing, axes were wielded, and
+walls and doors were battered down with beams and posts to efface the
+abodes of the detested race from the earth.
+
+The burning embers brought by some frantic women were extinguished and
+trampled out; the more prudent warned them of the peril that would menace
+their own homes and the whole city of Tanis, if the strangers' quarter
+should be fired.
+
+So the Hebrews' dwellings escaped the flames; but as the sun mounted
+higher dense clouds of white dust shrouded the abodes they had forsaken,
+and where, only yesterday, thousands of people had possessed happy homes
+and numerous herds had quenched their thirst in fresh waters, the glowing
+soil was covered with rubbish and stone, shattered beams, and broken
+woodwork.  Dogs and cats left behind by their owners wandered among the
+ruins and were joined by women and children who lived in the beggars'
+hovels on the edge of the necropolis close by, and now, holding their
+hands over their mouths, searched amid the stifling dust and rubbish for
+any household utensil or food which might have been left by the fugitives
+and overlooked by the mob.
+
+During the afternoon Fai, the second prophet of Amon, was carried past
+the ruined quarter.  He did not come to gloat over the spectacle of
+destruction, it was his nearest way from the necropolis to his home.
+Yet a satisfied smile hovered around his stern mouth as he noticed how
+thoroughly the people had performed their work.  His own purpose, it is
+true, had not been fulfilled, the leader of the fugitives had escaped
+their vengeance, but hate, though never sated, can yet be gratified.
+Even the smallest pangs of an enemy are a satisfaction, and the priest
+had just come from the grieving Pharaoh.  He had not succeeded in
+releasing him entirely from the bonds of the Hebrew magician, but he had
+loosened them.
+
+The resolute, ambitious man, by no means wont to hold converse with
+himself, had repeated over and over again, while sitting alone in the
+sanctuary reflecting on what had occurred and what yet remained to be
+done, these little words, and the words were: "Bless me too!"
+
+Pharaoh had uttered them, and the entreaty had been addressed neither to
+old Rui, the chief priest, nor to himself, the only persons who could
+possess the privilege of blessing the monarch, nay--but to the most
+atrocious wretch that breathed, to the foreigner the Hebrew, Mesu, whom
+he hated more than any other man on earth.
+
+"Bless me too!"  The pious entreaty, which wells so trustingly from the
+human heart in the hour of anguish, had pierced his soul like a dagger.
+It had seemed as if such a petition, uttered by the royal lips to such a
+man, had broken the crozier in the hand of the whole body of Egyptian
+priests, stripped the panther-skin from their shoulders, and branded with
+shame the whole people whom he loved.
+
+He knew full well that Moses was one of the wisest sages who had ever
+graduated from the Egyptian schools, knew that Pharaoh was completely
+under the thrall of this man who had grown up in the royal household and
+been a friend of his father Rameses the Great.  He had seen the monarch
+pardon deeds committed by Moses which would have cost the life of any
+other mortal, though he were the highest noble in the land--and what must
+the Hebrew be to Pharaoh, the sun-god incarnate on the throne of the
+world, when standing by the death-bed of his own son, he could yield to
+the impulse to uplift his hands to him and cry "Bless me too!"
+
+He had told himself all these things, maturely considered them, yet he
+would not yield to the might of the strangers.  The destruction of this
+man and all his race was in his eyes the holiest, most urgent duty--to
+accomplish which he would not shrink even from assailing the throne.
+Nay, in his eyes Pharaoh Menephtah's shameful entreaty: "Bless me too!"
+had deprived him of all the rights of sovereignty.
+
+Moses had murdered Pharaoh's first-born son, but he and the aged chief-
+priest of Amon held the weal or woe of the dead prince's soul in their
+hands,--a weapon sharp and strong, for he knew the monarch's weak and
+vacillating heart.  If the high-priest of Amon--the only man whose
+authority surpassed his own--did not thwart him by some of the
+unaccountable whims of age, it would be the merest trifle to force
+Pharaoh to yield; but any concession made to-day would be withdrawn
+to-morrow, should the Hebrew succeed in coming between the irresolute
+monarch and his Egyptian advisers.  This very day the unworthy son of the
+great Rameses had covered his face and trembled like a timid fawn at the
+bare mention of the sorcerer's name, and to-morrow he might curse him and
+pronounce a death sentence upon him.  Perhaps he might be induced to do
+this, and on the following one he would recall him and again sue for his
+blessing.
+
+Down with such monarchs!  Let the feeble reed on the throne be hurled
+into the dust!  Already he had chosen a successor from among the princes
+of the blood, and when the time was ripe--when Rui, the high-priest of
+Amon, had passed the limits of life decreed by the gods to mortals and
+closed his eyes in death, he, Bai, would occupy his place, a new life
+for Egypt, and Moses and his race would commence would perish.
+
+While the prophet was absorbed in these reflections a pair of ravens
+fluttered around his head and, croaking loudly, alighted on the dusty
+ruins of one of the shattered houses.  He involuntarily glanced around
+him and noted that they had perched on the corpse of a murdered Hebrew,
+lying half concealed amid the rubbish.  A smile which the priests of
+lower rank who surrounded his litter knew not how to interpret, flitted
+over his shrewd, defiant countenance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Hornecht, commander of the archers, was among the prophet's companions.
+Indeed they were on terms of intimacy, for the soldier was a leader amid
+the nobles who had conspired to dethrone Pharaoh.
+
+As they approached Nun's ruined dwelling, the prophet pointed to the
+wreck and said: "The former owner of this abode is the only Hebrew I
+would gladly spare.  He was a man of genuine worth, and his son,
+Hosea.  .  .  ."
+
+"Will be one of us,"  the captain  interrupted.  "There are few better
+men in Pharaoh's army, and," he added, lowering his voice, "I rely on him
+when the decisive hour comes."
+
+"We will discuss  that  before  fewer witnesses," replied Bai.  "But I am
+greatly indebted to him.  During the Libyan war--you are aware of the
+fact--I fell into the hands of the enemy, and Hosea, at the head of his
+little troop, rescued me from the savage hordes."  Sinking his tones, he
+went on in his most instructive manner, as though apologizing for the
+mischief wrought: "Such is the course of earthly affairs!  Where a whole
+body of men merit punishment, the innocent must suffer with the guilty.
+Under such circumstances the gods themselves cannot separate the
+individual from the multitude; nay, even the innocent animals share the
+penalty.  Look at the flocks of doves fluttering around the ruins; they
+are seeking their cotes in vain.  And the cat with her kittens yonder.
+Go and take them, Beki; it is our duty to save the sacred animals from
+starving to death."
+
+And this man, who had just been planning the destruction of so many of
+his fellow-mortals, was so warmly interested in kindly caring for the
+senseless beasts, that he stopped his litter and watched his servants
+catch the cats.
+
+This was less quickly accomplished than he had hoped; for one had taken
+refuge in the nearest cellar, whose opening was too narrow for the men to
+follow.  The youngest, a slender Nubian, undertook the task; but he had
+scarcely approached the hole when he started back, calling: "There is a
+human being there who seems to be alive.  Yes, he is raising his hand.
+It is a boy or a youth, and assuredly no slave; his head is covered with
+long waving locks, and--a sunbeam is shining into the cellar--I can see a
+broad gold circlet on his arm."
+
+"Perhaps it is one of Nun's kindred, who has been forgotten," said
+Hornecht, and Bai eagerly added:
+
+"It is an interposition from the  gods!  Their sacred animals have
+pointed out the way by which I can render a service to the man to whom I
+am so much indebted.  Try to get in, Beki, and bring the youth out."
+
+Meanwhile the Nubian had removed the stone whose fall had choked the
+opening, and soon after he lifted toward his companions a motionless
+young form which they brought into the open air and bore to a well whose
+cool water speedily restored consciousness.
+
+As he regained his senses, he rubbed his eyes, gazed around him
+bewildered, as if uncertain where he was, then his head drooped as though
+overwhelmed with grief and horror, revealing that the locks at the back
+were matted together with black clots of dried blood.
+
+The prophet had the deep wound, inflicted on the lad by a falling stone,
+washed at the well and, after it had been bandaged, summoned him to his
+own litter, which was protected from the sun.
+
+The young Hebrew, bringing a message, had arrived at the house of his
+grandfather Nun, before sunrise, after a long night walk from Pithom,
+called by the Hebrews Succoth, but finding it deserted had lain down in
+one of the rooms to rest a while.  Roused by the shouts of the infuriated
+mob, he had heard the curses on his race which rang through the whole
+quarter and fled to the cellar.  The roof, which had injured him in its
+fall, proved his deliverance; for the clouds of dust which had concealed
+everything as it came down hid him from the sight of the rioters.
+
+The prophet looked at him intently and, though the youth was unwashed,
+wan, and disfigured by the bloody bandage round his head, he saw that the
+lad he had recalled to life was a handsome, well-grown boy just nearing
+manhood.
+
+His sympathy was roused, and his stern glance softened as he asked kindly
+whence he came and what had brought him to Tanis; for the rescued youth's
+features gave no clue to his race.  He might readily have declared
+himself an Egyptian, but he frankly admitted that he was a grandson of
+Nun.  He had just attained his eighteenth year, his name was Ephraim,
+like that of his forefather, the son of Joseph, and he had come to visit
+his grandfather.  The words expressed steadfast self-respect and pride in
+his illustrious ancestry.
+
+He delayed a short time ere answering the question whether he brought a
+message; but soon collected his thoughts and, looking the prophet
+fearlessly in the face, replied:
+
+"Whoever you may be, I have been taught to speak the truth, so I will
+tell you that I have another relative in Tanis, Hosea, the son of Nun, a
+chief in Pharaoh's army, for whom I have a message."
+
+"And I will tell you," the priest replied, "that it was for the sake of
+this very Hosea I tarried here and ordered my servants to bring you out
+of the ruined house.  I owe him a debt of gratitude, and though most of
+your nation have committed deeds worthy of the harshest punishment, for
+the sake of his worth you shall remain among us free and unharmed."
+
+The boy raised his eyes to the priest with a proud, fiery glance, but ere
+he could find words, Bai went on with encouraging kindness.
+
+"I believe I can read in your face, my lad, that you have come to seek
+admittance to Pharaoh's army under your uncle Hosea.  Your figure is
+well-suited to the trade of war, and you surely are not wanting in
+courage."
