oaching troop, and a messenger had already
delivered to the commander of the garrison an order from his superior
authorizing him to permit the passage of the prisoners.

The gate of the palisade was now opened, and the captain of the guards
allowed the prisoners to lie down on the glowing pavement within.

No one could escape hence, even if the guards withdrew; for the high
fence was almost insurmountable, and from the battlements on the top of
the jutting walls darts could easily reach a fugitive.

The ex-chief did not fail to note that everything was ready, as if in
the midst of war, for defence against a foe. Every man was at his post,
and beside the huge brazen disk on the tower stood sentinels, each
holding in his hand a heavy club to deal a blow at the approach of the
expected enemy; for though as far as the eye could reach, neither tree
nor house was visible, the sound of the metal plate would be heard at
the next fortress in the Etham line, and warn or summon its garrison.

To be stationed in the solitude of this wilderness was not a punishment,
but a misfortune; and the commander of the army therefore provided that
the same troops should never remain long in the desert.

Joshua himself, in former days, had been in command of the most
southerly of these fortresses, called the Migdol of the South; for each
one of the fortifications bore the name of Migdol, which in the Semitic
tongue means the tower of a fortress.

His people were evidently expected here; and it was not to be supposed
that Moses had led the tribes back to Egypt. So they must have remained
in Succoth or have turned southward. But in that direction rolled the
waters of the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea, and how could the Hebrew
hosts pass through the deep waters?

Hosea's heart throbbed anxiously at this thought, and all his fears were
to find speedy confirmation; for he heard the commander of the fortress
tell the captain of the prisoners' guards, that the Hebrews had
approached the line of fortifications several days before, but soon
after, without assaulting the garrison, had turned southward. Since then
they seemed to have been wandering in the desert between Pithom and the
Red Sea.

All this had been instantly reported at Tanis, but the king was forced
to delay the departure of the army for several days until the week of
general mourning for the heir to the throne had expired. The fugitives
might have turned this to account, but news ha