from the Egyptians, dragging
the enormous baggage of a nation which is suddenly migrating. The human
eye could see neither the head nor the tail of the column, which
disappeared on either horizon in a cloud of dust. If any one had sat
down by the roadside to see pass the whole procession, he would have
seen the sun rise and set more than once. Men came and came and came
always. The sacrifice to the Lord was a vain pretext; Israel was leaving
the land of Egypt forever, and the mummy of Yusouf, in its painted and
gilded case, was carried along on the shoulders of bearers who were
relieved at regular intervals.

So the Pharaoh became very wroth indeed, and resolved to pursue the
fleeing Hebrews. He ordered six hundred war chariots to be prepared,
called together his commanders, bound around his body his broad
crocodile-leather belt, filled the two quivers in his car with arrows
and javelins, drew on his wrist his brazen bracelet which deadens the
vibration of the cord, and started, followed by a nation of soldiers.
Furious and formidable, he urged his horses to their topmost speed, and
behind him the six hundred chariots sounded with the noise of brass like
earthly thunder. The foot-soldiers hastened on, but they were unable to
keep up with his impetuous speed.

Often the Pharaoh was obliged to stop and await the rest of his army.
During these halts he struck with his fist the edge of his chariot,
stamped with impatience, and ground his teeth. He bent towards the
horizon, seeking to perceive, behind the sand whirled by the wind, the
fleeing tribes of the Hebrews, and raged at the thought that every hour
increased the interval which separated them. Had not his officers held
him back, he would have driven straight before him at the risk of
finding himself single-handed against a whole people.

They were no longer traversing the green valley of Egypt, but plains
varied with many changing hills and barred with undulations like the
surface of the sea; the framework of the land was visible through the
thin soil. Jagged rocks, broken into all sorts of shapes, as if giant
animals had trampled them under foot when the earth was still in a
condition of mud, on the day when it emerged from chaos, broke the
stretches here and there, and relieved from time to time by their
abrupt breaks the flat horizon-line which merged into that of the sky in
a zone of reddish mist. At vast distances grew palm trees, outspreading
their dusty leave