who was pacing to and fro above their heads
began a conversation with the man who came to relieve him, Joshua cleared
his throat and, holding his breath, listened with a throbbing heart for
some sound in the direction of the chasm.

He first heard a faint scraping and, by the light of the fire which the
guards kept on the hill-top as a protection against wild beasts, he saw
Ephraim's empty couch.

He uttered a sigh of relief; for the youth must have entered the ravine.
But though he strained his ears to follow the crawling or sliding of the
fugitive he heard nothing save the footsteps and voices of the warders.

Yet he caught only the sound, not the meaning of their words, so intently
did he fix his powers of hearing upon the course taken by the fugitive.
How nimbly and cautiously the agile fellow must move! He was still in the
chasm, yet meanwhile the moon struggled victoriously with the clouds and
suddenly her silver disk pierced the heavy black curtain that concealed
her from the gaze of men, and her light was reflected like a slender,
glittering pillar from the motionless pool of salt-water, enabling the
watching Joshua to see what was passing below; but he perceived nothing
that resembled a human form.

Had the fugitive encountered any obstacle in the chasm? Did some
precipice or abyss hold him in its gloomy depths? Had--and at the thought
he fancied that his heart had stopped beating--Had some gulf swallowed
the lad when he was groping his way through the night?

How he longed for some noise, even the faintest, from the ravine! The
silence was terrible. But now! Oh, would that it had continued! Now the
sound of falling stones and the crash of earth sliding after echoed
loudly through the still night air. Again the moonlight burst through the
cloud-curtain, and Joshua perceived near the pool a living creature which
resembled an animal more than a human being, for it seemed to be crawling
on four feet. Now the water sent up a shower of glittering spray. The
figure below had leaped into the pool. Then the clouds again swallowed
the lamp of night, and darkness covered everything.

With a sigh of relief Joshua told himself that he had seen the flying
Ephraim and that, come what might, the escaping youth had gained a
considerable start of his pursuers.

But the latter neither remained inert nor allowed themselves to be
deceived; for though, to mislead them, he had shouted loudly: "A jackal!"
they uttered a long,