+
+A smile of flattered vanity rested on Ephraim's lips, and toying with the
+broad gold bracelet on his arm, perhaps unconsciously, he replied with
+eagerness:
+
+"Ay, my lord, I have often proved my courage in the hunting field; but at
+home we have plenty of sheep and cattle, which even now I call my own,
+and it seems to me a more enviable lot to wander freely and rule the
+shepherds than to obey the commands of others."
+
+"Aha!" said the priest.  "Perhaps  Hosea may instil different and better
+views.  To rule--a lofty ambition for youth.  The misfortune is that we
+who have attained it are but servants whose burdens grow heavier with the
+increasing number of those who obey us.  You understand me, Hornecht, and
+you, my lad, will comprehend my meaning later, when you become the palm-
+tree the promise of your youth foretells.  But we are losing time.  Who
+sent you to Hosea?"
+
+The youth cast down his eyes irresolutely, but when the prophet broke the
+silence with the query: "And what has become of the frankness you were
+taught?"  he responded promptly and resolutely:
+
+"I came for the sake of a woman whom you know not."
+
+"A woman?"  the prophet repeated, casting an enquiring glance at
+Hornecht.  "When a bold warrior and a fair woman seek each other, the
+Hathors"--[The Egyptian goddesses of love, who are frequently represented
+with cords in their hands,]--are apt to appear and use the binding cords;
+but it does not befit a servant of the divinity to witness such goings
+on, so I forbear farther questioning.  Take charge of the lad, captain,
+and aid him to deliver his message to Hosea.  The only doubt is whether
+he is in the city."
+
+"No," the soldier answered, "but he is expected with thousands of his men
+at the armory to-day."
+
+"Then may the Hathors, who are partial to love messengers, bring these
+two together to-morrow at latest," said the priest.
+
+But the lad indignantly retorted: "I am the bearer of no love message."
+
+The prophet, pleased with the bold rejoinder, answered pleasantly:
+"I had forgotten that I was accosting a young shepherd-prince."  Then he
+added in graver tones: "When you have found Hosea, greet him from me and
+tell him that Bai, the second prophet of Amon sought to discharge a part
+of the debt of gratitude he owed for his release from the hands of the
+Libyans by extending his protection to you, his nephew.  Perhaps, my
+brave boy, you do not know that you have escaped as if by a miracle a
+double peril; the savage populace would no more have spared your life
+than would the stifling dust of the falling houses.  Remember this, and
+tell Hosea also from me, Bai, that I am sure when he beholds the woe
+wrought by the magic arts of one of your race on the house of Pharaoh,
+to which he vowed fealty, and with it on this city and the whole country,
+he will tear himself with abhorrence from his kindred.  They have fled
+like cowards, after dealing the sorest blows, robbing of their dearest
+possessions those among whom they dwelt in peace, whose protection they
+enjoyed, and who for long years have given them work and ample food.  All
+this they have done and, if I know him aright, he will turn his back upon
+men who have committed such crimes.  Tell him also that this has been
+voluntarily done by the Hebrew officers and men under the command of the
+Syrian Aarsu.  This very morning--Hosea will have heard the news from
+other sources--they offered sacrifices not only to Baal and Seth, their
+own gods, whom so many of you were ready to serve ere the accursed
+sorcerer, Mesu, seduced you, but also to Father Amon and the sacred nine
+of our eternal deities.  If he will do the same, we will rise hand in
+hand to the highest place, of that he may be sure--and well he merits it.
+The obligation still due him I shall gratefully discharge in other ways,
+which must for the present remain secret.  But you may tell your uncle
+now from me that I shall find means to protect Nun, his noble father,
+when the vengeance of the gods and of Pharaoh falls upon the rest of your
+race.  Already--tell him this also--the sword is whetted, and a pitiless
+judgment is impending.  Bid him ask himself what fugitive shepherds can
+do against the power of the army among whose ablest leaders he is
+numbered.  Is your father still alive, my son?"
+
+"No, he was borne to his last resting-place long ago," replied the youth
+in a faltering voice.
+
+Was the fever of his wound attacking him?  Or did the shame of belonging
+to a race capable of acts so base overwhelm the young heart?  Or did the
+lad cling to his kindred, and was it wrath and resentment at hearing them
+so bitterly reviled which made his color vary from red to pale and roused
+such a tumult in his soul that he was scarcely capable of speech?  No
+matter!  This lad was certainly no suitable bearer of the message the
+prophet desired to send to his uncle, and Bai beckoned to Hornecht to
+come with him under the shadow of a broad-limbed sycamore-tree.
+
+The point was to secure Hosea's services in the army at any cost, so he
+laid his hand on his friend's shoulder, saying:
+
+"You know that it was my wife who won you and others over to our cause.
+She serves us better and more eagerly than many a man, and while I
+appreciate your daughter's beauty, she never tires of lauding the winning
+charm of her innocence."
+
+"And Kasana is to take part in the plot?"  cried the soldier angrily.
+
+"Not as an active worker, like my wife,--certainly not."
+
+"She would be ill-suited to such a task," replied the other in a calmer
+tone, "she is scarcely more than a child."
+
+"Yet through her aid we might bring to our cause a man whose good-will
+seems to me priceless."
+
+"You mean Hosea?"  asked the captain, his brow darkening again, but the
+prophet added:
+
+"And if I do?  Is he still a real Hebrew?  Can you deem it unworthy the
+daughter of a distinguished warrior to bestow her band on a man who, if
+our plans prosper, will be commander-in-chief of all the troops in the
+land?"
+
+"No, my lord!"  cried Hornecht.  "But one of my motives for rebelling
+against Pharaoh and upholding Siptah is that the king's mother was a
+foreigner, while our own blood courses through Siptah's veins.
+The mother decides the race to which a man belongs, and Hosea's
+mother was a Hebrew woman.  He is my friend, I value his talents;
+Kasana likes him.  .  .  ."
+
+"Yet you desire a more distinguished son-in-law?"  interrupted his
+companion.  "How is our arduous enterprise to prosper, if those who are
+to peril their lives for its success consider the first sacrifice too
+great?  You say that your daughter favors Hosea?"
+
+"Yes, she did care for him," the soldier answered; "yes, he was her
+heart's desire.  But I compelled her to obey me, and now that she is a
+widow, am I to give her to the man whom--the gods alone know with how
+much difficulty--I forced her to resign?  When was such an act heard of
+in Egypt?"
+
+"Ever since the men and women who dwell by the Nile have submitted, for
+the sake of a great cause, to demands opposed to their wishes," replied
+the priest.
+
+"Consider all this, and remember that Hosea's ancestress--he boasted of
+it in your own presence--was an Egyptian, the daughter of a man of my own
+class."
+
+"How many generations have passed to the tomb since?"
+
+"No matter!  It brings us into closer relations with him.  That must
+suffice.  Farewell until this evening.  Meanwhile, will you extend your
+hospitality to Hosea's nephew and commend him to your fair daughter's
+nursing; he seems in sore need of care."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The house of Hornecht, like nearly every other dwelling in the city, was
+the scene of the deepest mourning.  The men had shaved their hair, and
+the women had put dust on their foreheads.  The archer's wife had died
+long before, but his daughter and her women received him with waving
+veils and loud lamentations; for the astrologer, his brother-in-law, had
+lost both his first-born son and his grandson, and the plague had
+snatched its victims from the homes of many a friend.
+
+But the senseless youth soon demanded all the care the women could
+bestow, and after bathing him and binding a healing ointment on the
+dangerous wound in his head, strong wine and food were placed before him,
+after which, refreshed and strengthened, he obeyed the summons of the
+daughter of his host.
+
+The dust-covered, worn-out fellow was transformed into a handsome youth.
+His perfumed hair fell in long curling locks from beneath the fresh white
+bandage, and gold-bordered Egyptian robes from the wardrobe of Kasana's
+dead husband covered his pliant bronzed limbs.  He seemed pleased with
+the finery of his garments, which exhaled a subtle odor of spikenard new
+to his senses;  for the eyes in his  handsome face sparkled brilliantly.
+
+It was many a day since the captain's daughter, herself a woman of
+unusual beauty and charm, had seen a handsomer youth.  Within the year
+she had married a man she did not love Kasana had returned a widow to her
+father's house, which lacked a mistress, and the great wealth bequeathed
+to her, at her husband's death, made it possible for her to bring into
+the soldier's unpretending home the luxury and ease which to her had now
+become a second nature.
+
+Her father, a stern man prone to sudden fits of passion, now yielded
+absolutely to her will.  Formerly he had pitilessly enforced his own,
+compelling the girl of fifteen to wed a man many years her senior.  This
+had been done because he perceived that Kasana had given her young heart
+to Hosea, the soldier, and he deemed it beneath his dignity to receive
+the Hebrew, who at that time held no prominent position in the army, as
+his son-in-law.  An Egyptian girl had no choice save to accept the
+husband chosen by her father and Kasana submitted, though she shed so
+many bitter tears that the archer rejoiced when, in obedience to his
+will, she had wedded an unloved husband.
+
+But even as a widow Kasana's heart clung to the Hebrew.  When the army
+was in the field her anxiety was ceaseless; day and night were spent in
+restlessness and watching.  When news came from the troops she asked only
+about Hosea, and her father with deep annoyance attributed to her love
+for the Hebrew her rejection of suitor after suitor.  As a widow she had
+a right to the bestowal of her own hand, and the tender, gentle-natured
+woman astonished Hornecht by the resolute decision displayed, not alone
+to him and lovers of her own rank, but to Prince Siptah, whose cause the
+captain had espoused as his own.
+
+To-day Kasana expressed her delight at the Hebrew's return with such
+entire frankness and absence of reserve that the quick-tempered man
+rushed out of the house lest he might be tempted into some thoughtless
+act or word.  His young guest was left to the care of his daughter and
+her nurse.
+
+How deeply the lad's sensitive nature was impressed by the airy rooms,
+the open verandas supported by many pillars, the brilliant hues of the
+painting, the artistic household utensils, the soft cushions, and the
+sweet perfume everywhere!  All these things were novel and strange to the
+son of a herdsman who had always lived within the grey walls of a
+spacious, but absolutely plain abode, and spent months together in canvas
+tents among shepherds and flocks, nay was more accustomed to be in the
+open air than under any shelter!  He felt as though some wizard had borne
+him into a higher and more beautiful world, where he was entirely at home
+in his magnificent garb, with his perfumed curls and limbs fresh from the
+bath.  True, the whole earth was fair, even out in the pastures among the
+flocks or round the fire in front of the tent in the cool of the evening,
+when the shepherds sang, the hunters told tales of daring exploits, and
+the stars sparkled brightly overhead.
