his usual custom;
for between the sea and the village, where the wind was blowing slender
columns of smoke asunder, his falcon-eye discovered many light spots
resembling a distant flock of sheep, and among and beside them a
singular movement to and fro upon the sands.

It was the camp of his people.

How short seemed the distance that separated him from them!

Yet the nearer it was, the greater became his anxiety lest the great
multitude, with the women and children, herds and tents, could not
escape the vast army which must overtake them in a few hours.

His heart shrank as he gazed around him; for neither to the east, where
a deeper estuary was surging, nor southward, where the Red Sea tossed
its angry waves, nor even toward the north, whence Pharaoh's army was
marching, was escape possible. To the west lay the wilderness of
Aean, and if the wanderers escaped in that direction, and were pressed
farther, they would again enter Egyptian soil and the exodus would be
utterly defeated.

So there was nothing left save to risk a battle, and at the thought
a chill ran through the youth's veins; for he knew how badly armed,
untrained, savage, unmanageable, and cowardly were the men of his race,
and had witnessed the march of the powerful, well-equipped Egyptian
army, with its numerous foot-soldiers and superb war-chariots.

To him now, as to his uncle a short time before, his people seemed
doomed to certain destruction, unless succored by the God of his
fathers. In former years, and just before his departure, Miriam, with
sparkling eyes and enthusiastic words, had praised the power and majesty
of this omnipotent Lord, who preferred his people above all other
nations; but the lofty words of the prophetess had filled his childish
heart with a slight fear of the unapproachable greatness and terrible
wrath of this God.

It had been easier for him to uplift his soul to the sun-god, when his
teacher, a kind and merry-hearted Egyptian priest, led him to the temple
of Pithom. In later years he had felt no necessity of appealing to any
god; for he lacked nothing, and while other boys obeyed their parents'
commands, the shepherds, who well knew that the flocks they tended
belonged to him, called him their young master, and first in jest,
then in earnest, paid him all the honor due a ruler, which prematurely
increased his self-importance and made him an obstinate fellow.

He whom stalwart, strong men obeyed, was sufficient unto