The Yoke Part 76

He turned toward the well, and his glance fell on the man-at-arms for the first time. He started a little to find himself not alone, and a second time he started with sudden recognition. The well was between him and the soldier. He leaned upon his hands on the top of the curb and gazed at his opposite. Once he seemed about to speak, but the studious disregard of the soldier deterred him. Slowly his eyes fell until they were directed thoughtfully through his own reflection into the green depths of the well.

Although there were ten years in favor of the Egyptian, there was a certain similarity between the two men. Both were soldiers, both black and stern. But one was a Hebrew, no less than forty-five years of age.

He wore a helmet of polished metal, equipped with a visor, which, when raised, finished the front with a flat plate. The top of the head-piece was ornamented with a spike. His armor was complete--s.h.i.+rt of mail, shenti extending half-way to the knees, greaves of bra.s.s and mailed shoes.

He was as tall as the Egyptian and as lean, but his structure was heavy, stalwart and powerful. His forehead was broad and bold, his eyes deep-set, steel-blue and keen. He had the fighting nose, over-long and hooked like an eagle's beak. The inexorable character of his features was borne out by the mouth, thin-lipped and firm in its closing. Even his beard, scant and touched with gray, was intractable.

Here was an Israelite who was a warrior, a rare thing--but splendid when found.

After a pause he turned, and the camel knelt at his command. The litters had halted a little distance away under two palms that leaned their leafless crowns together. The attendant was hastening toward the well.

"Joshua!" he cried joyously.

"Even I," the Hebrew soldier said, walking around the kneeling beast.

"Peace to thee, Caleb."

The two men embraced; the warrior imperturbably, the attendant tearfully.

"What dost thou away from Goshen?" Joshua asked, disengaging himself.

"The faithful of Israel have been summoned thither from the remotenesses of Mizraim."

But Caleb did not hear, having caught sight of the Egyptian. The recognition startled him as it had all the others, but he did not hold his peace.

"Atsu!" he exclaimed. Joshua checked him.

"Vex him not with attention," he said in a lowered tone. "His fall hath been great, but it hath not killed his pride. He would speak if it hurt him to be unremembered."

"Hath he a grudge against us?" Caleb asked in astonishment.

"Nay, look thou at the writing on the tablet. He would hide its command from us. Is he not a friend to Israel still?"

He indicated the characters on either side of the soldier. The words were disconnected, but the sense was easily guessed. The command for prayers to the Pantheon of Egypt was not hidden, beyond conjecture, from the discerning. Caleb saw the meaning of the inscription, but looked to Joshua for further enlightenment.

"He would spare us," the abler Israelite said. "Let us return the kindness and see him not."

All this had the Egyptian heard, but his eyes, fixed so absently on the horizon, seemed to indicate that he was not conscious of his surroundings.

Joshua repeated his question.

"I was sent forth with Miriam," Caleb made answer. "She hath been abroad, gathering up the scattered chosen."

His eyes brightened and he clasped his hands with the gesture of a happy woman.

"Deliverance is at hand! Doubt it not, O Son of Nun! We go forth!" he exclaimed.

On the camel were hung a s.h.i.+eld, a javelin and a quiver of arrows.

Joshua jostled the arrows in their case before answering.

"Not as the moon changes," he said grimly. "The time for mild departure is past and the word of the Lord G.o.d unto Moses must be fulfilled."

"So we but go," Caleb a.s.sented, "I care not. And such is the temper of all Israel--nay," he broke off, conscientiously; "there is an exception, an unusual exception."

"There may be more," Joshua replied. "There is much in Egypt to hold the slavish. But the captain of Israel hath called me, out of peaceful shepherd life, to the severe fortunes of a warrior, and I go, no mile too short, no moment too swift, that shall speed me into Pa-Ramesu."

"And thou takest up arms for Israel?" Caleb cried. "Ah! but Moses hath gloved his right hand in mail, in thee, O Son of Nun! But," he continued, uneasy with his story untold, "this was no slavish content under a master. Rather did it come from one of the best of Israel."

"Strange that the lofty of Israel should regret a departure from the land of the oppressors." Joshua settled himself on the camel and the tall beast rose to its feet with a lurch.

"Even so," Caleb answered, patting the nose of the camel and arranging the ta.s.sels of its halter. "It was a quarry-slave, a maiden and of gentle blood among the n.o.bility of Israel. She is in the bamboo litter, Miriam is in the other.

"We are come from farthest Egypt, fifty of us in three barges," he began. "To Syene have we been and all the Nilotic towns. To Nehapehu, and even deep into the Great Oasis were messengers sent, for we would not leave a single son of Abraham behind. And the masters surrendered them to a man! Was it the face of Miriam or the fear of Moses or the might of the Lord that tamed them? Hath Miriam a compelling glance, or Moses a power that came not from Jehovah? Nay, not so. Praised be His holy name!"

The mild Israelite clasped his hands and raised his eyes devoutly. But fearful lest his pause might furnish an opportunity for Joshua's escape, he continued at once:

"We were descending the Nile, below Memphis; the river sang and the hills lifted up their voices. There was rejoicing in the meadows and clapping of hands in the valleys. We possessed the gates of our enemies and Mizraim sat upon the sh.o.r.es and wept after us.

"Below Masaarah, the darkness fell; the sun perished in the morning and the stars were not summoned in the night, for the Lord had withdrawn the lights of heaven. But His hand was upon the waters and His glory stood about us and we feared not.

"And lo! there came a call upon Him from the sh.o.r.es to the east. The barge of Miriam paused and from the land we succored an Israelitish maiden. But when we would have moved on, she flung herself before Miriam and besought her:

"'Depart not yet, for there is another.'

"'Of the chosen?' the prophetess asked.

"'Nay, an Egyptian, but better and above his kind.'

"'Of the faith?' Miriam asked further. And the maiden faltered and said, 'Nay, not yet--but worthy and kindly.'

"But the prophetess bade the men at the poles to continue, saying: 'Shall we cheat Jehovah in his intent and rescue an oppressor?'

"But the maiden clung about the knees of Miriam and prayed to her, while the prophetess said, 'Nay, nay' and 'Peace,' and sought to soothe her, and when at that moment some one called out of the darkness, she put her hand over the maiden's mouth and would not let her answer. And the barge went swiftly away. Then the maiden fell on her face, like one dead, and she will not be comforted."

Joshua drew himself into securer, position on the camel and shook its harness.

"Love!" he said with a frown. "The evilest tie and the strongest between Israel and Mizraim!"

"Nay," Caleb protested, "thou hast loved."

"A daughter of Israel," the warrior answered bluntly. "Dost thou follow me into Goshen, Caleb?"

"Nay, we go on to Tanis, where we shall join Moses and Aaron who lie there awaiting the Pharaoh's summons."

"The parting shall not be long between thee and me, then. Peace to thee, Caleb. To Miriam, greeting and peace."

The warrior urged his camel and, rounding the stela-guarding soldier who had stood within ear-shot of the narrative, he was gone in a long undulating swing up the road that led to Pa-Ramesu.

Caleb gazed after him until he was only a tall shape like the stroke of a pen in the distance. Then the mild Israelite looked longingly at the Egyptian, and finally returned to the litters. These in a moment were shouldered by the bearers and moved out up the road toward Tanis.

Caleb walked before them, dotting every other footprint with the point of his staff. He sighed gustily and sank his bearded chin on his breast.

The soldier turned his head as soon as the attendant had pa.s.sed and gazed at the litters.