+
+But all these pleasures were preceded by weary, hateful labor; here it
+was a delight merely to see and to breathe and, when the curtains parted
+and the young widow, giving him a friendly greeting, made him sit down
+opposite to her, sometimes questioning him and sometimes listening with
+earnest sympathy to his replies, he almost imagined his senses had failed
+him as they had done under the ruins of the fallen house, and he was
+enjoying the sweetest of dreams.  The feeling that threatened to stifle
+him and frequently interrupted the flow of words was the rapture bestowed
+upon him by great Aschera, the companion of Baal, of whom the Phoenician
+traders who supplied the shepherds with many good things had told him
+such marvels, and whom the stern Miriam forbade him ever to name at home.
+
+His family had instilled into his young heart hatred of the Egyptians as
+the oppressors of his race, but could they be so wicked, could he detest
+a people among whom were creatures like this lovely, gentle woman, who
+gazed into his eyes so softly, so tenderly, whose voice fell on his ear
+like harmonious music, and whose glance made his blood course so swiftly
+that he could scarce endure it and pressed his hand upon his heart to
+quiet its wild pulsation.
+
+Kasana sat opposite to him on a seat covered with a panther-skin, drawing
+the fine wool from the distaff.  He had pleased her and she had received
+him kindly because he was related to the man whom she had loved from
+childhood.  She imagined that she could trace a resemblance between him
+and Hosea, though the youth lacked the grave earnestness of the man to
+whom she had yielded her young heart, she knew not why nor when, though
+he had never sought her love.
+
+A lotus blossom rested among her dark waving curls, and its stem fell in
+a graceful curve on her bent neck, round which clustered a mass of soft
+locks.  When she lifted her eyes to his, he felt as though two springs
+had opened to pour floods of bliss into his young breast, and he had
+already clasped in greeting the dainty hand which held the yarn.
+
+She now questioned him about Hosea and the woman who had sent the
+message, whether she was young and fair and whether any tie of love bound
+her to his uncle.
+
+Ephraim laughed merrily.  She who had sent him was so grave and earnest
+that the bare thought of her being capable of any tender emotion wakened
+his mirth.  As to her beauty, he had never asked himself the question.
+
+The young widow interpreted the laugh as the reply she most desired and,
+much relieved, laid aside the spindle and invited Ephraim to go into the
+garden.
+
+How fragrant and full of bloom it was, how well-kept were the beds, the
+paths, the arbors, and the pond.
+
+His unpretending home adjoined a dreary yard, wholly unadorned and filled
+with pens for sheep and cattle.  Yet he knew that at some future day he
+would be owner of great possessions, for he was the sole child and heir
+of a wealthy father and his mother was the daughter of the rich Nun.  The
+men servants had told him this more than once, and it angered him to see
+that his own home was scarcely better than Hornecht's slave-quarters, to
+which Kasana had called his attention.
+
+During their stroll through the garden Ephraim was asked to help her cull
+the flowers and, when the basket he carried was filled, she invited him
+to sit with her in a bower and aid her to twine the wreaths.  These were
+intended for the dear departed.  Her uncle and a beloved cousin--who bore
+some resemblance to Ephraim--had been snatched away the night before by
+the plague which his people had brought upon Tanis.
+
+From the street which adjoined the garden-wall they heard the wails of
+women lamenting the dead or bearing a corpse to the tomb.  Once, when the
+cries of woe rose more loudly and clearly than ever, Kasana gently
+reproached him for all that the people of Tanis had suffered through the
+Hebrews, and asked if he could deny that the Egyptians had good reason to
+hate a race which had brought such anguish upon them.
+
+It was hard for Ephraim to find a fitting answer; he had been told that
+the God of his race had punished the Egyptians to rescue his own people
+from shame and bondage, and he could neither condemn nor scorn the men of
+his own blood.  So he kept silence that he might neither speak falsely
+nor blaspheme; but Kasana allowed him no peace, and he at last replied
+that aught which caused her sorrow was grief to him, but his people had
+no power over life and health, and when a Hebrew was ill, he often sent
+for an Egyptian physician.  What had occurred was doubtless the will of
+the great God of his fathers, whose power far surpassed the might of any
+other deity.  He himself was a Hebrew, yet she would surely believe his
+assurance that he was guiltless of the plague and would gladly recall her
+uncle and cousin to life, had he the power to do so.  For her sake he
+would undertake the most difficult enterprise.
+
+She smiled kindly and replied:
+
+"My poor boy!  If I see any guilt in you, it is only that you are one of
+a race which knows no ruth, no patience.  Our beloved, hapless dead!
+They must even lose the lamentations of their kindred; for the house
+where they rest is plague-stricken and no one is permitted to enter."
+
+She silently wiped her eyes and went on arranging her garlands, but tear
+after tear coursed down her cheeks.
+
+Ephraim knew not what to say, and mutely handed her the leaves and
+blossoms.  Whenever his hand touched hers a thrill ran through his veins.
+His head and the wound began to ache, and he sometimes felt a slight
+chill.  He knew that the fever was increasing, as it had done once before
+when he nearly lost his life in the red disease; but he was ashamed to
+own it and battled bravely against his pain.
+
+When the sun was nearing the horizon Hornecht entered the garden.  He had
+already seen Hosea, and though heartily glad to greet his old friend once
+more, it had vexed him that the soldier's first enquiry was for his
+daughter.  He did not withhold this from the young widow, but his
+flashing eyes betrayed the displeasure with which he delivered the
+Hebrew's message.  Then, turning to Ephraim, he told him that Hosea and
+his men would encamp outside of the city, pitching their tents, on
+account of the pestilence, between Tanis and the sea.  They would soon
+march by.  His uncle sent Ephraim word that he must seek him in his tent.
+
+When he noticed that the youth was aiding his daughter to weave the
+garlands, he smiled, and said:
+
+"Only this morning this young fellow declared his intention of remaining
+free and a ruler all his life.  Now he has taken service with you,
+Kasana.  You need not blush, young friend.  If either your mistress or
+your uncle can persuade you to join us and embrace the noblest trade--
+that of the soldier--so much the better for you.  Look at me!  I've
+wielded the bow more than forty years and still rejoice in my profession.
+I must obey, it is true, but it is also my privilege to command, and the
+thousands who obey me are not sheep and cattle, but brave men.  Consider
+the matter again.  He would make a splendid leader of the archers.  What
+say you, Kasana?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the young widow.  And she was about to say more, but
+the regular tramp of approaching troops was heard on the other side of
+the garden-wall.  A slight flush crimsoned Kasana's cheeks, her eyes
+sparkled with a light that startled Ephraim and, regardless of her father
+or her guest, she darted past the pond, across paths and flower-beds, to
+a grassy bank beside the wall, whence she gazed eagerly toward the road
+and the armed host which soon marched by.
+
+Hosea, in full armor, headed his men.  As he passed Hornecht's garden he
+turned his grave head, and seeing Kasana lowered his battle-axe in
+friendly salutation.
+
+Ephraim had followed the captain of the archers, who pointed out the
+youth's uncle, saying: "Shining armor would become you also, and when
+drums are beating, pipes squeaking shrilly, and banners waving, a man
+marches as lightly as if he had wings.  To-day the martial music is
+hushed by the terrible woe brought upon us by that Hebrew villain.  True,
+Hosea is one of his race yet, though I cannot forget that fact, I must
+admit that he is a genuine soldier, a model for the rising generation.
+Tell him what I think of him on this score.  Now bid farewell to Kasana
+quickly and follow the men; the little side-door in the wall is open."
+He turned towards the house as he spoke, and Ephraim held out his hand to
+bid the young widow farewell.
+
+She clasped it, but hurriedly withdrew her own, exclaiming anxiously:
+"How burning hot your hand is!  You have a fever!"
+
+"No, no," faltered the youth, but even while speaking he fell upon his
+knees and the veil of unconsciousness descended upon the sufferer's soul,
+which had been the prey of so many conflicting emotions.
+
+Kasana was alarmed, but speedily regained her composure and began to cool
+his brow and head by bathing them with water from the neighboring pond.
+Yes, in his boyhood the man she loved must have resembled this youth.
+Her heart throbbed more quickly and, while supporting his head in her
+hands, she gently kissed him.
+
+She supposed him to be unconscious, but the refreshing water had already
+dispelled the brief swoon, and he felt the caress with a thrill of
+rapture.  But he kept his eyes closed, and would gladly have lain for a
+life-time with his head pillowed on her breast in the hope that her lips
+might once more meet his.  But instead of kissing him a second time she
+called loudly for aid.  He raised himself, gave one wild, ardent look
+into her face and, ere she could stay him, rushed like a strong man to
+the garden gate, flung it open, and followed the troops.  He soon
+overtook the rear ranks, passed on in advance of the others, and at last
+reached their leader's side and, calling his uncle by name, gave his own.
+Hosea, in his joy and astonishment, held out his arms, but ere Ephraim
+could fall upon his breast, he again lost consciousness, and stalwart
+soldiers bore the senseless lad into the tent the quartermaster had
+already pitched on a dune by the sea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+It was midnight.  A fire was blazing in front of Hosea's tent, and he sat
+alone before it, gazing mournfully now into the flames and anon over the
+distant country.  Inside the canvas walls Ephraim was lying on his
+uncle's camp-bed.
+
+The surgeon who attended the soldiers had bandaged the youth's wounds,
+given him an invigorating cordial, and commanded him to keep still; for
+the violence with which the fever had attacked the lad alarmed him.
+
+But in spite of the leech's prescription Ephraim continued restless.
+Sometimes Kasana's image rose before his eyes, increasing the fever of
+his over-heated blood, sometimes he recalled the counsel to become a
+warrior like his uncle.  The advice seemed wise--at least he tried to
+persuade himself that it was--because it promised honor and fame, but in
+reality he wished to follow it because it would bring her for whom his
+soul yearned nearer to him.
