waiting to snap up everything
they could find for a meal. Jochebed, the poor mother, held her baby
closer in her arms. No, she could not obey the king's order. She would
try and hide the baby for a little while, at any rate.

It was easy to hide a baby while he was still tiny and slept most of
the day; but when he grew bigger it was much more difficult. His
sister Miriam did her best to help her mother; but any day, now that
the baby was three months old, he might be discovered, and something
must be done at once.

So Jochebed thought of a plan, and prayed to God that He would help
her to carry it out. At the edge of the river there grew tall
bulrushes, which, when cut down and dried, could be made into many
useful things. Taking some of these bulrushes, she wove them into a
little cradle with a cover to it, just like a little ark, and this she
covered with a kind of pitch, so that not a drop of water could come
through. Inside the cradle she made a soft bed, and laid the baby
there while he was fast asleep, and set the ark afloat in the water
where the bulrushes were growing. She knew that presently the great
princess, Pharaoh's daughter, would come down to bathe in the river,
and would notice the queer little ark floating there.

[Illustration: She laid the baby there while he was fast asleep.]

Very soon the royal procession came winding down from the palace
towards the river, as the princess in her gorgeous robes made her way
to bathe in the pool of the lotus flowers. But at the edge of the
river she stopped. What was that among the bulrushes? It was no lotus
flower, but a strange-looking covered basket, and she ordered her
maidens to bring it to her.

The little ark was lifted out of the water and carried to the
princess. There was surely something alive inside, and the princess
was full of curiosity as she leaned down and lifted the cover to look
in. Then she started back in amazement. The dearest little baby she
had ever seen lay there, all rosy and fresh after his sleep, gazing up
at her with wide-open eyes. The maidens crowded round, and the sight
of all those strange faces was more than the baby could bear. He
puckered up his face and began to cry.

The princess loved babies, and she had none of her own. That little
wailing cry went to her heart. She guessed at once that this was one
of the Hebrew babies which had been ordered to be destroyed, and she
made up her mind that this beautiful boy should at l