<p><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
<p class="center"><strong>A PRINCE OF EGYPT.</strong></p>
<p>When Amuba recovered his senses he was lying in a
heap at the bottom of the chariot. Two men were standing
in the car beside him. The one he supposed to be
the driver, the other the owner of the chariot.</p>
<p>In a few minutes the chariot turned off through a
stately gateway. The driver leaped down and closed the
gates, and then led the horses to the steps leading up to
a splendid mansion. The man beside him called out,
and two or three slaves ran down the steps. Then he
was lifted out, carried into the house, and laid upon a
couch. A cup of wine was placed to his lips, and after
he had drunk a slave bathed his head with cold water,
and bandaged up the numerous cuts from which blood
was flowing.</p>
<p>This greatly refreshed him, and he raised himself on
his arm. An order was given, and the slaves left the
apartment, and Amuba looking up saw a tall and stately
figure standing before him. He recognized him at once,
for he had seen him following the king in one of the
processions among the princes of Egypt.</p>
<p>“Who are you? and is it true what those men whom I
found maltreating you averred, that you are the slayer of
the Cat of Bubastes?”</p>
<p>“My name is Amuba, my lord,” the lad said, striving
to stand upright, but his questioner signed to him to
remain seated. “I am a Rebu taken prisoner of war, and
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></SPAN></span>
handed as a slave to Ameres, high priest of Osiris. I am
not the slayer of the cat, but it is true that I was present
at its death, and that it might just as well have been my
arrow that accidentally pierced it as that of him who
did so.”</p>
<p>“Then it was an accident?” the noble said.</p>
<p>“It was wholly an accident, my lord. We fired at a
hawk that had been thinning the pet birds of my master’s
daughter. One of the arrows struck a tree, and glancing
off entered the house in which the cat was kept and unfortunately
caused its death. We regretted the accident
bitterly, knowing how sacred was the animal in the sight
of the Egyptians.”</p>
<p>“And not in your sight, young man? You are not yet
a follower of the gods of the Egyptians?”</p>
<p>“I am not, my lord,” Amuba answered; “but at the
same time I would not upon any account have willfully
done aught to offend the religious opinions of others,
although I myself have not been taught to consider the
life of a cat as of more value than that of other animals.”</p>
<p>“Then you worship the gods of your own people?”</p>
<p>Amuba was silent for a moment.</p>
<p>“I would answer frankly, my lord, and I hope that you
will not be displeased. Since I have come to Egypt I
have come to think that neither the gods of the Egyptians
nor the gods my fathers worshiped are the true gods. I
believe that there is one great God over all, and that the
others are but as it were his attributes, which men worship
under the name of gods.”</p>
<p>The Egyptian uttered an exclamation of surprise.</p>
<p>“Whence did you obtain such a belief as this?” he
asked.</p>
<p>Amuba was silent.</p>
<p>“It must have been from Ameres himself,” the noble
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></SPAN></span>
went on, seeing that the lad was reluctant to answer. “I
knew him well, and also that he carried to an extreme the
knowledge he had gained. But how came it that he
should speak of such matters to you—a slave?”</p>
<p>“My master was good enough to make me a companion
and friend to his son rather than a servant to him,”
Amuba replied, “partly because he thought that I should
lead him to a more active life, which he needed, for he was
overstudious; partly because I had high rank in my own
country, of which my father was the king. But he never
spoke of this matter until after the accident of the cat.
My friend Chebron was utterly cast down at the sin that
he thought he had committed, and would at once have
denounced himself, preferring death to living with such
a burden upon his mind. Then his father, seeing that
his whole life would be imbittered, and that he would
probably be forced to fly from Egypt and dwell in some
other land, told him the belief which he himself held. I
believed this all the more readily because I had heard
much the same from an Israelite maiden who served my
master’s daughter.”</p>
<p>Again Amuba’s listener uttered an exclamation of surprise.</p>
<p>“I knew not,” he said, after a pause, “that there was
an Israelite who still adhered to the religion of their
ancestors.”</p>
<p>“The maiden told me that for the most part they had
taken to the worship of the Egyptians, and indeed, so far
as she knew, she was the last who clung to the old belief.