+
+Then his pride rose as he remembered the insults which she and her father
+had heaped on those to whom by every tie of blood and affection, he
+belonged.  His hand clenched as he thought of the ruined home of his
+grandfather, whom he had ever regarded one of the noblest of men.  Nor
+was his message forgotten.  Miriam had repeated it again and again, and
+his clear memory retained every syllable, for he had unweariedly iterated
+it to himself during his solitary walk to Tanis.  He was striving to do
+the same thing now but, ere he could finish, his mind always reverted to
+thoughts of Kasana.  The leech had told Hosea to forbid the sufferer to
+talk and, when the youth attempted to deliver his message, the uncle
+ordered him to keep silence.  Then the soldier arranged his pillow with a
+mother's tenderness, gave him his medicine, and kissed him on the
+forehead.  At last he took his seat by the fire before the tent and only
+rose to give Ephraim a drink when he saw by the stars that an hour had
+passed.
+
+The flames illumined Hosea's bronzed features, revealing the countenance
+of a man who had confronted many a peril and vanquished all by steadfast
+perseverance and wise consideration.  His black eyes had an imperious
+look, and his full, firmly-compressed lips suggested a quick temper and,
+still more, the iron will of a resolute man.  His broad-shouldered form
+leaned against some lances thrust crosswise into the earth, and when he
+passed his strong hand through his thick black locks or smoothed his dark
+beard, and his eyes sparkled with ire, it was evident that his soul was
+stirred by conflicting emotions and that he stood on the threshold of a
+great resolve.  The lion was resting, but when he starts up, let his foes
+beware!
+
+His soldiers had often compared their fearless, resolute leader, with his
+luxuriant hair, to the king of beasts, and as he now shook his fist,
+while the muscles of his bronzed arm swelled as though they would burst
+the gold armlet that encircled them, and his eyes flashed fire, his awe-
+inspiring mien did not invite approach.
+
+Westward, the direction toward which his eyes were turned, lay the
+necropolis and the ruined strangers' quarter.  But a few hours ago he had
+led his troops through the ruins around which the ravens were circling
+and past his father's devastated home.
+
+Silently, as duty required, he marched on.  Not until he halted to seek
+quarters for the soldiers did he hear from Hornecht, the captain of the
+archers, what had happened during the night.  He listened silently,
+without the quiver of an eye-lash, or a word of questioning, until his
+men had pitched their tents.  He had but just gone to rest when a Hebrew
+maiden, spite of the menaces of the guard, made her way in to implore
+him, in the name of Eliab, one of the oldest slaves of his family, to go
+with her to the old man, her grandfather.  The latter, whose weakness
+prevented journeying, had been left behind, and directly after the
+departure of the Hebrews he and his wife had been carried on an ass to
+the little but near the harbor, which generous Nun, his master, had
+bestowed on the faithful slave.
+
+The grand-daughter had been left to care for the feeble pair, and now the
+old servant's heart yearned for one more sight of his lord's first-born
+son whom, when a child, he had carried in his arms.  He had charged the
+girl to tell Hosea that Nun had promised his people that his son would
+abandon the Egyptians and cleave to his own race.  The tribe of Ephraim,
+nay the whole Hebrew nation had hailed these tidings with the utmost joy.
+Eliab would give him fuller details; she herself had been well nigh dazed
+with weeping and anxiety.  He would earn the richest blessings if he
+would only follow her.
+
+The soldier realized at once that he must fulfil this desire, but he was
+obliged to defer his visit to the old slave until the nest morning.  The
+messenger, however, even in her haste, had told him many incidents she
+had seen herself or heard from others.
+
+At last she left him.  He rekindled the fire and, so long as the flames
+burned brightly, his gaze was bent with a gloomy, thoughtful expression
+upon the west.  Not till they had devoured the fuel and merely flickered
+with a faint bluish light around the charred embers did he fix his eyes
+on the whirling sparks.  And the longer he did so, the deeper, the more
+unconquerable became the conflict in his soul, whose every energy, but
+yesterday, had been bent upon a single glorious goal.
+
+The war against the Libyan rebels had detained him eighteen months from
+his home, and he had seen ten crescent moons grow full since any news had
+reached him of his kindred.  A few weeks before he had been ordered to
+return, and when to-day he approached nearer and nearer to the obelisks
+towering above Tanis, the city of Rameses, his heart had pulsed with as
+much joy and hopefulness as if the man of thirty were once more a boy.
+
+Within a few short hours he should again see his beloved, noble father,
+who had needed great deliberation and much persuasion from Hosea's
+mother--long since dead--ere he would permit his son to follow the bent
+of his inclinations and enter upon a military life in Pharaoh's army.
+He had anticipated that very day surprising him with the news that he had
+been promoted above men many years his seniors and of Egyptian lineage.
+Instead of the slights Nun had dreaded, Hosea's gallant bearing, courage
+and, as he modestly added, good-fortune had gained him promotion, yet he
+had remained a Hebrew.  When he felt the necessity of offering to some
+god sacrifices and prayer, he had bowed before Seth, to whose temple Nun
+had led him when a child, and whom in those days all the people in Goshen
+in whose veins flowed Semitic blood had worshipped.  But he also owed
+allegiance to another god, not the God of his fathers, but the deity
+revered by all the Egyptians who had been initiated.  He remained unknown
+to the masses, who could not have understood him; yet he was adored not
+only by the adepts but by the majority of those who had obtained high
+positions in civil or military life-whether they were servants of the
+divinity or not--and Hosea, the initiated and the stranger, knew him
+also.  Everybody understood when allusion was made to "the God," the "Sum
+of All," the "Creator of Himself," and the "Great One."  Hymns extolled
+him, inscriptions on the monuments, which all could read, spoke of him,
+the one God, who manifested himself to the world, pervaded the universe,
+and existed throughout creation not alone as the vital spark animates the
+human organism, but as himself the sum of creation, the world with its
+perpetual growth, decay, and renewal, obeying the laws he had himself
+ordained.  His spirit, existing in every form of nature, dwelt also in
+man, and wherever a mortal gazed he could discern the rule of the "One."
+Nothing could be imagined without him, therefore he was one like the God
+of Israel.  Nothing could be created nor happen on earth apart from him,
+therefore, like Jehovah, he was omnipotent.  Hosea had long regarded both
+as alike in spirit, varying only in name.  Whoever adored one was a
+servant of the other, so the warrior could have entered his father's
+presence with a clear conscience, and told him that although in the
+service of the king he had remained loyal to the God of his nation.
+
+Another thought had made his heart pulse faster and more joyously as he
+saw in the distance the pylons and obelisks of Tanis; for on countless
+marches through the silent wilderness and in many a lonely camp he had
+beheld in imagination a virgin of his own race, whom he had known as a
+singular child, stirred by marvellous thoughts, and whom, just before
+leading his troops to the Libyan war, he had again met, now a dignified
+maiden of stern and unapproachable beauty.  She had journeyed from
+Succoth to Tanis to attend his mother's funeral, and her image had been
+deeply imprinted on his heart, as his--he ventured to hope--on hers.  She
+had since become a prophetess, who heard the voice of her God.  While the
+other maidens of his people were kept in strict seclusion, she was free
+to come and go at will, even among men, and spite of her hate of the
+Egyptians and of Hosea's rank among them, she did not deny that it was
+grief to part and that she would never cease thinking of him.  His future
+wife must be as strong, as earnest, as himself.  Miriam was both, and
+quite eclipsed a younger and brighter vision which he had once conjured
+before his memory with joy.
+
+He loved children, and a lovelier girl than Kasana he had never met,
+either in Egypt or in alien lands.  The interest with which the fair
+daughter of his companion-in-arms watched his deeds and his destiny, the
+modest yet ardent devotion afterwards displayed by the much sought-after
+young widow, who coldly repelled all other suitors, had been a delight to
+him in times of peace.  Prior to her marriage he had thought of her as
+the future mistress of his home, but her wedding another, and Hornecht's
+oft-repeated declaration that he would never give his child to a
+foreigner, had hurt his pride and cooled his passion.  Then he met Miriam
+and was fired with an ardent desire to make her his wife.  Still, on the
+homeward march the thought of seeing Kasana again had been a pleasant
+one.  It was fortunate he no longer wished to wed Hornecht's daughter;
+it could have led to naught save trouble.  Both Hebrews and Egyptians
+held it to be an abomination to eat at the same board, or use the same
+seats or knives.  Though he himself was treated by his comrades as one of
+themselves, and had often heard Kasana's father speak kindly of his
+kindred, yet "strangers" were hateful in the eyes of the captain of the
+archers, and of all free Egyptians.
+
+He had found in Miriam the noblest of women.  He hoped that Kasana might
+make another happy.  To him she would ever be the charming child from
+whom we expect nothing save the delight of her presence.
+
+He had come to ask from her, as a tried friend ever ready for leal
+service, a joyous glance.  From Miriam he would ask herself, with all her
+majesty and beauty, for he had borne the solitude of the camp long
+enough, and now that on his return no mother's arms opened to welcome
+him, he felt for the first time the desolation of a single life.  He
+longed to enjoy the time of peace when, after dangers and privations of
+every kind, he could lay aside his weapons.  It was his duty to lead a
+wife home to his father's hearth and to provide against the extinction of
+the noble race of which he was the sole representative.  Ephraim was the
+son of his sister.
+
+Filled with the happiest thoughts, he had advanced toward Tannis and, on
+reaching the goal of all his hopes and wishes, found it lying before him
+like a ripening grain-field devastated by hail and swarms of locusts.
+
+As if in derision, fate led him first to the Hebrew quarter.  A heap
+of dusty ruins marked the site of the house where he had spent his
+childhood, and for which his heart had longed; and where his loved ones
+had watched his departure, beggars were now greedily searching for
+plunder among the debris.
+
+The first man to greet him in Tanis was Kasana's father.  Instead of a
+friendly glance from her eyes, he had received from him tidings that
+pierced his inmost heart.  He had expected to bring home a wife, and the
+house where she was to reign as mistress was razed to the ground.  The
+father, for whose blessing he longed, and who was to have been gladdened
+by his advancement, had journeyed far away and must henceforward be the
+foe of the sovereign to whom he owed his prosperity.
+
+He had been proud of rising, despite his origin, to place and power.  Now
+he would be able, as leader of a great host, to show the prowess of which
+he was capable.  His inventive brain had never lacked schemes which, if
+executed by his superiors, would have had good results; now he could
+fulfil them according to his own will, and instead of the tool become the
+guiding power.
