e the outcries which blended
in sinister discord with the rattling of the chains they dragged after
them. Even the most fearless among the Hebrews shrank in horror as
they beheld the throng of hapless sufferers in the full radiance of
the sunlight; for the dazzled, reddened eyes of the unfortunate
sufferers,--many of whom had formerly enjoyed in their own homes or at
the king's court every earthly blessing; who had been tender mothers
and fathers, rejoiced in doing good, and shared all the blessings of
the civilization of a richly gifted people,--these dazzled eyes which
at first glittered through tears caused by the swift transition from the
darkness of the mines to the glare of the noon-day sun, soon sparkled as
fiercely and greedily as those of starving owls.

At first, overwhelmed by the singular change in their destiny, they
struggled for composure and did not resist the Hebrews, who, at Joshua's
signal, began to file the fetters from their ankles; but when they
perceived the disarmed soldiers and overseers who, guarded by Ephraim
and his companions, were ranged at the base of a cliff, a strange
excitement overpowered them. Amid shrieks and yells which no name can
designate, no words describe, they broke from those who were trying to
remove their fetters and, though no glance or word had been exchanged
between them, obeyed the same terrible impulse, and unheeding the chains
that burdened them, rushed upon the defenceless Egyptians. Before
the Hebrews could prevent it, each threw himself upon the one who
had inflicted the worst suffering upon him; and here might be seen an
emaciated man clutching the throat of his stronger foe, yonder a band
of nude women horribly disfigured by want and neglect, rush upon the man
who had most rudely insulted, beaten, and abused them, and with teeth
and nails wreak upon him their long repressed fury.

It seemed as though the flood-tide of hate had burst its dam and,
unfettered, was demanding its victims.

There was a horrible scene of attack and defence, a ferocious, bloody
conflict on foot and amid the red sand of the desert, shrieks, yells,
and howls pierced the ear; nay, it was difficult to distinguish
individuals in this motley confusion of men and women, animated on the
one side by the wildest passion, a yearning for vengeance amounting
to blood-thirstiness, and on the other by the dread of death and the
necessity for self-defence.

Only a few of the prisoners had succeeded