iefly told him that there was a bold adventure in prospect which he
meant to dare in concert with him.

The torch-bearers who usually headed the procession this time were
obliged to close its ranks, for the storm raging from the northeast
would have blown the smoke into the people's faces. They stood on the
Egyptian shore, and already the whole train had passed them except
the lepers who, following the strangers, were the last of the whole
multitude.

These "strangers" were a motley crew, comprising Asiatics of Semitic
blood, who had escaped from the bondage or severe punishments which the
Egyptian law imposed, traders who expected to find among the wanderers
purchasers of their wares, or Shasu shepherds, whose return was
prohibited by the officials on the frontier. Ephraim had much trouble
with them, for they refused to leave the firm land until the lepers had
been forced to keep farther away from them; yet the youth, with the aid
of the elders of the tribe of Benjamin, who preceded them, brought
them also to obedience by threatening them with the prediction of the
Phoenicians and the fishermen that the moon, when it had passed its
zenith, would draw the sea back to its old bed.

Finally he persuaded the leader of the lepers, who had once been an
Egyptian priest, to keep at least half the distance demanded.

Meanwhile the tempest had continued to blow with increased violence, and
its howling and whistling, blended with the roar of the dashing waves
and the menacing thunder of the surf, drowned the elders' shouts of
command, the terrified shrieks of the children, the lowing and bleating
of the trembling herds, and the whining of the dogs. Ephraim's voice
could be heard only by those nearest and, moreover, many of the torches
were extinguished, while others were kept burning with the utmost
difficulty. Seeking to recover his wind and get a little rest, he walked
slowly for a time over the damp sand behind the last lepers, when he
heard some one call his name and, turning, he saw one of his former
playmates, who was returning from a reconnoitring expedition and who,
with the sweat pouring from his brow and panting breath, shouted into
the ear of the youth, in whose hand he saw the staff of a leader, that
Pharaoh's chariots were approaching at the head of his army. He had left
them at Pihahiroth and, if they did not stop there to give the other
troops time to join them, they might overtake the fugitives at any
moment.