She had been brought up by a great-grandfather who had
been driven from his people and forced to dwell apart
because he reproached them for having forsaken their
God, and he instructed her in the faith he held, which
was that there was but one God over all the earth.”</p>
<p><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></SPAN></span>
“Do you know who I am?” the noble asked abruptly.</p>
<p>“I know that you are one of the princes of the land,
my lord, for I have seen you in a procession following
closely behind the king with his sons and other princes.”</p>
<p>“I also am an Israelite. It seems strange to you,
doubtless,” he went on, as Amuba started in astonishment
at hearing a prince of Egypt declare himself as belonging
to the hated race. “Many years ago, at the
time I was an infant, there was a great persecution of the
Israelites, and as is supposed my father and mother, fearing
for my life, placed me in a little cradle and set me
afloat on the water. It chanced—or was it chance or the
will of God?—that the water took me to the spot where
the Princess Thermuthis, the daughter of the then king,
was bathing with her maidens. She had compassion
upon me and adopted me, and as I grew up I had all the
rights and privileges of her son, and rank, as you say,
with the princes of Egypt. She called me Moses; for
that was the name, as it seems, that was writ upon a
piece of papyrus fastened to my cradle. I was instructed
in all the learning of the Egyptians, and grew up as one
of them. So I lived for many years, and had almost forgotten
that I was not one of them; but now—” And
here he stopped and began thoughtfully to pace up and
down the apartment.</p>
<p>“What has become of the maiden of whom you spoke?”
he asked, suddenly stopping before Amuba.</p>
<p>“That I know not, my lord. Upon the day that
Ameres was murdered by the mob his little daughter was
carried off, and Ruth, for that is her name, has also been
missing ever since. It is for that reason we have lingered
here, otherwise we should have fled at once.”</p>
<p>“You and the son of Ameres?”</p>
<p>“Yes, my lord, and another Rebu, one of my father’s
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></SPAN></span>
warriors, who was a fellow-captive with me, and also
slave of Ameres. The high priest had great confidence
in him, and committed to him the mission of aiding Chebron
to escape and of conducting us if possible back to
my own land; but when we found that my young mistress
was missing we decided to remain to search for her.”</p>
<p>“What will you do when you find her?”</p>
<p>“If we can rescue her from those who have carried her
away we shall hand her over to her mother, and then
leave the land as we had intended. Unless, indeed,
you, my lord, in your goodness, could obtain for Chebron
a pardon for an offense which was wholly accidental.”</p>
<p>“That I can never do,” Moses said. “This is wholly
beyond my power; the king himself could not withstand
the demand of the populace for his life. Until lately I
might have in some way aided you, but I have no longer
influence and have myself fallen into disgrace at court.”</p>
<p>After again pacing the apartment for some time, Moses
went on:</p>
<p>“If you find this little Israelite maiden tell her that she
is not the last of the Israelites who believes in the God
of Abraham, our ancestor; tell her that Moses also holds
to the faith. You again look surprised, young man, and
you may well be so, seeing that I have from the days of
my infancy been separated from my people.</p>
<p>“But our priests keep accurate records of all things
connected with the countries and religion of the people
with whom we come in contact. Thus, then, it was easy
for me, who have access to all the stores of knowledge, to
examine the rolls recording the first coming of my people,
the rule of Joseph, the great governor, the coming of
his relations here and their settlement in the country.
