pt the office of
mediator."

The hoary high-priest nodded approvingly, exclaiming:

"I hope a long period of blessing may arise from this brief hour. But
note this. Where potions can aid, surgery must be shunned. Where a
bridge spans the stream, beware of swimming through the whirlpool."

"Yes, by all means shun the whirlpool," Pharaoh repeated, and the queen
uttered the same words, then once more bent her eyes on the flowers in
her lap.

A council now began.

Three private scribes took seats on the floor close by Rui, in order
to catch his low tones, and the scribes and councillors in the circle
before the throne seized their writing-materials and, holding the
papyrus in their left hands, wrote with reed or brush; for nothing which
was debated and determined in Pharaoh's presence was suffered to be left
unrecorded.

During the continuance of this debate no voice in the audience chamber
was raised above a whisper; the courtiers and guards stood motionless at
their posts, and the royal pair gazed mutely into vacancy as though lost
in reverie.

Neither Pharaoh nor his queen could possibly have heard the muttered
conversation between the men; yet the Egyptians, at the close of every
sentence, glanced upward at the king as if to ensure his approbation.
Hosea, to whom the custom was perfectly familiar, did the same and, like
the rest, lowered his tones. Whenever the voices of Bai or of the
chief of the scribes waxed somewhat louder, Pharaoh raised his head and
repeated the words of Rui: "Where a bridge spans the stream, beware of
swimming through the whirlpool;" for this saying precisely expressed his
own desires and those of the queen. No strife! Let us live at peace with
the Hebrews, and escape from the anger of their awful leader and his
God, without losing the thousands of industrious workers in the departed
tribes.

So the discussion went on, and when the murmuring of the debaters and
the scratching of the scribes' reeds had continued at least an hour the
queen remained in the same position; but Pharaoh began to move and lift
up his voice, fearing that the second prophet, who had detested the man
whose benedictions he had implored and whose enmity seemed so terrible,
was imposing on the mediator requirements impossible to fulfil.

Yet he said nothing save to repeat the warning about the bridge, but his
questioning look caused the chief of the scribes to soothe him with the
assurance that everything was progr