as at hand to explain them and no delay was permitted! He scarcely
had time for recollection and expectation.

Finally, the last gate was unlocked, and the ramparts and moats lay
behind him.

Thus far the wind had kept back the rain, and only scattered drops
lashed the riders' faces; but as soon as they entered the open country,
it seemed as though the pent-up floods burst the barriers which retained
them above, and a torrent of water such as only those dry regions know
rushed, not in straight or slanting lines, but in thick streams, whirled
by the hurricane, upon the marshy land which stretched from Pelusium to
Tennis, and on the horsemen.

The road led along a dike raised above fields which, at this season of
the year, were under water, and Hermon's companion knew it well.

For a time both riders allowed themselves to be drenched in silence.
The water ran down upon them from their broad-brimmed hats, and their
dripping horses trotted with drooping heads and steaming flanks one
behind the other until, at the very brick-kiln where Ledscha had
recalled her widowed sister's unruly slaves to obedience, the guide
stopped with an oath, and pointed to the water which had risen to the
top of the dam, and in some places concealed the road from their eyes.

Now it was no longer possible to trot, for the guide was obliged to seek
the traces of the dike with great caution. Meanwhile the force of the
pouring rain by no means lessened--nay, it even seemed to increase--and
the horses were already wading in water up to their fetlocks.

But if the votive stones, the little altars and statues of the gods, the
bushes and single trees along the sides of the dike road were overflowed
while the travellers were in the region of the marsh, they would be
obliged to interrupt their journey, for the danger of sinking into the
morass with their horses would then threaten them.

Even at the brick-kiln travellers, soldiers, and trains of merchandise
had stopped to wait for the end of the cloud-burst.

In front of the farmhouse, too, which Hermon and his companion next
reached, they saw dozens of people seeking shelter, and the Midianite
urged his master to join them for a short time at least. The wisest
course here was probably to yield, and Hermon was already turning his
horse's head toward the house when a Greek messenger dashed past the
beckoning refuge and also by him.

"Do you dare to ride farther?" the artist shouted in a tone of war