. A kingdom
for a draught of water! And now for our wounded friends. Asriel, do you
marshal the camp. It is the Sabbath eve.[62] Time presses.'

The dead were plundered, and thrown into the river, the encampment of
the Hebrews completed. Alroy, with his principal officers, visited the
wounded, and praised the valiant. The bustle which always succeeds a
victory was increased in the present instance by the anxiety of the army
to observe with grateful strictness the impending Sabbath.

When the sun set, the Sabbath was to commence. The undulating horizon
rendered it difficult to ascertain the precise moment of the setting.
The crimson orb sunk behind the purple mountains, the sky was flushed
with a rich and rosy glow. Then might be perceived the zealots, proud in
their Talmudical lore, holding a skein of white silk in their hands,
and announcing the approach of the Sabbath by their observation of
its shifting tints. While the skein was yet golden, the forge of the
armourer still sounded, the fire of the cook still blazed, still the
cavalry led their steeds to the river, and still the busy footmen braced
up their tents and hammered at their palisades. The skein of silk became
rosy, the armourer worked with renewed energy, the cook puffed with
increased zeal, the horsemen scampered from the river, the footmen cast
an anxious glance at the fading twilight.

The skein of silk became blue; a dim, dull, sepulchral, leaden tinge
fell over its purity. The hum of gnats arose, the bat flew in circling
whirls over the tents, horns sounded from all quarters, the sun had set,
the Sabbath had commenced. 'The forge was mute, the fire extinguished,
the prance of horses and the bustle of men in a moment ceased. A deep, a
sudden, an all-pervading stillness dropped over that mighty host. It
was night; the sacred lamp of the Sabbath sparkled in every tent of the
camp, which vied in silence and in brilliancy with the mute and glowing
heavens.

Morn came; the warriors assembled around the altar and the sacrifice.
The high priest and his attendant Levites proclaimed the unity and the
omnipotence of the God of Israel, and the sympathetic responses of his
conquering and chosen people reechoed over the plain. They retired
again to their tents, to listen to the expounding of the law; even
the distance of a Sabbath walk was not to exceed that space which
lies between Jerusalem and the Mourft of Olives. This was the distance
between the temple and