heir way down to the
river; and the wind blew aside their thin robes of white and pink and
soft blue, showing bare feet thrust into little slippers of red and
yellow leather. Foremost of the band walked the young princess,
holding a white bud of the lotus lily and smelling it as she went,
while slave girls kept the hot rays of the sun from her head with fans
of peacock feathers. She, too, had red slippers on her feet, and her
neck and arms shone like pale copper; but she wore no chains or rings,
for she was going to bathe, and her brown eyes looked with pleasure
upon the cool waters of the broad river.

She did not notice the Hebrew girl sitting on the sand as she walked
along the river's bank; but in a few moments she saw a strange little
black object floating among the green flags, and at once sent some of
her maidens to bring the strange thing to her.

Running down to the water, the girls lifted out the little dripping
basket, wondering what was in it that made it feel so heavy; but soon a
little cry from within told them, and they went quickly with their
burden to the princess, to ask what they should do with it.

The dark eyes of the Hebrew girl were watching them as she sat playing
at odd and even with round stones from the river--a favourite game of
the children of Egypt. She saw them bring the basket to the princess.
She saw her smile, and noticed her pleased cry when they opened the
lid; and she heard her speaking kindly to the little child, which was
crying loudly. The girls were crowding round the open basket, looking
in at the child; and when they placed the basket upon the ground and
looked about them in doubt, Miriam knew that her time had come, and
went timidly forward.

"This is one of the Hebrew children," the gentle princess said, with
pity in her voice, as she looked at the baby's red cheeks, so different
from the brown cheeks of the Egyptian babies. The little boy still
wept loudly, and the princess's heart was touched, for he would not
stop crying. What was to be done?

Running with bare feet upon the hot sand, Miriam, clad in the rough red
and blue of a Hebrew slave girl, drew near to the princess, and
kneeling down at a little distance, said,--

"Shall I run and call a nurse from among the Hebrew women, that she may
nurse the child for thee?"

The princess knew that such baby boys were to be thrown into the river;
but perhaps the meaning of it all dawned upon her as she talked with