y estranged hers.

Seeking protection she had approached his hearthstone shivering, but she
had found it warmer than she had hoped, and his generosity and love fell
upon her wounded soul like balm. True, he could not restore what she had
lost, but he could give a welcome compensation.

Ah, he no longer believed her capable of a tender emotion, yet she
needed love in order to live, and no sacrifice seemed to her too hard
to regain his. But pride was also a condition of her very existence, and
whenever she prepared to humbly open her heart to her husband, the
fear of humiliating herself overpowered her, and she stood as though
spell-bound till the blazing wood at her feet fell into smoking embers
and darkness surrounded her.

Then a strange anxiety stole over her.

Two bats, which had come from the mines and circled round the fire
darted past her like ghosts. Everything urged her back to the tent, to
her husband, and with hasty resolution she entered the spacious room
lighted by a lamp. But it was empty, and the female slave who received
her said that Hur would spend the time until the departure of the people
with his son and grandson.

A keen pang pierced her heart, and she lay down to rest with a sense of
helplessness and shame which she had not felt since her childhood.

A few hours after the camp was astir and when her husband, in the grey
dawn of morning, entered the tent with a curt greeting, pride again
raised its head and her reply sounded cold and formal.

He did not come alone; his son Uri was with him.

But he looked graver than was his wont; for the men of Judah had
assembled early and adjured him not to give up the chief command to any
man who belonged to another tribe.

This had been unexpected. He had referred them to Moses' decision, and
his desire that it might be adverse to him was intensified, as his young
wife's self-reliant glance stirred fresh wrath in his soul.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Early the following morning the people resumed their march with fresh
vigor and renewed courage; but the little spring which, by digging, had
at last been forced to flow was completely exhausted.

However, its refusal to bestow a supply of water to take with them was
of no consequence; they expected to find another well at Alush.

The sun had risen in radiant majesty in a cloudless sky. The light
showed its awakening power on the hearts of men, and the rocks and the
yellow sand of the road sparkled like th