f priest Bai in a gilded battle-chariot drawn by
magnificent bay stallions. He who had formerly led troops in the field,
had assumed the command of this pursuing expedition ordered by the
gods and, though clad in priestly robes, he also wore the helmet and
battle-axe of a general. At last, directly behind his equipage,
came Pharaoh himself; but he did not go to battle like his warlike
predecessors in a war-chariot, but preferred to be carried on a throne.
A magnificent canopy protected him above, and large, thick, round
ostrich feather fans, carried by his fan-bearers, sheltered him on both
sides from the scorching rays of the sun.

After Menephtah had left the city and the gate of victory behind him,
and the exulting acclamations of the multitude had ceased to amuse him,
he had gone to sleep and the shading fans would have concealed his face
and figure from the prisoners, had not their shouts been loud enough to
rouse him and induce him to turn his head toward them. The gracious wave
of his right hand showed that he had expected to see different people
from convicts and, ere the shouts of the hapless men had died away, his
eyes again closed.

Ephraim's silent brooding had now yielded to the deepest interest, and
as the empty golden war-chariot of the king, before which pranced the
most superb steeds he had ever seen, rolled by, he burst into loud
exclamations of admiration.

These noble animals, on whose intelligent heads large bunches of
feathers nodded, and whose rich harness glittered with gold and gems,
were indeed a splendid sight. The large gold quivers set with emeralds,
fastened on the sides of the chariot, were filled with arrows.

The feeble man to whose weak hand the guidance of a great nation was
entrusted, the weakling who shrunk from every exertion, regained
his lost energy whenever hunting was in prospect; he considered this
campaign a chase on the grandest scale and as it seemed royal pastime
to discharge his arrows at the human beings he had so lately feared,
instead of at game, he had obeyed the chief priest's summons and joined
the expedition. It had been undertaken by the mandate of the great god
Amon, so he had little to dread from Mesu's terrible power.

When he captured him he would make him atone for having caused Pharaoh
and his queen to tremble before him and shed so many tears on his
account.

While Joshua was still telling the youth from which Phoenician city the
golden chariots came,