"

"We have but sojourned here a night. The journey's end is farther on."

"Israel hath made a long night of the sojourn," he rejoined laughingly.

"Nay," she answered. "Thou hast not said aright. It is Egypt that
hath made a long night of our sojourn."

There was a silence in which Kenkenes felt accused and uncomfortable.
It would require little to make harsh the temper of the talk. It lay
with him, one of the race of offenders, to make amends.

"It is for me to admit Egypt's sin and ask a truce," he said gently.
"So be thou generous to me, since it is I who am abashed in her stead."

Again there was silence, broken at last by the Israelite in a voice
grown wondrously contrite.

"I do not reproach thee. Nor, indeed, is all Egypt at fault. The sin
lies with the Pharaohs."

"Ah! the gods forbid!" he protested. "Lay it on the shoulders of
babes, if thou wilt, but I am party to treason if I but give ear to a
rebuke of the monarch."

"I am not ignorant of the law. I shall spare thee, but I have
purchased my right to condemn the king."

"Thou indomitable! And I accused thee of fear. I retract. But tell
me--what is the journey's end? Is it the ultimate goal of all flesh?"

"Not so," she answered proudly. "It is Israel's inheritance promised
for four hundred years. The time is ripe for possession. We go
forward to enter into a land of our own."

"Thou givest me news. Come, be the Hebrews' historian and enlighten
me. Where lies the land?"

Rachel hesitated. To her it was a serious problem to decide whether
the lightness of the sculptor's tone were mockery or good fellowship.
Kenkenes noted her silence and spoke again.

"Perchance I ask after a hieratic secret. If so, forgive the blunder."

"Nay," she replied at once. "It is no secret. All Egypt will know of
it ere long. God hath prepared us a land wherein we may dwell under no
master but Jehovah. We go hence shortly to enter it. The captain of
Israel will lead us thither and Jehovah will show him the way. Abraham
was informed that it was a wondrous land wherein the olive and the
grape will crown the hills; the corn will fill the valleys; the cattle
and sheep, the pasture lands. There will be many rivers instead of one
and the desert will lie afar off from its confines. The sun will shine
and the rain will fall and the winds will blow as man needeth them, and
there will be no slavery and no heavy life therein. The land shall be
Israe