+
+These reflections had awakened a keen sense of exultation in his breast
+and winged his steps on his homeward march and, now that he had reached
+the goal, so long desired, must he turn back to join the shepherds and
+builders to whom--it now seemed a sore misfortune--he belonged by the
+accident of birth and ancestry, though, denial was futile, he felt as
+utterly alien to the Hebrews as he was to the Libyans whom he had
+confronted on the battle-field.  In almost every pursuit he valued, he
+had nothing in common with his people.  He had believed he might
+truthfully answer yes to his father's enquiry whether he had returned a
+Hebrew, yet he now felt it would be only a reluctant and half-hearted
+assent.
+
+He clung with his whole soul to the standards beneath which he had gone
+to battle and might now himself lead to victory.  Was it possible to
+wrench his heart from them, renounce what his own deeds had won?  Yet
+Eliab's granddaughter had told him that the Hebrews expected him to leave
+the army and join them.  A message from his father must soon reach him--
+and among the Hebrews a son never opposed a parent's command.
+
+There was still another to whom implicit obedience was due, Pharaoh, to
+whom he had solemnly vowed loyal service, sworn to follow his summons
+without hesitation or demur, through fire and water, by day and night.
+
+How often he had branded the soldier who deserted to the foe or rebelled
+against the orders of his commander as a base scoundrel and villain, and
+by his orders many a renegade from his standard had died a shameful death
+on the gallows under his own eyes.  Was he now to commit the deed for
+which he had despised and killed others?  His prompt decision was known
+throughout the army, how quickly in the most difficult situations he
+could resolve upon the right course and carry it into action; but during
+this dark and lonely hour of the night he seemed to himself a mere
+swaying reed, and felt as helpless as a forsaken orphan.
+
+Wrath against himself preyed upon him, and when he thrust a spear into
+the flames, scattering the embers and sending a shower of bright sparks
+upward, it was rage at his own wavering will that guided his hand.
+
+Had recent events imposed upon him the virile duty of vengeance, doubt
+and hesitation would have vanished and his father's summons would have
+spurred him on to action; but who had been the heaviest sufferers here?
+Surely it was the Egyptians whom Moses' curse had robbed of thousands of
+beloved lives, while the Hebrews had escaped their revenge by flight.
+His wrath had been kindled by the destruction of the Hebrews' houses, but
+he saw no sufficient cause for a bloody revenge, when he remembered the
+unspeakable anguish inflicted upon Pharaoh and his subjects by the men of
+his own race.
+
+Nay; he had nothing to avenge; he seemed to himself like a man who
+beholds his father and mother in mortal peril, owns that he cannot save
+both, yet knows that while staking his life to rescue one he must leave
+the other to perish.  If he obeyed the summons of his people, he would
+lose his honor, which he had kept as untarnished as his brazen helm, and
+with it the highest goal of his life; if he remained loyal to Pharaoh and
+his oath, he must betray his own race, have all his future days darkened
+by his father's curse, and resign the brightest dream he cherished; for
+Miriam was a true child of her people and he would be blest indeed if her
+lofty soul could be as ardent in love as it was bitter in hate.
+
+Stately and beautiful, but with gloomy eyes and hand upraised in warning,
+her image rose before his mental vision as he sat gazing over the
+smouldering fire out into the darkness.  And now the pride of his manhood
+rebelled, and it seemed base cowardice to cast aside, from dread of a
+woman's wrath and censure, all that a warrior held most dear.
+
+"Nay, nay," he murmured, and the scale containing duty, love, and filial
+obedience suddenly kicked the beam.  He was what he was--the leader of
+ten thousand men in Pharaoh's army.  He had vowed fealty to him--and to
+none other.  Let his people fly from the Egyptian yoke, if they desired.
+He, Hosea, scorned flight.  Bondage had sorely oppressed them, but the
+highest in the land had received him as an equal and held him worthy of
+the loftiest honor.  To repay them with treachery and desertion was
+foreign to his nature and, drawing a long breath, he sprang to his feet
+with the conviction that he had chosen aright.  A fair woman and the weak
+yearning of a loving heart should not make him a recreant to grave duties
+and the loftiest purposes of his life.
+
+"I will stay!"  cried a loud voice in his breast.  "Father is wise and
+kind, and when he learns the reasons for my choice he will approve them
+and bless, instead of cursing me.  I will write to him, and the boy
+Miriam sent me shall be the messenger."
+
+A call from the tent startled him and when, springing up, he glanced at
+the stars, he found that he had forgotten his duty to the suffering lad
+and hurried to his couch.
+
+Ephraim was sitting up in his bed, watching for him, and exclaimed: "I
+have been waiting a long, long time to see you.  So many thoughts crowd
+my brain and, above all, Miriam's message.  I can get no rest until I
+have delivered it--so listen now."
+
+Hosea nodded assent and, after drinking the healing potion handed to him,
+Ephraim began:
+
+"Miriam the daughter of Amram and Jochebed greets the son of Nun the
+Ephraimite.  Thy name is Hosea, 'the Help,' and the Lord our God hath
+chosen thee to be the helper of His people.  But henceforward, by His
+command, thou shalt be called Joshua,--[Jehoshua, he who helps Jehova]--
+the help of Jehovah; for through Miriam's lips the God of her fathers,
+who is the God of thy fathers likewise, bids thee be the sword and
+buckler of thy people.  In Him dwells all power, and he promises to steel
+thine arm that He may smite the foe."
+
+Ephraim had begun in a low voice, but gradually his tones grew more
+resonant and the last words rang loudly and solemnly through the
+stillness of the night.
+
+Thus had Miriam uttered them, laying her hands on the lad's head and
+gazing earnestly into his face with eyes deep and dark as night, and
+while repeating them he had felt as though some secret power were
+constraining him to shout them aloud to Hosea, just as he had heard them
+from the lips of the prophetess.  Then, with a sigh of relief, he turned
+his face toward the canvas wall of the tent, saying quietly:
+
+"Now I will go to sleep."
+
+But Hosea laid his hand on his shoulder, exclaiming imperiously: "Say it
+again."
+
+The youth obeyed, but this time he repeated the words in a low, careless
+tone, then saying beseechingly:
+
+"Let me rest now," put his hand under his cheek and closed his eyes.
+
+Hosea let him have his way, carefully applied a fresh bandage to his
+burning head, extinguished the light, and flung more fuel on the
+smouldering fire outside; but the alert, resolute man performed every act
+as if in a dream.  At last he sat down, and propping his elbows on his
+knees and his head in his hands, stared alternately, now into vacancy,
+and anon into the flames.
+
+Who was this God who summoned him through Miriam's lips to be, under His
+guidance, the sword and shield of His people?
+
+He was to be known by a new name, and in the minds of the Egyptians the
+name was everything "Honor to the name of Pharaoh," not "Honor to
+Tharaoh" was spoken and written.  And if henceforward he was to be called
+Joshua, the behest involved casting aside his former self, and becoming a
+new man.
+
+The will of the God of his fathers announced to him by Miriam meant no
+less a thing than the command to transform himself from the Egyptian his
+life had made him, into the Hebrew he had been when a lad.  He must learn
+to act and feel like an Israelite!  Miriam's summons called him back to
+his people.  The God of his race, through her, commanded him to fulfil
+his father's expectations.  Instead of the Egyptian troops whom he must
+forsake, he was in future to lead the men of his own blood forth to
+battle!  This was the meaning of her bidding, and when the noble virgin
+and prophetess who addressed him, asserted that God Himself spoke through
+her lips, it was no idle boast, she was really obeying the will of the
+Most High.  And now the image of the woman whom he had ventured to love,
+rose in unapproachable majesty before him.  Many things which he had
+heard in his childhood concerning the God of Abraham, and His promises
+returned to his mind, and the scale which hitherto had been the heavier,
+rose higher and higher.  The resolve just matured, now seemed uncertain,
+and he again confronted the terrible conflict he had believed was
+overpast.
+
+How loud, how potent was the call he heard!  Ringing in his ears, it
+disturbed the clearness and serenity of his mind, and instead of calmly
+reflecting on the matter, memories of his boyhood, which he had imagined
+were buried long ago, raised their voices, and incoherent flashes of
+thought darted through his brain.
+
+Sometimes he felt impelled to turn in prayer to the God who summoned him,
+but whenever he attempted to calm himself and uplift his heart and eyes
+to Him, he remembered the oath he must break, the soldiers he must
+abandon to lead, instead of well-disciplined, brave, obedient bands of
+brothers-in-arms, a wretched rabble of cowardly slaves, and rude,
+obstinate shepherds, accustomed to the heavy yoke of bondage.
+
+The third hour after midnight had come, the guards had been relieved, and
+Hosea thought he might now permit himself a few hours repose.  He would
+think all these things over again by daylight with his usual clear
+judgment, which he strove in vain to obtain now.  But when he entered the
+tent and heard Ephraim's regular breathing, he fancied that the boy's
+solemn message was again echoing in his ears.  Startled, he was in the
+act of repeating it himself, when loud voices in violent altercation
+among the sentinels disturbed the stillness of the night.
+
+The interruption was welcome, and he hurried to the outposts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Hogla, the old slave's granddaughter, had come to beseech Hosea to go
+with her at once to her grandfather, who had suddenly broken down, and
+who feeling the approach of death could not perish without having once
+more seen and blessed him.
+
+The warrior told her to wait and, after assuring himself that Ephraim was
+sleeping quietly, ordered a trusty man to watch beside his bed and went
+away with Hogla.
+
+The girl walked before him, carrying a small lantern, and as its light
+fell on her face and figure, he saw how unlovely she was, for the hard
+toil of slavery had bowed the poor thing's back before its time.  Her
+voice had the harsh accents frequently heard in the tones of women whose
+strength has been pitilessly tasked; but her words were kind and tender,
+and Hosea forgot her appearance when she told him that her lover had gone
+with the departing tribes, yet she had remained with her grandparents
+because she could not bring herself to leave the old couple alone.
+Because she had no beauty no man had sought her for his wife till Assir
+came, who did not care for her looks because he toiled industriously,
+like herself, and expected her to add to his savings.  He would gladly
+have stayed with her, but his father had commanded him to go forth, so
+there was no choice for them save to obey and part forever.
+
+The words were simple and the accents harsh, yet they pierced the heart
+of the man who was preparing to follow his own path in opposition to his
+father's will.
