ned inert nor allowed themselves to be
deceived; for though, to mislead them, he had shouted loudly: "A
jackal!" they uttered a long, shrill whistle, which roused their
sleeping comrades. A few seconds later the chief warder stood before
him with a burning torch, threw its light on his face, and sighed with
relief when he saw him. Not in vain had he bound him with double ropes;
for he would have been called to a severe reckoning at home had this
particular man escaped.

But while he was feeling the ropes on the prisoner's arms, the glare
of the burning torch, which lighted him, fell on the fugitive's rude,
deserted couch. There, as if in mockery, lay the gnawed rope. Taking it
up, he flung it at Joshua's feet, blew his whistle again and again, and
shouted: "Escaped! The Hebrew! Young Curly-head!"

Paying no farther heed to Joshua, he began the pursuit. Hoarse with
fury, he issued order after order, each one sensible and eagerly obeyed.

While some of the guards dragged the prisoners together, counted them,
and tied them with ropes, their commander, with the others and his dogs,
set off on the track of the fugitive.

Joshua saw him make the intelligent animals smell Ephraim's gnawed bonds
and resting-place, and beheld them instantly rush to the ravine. Gasping
for breath, he also noted that they remained in it quite a long
time, and at last--the moon meanwhile scattered the clouds more and
more--darted out of the ravine, and dashed to the water. He felt that it
was fortunate Ephraim had waded through instead of passing round it;
for at its edge the dogs lost the scent, and minute after minute elapsed
while the commander of the guards walked along the shore with the eager
animals, which fairly thrust their noses into the fugitive's steps, in
order to again get on the right trail. Their loud, joyous barking at
last announced that they had found it. Yet, even if they persisted in
following the runaway, the captive warrior no longer feared the worst,
for Ephraim had gained a long advance of his pursuers. Still, his heart
beat loudly enough and time seemed to stand still until the chief-warder
returned exhausted and unsuccessful.

The older man, it is true, could never have overtaken the swift-footed
youth, but the youngest and most active guards had been sent after the
fugitive. This statement the captain of the guards himself made with an
angry jeer.

The kindly-natured man seemed completely transformed,--for he felt