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></SPAN></span>
Thus I learned that they worshiped one God, whom they
believed to be the only God, in the world. I have been
interested deeply in the learning of the priesthood, and
have long seen that behind all the forms and mysteries
of the Egyptian religion this central idea seemed to be
hidden. None with whom I have spoken acknowledged
boldly that it was so; but I heard reports that Ameres
was bold enough to entertain the idea that there was but
one God, and that our far-back ancestors, who had first
worshiped him under the various attributes they
ascribed to him, came in course of time to lose the truth
altogether and to regard shadows as substances. Therefore,
I said to myself, I too will believe in the one God
worshiped by my forefathers, hoping that in time it may
be that I may learn more of him.</p>
<p>“Until the last two or three years I have been content
to live as one of the Egyptian princes; but of late my
heart has turned much to my oppressed people, and I
have determined upon doing what I can to relieve their
burden. I have even raised my voice in the council in
their favor, and this has created a coldness between the
court and myself. They consider that I, having had the
honor of adoption into the royal family, should myself
forget, and allow others to forget, what they regard as
my base origin. Sometimes I own that I myself wonder
that I should feel so drawn toward them, and even wish
that I could forget my origin and give my whole mind to
the duties and pleasures of my present rank; but I feel
moved by a spirit stronger than my own. But we must
talk no longer; I see that you are now stronger. Do you
think that you can walk?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yes,” Amuba replied, getting up and walking
across the apartment. “I have not lost much blood, and
was only dizzy from their blows.”</p>
<p><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></SPAN></span>
“Then it is better that you should leave at once. The
people from whom I snatched you will have carried the
news speedily to the city, and officials will doubtless
soon arrive here to demand that you be given up to them.
Take, therefore, another draught of wine and a piece of
bread. I will then give you in charge of a trusty slave,
who will lead you through the garden and through a
small door at the back, and will guide you to any spot
where you may wish to go. Even now, doubtless, a
watch is being kept up in the front of the house. When
the officials arrive I shall tell them the truth—that coming,
as I drove, upon a lad who was being attacked and
murdered by a number of brutal peasants, I carried him
off in my chariot. As to the shouts I heard, that you
were the slayer of the Cat of Bubastes, I regarded it as
an invention designed to hinder me from interfering
on your behalf; that I questioned you upon your arrival
here, and finding that, as I had supposed, you were entirely
innocent of the offense charged against you, I
urged you to leave at once, letting you depart by the
garden gate in order to escape the fury of your persecutors.
As you are not an Israelite, no one can suppose
that I could have any motive for shielding an offender
from the punishment of his crimes. Do not thank me,
for time presses, and you must be moving, so as to be
well away before it is known that you have left. May the
God we both worship, though as yet in ignorance, guide
and preserve you and carry you and your friends through
the dangers that beset you.”</p>
<p>Moses drew back the curtains from before the entrance
to the chamber and clapped his hands, and ordered the
servant who answered the call to tell Mephres to come to
him. An old slave speedily appeared, and Moses ordered
him to take Amuba out by the private way and to guide
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></SPAN></span>
him by quiet roads back to the city. Then cutting short
his guest’s expressions of thanks for the great kindness
he had rendered him, he hurried him away, for he knew
that at any moment the officials might arrive from the
city.</p>
<p>It was well that Amuba had been supplied with a
guide, for upon issuing into the night air—for by this
time darkness had fallen—he found that he could with
difficulty direct his steps; his head throbbed as if it
would split from the blows that had been dealt him, and
every limb ached. The old slave, however, seeing that
he stumbled as he walked, placed his staff in one of
Amuba’s hands, and taking him firmly by the arm led
him steadily on. It seemed to the lad that he went on
walking all night, and yet it was less than an hour after
starting when his conductor found that he could go no
further, and that he was wholly unable to answer his
questions as to whither he wished to be guided. He determined
to stop with him until he should be able to
proceed again. He therefore led Amuba aside into an
orchard, and there laid him down under the shelter of a
tree, covering him with one of his own garments.</p>
<p>“It is well for the lad that my lord arrived just when
he did,” he said to himself as he sat down by the side of
Amuba and listened to his heavy breathing—for all in
the house had heard from the charioteer of the rescue of
the lad from the hands of furious peasants.</p>
<p>“He must have been very near death when he was
saved from their hands. Maxis said that his assailants
shouted out that he was the slayer of the Cat of Bubastes
about which such a turmoil has been made. Had it been
so I do not think that my lord would have aided him
thus to escape; though for my part I care not if he had
killed all the cats in Egypt, seeing that in my native
Libya we worship not the gods of the Egyptians.”</p>
<p><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></SPAN></span>
Several times during the night the old man got up and
plucked large handfuls of grass wet with dew and placed
them on Amuba’s head, and when he perceived the first
faint gleam of morning in the sky he aroused him.
