s also--the sword
is whetted, and a pitiless judgment is impending. Bid him ask himself
what fugitive shepherds can do against the power of the army among whose
ablest leaders he is numbered. Is your father still alive, my son?"

"No, he was borne to his last resting-place long ago," replied the youth
in a faltering voice.

Was the fever of his wound attacking him? Or did the shame of belonging
to a race capable of acts so base overwhelm the young heart? Or did the
lad cling to his kindred, and was it wrath and resentment at hearing
them so bitterly reviled which made his color vary from red to pale and
roused such a tumult in his soul that he was scarcely capable of speech?
No matter! This lad was certainly no suitable bearer of the message the
prophet desired to send to his uncle, and Bai beckoned to Hornecht to
come with him under the shadow of a broad-limbed sycamore-tree.

The point was to secure Hosea's services in the army at any cost, so he
laid his hand on his friend's shoulder, saying:

"You know that it was my wife who won you and others over to our cause.
She serves us better and more eagerly than many a man, and while I
appreciate your daughter's beauty, she never tires of lauding the
winning charm of her innocence."

"And Kasana is to take part in the plot?" cried the soldier angrily.

"Not as an active worker, like my wife,--certainly not."

"She would be ill-suited to such a task," replied the other in a calmer
tone, "she is scarcely more than a child."

"Yet through her aid we might bring to our cause a man whose good-will
seems to me priceless."

"You mean Hosea?" asked the captain, his brow darkening again, but the
prophet added:

"And if I do? Is he still a real Hebrew? Can you deem it unworthy the
daughter of a distinguished warrior to bestow her band on a man who, if
our plans prosper, will be commander-in-chief of all the troops in the
land?"

"No, my lord!" cried Hornecht. "But one of my motives for rebelling
against Pharaoh and upholding Siptah is that the king's mother was
a foreigner, while our own blood courses through Siptah's veins. The
mother decides the race to which a man belongs, and Hosea's mother was
a Hebrew woman. He is my friend, I value his talents; Kasana likes
him...."

"Yet you desire a more distinguished son-in-law?" interrupted his
companion. "How is our arduous enterprise to prosper, if those who are
to peril their lives for its success consider the first sacr