"No; but we expect his return before the departure of the people, that
is in a few hours."

"Has he the power to decide important matters in Moses' absence?"

"No, he merely announces to the people in eloquent language what his
illustrious brother commands."

The warrior bent his eyes with a disappointed expression on the ground,
and after a brief pause for reflection eagerly added, fixing his gaze on
Miriam:

"It is Moses to whom the Lord our God announces his will; but to you,
his august maiden sister, the Most High also reveals himself, to you..."

"Oh, Hosea!" interrupted the prophetess, extending her hands toward him
with a gesture of mingled entreaty and warning; but the chief, instead
of heeding her monition, went on:

"The Lord our God hath commanded you to summon me, His servant, back to
the people; He hath commanded you to give me the name for which I am to
exchange the one my father and mother bestowed upon me, and which I have
borne in honor for thirty years. Obedient to your summons, I have cast
aside all that could make me great among men; but on my way through
Egypt,--bearing in my heart the image of my God and of you,--braving
death, the message I now have to deliver was entrusted to me, and I
believe that it came from the Most High Himself. It is my duty to convey
it to the leaders of the people; but as I am unable to find Moses, I
can confide it to no better one than you who, though only a woman,
stand,--next to your brother--nearest to the Most High, so I implore you
to listen to me. The tidings I bring are not yet ripe for the ears of a
third person."

Hur drew his figure to a still greater height and, interrupting
Hosea, asked Miriam whether she desired to hear the son of Nun without
witnesses; she answered with a quiet "yes."

Then Hur turned haughtily and coldly to the warrior:

"I think that Miriam knows the Lord's will, as well as her brother's,
and is aware of what beseems the women of Israel. If I am not mistaken,
it was under this tree that your own father, the worthy Nun, gave to my
son Uri the sole answer which Moses must also make to every bearer of a
message akin to yours."

"Do you know it?" asked Hosea in a tone of curt reproof.

"No," replied the other, "but I suspect its purport, and look here."

While speaking he stooped with youthful agility and, raising two large
stones with his powerful arms, propped them against each other, rolled
several smaller ones to their sides