d repay what she owed him.

Her whole heart was overflowing with longing for one kind word from his
mouth, and she approached him on her knees across the blood-stained
floor; but the lips of the prophetess, usually so eloquent, seemed
paralyzed and could not find the right language till at last from her
burdened breast the cry escaped in loud imploring accents:

"Joshua, oh, Joshua! I have sinned heavily against you and will atone for
it all my life; but do not disdain my gratitude! Do not cast it from you
and, if you can, forgive me."

She had been unable to say more; then--never would she forget it--burning
tears had gushed from her eyes and he had raised her from the floor with
irresistible strength, yet as gently as a mother touches her fallen
child, and from his lips mild, gentle words, full of forgiveness, echoed
in her ears. The very touch of his right hand had assured her that he was
no longer angry.

She still felt the pressure of his hand, and heard his assurance that
from no lips would he more gladly hear the name of Joshua than from hers.

With the war-cry "Jehovah our standard!" he at last turned his back upon
her; for a long time its clear tones and the enthusiastic shouts of his
soldiers echoed in her ears.

Finally everything around her had lapsed into silence and she only knew
that never had she shed such bitter, burning tears as in this hour. And
she made two solemn vows in the presence of the God who had summoned her
to be His prophetess. Meanwhile both the men whom they concerned were
surrounded by the tumult of battle.

One had again led his troops from the rescued camp against the foe; the
other was watching with the leader of the people the surging to and fro
of the ever-increasing fury of the conflict.

Joshua found his people in sore stress. Here they were yielding, yonder
they were still feebly resisting the onslaught of the sons of the desert;
but Hur gazed with increasing and redoubled anxiety at the progress of
the battle; for in the camp he beheld wife and grandson, and below his
son, in mortal peril.

His paternal heart ached as he saw Uri retreat, then as he pressed
forward again and repelled the foe by a well-directed assault, it
throbbed joyously, and he would gladly have shouted words of praise.

But whose ear would have been sharp enough to distinguish the voice of a
single man amid the clash of arms and war-cries, the shrieks of women,
the wails of the wounded, the discord