e wise men, for he had a secret plan. They
came in their best robes, hoping perhaps, to find the newly born King
in the beautiful palace of Herod on Mount Zion, but they found only the
gloomy old King Herod waiting for them. He asked them when they first
saw the Star, and when they had told him, he sent them to Bethlehem and
said,

"Go and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found
him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also."

They were very glad to hear about Bethlehem, and as they came down the
marble steps of Herod's palace it was evening, and there, low down
before them in the sky was the Star! They went out through the
Bethlehem gate toward the south, and followed the Star again over the
hills until the white walls of Bethlehem shown in the moonlight before
them, and they saw the Star standing still and shining down upon a
little house within the walls. Then they rejoiced with exceeding great
joy, for they had come to the end of their long journey, and they had
found the King! When they came to the house where Mary and Joseph were
staying they told their servants to unpack the presents of gold, and
frankincense, and myrrh, and they went in. Then they found the lovely
young mother and the Holy Child, and they fell down before Him and
offered their gifts.

They did not go away at once. They slept in Bethlehem that night, and
the Lord showed them in a dream that they must not go back to tell King
Herod that they had found the Christ. They told Joseph of their dream,
and went away by another road that led past Hebron to their own country.

CHAPTER III.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

It seems very strange that in a few hours after the wise men had gone
over the hills to their own country, that Mary and Joseph and the Holy
Child should be swiftly following the same road. The night after the
wise men had been warned in a dream to go to their own country, Joseph
was warned also in a dream to take the young Child and His mother and
go into Egypt. He was told to stay until he had orders to return, for
Herod would seek to take the Child's life. Their flight was in the
night, and Mary's heart beat fast as she held her baby close and rode
down the steep path from Bethlehem with Joseph walking beside her.
They did not rest until they were far on their way. It was nearly a
week before they reached the river that was the border of Egypt, but
when they crossed it King Herod'