ct but little rest."

The fight was not renewed until evening, when, just as darkness fell,
a large number of the Egyptians again ascended the rock. As before,
the Rebu poured missiles down upon them; but this time only a
sufficient number had climbed up to be able to stand along close to
the foot of the wall, where they were to a great extent sheltered from
the missiles from above. The night was a dark one, and all night long
the Rebu continued to shower down missiles upon their invisible foe,
of whose continued presence they were assured by the sounds which from
time to time were heard.

When daylight enabled the defenders to see what was going on at the
foot of their walls they raised a shout of surprise and dismay. During
the night the Egyptians had hoisted up by ropes a quantity of the
timber brought with them for the construction of shelters for those
who were engaged on siege operations. The timbers were all cut and
prepared for fitting together, and were easily jointed even in the
dark. Thus, then, when the besiegers looked over, they saw forty or
fifty of these shelters erected against the foot of their walls. They
were so formed that they sloped down like a pent-house and were
thickly covered with hides.

The besieged soon found that so solid were these constructions that
the beams and great stones which they dropped upon them simply bounded
off and leaped down into the plain. Ladders fastened together had been
fixed by the Egyptians from each of these shelters to the plain below,
so that the men at work could be relieved or reinforced as the
occasion required.

In vain the besieged showered down missiles, in vain poured over the
caldrons of boiling oil they had prepared in readiness. The strength
of the beams defied the first; the hides lapping over each other
prevented the second from penetrating to those below.

"Truly these are terrible foes, prince," Jethro said. "I told you that
we might expect new plans and devices, but I did not think that the
very day after the siege began we should find that they had overcome
all the difficulties of our natural defenses, and should have
established themselves in safety at the foot of our walls."

"But what is to be done, Jethro? The men working in those shelters
will speedily dislodge these stones facing the walls, and will then
without difficulty dig through the earthwork behind."

"The matter is serious," Jethro agreed; "but as yet there is no
reason to al