er in presence of the gods of Egypt. How then is a woman who
lives pleasantly among us to cause a misfortune which is beyond the
power of our mightiest enemies?"

"The holy father speaks truth. Wise are the words of the prophet!" said
people among the multitude.

"But Messu (Moses), the Jewish leader, brought darkness and death into
Egypt!" said one voice.

"Let the man who said that step forth," cried the priest. "I challenge
him, let him come forward, unless he is an enemy of the Egyptian
people."

The crowd murmured like a wind from afar blowing between trees, but no
man came forward,

"I speak truth," continued the priest; "evil men are moving among you
like hyenas in a sheepfold. They have no pity on your misery, they
urged you to destroy the house of the heir and to rebel against the
pharaoh. If their vile plan had succeeded and blood had begun to flow
from your bosoms, they would have hidden before spears as they hide now
before my challenge."

"Listen to the prophet! Praise to thee, man of God!" cried the people,
inclining their foreheads.

The most pious fell to the earth.

"Hear me, Egyptian people. In return for your faith in the words of a
priest, for your obedience to the pharaoh and the heir, for the honor
which ye give to a servant of the god, a favor will be shown you. Go to
your houses in peace, and even before ye have left this hill the Nile
will be rising."

"Oh, may it rise!"

"Go! The greater your faith and piety the more quickly will ye see the
sign of favor."

"Let us go! Let us go! Be blessed, O prophet, Thou son of prophets!"

They began to separate, kissing the robe of the priest. With that some
one shouted,

"The miracle, the miracle is accomplished."

On the tower in Memphis a light flamed up.

"The Nile is rising! See, more and more lights! Indeed a mighty saint
spoke to us. May he live through eternity!"

They turned toward the priest, but he had vanished among shadows.

The throng raging a little while earlier, amazed and filled now with
gratitude, forgot both its anger and the wonder-working priest. It was
mastered by a wild delight; men rushed to the bank of the river, on
which many lights were burning and where a great hymn was rising from
the assembled people,

"Be greeted, Nile, sacred river, which appearest on this country! Thou
comest in peace, to give life to Egypt. O hidden deity who scatterest
darkness, who moistenest the fields, to bring food to dumb ani