+
+As they approached the harbor and Hosea saw the embankments, and the vast
+fortified storehouses built by his own people, he remembered the ragged
+laborers whom he had so often beheld crouching before the Egyptian
+overseers or fighting savagely among themselves.  He had heard, too,
+that they shrunk from no lies, no fraud to escape their toil, and how
+difficult was the task of compelling them to obey and fulfil their duty.
+
+The most repulsive forms among these luckless hordes rose distinctly
+before his vision, and the thought that it might henceforward be his
+destiny to command such a wretched rabble seemed to him ignominy which
+the lowest of his brave officers, the leader of but fifty men, would seek
+to avoid.  True, Pharaoh's armies contained many a Hebrew mercenary who
+had won renown for bravery and endurance; but these men were the sons of
+owners of herds or people who had once been shepherds.  The toiling
+slaves, whose clay huts could be upset by a kick, formed the majority of
+those to whom he was required to return.
+
+Resolute in his purpose to remain loyal to the oath which bound him to
+the Egyptian standard, yet moved to the very depths of his heart, he
+entered the slave's little hut, and his anger rose when he saw old Eliab
+sitting up, mixing some wine and water with his own hands.  So he had
+been summoned from his nephew's sick-bed, and robbed of his night's rest,
+on a false pretence, in order that a slave, in his eyes scarcely entitled
+to rank as a man, might have his way.  Here he himself experienced a
+specimen of the selfish craft of which the Egyptians accused his people,
+and which certainly did not attract him, Hosea, to them.  But the anger
+of the just, keen sighted-man quickly subsided at the sight of the girl's
+unfeigned joy in her grandfather's speedy recovery.  Besides he soon
+learned from the old man's aged wife that, shortly after Hogla's
+departure, she remembered the wine they had, and as soon as he swallowed
+the first draught her husband, whom she had believed had one foot in the
+grave, grew better and better.  Now he was mixing some more of God's gift
+to strengthen himself occasionally by a sip.
+
+Here Eliab interrupted her to say that they owed this and many more
+valuable things to the goodness of Nun, Hosea's father, who had given
+them, besides their little hut, wine, meal for bread, a milch cow, and
+also an ass, so that he could often ride out into the fresh air.  He had
+likewise left them their granddaughter and some pieces of silver, so that
+they could look forward without fear to the end of their days, especially
+as they had behind the house a bit of ground, where Hogla meant to raise
+radishes, onions, and leeks for their own table.  But the best gift of
+all was the written document making them and the girl free forever.  Ay,
+Nun was a true master and father to his people, and the blessing of
+Jehovah had followed his gifts; for soon after the departure of the
+Hebrews, he and his wife had been brought hither unmolested by the aid of
+Assir, Hogla's lover.
+
+"We old people shall die here," Eliab's wife added.  But Assir promised
+Hogla that he would come back for her when she had discharged her filial
+duties to the end.
+
+Then, turning to her granddaughter, she said encouragingly: "And we
+cannot live much longer now."
+
+Hogla raised her blue gown to wipe the tears from her eyes, exclaiming
+
+"May it be a long, long time yet.  I am young and can wait."
+
+Hosea heard the words, and again it seemed as though the poor, forsaken,
+unlovely girl was giving him a lesson.
+
+He had listened patiently to the freed slaves' talk, but his time was
+limited and he now asked whether Eliab had summoned him for any special
+purpose.
+
+"Ay," he replied; "I was obliged to send, not only to still the yearning
+of my old heart, but because my lord Nun commanded me to do so."
+
+"Thou hast attained a grand and noble manhood, and hast now become the
+hope of Israel.  Thy father promised the slaves and freedmen of his
+household that after his death, thou wouldst be heir, lord and master.
+His words were full of thy praise, and great rejoicing hailed his
+statement that thou wouldst follow the departing Hebrews.  And my lord
+deigned to command me to tell thee, if thou should'st return ere his
+messenger arrived, that Nun, thy father, expected his son.  Whithersoever
+thy nation may wander, thou art to follow.  Toward sunrise, or at latest
+by the noon-tide hour, the tribes will tarry to rest at Succoth.  He will
+conceal in the hollow sycamore that stands in front of Amminadab's house
+a letter which will inform thee whither they will next turn their steps.
+His blessing and that of our God will attend thy every step."
+
+As Eliab uttered the last words, Hosea bowed his head as if inviting
+invisible hands to be laid upon it.  Then he thanked the old man and
+asked, in subdued tones, whether all the Hebrews had willingly obeyed the
+summons to leave house and lands.
+
+His aged wife clasped her hands, exclaiming: "Oh no, my lord, certainly
+not.  What wailing and weeping filled the air before their departure!
+Many refused to go, others fled, or sought some hiding-place.  But all
+resistance was futile.  In the house of our neighbor Deuel--you know him
+--his young wife had just given birth to their first son.  How was she to
+fare on the journey?  She wept bitterly and her husband uttered fierce
+curses, but it was all in vain.  She was put in a cart with her babe, and
+as the arrangements went on, both submitted like all the rest--even
+Phineas who crept into a pigeon-house with his wife and five children,
+and crooked grave-haunting Kusaja.  Do you remember her?  Adonai!  She
+had seen father, mother, husband, and three noble sons, all that the Lord
+had given her to love, borne to the tomb.  They lay side by side in our
+burying ground, and every morning and evening she went there and, sitting
+on a log of wood which she had rolled close to the gravestones, moved her
+lips constantly, not in prayer--no, I have listened often when she did
+not know I was near--no; she talked to the dead, as though they could
+hear her in the sepulchre, and understand her words like those who walk
+alive beneath the sun.  She is near seventy, and for thrice seven years
+she has gone by the name of grave-haunting Kusaja.  It was in sooth a
+foolish thing to do; yet perhaps that was why she found it all the harder
+to give it up, and go she would not, but hid herself among the bushes.
+When Ahieser, the overseer, dragged her out, her wailing made one's heart
+sore, yet when the time for departure came, the longing to go seized upon
+her also, and she found it as hard to resist as the others."
+
+"What had happened to the poor creatures, what possessed them?"  asked
+Hosea, interrupting the old wife's speech; for in imagination he again
+beheld the people he must lead, if he valued his father's blessing as the
+most priceless boon the world could offer, and beheld them in all their
+wretchedness.
+
+The startled dame, fearing that she had offended her master's first-born
+son, the great and powerful chieftain, stammered:
+
+"What possessed them, my lord?  Ah, well--I am but a poor lowly slave-
+woman; yet, my lord, had you but seen it...."
+
+"Well, even then?"  interrupted the warrior in harsh, impatient tones,
+for this was the first time he had ever found himself compelled to act
+against his desires and belief.
+
+Eliab tried to come to the assistance of the terrified woman, saying
+timidly
+
+"Ah, my lord, no tongue can relate, no human mind can picture it.  It
+came from the Almighty and, if I could describe how great was its
+influence on the souls of the people......"
+
+"Try," Hosea broke in, "but my time is brief.  So they were compelled to
+depart, and set forth reluctantly on their wanderings.  Even the
+Egyptians have long known that they obeyed the bidding of Moses and Aaron
+as the sheep follow the shepherd.  Have those who brought the terrible
+pestilence on so many guiltless human beings also wrought the miracle of
+blinding the minds of you and of your wife?"
+
+The old man stretched out his hands to the soldier, and answered in a
+troubled voice and a tone of the most humble entreaty:
+
+"Oh, my lord, you are my master's first-born son, the greatest and
+loftiest of your race, if it is your pleasure you can trample me into the
+dust like a beetle, yet I must lift up my voice and say: 'You have heard
+false tales!'  You were away in foreign lands when mighty things were
+done in our midst, and far from Zoan,--[The Hebrew name for Tanis]--as I
+hear, when the exodus took place.  Any son of our people who witnessed it
+would rather his tongue should wither than mock at the marvels the Lord
+permitted him to behold.  Ah, if you had patience to suffer me to tell
+the tale.  .  .  ."
+
+"Speak on!" cried Hosea, astonished at the old man's solemn fervor.
+Eliab thanked him with an ardent glance, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, would that Aaron, or Eleasar, or my lord your father were here in my
+stead, or would that Jehovah would bestow on me the might of their
+eloquence!  But be it as it is!  True, I imagine I can again see and hear
+everything as though it were happening once more before my eyes, but how
+am I to describe it?  How can such things be given in words?  Yet, with
+God's assistance, I will try."
+
+Here he paused and Hosea, noticing that the old man's hands and lips were
+trembling, gave him the cup of wine, and Eliab gratefully quaffed it to
+the dregs.  Then, half-closing his eyes, he began his story and his
+wrinkled features grew sharper as he went on:
+
+"My wife has already told you what occurred after the people learned the
+command that had been issued.  We, too, were among those who lost courage
+and murmured.  But last night, all who belonged to the household of Nun--
+and also the shepherds, the slaves, and the poor--were summoned to a
+feast, and there was abundance of roast lamb, fresh, unleavened bread,
+and wine, more than usual at the harvest festival, which began that
+night, and which you, my lord, have often attended in your boyhood.  We
+sat rejoicing, and our lord, your father, comforted us, and told us of
+the God of our fathers and the wonders He had wrought for them.  It was
+now His will that we should go forth from this land where we had suffered
+contempt and bondage.  This was no sacrifice like that of Abraham when,
+at the command of the Most High, he had whetted his knife to shed the
+blood of his son Isaac, though it would be hard for many of us to quit a
+home that had grown dear to us and forego many a familiar custom.  But it
+will be a great happiness for us all.  For, he said, we were not to
+journey forth to an unknown country, but to a beautiful region which God
+Himself had set apart for us.  He had promised us, instead of this place
+of bondage, a new and delightful home where we should dwell free men,
+amid fruitful fields and rich pastures, which would supply food to every
+man and his family and make all hearts rejoice.  Just as laborers must
+work hard to earn high wages, we must endure a brief period of want and
+suffering to gain for ourselves and for our children the beautiful new
+home which the Lord had promised.  God's own land it must be, for it was
+a gift of the Most High.
+
+"Having spoken thus, he blessed us all and promised that thou, too,
+wouldst shake the dust from off thy feet, and join us to fight for our
+cause with a strong arm as a trained soldier and a dutiful son.