Amuba sat up and looked round with an air of astonishment.</p>
<p>“Where am I?” he exclaimed.</p>
<p>“You are at present in an orchard, my young friend,
though to whom it may belong I know not; but finding
that you were unable to continue your journey I drew
you aside here, and you have slept well all night, and I
hope feel better for it and able to proceed.”</p>
<p>“I remember now,” Amuba said; “it seemed to me
that I walked for hours leaning on your arm.”</p>
<p>“It was but an hour,” the slave replied; “we are not
yet two miles from my lord’s house.”</p>
<p>“And you have watched over me all night,” Amuba
said; “for it was, I know, but an hour after sunset when
we started. Truly I am deeply indebted to you for your
kindness.”</p>
<p>“Speak not of it,” the old man replied. “My lord
gave you into my charge, and I cannot return until I can
tell him that you are in safety. But if you are able to
walk we must pass on, for there may be a search for you
as soon as it is light.”</p>
<p>“I am perfectly able to go on,” Amuba said; “thanks
to the wet grass I see you have been piling round my
head, the heat seems to have passed away and the throbbing
to have ceased.”</p>
<p>Amuba was indeed now able to walk at a brisk pace.</p>
<p>“Which way do you want to go?” the slave asked
him in a short time. “It is getting light enough now
for me to see your face, and it will never do for you to
meet any one. Your head is still swollen, and there are
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></SPAN></span>
marks of bruises and cuts all over the scalp. Your appearance
will attract attention at once, and if any saw
you who had heard of last evening’s doings you would
be at once suspected.”</p>
<p>“I will make direct for the hills,” Amuba said.
“They are not far distant, and I can easily conceal myself
among the rocks until sunset.”</p>
<p>“Let us hurry on, then,” the slave said; “it is but
half an hour’s walk. But as we may at any moment now
meet peasants going to their work, I will go on ahead;
do you follow a hundred yards behind me. If I see any
one coming I will lift my hand above my head, and do
you at once step aside from the road into the vineyard or
orchard, and lie there until they have passed.”</p>
<p>Amuba followed these instructions, and it was more
than an hour before he reached the foot of the hills, so
often did he have to turn aside to avoid groups of peasants.
At last he reached the foot of the rugged ascent.
Here he took leave of his guide with many warm thanks
for his kindness and services, and with a message of
gratitude to his lord. Then Amuba ascended the hill
for a short distance, and laid himself down among some
great bowlders.</p>
<p>Although greatly refreshed by his night’s rest he was
still weak and shaken, and felt altogether unequal to
making his way along the hills for the four miles which
intervened between himself and the hiding-place of his
friends among the tombs above the city. He was soon
asleep again, and the sun was already some distance
down the sky when he awoke. He waited until it sank
behind the brow of the hill above him, and then climbing
some distance higher made his way along the hillside,
having little fear that his figure would be noticed
now that the hillside was in shadow. Darkness had just
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></SPAN></span>
fallen when he arrived at the tomb they used as their
shelter. A figure was standing there in deep shadow.
As he turned the path and approached, it advanced to
meet him. Then there was a cry of joy, and Jethro
sprang forward and clasped him in his arms.</p>
<p>“My dear Amuba, I never thought to see you in life again!”</p>
<p>A moment later Chebron ran out, and in his turn embraced
Amuba.</p>
<p>“I shall never forgive you and I shall never forgive
myself,” he said reproachfully. “What right had you
to take my danger upon yourself? It was wrong,
Amuba; and I have suffered horribly. Even though we
are as brothers, why should you sacrifice yourself for me,
especially when it is my life and not yours that is forfeited?
