n spoke to them, and they believed his words, and the signs that
Moses showed them.

Afterward, they went to Pharoah and gave him the message of the Lord,
and Pharoah said:

"I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."

And he began to oppress the Israelites more than he had ever done
before. They made bricks of clay mixed with straw, that hardened in
the sun, and were as lasting as stone, but he forced them to find the
straw wherever they could, and make as many bricks as before. This
they did until no more straw could be found, and their Egyptian masters
beat them cruelly because they failed to make the full number of
bricks. Then they turned upon Moses and Aaron and said, that they had
put a sword in the king's hand to slay them.

Where could Moses turn except to the Lord who had sent him? The Lord
heard him and made to him again the great promise, as he did at the
burning bush, and Moses told the people, but they could not believe it,
for they were crushed under their cruel burdens.

And now the Lord sent Moses and Aaron again to Pharoah, to show by sign
and miracle, that their message was from Him. They took the rod that
Moses brought from Mount Horeb, and Moses told Aaron to cast it down
before the king, and it became a serpent. Pharoah called his wise men
and wizards, and they did the same, only Aaron's rod swallowed up their
rods, and Pharoah would not listen to their words.

[Illustration: The rod that troubled Egypt]

But in the morning when Pharoah walked by the river the two men stood
by him and said again:

The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee saying:

"Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness," and then
Aaron struck the waters of the river Nile with his rod, and the waters
turned to blood.

In all the land, in every stream and pond there was blood, so that the
fishes died and no one could drink the water.

But because the wizards could turn water to blood also, Pharoah's heart
was hardened toward Moses and Aaron.

While the people were digging wells for water, Aaron stretched forth
his rod over the river again, and frogs came up from it, and spread
over all the land and filled the houses of the people. This also the
magicians did, but so great was the plague that the king said:

"I will let the people go."

"When shall I entreat for thee and for thy people to destroy the frogs
from thee and thy houses?" said Moses; and Pharoah told him to do so