+
+"Shouts of joy rang forth and, when we assembled in the market-place and
+found that all the bondmen had escaped from the overseers, many gained
+fresh courage.  Then Aaron stepped into our midst, stood upon the
+auctioneer's bench, and told us with his own lips all that we had heard
+from my master Nun at the festival.  The words he uttered sounded
+sometimes like pealing thunder, and anon like the sweet melody of lutes,
+and every one felt that the Lord our God Himself was speaking through
+him; for even the most rebellious were so deeply moved that they no
+longer complained and murmured.  And when he finally announced to the
+throng that no erring mortal, but the Lord our God Himself would be our
+leader, and described the wonders of the land whose gates He would open
+unto us, and where we might live, trammelled by no bondage, as free and
+happy men, owing no obedience to any ruler save the God of our fathers
+and those whom we ourselves chose for our leaders, every man present felt
+as though he were drunk with sweet wine, and, instead of faring forth
+across a barren wilderness to an unknown goal, was on the way to a great
+festal banquet, prepared by the Most High Himself.  Even those who had
+not heard Aaron's words were inspired with wondrous faith; men and women
+behaved even more joyously and noisily than usual at the harvest
+festival, for every heart was overflowing with genuine gratitude.
+
+"The old people caught the universal spirit!  Your grandfather Elishama,
+bowed by the weight of his hundred years, who, as you know, has long sat
+bent and silent in his corner, straightened his drooping form, and with
+sparkling eyes poured forth a flood of eloquent words.  The spirit of the
+Lord had descended upon him and upon us all.  I myself felt as though the
+vigor of youth had returned to mind and body, and when I passed the
+throngs who were preparing to set forth, I saw the young mother Elisheba
+in her litter.  Her face was as radiant as on her marriage morn, and she
+was pressing her nursling to her breast, and rejoicing over his happy
+fate in growing up in freedom in the Promised Land.  Her spouse, Deuel,
+who had poured forth such bitter imprecations, now waved his staff,
+kissed his wife and child with tears of joy, and shouted with delight
+like a vintager at the harvest season, when jars and wine skins are too
+few to hold the blessing.  Old grave-haunting Kusaja, who had been
+dragged away from the sepulchre of her kindred, was sitting in a cart
+with other infirm folk, waving her veil and joining in the hymn of praise
+Elkanah and Abiasaph, the sons of Korah, had begun.  So they went forth;
+we who were left behind fell into each other's arms, uncertain whether
+the tears we shed streamed from our eyes for grief or for sheer joy at
+seeing the throng of our loved ones so full of hope and gladness.
+
+"So it came to pass.
+
+"As soon as the pitch torches borne at the head of the procession, which
+seemed to me to shine more brightly than the lamps lighted by the
+Egyptians on the gates of the temple of the great goddess Neith, had
+vanished in the darkness, we set out, that we might not delay Assir too
+long, and while passing through the streets, which resounded with the
+wailing of the citizens, we softly sang the hymn of the sons of Korah,
+and great joy and peace filled our hearts, for we knew that the Lord our
+God would defend and guide His people."
+
+The old man paused, but his wife and Hogla, who had listened with
+sparkling eyes, leaned one on the other and, without any prompting, began
+the hymn of praise of the sons of Korah, the old woman's faint voice
+mingling with touching fervor with the tones of the girl, whose harsh
+notes thrilled with the loftiest enthusiasm.
+
+Hosea felt that it would be criminal to interrupt the outpouring of these
+earnest hearts, but Eliab soon stopped them and gazed with evident
+anxiety into the stern face of his lord's first-born son.
+
+Had Hosea understood him?
+
+Did this warrior, who served under Pharaoh's banner, realize how entirely
+the Lord God Himself had ruled the souls of his people at their
+departure.
+
+Had the life among the Egyptians so estranged him from his people and his
+God, rendered him so degenerate, that he would bid defiance to the wishes
+and commands of his own father?
+
+Was the man on whom the Hebrews' highest hopes were fixed a renegade,
+forever lost to his people?
+
+He received no verbal answer to these mute questions, but when Hosea
+grasped his callous right hand in both his own and pressed it as he would
+have clasped a friend's, when he bade him farewell with tearful eyes,
+murmuring: "You shall hear from me!" he felt that he knew enough and,
+overwhelmed with passionate delight, he pressed kiss after kiss upon the
+warrior's arms and clothing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Hosea returned to the camp with drooping head.  The conflict in his soul
+was at an end.  He now knew what duty required.  He must obey his
+father's summons.
+
+And the God of his race!
+
+The old man's tale had given new life to the memories of his childhood,
+and he now knew that He was not the same God as the Seth of the Asiatics
+in Lower Egypt, nor the "One" and the "Sum of All" of the adepts.
+
+The prayers he had uttered ere he fell asleep, the history of the
+creation of the world, which he could never hear sufficiently often,
+because it showed so clearly the gradual development of everything on
+earth and in heaven until man came to possess and enjoy all, the story of
+Abraham and Isaac, of Jacob, Esau, and his own ancestor, Joseph--how
+gladly he had listened to these tales as they fell from the lips of the
+gentle woman who had given him life, and from those of his nurse, and his
+grandfather Elishama.  Yet he imagined that they had faded from his
+memory long ago.
+
+But in old Eliab's hovel he could have repeated the stories word for
+word, and he now knew that there was indeed one invisible, omnipotent
+God, who had preferred his race above all others, and had promised to
+make them a mighty people.
+
+The truths concealed by the Egyptians under the greatest mystery were the
+common property of his race.  Every beggar, every slave might raise his
+hands in supplication to the one invisible God who had revealed Himself
+unto Abraham.
+
+Shrewd Egyptians, who had divined His existence and shrouded His image
+with monstrous shapes, born of their own thoughts and imaginations, had
+drawn a thick veil over Him, hidden Him from the masses.  Among the
+Hebrews alone did He really live and display His power in all its mighty,
+heart-stirring grandeur.
+
+He was not nature, with whom the initiated in the temples confounded Him.
+No, the God of his fathers was far above all created things and the whole
+visible universe, far above man, His last, most perfect work, whom He had
+formed in His own image; and every living creature was subject to His
+will.  The Mightiest of Kings, He ruled the universe with stern justice,
+and though He withdrew Himself from the sight and understanding of man,
+His image, He was nevertheless a living, thinking, moving Being, though
+His span of existence was eternity, His mind omniscience, His sphere of
+sovereignty infinitude.
+
+And this God had made Himself the leader of His people!  There was no
+warrior who could venture to cope with His might.  If the spirit of
+prophecy had not deceived Miriam, and the Lord had indeed commanded
+Hosea to wield His sword, how dared he resist, what higher position
+could earth offer?  And his people?  The rabble of whom he had thought
+so scornfully, what a transformation seemed to have been wrought in them
+by the power of the Most High, since he had listened to old Eliab's tale!
+Now he longed to be their leader, and midway to the camp he paused on
+a sand-hill, whence he could see the limitless expanse of the sea
+shimmering under the sheen of the twinkling stars of heaven, and for the
+first time in many a long, long year, he raised his arms and eyes to the
+God whom he had found once more.
+
+He began with a little prayer his mother had taught him; then he cried
+out to the Almighty as to a powerful counselor, imploring him with
+fervent zeal to point out the way in which he should walk without being
+disobedient to Him or to his father, or breaking the oath he had sworn to
+Pharaoh and becoming a dishonored man in the eyes of those to whom he
+owed so great a debt of gratitude.
+
+"Thy chosen people praise Thee as the God of Truth, Who dost punish those
+who forswear their oaths," he prayed.  "How canst Thou command me to be
+faithless and break the vow that I have made.  Whatever I am, whatever I
+may accomplish, belongs to Thee, Oh Mighty Lord, and I am ready to devote
+my blood, my life to my people.  But rather than render me a dishonored
+and perjured man, take me away from earth and commit the work which Thou
+hast chosen Thy servant to perform, to the hands of one who is bound by
+no solemn oath."
+
+So he prayed, and it seemed as if he clasped in his embrace a long-lost
+friend.  Then he walked on in silence through the vanishing dusk, and
+when the first grey light of morning dawned, the flood of feeling ebbed,
+and the clear-headed warrior regained his calmness of thought.
+
+He had vowed to do nothing against the will of his father or his God, but
+he was no less firmly resolved to be neither perjurer nor renegade.  His
+duty was clear and plain.  He must leave Pharaoh's service, first telling
+his superiors that, as a dutiful son, he must obey his father's commands,
+and share his fate and that of his people.
+
+Yet he did not conceal from himself that his request might be refused,
+that he might be detained by force, nay, perchance, if he insisted on
+carrying out his purpose with unshaken will, he might be menaced with
+death, or if the worst should come, even delivered over to the
+executioner.  But if this should be his doom, if his purpose cost him his
+life, he would still have done what was right, and his comrades, whose
+esteem he valued, could still think of him as a brave brother-in-arms.
+Nor would his father and Miriam be angry with him, nay, they would mourn
+the faithful son, the upright man, who chose death rather than dishonor.
+
+Calm and resolute, he gave the pass-word with haughty bearing to the
+sentinel and entered his tent.  Ephraim was still lying on his couch,
+smiling as if under the thrall of pleasant dreams.  Hosea threw himself
+on a mat beside him to seek strength for the hard duties of the coming
+day.  Soon his eyes closed, too, and, after an hour's sound sleep, he
+woke without being roused and called for his holiday attire, his helmet,
+and the gilt coat-of-mail he wore at great festivals or in the presence
+of Egypt's king.
+
+Meantime Ephraim, too, awoke, looked with mingled curiosity and delight
+at his uncle, who stood before him in all the splendor of his manhood and
+glittering panoply of war, and exclaimed:
+
+"It must be a proud feeling to wear such garments and lead thousands to
+battle."
+
+Hosea shrugged his shoulders and replied:
+
+"Obey thy God, give no man, from the loftiest to the lowliest, a right to
+regard you save with respect, and you can hold your head as high as the
+proudest warrior who ever wore purple robe and golden armor."
+
+"But you have done great deeds among the Egyptians," Ephraim continued.
+"They hold you in high regard; even captain Homecht and his daughter,
+Kasana."
+
+"Do they?"  asked the soldier smiling, and then bid his nephew keep
+quiet; for his brow, though less fevered than the night before, was still
+burning.
+
+"Don't go into the open air until the leech has seen you," Hosea added,
+"and wait here till my return."
