, at the head of Thy
people, that they may crush their foes."

Thus the man of God prayed with arms uplifted, never ceasing to beseech
and appeal to God, whose lofty will guided his own, and soon Aaron
whispered that their foes were sore beset and the Hebrews' courage was
showing itself in magnificent guise.

Joshua was now here, now there, and the ranks of the enemy were already
thinning, while the numbers of the Hebrews seemed increasing.

Hur confirmed these words, adding that the tireless zeal and heroic
scorn of death displayed by the son of Nun could not be denied. He had
just felled one of the fiercest Amalekites with his battle-axe.

Then Moses uttered a sigh of relief, let his arms fall, and eagerly
watched the farther progress of the battle, which was surging, raging
and roaring beneath him.

Meanwhile the sun had reached its zenith and shone with scorching
fire upon the combatants. The grey granite walls of the valley exhaled
fiercer and fiercer heat and drops of perspiration had long been pouring
from the burning brows of the three men on the cliff. How the noon-tide
heat must burden those who were fighting and struggling below; how the
bleeding wounds of those who had fallen in the dust must burn!

Moses felt all this as if he were himself compelled to endure it; for
his immovably steadfast soul was rich in compassion, and he had taken
into his heart, as a father does his child, the people of his own blood
for whom he lived and labored, prayed and planned.

The wounds of the Hebrews pained him, yet his heart throbbed with
joyous pride, when he beheld how those whose cowardly submission had so
powerfully stirred his wrath a short time before, had learned to act
on the defensive and offensive; and saw one youthful band after another
shouting: "Jehovah our standard!" rush upon the enemy.

In Joshua's proud, heroic figure he beheld the descendants of his people
as he had imagined and desired them, and now he no longer doubted that
the Lord Himself had summoned the son of Nun to the chief command. His
eye had rarely beamed as brightly as in this hour.

But what was that?

A cry of alarm escaped the lips of Aaron, and Hur rose and gazed
northward in anxious suspense for thence, where the tents of the people
stood, fresh war-cries rose, blended with loud, piteous shrieks which
seemed to be uttered, not only by men, but by women and children.

The camp had been attacked.

Long before the commencement