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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5467.txt b/5467.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..390b10e --- /dev/null +++ b/5467.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2583 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Joshua, by Georg Ebers, Volume 1. +#29 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +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] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** 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 *** + +***********This file should be named 5467.txt or 5467.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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