t him; then he cried
out to the Almighty as to a powerful counselor, imploring him with
fervent zeal to point out the way in which he should walk without being
disobedient to Him or to his father, or breaking the oath he had sworn
to Pharaoh and becoming a dishonored man in the eyes of those to whom he
owed so great a debt of gratitude.

"Thy chosen people praise Thee as the God of Truth, Who dost punish
those who forswear their oaths," he prayed. "How canst Thou command
me to be faithless and break the vow that I have made. Whatever I am,
whatever I may accomplish, belongs to Thee, Oh Mighty Lord, and I am
ready to devote my blood, my life to my people. But rather than render
me a dishonored and perjured man, take me away from earth and commit the
work which Thou hast chosen Thy servant to perform, to the hands of one
who is bound by no solemn oath."

So he prayed, and it seemed as if he clasped in his embrace a long-lost
friend. Then he walked on in silence through the vanishing dusk, and
when the first grey light of morning dawned, the flood of feeling ebbed,
and the clear-headed warrior regained his calmness of thought.

He had vowed to do nothing against the will of his father or his God,
but he was no less firmly resolved to be neither perjurer nor renegade.
His duty was clear and plain. He must leave Pharaoh's service, first
telling his superiors that, as a dutiful son, he must obey his father's
commands, and share his fate and that of his people.

Yet he did not conceal from himself that his request might be refused,
that he might be detained by force, nay, perchance, if he insisted on
carrying out his purpose with unshaken will, he might be menaced
with death, or if the worst should come, even delivered over to the
executioner. But if this should be his doom, if his purpose cost him his
life, he would still have done what was right, and his comrades, whose
esteem he valued, could still think of him as a brave brother-in-arms.
Nor would his father and Miriam be angry with him, nay, they would mourn
the faithful son, the upright man, who chose death rather than dishonor.

Calm and resolute, he gave the pass-word with haughty bearing to the
sentinel and entered his tent. Ephraim was still lying on his couch,
smiling as if under the thrall of pleasant dreams. Hosea threw himself
on a mat beside him to seek strength for the hard duties of the coming
day. Soon his eyes closed, too, and, after an hour's sound slee