the base Hebrew brood?"

"Overthrow them! Down with the foreigners! Death to the sorcerer
Mesu,--[Mesu is the Egyptian name of Moses]--hurl him into the sea."
Such were the imprecations that followed the woman's curse, as an echo
follows a shout, and the aged astrologer's brother-in-law Hornecht,
captain of the archers, whose hot blood seethed in his veins at the
sight of the dying form of his beloved nephew, waved his short sword,
crying frantically: "Let all men who have hearts follow me. Upon them!
A life for a life! Ten Hebrews for each Egyptian whom the sorcerer has
slain!"

As a flock rushes into a fire when the ram leads the way, the warrior's
summons fired the throng. Women forced themselves in front of the men,
pressing after him into the gateway, and when the servants of the temple
lingered to await the verdict of the prophet of Amon, the latter drew
his stately figure to its full height, and said calmly: "Let all who
wear priestly garments remain and pray with me. The populace is heaven's
instrument to mete out vengeance. We will remain here to pray for their
success."

CHAPTER II.

Bai, the second prophet of Amon, who acted as the representative of the
aged and feeble chief-prophet and high-priest Rui, went into the holy
of holies, the throng of inferior servants of the divinity pursued their
various duties, and the frenzied mob rushed through the streets of the
city towards the distant Hebrew quarter.

As the flood, pouring into the valley, sweeps everything before it, the
people, rushing to seek vengeance, forced every one they met to join
them. No Egyptian from whom death had snatched a loved one failed
to follow the swelling torrent, which increased till hundreds became
thousands. Men, women, and children, freedmen and slaves, winged by
the ardent longing to bring death and destruction on the hated Hebrews,
darted to the remote quarter where they dwelt.

How the workman had grasped a hatchet, the housewife an axe, they
themselves scarcely knew. They were dashing forward to deal death and
ruin and had had no occasion to search for weapons--they had been close
at hand.

The first to feel the weight of their vengeance must be Nun, an aged
Hebrew, rich in herds, loved and esteemed by many an Egyptian whom
he had benefitted--but when hate and revenge speak, gratitude shrinks
timidly into the background.

His property, like the houses and hovels of his people, was in the
strangers' quarter, we