+
+"Shall you be absent long?"  asked the lad.
+
+Hosea paused for a moment, lost in thought then, with a kindly glance at
+him answered, gravely "Whoever serves a master knows not how long he may
+be detained."  Then, changing his tone, he continued less earnestly.
+"To-day--this morning--perchance I may finish my business speedily and
+return in a few hours.  If not, if I do not come back to you this evening
+or early to-morrow morning, then......"  he laid his hand on the lad's
+shoulder as he spoke "then go home at your utmost speed.  When you reach
+Succoth, if the people have gone before your coming, you will find in the
+hollow sycamore before Amminadab's house a letter which will tell you
+whither they have turned their steps.  When you overtake them, give my
+greetings to my father, to my grandfather Elishama, and to Miriam.  Tell
+them that Hosea will be mindful of the commands of his God and of his
+father.  In future he will call himself Joshua--Joshua, do you hear?
+Tell this to  Miriam first.  Finally, tell them that if I remain behind
+and am not suffered to follow them, as I would like to, that the Most
+High has made a different disposal of His servant and has broken the
+sword which He had chosen, ere He used it.  Do you understand me, boy?"
+
+Ephraim nodded, and answered:
+
+"You mean that death alone can stay you from obeying the summons of God,
+and your father's command."
+
+"Ay, that  was  my meaning," replied the chief.  "If they ask why I did
+not slip away from Pharaoh and escape his power, say that Hosea desired
+to enter on his new office as a true man, unstained by perjury or, if it
+is the will of God, to die one.  Now repeat the message."
+
+Ephraim obeyed; his uncle's remarks must have sunk deep into his soul;
+for he neither forgot nor altered a single word.  But scarcely had he
+performed the task of repetition when, with impetuous earnestness, he
+grasped Hosea's hand and besought him to tell him whether he had any
+cause to fear for his life.
+
+The warrior clasped him affectionately in his arms and answered that he
+hoped he had entrusted this message to him only to have it forgotten.
+"Perhaps," he added, "they will strive to keep me by force, but by God's
+help I shall soon be with you again, and we will ride to Succoth
+together."
+
+With these words he hurried out, unheeding the questions his nephew
+called after him; for he had heard the rattle of wheels outside.  Two
+chariots, drawn by mettled steeds, rapidly approached the tent and
+stopped directly before the entrance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The men who stepped from the chariots were old acquaintances of Hosea.
+They were the head chamberlain and one of the king's chief scribes, come
+to summon him to the Sublime Porte.
+
+     [Palace of the king.  The name of Pharaoh means "the Sublime
+     Porte."]
+
+No hesitation nor escape was possible, and Hosea, feeling more surprise
+than anxiety, entered the second chariot with the chief scribe.  Both
+officials wore mourning robes, and instead of the white ostrich plume,
+the insignia of office, black ones waved over the temples of both.  The
+horses and runners of the two-wheeled chariots were also decked with all
+the emblems of the deepest woe.  And yet the monarch's messengers seemed
+cheerful rather than depressed; for the eagle they were to bear to
+Pharaoh was ready to obey his behest, and they had feared that they would
+find his eyrie abandoned.
+
+Swift as the wind the long-limbed bays of royal breed bore the light
+vehicles over the uneven sandy road and the smooth highway toward the
+palace.
+
+Ephraim, with the curiosity of youth, had gone out of the tent to view a
+scene so novel to his eyes.  The soldiers were pleased by the Pharaoh's
+sending his own carriage for their commander, and the lad's vanity was
+flattered to see his uncle drive away in such state.  But he was not
+permitted the pleasure of watching him long; dense clouds of dust soon
+hid the vehicles.
+
+The scorching desert wind which, during the Spring months, so often blows
+through the valley of the Nile, had risen, and though the bright blue sky
+which had been visible by night and day was still cloudless, it was
+veiled by a whitish mist.
+
+The sun, a motionless ball, glared down on the heads of men like a blind
+man's eye.  The burning heat it diffused seemed to have consumed its
+rays, which to-day were invisible.  The eye protected by the mist could
+gaze at it undazzled, yet its scorching power was undiminished.  The
+light breeze, which usually fanned the brow in the morning, touched it
+now like the hot breath of a ravening beast of prey.  Loaded with the
+fine scorching sand borne from the desert, it transformed the pleasure of
+breathing into a painful torture.  The air of an Egyptian March morning,
+which was wont to be so balmy, now oppressed both man and beast, choking
+their lungs and seeming to weigh upon them like a burden destroying all
+joy in life.
+
+The higher the pale rayless globe mounted into the sky, the greyer became
+the fog, the more densely and swiftly blew the sand-clouds from the
+desert.
+
+Ephraim was still standing in front of the tent, gazing at the spot where
+Pharaoh's chariots had disappeared.  His knees trembled, but he
+attributed it to the wind sent by Seth-Typhon, at whose blowing even the
+strongest felt an invisible burden clinging to their feet.
+
+Hosea had gone, but he might come back in a few hours, then he, Ephraim,
+would be obliged to go with him to Succoth, and the bright dreams and
+hopes which yesterday had bestowed and whose magical charms were
+heightened by his fevered brain, would be lost to him forever.
+
+During the night he had firmly resolved to enter Pharaoh's army, that he
+might remain near Tanis and Kasana; but though he had only half
+comprehended Hosea's message, he could plainly discern that he intended
+to turn his back upon Egypt and his high position and meant to take
+Ephraim with him, should he make his escape.  So he must renounce his
+longing to see Kasana once more.  But this thought was unbearable and
+an inward voice whispered that, having neither father nor mother, he was
+free to act according to his own will.  His guardian, his dead father's
+brother, in whose household he had grown up, had died not long before,
+and no new guardian had been named because the lad was now past
+childhood.  He was destined at some future day to be one of the chiefs of
+his proud tribe and until yesterday he had desired no better fate.
+
+He had obeyed the impulse of his heart when, with the pride of a shepherd
+prince, he had refused the priest's suggestion that he should become one
+of Pharaoh's soldiers, but he now told himself that he had been childish
+and foolish to reject a thing of which he was ignorant, nay, which had
+ever been intentionally represented to him in a false and hateful light
+in order to bind him more firmly to his own people.
+
+The Egyptians had always been described as detestable enemies and
+oppressors, yet how enchanting everything seemed in the house of the
+first Egyptian warrior he had entered.
+
+And Kasana!
+
+What must she think of him, if he left Tanis without a word of greeting,
+of farewell.  Must it not grieve and wound him to remain in her memory a
+clumsy peasant shepherd?  Nay, it would be positively dishonest not to
+return the costly raiment she had lent him.  Gratitude was reckoned among
+the Hebrews also as the first duty of noble hearts.  He would be worthy
+of hate his whole life long, if he did not seek her once more!
+
+But there was need of haste.  When Hosea returned, he must find him ready
+for departure.
+
+He at once began to bind his sandals on his feet, but he did it slowly,
+and could not understand why the task seemed so hard to-day.
+
+He passed through the camp unmolested.  The pylons and obelisks before
+the temples, which appeared to quiver in the heated air, marked the
+direction he was to pursue, and he soon reached the broad road which led
+to the market-place--a panting merchant whose ass was bearing skins of
+wine to the troops, told him the way.
+
+Dense clouds of dust lay on the road and whirled around him, the sun beat
+fiercely down on his bare head, his wound began to ache again, the fine
+sand which filled the air entered his eyes and mouth and stung his face
+and bare limbs like burning needles.  He was tortured by thirst and was
+often compelled to stop, his feet grew so heavy.  At last he reached a
+well dug for travelers by a pious Egyptian, and though it was adorned
+with the image of a god and Miriam had taught him that this was an
+abomination from which he should turn aside, he drank again and again,
+thinking he had never tasted aught so refreshing.
+
+The fear of losing consciousness, as he had done the day before, passed
+away and, though his feet were still heavy, he walked rapidly toward the
+alluring goal.  But soon his strength again deserted him, the sweat
+poured from his brow, his wound began to throb and beat, and he felt as
+though his skull was compressed by an iron circle.  His keen eyes, too,
+failed, for the objects he tried to see blended with the dust of the
+road, the horizon reeled up and down before his eyes, and he felt as
+though the hard pavement had turned to a yielding bog under his feet.
+
+Yet he took little heed of all these things, for never before had such
+bright visions filled his mind.  His thoughts grew marvellously vivid,
+and image after image rose before the wide eyes of his soul, not at his
+own behest, but as if summoned by a secret will outside of his
+consciousness.  Now he fancied that he was lying at Kasana's feet,
+resting his head on her lap while he gazed upward into her lovely face--
+anon he saw Hosea standing before him in his glittering armor, as he had
+beheld him a short time ago, only his garb was still more gorgeous and,
+instead of the dim light in the tent, a ruddy glow like that of fire
+surrounded him.  Then the finest oxen and rams in his herds passed before
+him and sentences from the messages he had learned darted through his
+mind; nay he sometimes imagined that they were being shouted to him
+aloud.  But ere he could grasp their import, some new dazzling vision or
+loud rushing noise seemed to fill his mental eye and ear.
+
+He pressed onward, staggering like a drunken man, with drops of sweat
+standing on his brow and with parched mouth.  Sometimes he unconsciously
+raised his hand to wipe the dust from his burning eyes, but he cared
+little that he saw very indistinctly what was passing around him, for
+there could be nothing more beautiful than what he beheld with his inward
+vision.
+
+True, he was often aware that he was suffering intensely, and he longed
+to throw himself exhausted on the ground, but a strange sense of
+happiness sustained him.  At last he was seized with the delusion that
+his head was swelling and growing till it attained the size of the head
+of the colossus he had seen the day before in front of a temple gate,
+then it rose to the height of the palm-trees by the road-side, and
+finally it reached the mist shrouding the firmament, then far above it.
+Then it suddenly seemed as though this head of his was as large as the
+whole world, and he pressed his hands on his temples to clasp his brow;
+for his neck and shoulders were too weak to support the weight of so
+enormous a head and, mastered by this strange delusion, he shrieked
+aloud, his shaking knees gave way, and he fell unconscious in the dust.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Hate, though never sated, can yet be gratified
+Omnipotent God, who had preferred his race above all others
+When hate and revenge speak, gratitude shrinks timidly
+Who can prop another's house when his own is falling
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSHUA, BY GEORG EBERS, VOLUME 1 ***
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