I told myself a thousand times last night that I
was base and cowardly in allowing you and Jethro to
risk your lives for me, when by giving myself up the rage
of the people will be satisfied, and you could make your
way out of this land without great danger. It was bad
enough that you should share my risk, but when it comes
to your taking it all upon your shoulders that I should
escape free, I can accept such sacrifice no longer; and
to-morrow I will go down and surrender myself.”</p>
<p>Amuba was about to burst into remonstrance, when
Jethro touched him as a sign to be silent. The Rebu
knew how acutely Chebron had suffered and how he had
spent the night in tears and self-reproaches, and felt that
it was better to allow his present agitation to pass before
arguing with him.</p>
<p>“Are you hungry, Amuba?” he asked.</p>
<p>“That I am, Jethro. I had nothing save a mouthful of
bread since our meal here yesterday; and you will get no
news out of me until I have eaten and drunk.” A meal
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></SPAN></span>
of cakes and cool fish and a draught of wine was soon
taken; and Amuba said, “Now I will tell you all about it.”</p>
<p>“We know the first part,” Jethro said. “When I returned
here yesterday evening I found Chebron almost
beside himself with anxiety. He told me how he had
been discovered by one of the slaves of Ptylus who knew
him by sight; how you had attacked the slave, rescued
him from his hands, and then joined him in his flight;
how you insisted that you should separate; and how the
pursuers had all followed on your track, leaving him to
return here unmolested. He had been here upward of
two hours when I arrived, and as the time had passed on
without your return he had become more and more
anxious. Of course I at once started out to gather news,
and had the greatest difficulty in persuading him to remain
here, for he scorned the idea of danger to himself
from the search which would be sure to be again actively
set on foot. However, as I pointed out it was necessary that
if you returned you should find somebody here, he
at last agreed to remain.</p>
<p>“When I got into the town I found the whole city in
the streets. The news had come that the slayers of the
cat had been discovered; that one had escaped, but that
the other had been overtaken after a long chase; and
that he had been set upon and would have been slain, as
he well deserved, had not one of the princes of the royal
house arrived and carried him off in his chariot. This
news excited the greatest surprise and indignation, and
two officers of the city had gone out to the prince’s mansion,
which was six miles away from the city, to claim
the fugitive and bring him to the town, when he would
be at once delivered to the just anger of the populace.</p>
<p>“As soon as I learned this I started out along the road
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></SPAN></span>
by which they would return, and hurried on past the
people already gathered there. I had brought my sword
with me, and my intention was that as the chariot returned
with you I would leap upon it, surprise and slay
the officials, and drive off with you; for I knew you
would be able to take no part in making the escape, as I
had heard that you were already insensible when carried
off in the chariot. There were groups of people all
along the road with torches, but I thought that a sudden
surprise would probably be successful.</p>
<p>“At last I heard the chariot approaching. It was being
driven more slowly than I had expected. As it came to
a large group of people some distance ahead of me it
stopped for a moment, and the official addressed the people.
There was no shout or sound of exultation, and I
felt convinced at once that either upon their arrival they
had found that you were already dead, or that in some
miraculous way you had escaped. I therefore hurried
back to the next group. When the chariot came up
there was a shout of, ‘What is the news? Where is the
malefactor?’ The officials checked their horses and
replied: ‘A mistake has been made. The prince assures
us that the lad was a poor slave and wholly innocent of
this affair. He has satisfied himself that in their jealousy
for the honor of the gods the peasants who attacked the
lad committed a grievous wrong and fell upon a wholly
innocent person. After assuring himself of this he had
had his wounds bound up and suffered him to depart.
The prince intends to lay a complaint before the council
against the persons who have cruelly maltreated and
nearly murdered an innocent person, who, he stated,
interfered in the matter because he saw a slave attacking
a young lad, and who fled fearing trouble because of the
punishment he had inflicted upon the aggressor.’</p>
<p><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></SPAN></span>
“The announcement was received in silence; but when
the chariot had driven on again there was much murmuring.
This account had certainly the appearance of
truth; for it was already known by the narrative of the
slave who recognized Chebron that the person who
rescued him was a youth and a stranger to him, and that
it was this youth who had been pursued while Chebron
himself had escaped. Still there was murmuring that
the prince should in so important a matter have suffered
the youth to depart without a more searching examination.
