shouting
words of cheer, and trying to force their way through the crowd to their
relatives; but many had the precious liquid torn from them by force ere
they reached their destination.

Joshua and his band had forced their way to the vicinity of the spring,
to maintain order among the greedy drawers of water. But they were
obliged to have patience for a time, for the strong men of the tribe of
Judah, with whom Hur had led the way in advance of all the rest, were
still swinging their axes and straining at the levers hastily prepared
from the trunks of the thorny acacias to move huge blocks out of the way
and widen the passage to the flow of water that was gushing from several
clefts in the rock.

At first the spring had lost itself in a heap of moss-covered granite
blocks and afterwards in the earth; but now the overflow and trickling
away of the precious fluid had been stopped and a reservoir formed whence
the cattle also could drink.

Whoever had already succeeded in filling a jar had obtained the water
from the overflow which had escaped through the quickly-made dam. Now the
men appointed to guard the camp were keeping every one back to give the
water in the large new reservoir into which it flowed in surprising
abundance, time to grow clear.

In the presence of the gift of God for which they had so passionately
shouted, it was easy to be patient. They had discovered the treasure and
only needed to preserve it. No word of discontent, murmuring, or reviling
was heard; nay, many looked with shame and humiliation at the new gift of
the Most High.

Loud, gladsome shouts and words echoed from the distance; but the man of
God, who knew better than any one else, the valleys and rocks, pastures
and springs of the Horeb region and had again obtained so great a
blessing for the people, had retired into a neighboring ravine; he was
seeking refuge from the thanks and greetings which rose with increasing
enthusiasm from ever widening circles, and above all peace and calmness
for his own deeply agitated soul.

Soon fervent hymns of praise to the Lord sounded from the midst of the
refreshed, reinvigorated bands overflowing with ardent gratitude, who had
never encamped richer in hope and joyous confidence.

Songs, merry laughter, jests, and glad shouts accompanied the pitching of
every tent, and the camp sprung up as quickly as if it had been conjured
from the earth by some magic spell.

The eyes of the young men sparkled