was coming;
but Joshua, smiling, informed him that when the king accompanied the
troops to the field, the camp equipage followed directly behind the
vanguard, for Pharaoh and his dignitaries wished to find the tents
pitched and the tables laid, when the day's march was over and the
soldiers and officers expected a night's repose.

Joshua had not finished speaking when a number of empty carts and
unladen asses appeared. They were to carry the contributions of bread
and meal, animals and poultry, wine and beer, levied on every village
the sovereign passed on the march, and which had been delivered to the
tax-gatherers the day before.

Soon after a division of chariot warriors followed. Every pair of horses
drew a small, two-wheeled chariot, cased in bronze, and in each stood
a warrior and the driver of the team. Huge quivers were fastened to the
front of the chariots, and the soldiers leaned on their lances or on
gigantic bows. Shirts covered with brazen scales, or padded coats
of mail with gay overmantle, a helmet, and the front of the chariot
protected the warrior from the missiles of the foe. This troop, which
Joshua said was the van, went by at a slow trot and was followed by a
great number of carts and wagons, drawn by horses, mules, or oxen, as
well as whole troops of heavily-laden asses.

The uncle now pointed out to his nephew the long masts, poles, and
heavy rolls of costly stuffs intended for the royal tent, and borne
by numerous beasts of burden, as well as the asses and carts with the
kitchen utensils and field forges. Among the baggage heaped on the
asses, which were followed by nimble drivers, rode the physicians,
tailors, salve-makers, cooks, weavers of garlands, attendants, and
slaves belonging to the camp. Their departure had been so recent that
they were still fresh and inclined to jest, and whoever caught sight of
the convicts, flung them, in the Egyptian fashion, a caustic quip which
many sought to palliate by the gift of alms. Others, who said nothing,
also sent by the ass-drivers fruit and trifling gifts; for those who
were free to-day might share the fate of these hapless men to-morrow.
The captain permitted it, and when a passing slave, whom Joshua had
sold for thieving, shouted the name of Hosea, pointing to him with
a malicious gesture, the rough but kind-hearted officer offered his
insulted prisoner a sip of wine from his own flask.

Ephraim, who had walked from Succoth to Tanis with a staf