Some said that even if the boy’s story was true he
deserved punishment for attacking the slave who had
arrested Chebron, while others said that as he had certainly
been beaten almost to death, he had been punished
sufficiently. All agreed that no doubt the whole affair
would be investigated.</p>
<p>“I hurried back again with the news, and all night we
watched for you, and when morning came without your
arrival we were almost as anxious as before, fearing that
you had been too badly injured to rejoin us, and that
to-day you would almost certainly be recaptured. As
the search for Chebron would assuredly be actively carried
out, I insisted on his remaining quiet here while I
made frequent journeys down to the city for news; but
beyond the certainty that you had not been recaptured,
although a diligent search had been made for you as well
as for Chebron, I learned nothing. Now, Amuba, I
have relieved you of the necessity for much talk; you
have only to fill in the gaps of the story and to tell us
how it was that you persuaded this Egyptian prince of
your innocence.”</p>
<p>“It is rather a long story, Jethro; but now that I have
had a meal I feel strong enough to talk all night, for I
have had nearly twenty-four hours’ sleep. First, I will
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></SPAN></span>
tell Chebron that when I took the pursuers off his track I
had no idea of sacrificing myself, for I made sure that I
should be able to outrun them, and I should have done
so easily had it not been for fresh people constantly taking
up the pursuit and at last running me down.”</p>
<p>Amuba then related the whole story of his flight, his
attack with the peasants and his rescue, and then recited
the whole of his conversation with his rescuer and his
proceedings after leaving his house. “So you see,” he
concluded, “that strangely enough it was the teaching of
your father, Chebron, and the tale that Ruth told us,
and that her grandfather before told you, of the God of
their forefathers, that saved my life. Had it not been
that this prince of Israelitish birth also believed in one
God, it could hardly be that he would have saved me
from the vengeance of the people, for as he says he is in
disfavor with the king, and his conduct in allowing me
to go free merely on my own assertion of my innocence
is likely to do him further harm. This he would assuredly
never have risked had it not been for the tie between
us of a common faith in one great God.”</p>
<p>“It is a strange story,” Jethro said when Amuba
brought his narrative to a conclusion, “and you have had
a marvelous escape. Had it not been for the arrival of
this prince upon the spot at the very moment you must
have been killed. Had he not have been of a compassionate
nature he would never, in the first place, have
interfered on your behalf; and had it not been for your
common faith, he would have held you until the officials
arrived to claim you. Then, too, you were fortunate,
indeed, in the kindness of your guide; for evidently had
it not been for your long rest, and the steps he took to
reduce the heat of your wounds, you must have fallen
into the hands of the searchers this morning. Above
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></SPAN></span>
all, I consider it extraordinary that you should at the
critical moment have been rescued by perhaps the one
man in Egypt who would have had the will and the
courage to save you.”</p>
<p>Upon the following morning Jethro and Amuba succeeded
with some difficulty in dissuading Chebron from
his determination to give himself up, the argument that
had the most powerful effect being that by so doing he
would be disobeying the last orders of his father. It
was resolved that in future as a better disguise he should
be attired as a woman, and that the watch upon the
house of Ptylus should be recommenced; but that they
should station themselves further away. It was thought,
indeed, that the search in that neighborhood was likely
to be less rigorous than elsewhere, as it would not be
thought probable that the fugitives would return to a
spot where they had been recognized. Amuba’s disguise
was completely altered. He was still in the dress of a
peasant, but, by means of pigments obtained from Chigron,
Jethro so transformed him as to give him, to a
casual observer, the appearance of advanced years.</p>
<p>They had had a long discussion as to the plan they
would adopt, Amuba and Jethro wishing Chebron to
leave the watching entirely to them. But this he would
not hear of, saying that he was confident that, in his disguise
as a woman, no one would know him.</p>
<p>“We must find out which way he goes, to begin with,”
he said. “After that none of us need go near the house.
I will buy a basket and some flowers from one of the
peasant women who bring them in, and will take my seat
near the gate. By three o’clock Plexo will have finished
his offices in the temple, and may set out half an hour
later. I shall see at least which road he takes. Then,
when you join me at dusk, one of you can walk a mile or
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></SPAN></span>
two along the road; the other twice as far. We shall
then see when he returns whether he has followed the
road any considerable distance or has turned off by any
crossroads, and can post ourselves on the following day
so as to find out more.”</p>
<p>“The plan is a very good one, Chebron, and we will
follow it. Once we get upon his trail I will guarantee
that it will not be long before we trace him to his goal.”</p>
<p>Accordingly that afternoon Chebron, dressed as a peasant
woman, took his seat with a basket of flowers fifty
yards from the entrance to the house of Ptylus. At
about the time he expected Plexo and his father returned
together from the temple. Half an hour later a light
chariot with two horses issued from the gate. Plexo was
driving and an attendant stood beside him. Chebron
felt sure that if Plexo was going to visit Mysa he would
take the road leading into the country, and the post he
had taken up commanded a view of the point where the
road divided into three—one running straight north
along the middle of the valley, while the others bore
right and left until one fell into the great road near the
river, the other into that on the side of the valley near
the hills. It was this last that Plexo took; and although
he might be going to visit acquaintances living in the
many villas scattered for miles and miles along the roadside,
Chebron felt a strong hope that he was going to
Mysa’s hiding-place. As soon as it was dark he was
joined by Jethro and Amuba.</p>
<p>“He started at three o’clock!” Chebron exclaimed as
they came up to him, “and took the road leading to the
foot of the hills.”</p>
<p>“We will go on there at once,” Jethro said. “He
may return before long, and we must hurry. Do you
walk quietly on, Chebron, and stop at the point where
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></SPAN></span>
the road ahead runs into the main road. Amuba shall
stop two miles further; I will go two miles further still.
If he comes along the road past me we will begin at that
point to-morrow.”</p>
<p>Jethro had but just reached the spot at which he proposed
to wait when he heard the sound of wheels approaching,
and a minute later the chariot drove along.
The moon was not up, but the night was clear and bright;
and, advancing as close he could to the passing chariot,
he was able to recognize Plexo. The latter gave an angry
exclamation as his horses shied at the figure which had
suddenly presented itself, and gave a cut with his whip
at Jethro. A minute later the chariot had disappeared
and Jethro returned toward the city, picking up on his
way Amuba and Chebron.</p>
<p>The next night Amuba took up his station a mile beyond
the spot at which Jethro had seen the chariot,
Jethro another mile ahead, while Chebron watched the
crossroads near the town; but this time it did not come
along, although Chebron had seen him start the same
hour as before.</p>
<p>“I hardly expected to see him to-night,” Jethro said
when he joined the others after fruitlessly waiting for
three hours. “He will hardly be likely to visit her two
days in succession. He will be more likely to leave her
for a week to meditate on the hopelessness of refusing to
purchase her liberty at the price of accepting him as her
husband. Doubtless he has to-day merely paid a visit to
some friends.”</p>
<p>It was not, indeed, until the fourth night of waiting
that Plexo came along. This time he did not pass Jethro
at all, and it was therefore certain that he had turned off
from the main road either to the right or left at some
point between the post of Jethro and that of Amuba.
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></SPAN></span>
When this was determined they agreed, after a consultation,
not to return to their hiding-places near Thebes
that night, but to lie down under some trees by the roadside
until morning broke, and then to examine the road
carefully. It was not likely that another chariot would
pass before morning, and they might be able to follow
the tracks along the dusty road.</p>
<p>In this way they discovered the road where he had
turned off; but beyond this the tracks did not show, as
the road was hard and almost free from dust. It lay, as
they expected, toward the hills; but there were so many
country mansions of the wealthy classes dotted about,
and so many crossroads leading to these and to the
farmhouses of the cultivators, that they felt they were
still far from attaining the object of their search.</p>
<p>After some discussion it was agreed that they should
ascend the hills and remain there during the day, and
that Jethro should return to the town as soon as it became
dark to obtain a store of provisions sufficient to last
them for a week. This was done, and the next day they
separated at dawn and took up their places on the hills
at a distance of about a mile apart, choosing spots where
they commanded a view over the valley, and arranging
to meet at a central point when night came on.</p>
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